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
of it But seeing what a great business this restauration was like to prove he returned to Winchester to make preparation for so great a design And first he made his address to God by fervent prayers to encline the hearts of King Edgar and his Queen and Nobles that he might have them so propitious as to contribute their assistances to this work And being one time at his prayers the Queen had secretly gotten behind the door to listen what it was that Athelwold prayed and suddenly she came forth upon him telling him that God and her self had heard his prayers and from thenceforth she began to solicite the King for the reparation of this Monastery to which the King assenting applied himself thereunto until he had finished the same which was in the year 970. The Monastery thus re-edified King Edgar desirous to see it went thither with Dunstane then Archbishop of Canterbury and Oswald Archbishop of York attended also with most of the Nobility and Clergy of England who all approved and applauded both the place and work But when King Edgar heard that some Charters and Writings which some Monks had secured from the fury of the Danes were found he desired to see them and having read the priviledges of this place that he had a second Rome within his own Kingdom he wept for joy And in the presence of that Assembly he confirmed their former priviledges and possessions the King Nobles and Clergy offering large oblations some of lands some of gold and silver At this glorious assembly the name of the place was changed from Medeshamsted to Burgh and by reason of the fair building pleasant situation large priviledges rich possessions plenty of gold and silver which this Monastery was endowed withal there was an addition to the name as to be called Gildenburgh though in reference to the dedication it hath ever since been known by the name of Peterburgh Malmsbury would have the nomination of the place Burgh to be from Abbot De gestis Pont. lib. 4. Kenulphus his enclosing the Monastery with a Wall as shall be noted hereafter but our Peterburgh Writers are not of his mind but place it here Writers say that in those days this Monastery was of so high account that what person soever came thither to pray whether King Lord Bishop or Abbot he put off his shoes at the gate of the Monastery and entred barefoot And the Covent there was very much had in esteem that if any of them travelled into any of the neighbouring parts they were received with the greatest respect and reverence that could be The Monastery thus restored King Edgar was mindful of the government also by Abbots as it had anciently been and there was appointed 8. ADVLPHVS He being Chancellor to King Edgar changed his Court life for a Monastical in this place the reason of which change was this He had one only Son whom he and his Wife dearly loved and they used to have him lie in bed betwixt them but the Parents having over night drunk more wine than was convenient their Son betwixt them was smothered to death Adulphus the father being sadly affected with this horrid mischance was resolved to visit S. Peter at Rome after the manner of a penitentiary for absolution imparting his intent to Bishop Athelwoldus who disswaded him from it telling him it would be better if he would labour in the restauration of S. Peters Church in this place and here visit him Adulphus approving this advice came with King Edgar to Burgh where in the presence of the King and the rest of that Convention he offered all his wealth put off his Courtly Robes and put on the habit of a Monk and ascended to the degree of Abbot in the year 972. In those days the whole Nasee or Country adjoyning and which is now known by the name of Burgh-soke was all a woody and solitary place until this Abbot Adulphus cut down woods built Mannors and Granges and let the Lands to farm for certain Rents so that the people increasing and as yet no Churches built amongst them they came to Peterburgh to receive the Sacraments and to pay their Church-duties which continued for many years after And although in the days of Turoldus Abbot Churches and Chappels began to be built the said Turoldus distributing the Lands of the Monastery to those Knights who desired to serve God at home yet still the Church of Peterburgh received the whole revenue until the time of Abbot Ernulfus Anno 1112. when there were assigned to the respective Ministers of Churches and Chappels certain revenues for their maintenance as due to their service saving to the Church of Burgh two parts of the predial Tythes of those Knights and saving the burial of See in Ernulphus the said Knights their wives and children in the Church of Burgh and also a certain portion of the Knights estates for the maintenance of their wives and children Saving also to the Church of Burgh from the Churches so built certain pensions which being imposed upon them in their first endowments or collations by this Church many of them have continued unto and been paid in these our days to the Bishop or Dean and Chapter as they were assigned by King Henry the Eighth as shall be declared hereafter Adulphus was present at the dedication of the Church of Ramsey in the year 974. After that this Abbot Adulphus had happily governed this Monastery about the space of twenty years Henry of Pightly saith Codex Ramis in manu H. Cromwell Armig. fol. 58. thirty one he was translated to the Archbishoprick of York there to succeed Oswaldus then deceased Some say he was translated to the Bishop of Worcester And in the place of Adulphus there came 9. KENVLPHVS Who was made Abbot in the year of our Lord 992. and was highly honoured far and near for his wisdom and piety many coming to him from several parts Bishops Abbots Priests and Monks as to another Solomon to hear his wisdom And by reason of his great fame for his learning he is supposed to have been a Writer and is therefore by Pitseus inserted into his Catalogue of English Writers though what he wrote is not extant or evident by his or any other testimony that I have met with This Abbot Kenulphus enclosed the Monastery of Burgh with a Wall a great part whereof is yet standing Having continued B. Godwyn Abbot here about thirteen years he was translated to the Bishoprick of Winchester Anno 1006. for the procurement whereof he is charged with Simony His successor in this Monastery was 10. ELSINVS Or Elsius Of whom I find no glorious Character recorded by Writers save this if it may be so accounted that he was very inquisitive after Reliques with which he was very industrious to inrich his Monastery And because Swapham and Wittlesey the compleatest Historians of this place have punctually set down a bedrole of his Reliques the Reader I hope will
doubted whether he wrote them himself more than he did the rest I shall therefore set down his Books as also some of the succeeding Abbots that the Reader may conjecture what Scholars those Abbots might be and see what Books were most in request amongst them Abbot Benedicts Library was furnished with these Books Quinque libri Moysis glossati in uno Volumine Sexdecim Prophetae glossati in uno Volumine Duodecim Minores glossati in uno Volumine Liber Regum glossatus Paralipomenon glossatus Job Parabolae Salomonis Ecclesiastes Cantica Canticorum glossati in uno Volumine Liber Ecclesiasticus Liber Sapientiae glossati in uno Volumine Tobias Judith Esther Esdras glossati in uno Volumine Liber Judicumglossatus Scholastica Historia Psalterium glossatum Item non glossatum Item Psalterium Quatuor Evangelia glossata in uno Volumine Item Matthaeus Marcus in uno Volumine Johannes Lucas in uno Volumine Epistolae Pauli glossatae Apocalypsis Epistolae Canonicae glossatae in uno Volumine Sententiae Petri Lombardi Item Sententiae ejusdem Sermones Bernardi Abbatis Clarevallensis Decreta Gratiani Item Decreta Gratiani Summa Ruffini de Decretis Summa Johannis Faguntini de Decretis Decretales Epistolae Item Decretales Epistolae Item Decretales Epistolae cum Summa sic incipiente Olim. Institutiones Justiniani cum Autenticis Infortiato Digestum vetus Tres partes cum Digesto novo Summa Placentorum Totum corpus juris in duobus Voluminibus Arisimetica Epistolae Senecae cum aliis Senecis in uno Volumine Martialis Terentius in uno Volumine Morale dogma Philosophorum Gesta Alexandri Liber Claudii Claudiani Summae Petri Helyae de Grammatica cum multis aliis rebus in uno Volumine Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi genealogia ejus Interpretationes Hebraicorum nominum Libellus de Incarnatione Verbi Liber Bernardi Abbatis ad Eugenium Papam Missale Vita Sancti Thomae Martyris Miracula ejusdem in quinque Voluminibus Liber R. Plutonis qui dicitur Vnde malum Meditationes Anselmi Practica Bartholomaei cum pluribus aliis rebus in uno Volumine Ars Physicae Pantegm practica ipsius in uno Volumine Almasor Dioscorides de virtutibus herbarum Liber dinamidiorum aliorum multorum in uno Volumine Libellus de compoto This was the stock of his Literature as Wittlesey hath set it down though another ancient Copy in some few things differeth from it There is some clashing betwixt Vossius and Possevine about the time of this Benedict but it is not worth the trouble of reciting It seems Benedict was a man of good note that his preferment to this Abby should sound in foreign parts Sigebertus Gemblacensis making mention thereof Benedictus Prior Cantuariensis factus est Ad an 1177. Abbas de Burc The Abby was at his entrance 1500 marks deep in debt from which Benedict freed it He laboured much in recovering of his Abby Lands some by suits in Law and some by force for as if he were Tam Marti quam Mercurio as well for the Sword as the Book he went sometimes in person armed upon such adventures His actions at home towards his Monastery were great and many It seems the Nave or body of the Church did not please him therefore he built it after a better manner from the Lantern to the Porch as now it is so that the painted Ceiling at the top which is still remaining was probably of his doing He set up also the Pulpit in the body of the Church which was but lately taken away He finished the Chappel of Thomas Becket which his Predecessor had begun He built a large and goodly House of stone for several Offices which was standing in our age He built the great gate leading to the Monastery and over it the Chappel of S. Nicolas both which are yet standing He was much in the Kings favour that the King King Richard for his piety gravity and wisdom was wont to call him Father And when King Richard in his return from the Holy Land was taken prisoner by Arch-Duke Leopold who detained him this Abbot Benedict being in the Kings absence made Coadjutor and Councellor with William Bishop of Ely Chancellor of the Realm Councelled that the Chalices of the Church should be sold to pay the Kings ransome which was done and the King returned home Then did King Richard confirm to Abbot Benedict and his Monastery the Marsh of Pekirk now commonly called North-Fenne about which there fell out some difference betwixt Radulphus le Wake and the Monastery for Radulphus being Lord of Deeping claimed Common in the Marsh as being but on the other side of the River but Abbot Benedict impounded his Cattel alledging that the Marsh belonged only to his Tenants of Pekirk Glinton Makeshye and Northburgh and desired Radulphus to enquire into the truth thereof So Radulphus came to Peterburgh with some others where being fully informed of the Abbots right he forbare to trespass any more Benedict also recovered the Marsh of Eye and the Hermitage of Singlesholt King Richard also granted unto Benedict his confirmation of the eight Hundreds as his predecessors had done And withal his Charter for the holding of a Fair in Peterburgh upon the Feast of S. Peter S. Peters Fair. to continue for 8 days although now it be contracted into one He also granted a weekly Market every Thursday and a Fair for three days at the Feast of S. Peter to be holden at the Mannor of Scotter in Lincolnshire then belonging to this Monastery Vid. Chartam in App. Pag. 252. John the Kings brother who was Earl of Moriton and afterwards King of England was also kind to Abbot Benedict and his Monastery giving them by his Charter yearly three Staggs and six Bucks out of his Forest of Sheerwood without contradiction In his time there flourished one William of Peterburgh a Monk of Ramsey a very Learned man upon whom Pitseus bestows a large Character whither the Reader that would see his works may resort Benedict having been Abbot the space of seventeen years died Anno 1194. being the sixth Year of King Richard the first and had for his Successor 23. ANDREAS He was first a Monk here then Prior and afterwards for his many vertues was chosen Abbot The Villages of Alwalton and Fletton which then belonged to him he gave to the Monks Kitchin for the augmentation of their Commons Having been Abbot about five years he died the same year with King Richard which was Anno 1199. He was buried in the South Isle of the Church at the back of the Quire in the same Grave where two of his Predecessors had been buried before as the Epitaph on the Wall over his Monument will testifie which was lately in ancient Saxon Letters but now in the ordinary renewed Hos tres Abbates quibus est Prior Abba Johannes Alter Martinus Andreas ultimus unus Hic
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
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
in a little Charter Ibid. pag. CXXII containing the Names of all the Lands and Possessions of the Church which was recorded for the honour of their Benefactors whose names are written in the Book of Life c. Among which it is said Askill filius Toke dedit Walcote super Humbram dum adhuc viveret post obitum illius fratrum ejus sc Scirici Siworthi dedit Brand Abbas frater eorum eidem Ecclesiae Sancti Petri Muskam c. And in the Charter of Edward the Confessor confirming this benefaction it is said that Askil or Askitill gave this Land upon occasion of a journey which he undertook to Rome Askitillus Romam pergens dedit Sancto Petro Ecclesiae suae de Burch septem carrucatas terrae in Walcote duabus bovatis minus in Alcheburn unam Carrucatam totam Ecclesiam in Normandy unam Carrucatam quae sunt super fluvium Humbre William the Conqueror in his confirmation Ibid. pag. CIX petente Abbate Brand saith the same concerning the number of Plough-Lands in that place held by the Monastery sub Rege Edwardo Most of which it should seem by a trial which John Deeping Abbot of this Church had about the Lands in those Towns in the 13th year of Hen. 4. were part of the possessions of the Abby from its foundation and being alienated perhaps were again restored or redeemed by Brand and his Brethren before mentioned For that Abbot then before the Kings Judges at Westminster Ibid. pag. CCCLII. declaring how he was destrained by the Servants of Thomas de Lancaster the Kings Son pretending that he held a Mannor of his in Holderness and ought to do him homage and suit at Court for six Carrucatae of Land in Walcote juxta Humbr and one in Normanby which they said he held of the aforesaid Thomas alledged against all this that Wolferus King of the Mercians long before the Conquest gave and granted by his Charter which he there produced and laid before them to God and the blessed Apostle St. Peter and the servants of God in Medhamstede which is now called by another name Peterburgh in puram perpetuam eleemosynam praedictas sex Carucatas terrae cum pertinentibus in Walcote juxta Humbr praedictam unam carucatam terrae cum pertin in Normanby in Lincoln c. Of which Land he and his Predecessor were seised and held as parcel of the first foundation of the Abby from the King and not from the aforesaid Thomas of whom he held no Land at all nor owed him any service c. And accordingly it was adjudged for the Abbot This Estate was in danger to be lost again after the Conquest being got into the hands of Yvo Talbois but restored by him to the Monks as I shall observe in my Remarks upon the next Abbot Turoldus The Character which Ingulphus Pag. 70. Edit Oxon. gives of Abbot Brand is that he was a very Religious person and as he had heard from his Predecessor and many others very much addicted unto Alms-deeds wherewith he relieved the poor and in short adorned with all Vertues They that have a mind may in the same Author find the form and manner after which this Abbot made Hereward a Knight which was a thing forbidden afterward in the Synod of London held under Anselm as Eadmerus informs us p. 68. Where Mr. Selden calls this Abbot Brand Coenobiarcha Edmundoburgensis Spicileg ad Eadmerum p. 207. N. 5. not attending I suppose to those words of Ingulphus where he mentions Abbatem Burgi the Uncle of Hereward which he construes as if he spake of the Abbot of St. Edmundburgh There is mention of Brand as witness to a Charter of William the Conqueror in the second year of his Reign 1068. wherein he setled the Collegiat Church of St. Martins le Grand in the City of London indowed by Ingelricus and Girardus his Brother out of their own Revenues as may be seen in the third Tome of the Monasticon Anglicanum De Eccles Collegiatis p. 26. But the next year after he dyed as not only Hugo but John Abbot of this Church tells us in his Chronicon Where An. MLXIX having spoken of the death of Aldredus Archbishop of York he adds Obiit etiam Brando Abbas Burgi Patruus dicti Herewardi de Wake ex Regis collatione successit Turoldus Brando dedit pro Fyskyrton XX. marcas auri alias XX. pro Quametis pro ibidem ..... VIII. marc auri Our Writings also mention his redeeming Burleigh as well as the forenamed places which shows how studious he was of the prosperity of this place Where he dyed 2. Kaland Decembris saith Hugo agreeable to the Kalander which saith 30. Novemb. Depositio Brandonis Will de Waterville Abbatum c. TVROLDVS Or THVROLDVS as he is called in a Chater of King Henry the First was no sooner setled in the Monastery but all manner of evils as Hugo's words are came to it For that very year 1069 the Danes returned to infest England under the conduct of Suenus Abbot John saith the Sons of Swane their King with a very great Army Part of which under Osbern came to Eli and was presently re-inforced by Hereward de Wake and his associates who came and joyned with them He was a very great man called by one of our best Historians vir Serenissimus Walsingham who at his return out of Flanders where he had been for a while hearing how much his Family and Kindred had suffered by the Normans and finding Ivo Talbois the Conqueror's Sisters Son possessed of his Estate the Conqueror having given Ivo large possessions in Holland was extreamly inraged thereat and resolved by force of Arms to recover his own though with the havock and spoil of other people I cannot say that this place felt the first effects of his fury but here he discharged it after a most terrible manner as Hugo relates the story For he it was that invited and incited also Osbern and his Danes to go and plunder this Abby where he heard the Abbot his Uncle was dead and the place filled with a Norman whom he accounted an intruder and he a very severe man who lay then with some Souldiers at Stamford They came therefore with great speed though not so hastily but the Monks of Burgh had some notice so that the Sacrist called Ywarus by the Counsel of the Monks carried away all that he could viz. the Texts of the Gospel with the Chesibles Copes and Albes c. and went with them to the Abbot Turoldus at Stamford The very same morning came Hereward and his company in Boats against whom the Monks maintained the Close so stoutly as is observed out of him by Mr. G. that he had no way but to set fire to the Houses near the Gate by which means his Forces entred and burnt all the Offices of the Monastery and the whole Town except the Church and one House The Monks therefore
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
and sending for him commanded him to surrender his Abbey and be gone out of his Realm Which he did in the year MCXXXII So John Abbot Henricus Abbas de Burgo quem dimisit ad Andegavenses redit With which Hugo agrees who says he recovered his Abbey of St. John de Angeli and that notwithstanding all his faults bonus Eleemosynator omnibus diebus fuit he was good to the poor all his days And therefore he made a good end not living long after he returned thither There is no memory of this Abbot in the Kalander of the Church no more than of Kenulphus and Godricus MARTINVS de Vecti Henry being gone the King gave this Abbey by the consent of the Monks saith Hugo to a religious Monk Martinus de Bec the Prior of St. Neots who was here installed upon the Feast of St. Peter with great honour and with the joy of the whole Convent and all the people An. MCXXXIII Where Chron. M. S. Johannis Abbatis saith Martinus de vecto in Abbatem Burgi est electus in die Sancti Petri receptus The next year the day after the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula the King crossed the Seas again when about six a clock the Heavens were on a sudden so darkned that the Sun saith Hugo lookt like the Moon I suppose by a great Ecclipse and for three or four hours the Stars appeared which many took to portend some great thing And so it did for that year the King dyed and all ancient and wise men of the Land fell with him and so the Land was darkned because peace and truth and righteousness were taken away from it The same year 1135. King Stephen Nephew to the former King a Prince of a mild and low Spirit got the Crown and with him as Hugo goes on Young men who were very wicked also got into power and troubled the Land The Church especially was in great tribulation all England over and among the rest this of Burgh whose Abbot suffered very much and kept his Abbey with great difficulty And yet for all that he provided all things necessary for his Monks and for Strangers there being great love among them and the Monks being assistant to him He went on also with the building of the Monastery and of the Church the Chancel of which he finished and brought in cum magno honore the holy Reliques and the Monks into the new Church upon the Feast of St. Peter in the year of our Lord One thousand one hundred and forty three and twenty years after the burning of the place It should be twenty seven years after if we may belive the MS. Chron. of John Abbot which saith MCXLIII Conventus Burgi hoc anno intravit in novam Ecclesiam that they did not go into the new Church till 1143. At this great solemnity of bringing the Reliques and Monks into the new Church the Arm of St. Oswald was produced before Alexander Bishop of Lincoln the Abbots of Ramsey Thorney Croyland many Barons and a vast number of people as it had been once before brought forth to satisfie Matthias Abbot and shown intire in its slesh skin Nerves and every thing else The story of this Arm is in short related by Mr. Gunton where he speaks of the Reliques of this Church To which Will. of Malmsbury gives no great credit for though he saith there was shown here at Burgh the hand of St. Oswald with the Arm and devoutly worshipped by the people being kept loculo argenteo deaurato in Ecclesia Beati Petri yet he adds that too much credit is not to be given to it for fides dictorum vacillat ubi nihil auditor visu explorat L. 4. de gest Pontif. Which he doth not say he pretends because he doubted of the thing but he would not too hastily affirm that his Arm was in this place But waving this doubt of his Hugo saith he saw it and kissed it and handled it with his own hands at this time and relates a great many wonderful cures which were performed merely by the water wherein it was washed with which I shall not trouble the Reader He saith it had been shown before this to satisfie Martin himself who desired to see it either out of curiosity or because he doubted of its being uncorrupted And a Third time he adds it was shown to King Stephen who came to Burgh and offered his Ring to him c. as Mr. G. hath observed In like manner it was again shown that I may put together what belongs to this matter to King John in the time of Abbot Akarius as I learn from the Chron. of John Abbot An. MCCVI. Brachium Sancti Oswaldi Regis Martyris ostensum est Johanni Regi apud Burgum It was ordered also by a Statute of Abbot Walter to be carried in solemn procession every year upon the Feast of the Dedication of the Church unless it had been carryed about on the Feast of St. Oswald Swaph fol. CCLXXIII But leaving this let us take some account of his benefactions to this Church which were very many Hugo says indeed that by the instinct of the Devil and by ill Counsel he was guilty of imbezzling the Treasure of the Church in the beginning of his Government but he made amends afterward giving a whole Town called Pilesgate to the Church with all the Tythes and Offerings and many possessions c. By his Charter also in the time of King Henry I suppose the first for he dyed just after the second came to the Crown he gave with the consent of the King a great deal of Land and Rents and Services in several Towns which are therein named for the use of the Sacrist and for the Building and Repairing of the Monastery Ibid. fol. 100. This was in the beginning of his Government when Richard Priest of Castre having a mind to change his life and take upon him the habit of a Monk prevailed with this Abbot by his own and others intreaties to receive him into the Monastery of Burch Accordingly he came on a day appointed 1133 which was the first year of Martin into the Chapter-house and there before the Abbot and all the Monks made it his humble Petition that they would receive all he had viz. the Church of Castre which he then held with all belonging to it both in Lands and in Tithes and in other things which he gave to God and to St. Peter for ever Whereupon the Abbot granted what he desired on condition that he should come into Court coram Baronibus suis and there confirm what he had now done in the Chapter-house which he performed accordingly For the aforesaid Richard Priest came into the Abbots Chamber and there before the Abbot of Thorney and Will. de Albeni and Richard Basset and many other Barons of the Abbey and divers other persons who came with William and Richard restored his Church of Castre to the Church of St. Peter de Burch de
jacet inter terram Thome Speciarii terram Agnetis quondam uxoris Henrici in cultura que jacet inter boscum de Westwoode Capellam Sancti Botulphi pro quadam placia pertinente ad ortum Eleemosynarie Burgi super q. cancellum capellae Sancti Johannis Bapt. constructum est c. Which Chapel also of St. John Baptist seems to be distinct from the Church of that name Swapham doth not tell us when he dyed But the often mentioned Chron. of John Abbot saith An. MCC obiit Andreas Abbas Burgi cui successit Acharius Sancti Albani So he governed not about 5. but about seven year His memory was celebrated on the twenty first of February when I find in the Kalander was Depositio Domini Andreae Abbatis ACHARIVS As King John gave the Abbey of Burgh to this Prior of St. Albans so in the same year he gave the Abbey of Ramsey to the Prior of Burgh They are the words of Rog. Hoveden Ad An. 1200. p. 802. in that place where he calls this Abbot Zacharias as Mr. G. observes But he did not put him in presently upon the death of Andreas for Swapham tells us he received the Abbey in Rogation week and found it so bare of all manner of Provisions that there was not food enough for one day The reason was the Archbishop of St. Andrews in Scotland to whom the King had given the custody of the Abbey while it was void had left nothing but carried all that he could away with him Notwithstanding which this good man in a short time was able to furnish the place not merely with necessaries but superfluities For besides a great many rich vestments he gave to the Church Silver Basins for the great Altar with a case of Gold and Silver set with pretious stones opere pulcherrimo subtilissimo for the Arm of St. Oswald A yearly Rent also to the Refectory and the Pittancia to the former of which he gave likewise two excellent Cups de Mazaro with great Silver feet richly gilt and Covers to them one of which had the three Kings offering their gifts to our Saviour in the bottom of it He gave moreover to the said Refectory Nine great drinking Cups de Mazaro and four Table Knives with Ivory hafts He assigned Thurleby also to the Chamberlain from whence saith Swapham we have XII Coverlids of St. Alban and as many Coats He assigned also to the Chamber the house which Richard Crookman offered to St. Peter when he was made a Monk which yielded the yearly Rent of a Noble And when the Celleraria upon a time wanted Provision he fed the whole Convent from the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul to the Feast of St. Andrew at his own charge And caused the Mill of Athelwalton to be repaired the Land to be ploughed and Sown and the Corn gathered which he caused to be brought into the Cellerary And out of his pitty to the infirm Monks who had no where to take the comfort of the air he gave them of his own accord without asking a part of his Vineyard where Rich. de Scoter afterwards planted a garden He also bought houses hard by St. Pauls London which cost him above two hundred and fifty Marks and in several of the Mannors belonging to the Church caused Halls Chambers and other edifices to be built as the Hall at Scottere the Hall at Fiskertune and divers other places which Swapham mentions He gave two hundred Marks to King John for his Charter of Liberties which is still remaining and discharged the house of above a thousand Marks in the Exchequer He recovered the Mannor of Walcote from Peter Son of Radulphus who had held it long and got many confirmations of it from the Kings of England as well as the Marsh between Singlesholt and Croyland mentioned by Mr. G. from which he received yearly by the consent and agreement of the Abbot of Croyland four Stone of Wax which he appointed to be imployed for Wax-Candles on the Feasts of the Saints of this Church They that have a mind may read the whole story of this recovery in the continuation of the History of Crowland lately put out at Oxford with Ingulphus c. P. 471 472. which tells us it was in the year 1202. not long after he came to the Abbotship But though the King himself then after many meetings and treaties and great expences made a final end as they speak yet the controversie was renewed again not long after as shall be shewed in its place His Constitution wherein with the consent of the Brethren he orders how the four Stone of Wax should be yearly spent is as follows That it should be delivered to the Keeper of the Altar of St. Mary who was to take care that in each of the 3. Festivals of St. Peter one Wax Candle of five pound weight should burn continually before the great Altar from the beginning of the first Vespers till after the completorium of the Festival In like manner in the four Festivals of St. Mary and in those of St. Oswald St. Kyneberge St. Kyneswithe and St. Tibbe What remained of the four Stone of Wax and was left after the completorium of those Festivals he was to take care should be spent every day ad missam Sanctae Mariae There is another agreement between him and the Abbot of Crowland which I find at the very end of the Book called Swapham whose title is this De bunda de Fynfet Be it knowen to all that be olyve and to all that shall come here after that the Bounde of Fynfete which is made mention of in the Fyne betwix Akary Abbot of Peterburgh and his Covent and Henry Abbot of Croyland and his Covent it is set in an Angyl besyde a Plot that is called now a days Nomansland betwix the waters of Weland and of Nene Wich water of Nene hath its course directly from thence until Croyland-Brig after the cours of water be the wich men rowe from Croyland unto Dowesdale on the South syde of a Crosse set there And the water of Weland hath his cours directly from Croyland Brig unto Nomansland Hyrum by a water called Twandam Dyke And there the water of Weland fallyth into Nene And the seid Hyrum is set at a barre and an Old Welow anens the Dyke by the wich men go to a place called Tutlakisland He bought Land at Stowe near Simpringham where Abbot Robert afterward built houses and the custom being that the Abbot should have the Auxilia Sancti Michaelis before mentioned from Alwallon and Flettune viz. twenty Mark he gave 15. to the Convent and left only 5. to his Successors which Abbot Robert also assigned to the Convent This goodness therefore of his saith Swapham deserves to be had in everlasting remembrance and yet it would be tedious to tell the persecutions he endured Which were exceeding great from a hard King and from untamed Tyrants from Forresters and other
Chambers ut plures haberent testes suae Sanctimoniae castitatis The other belonging to Subjects that all Monks and Nuns who were under a Rule should every year openly in the Chapterhouse recite their profession before the whole company ut semper illius memores siant ad Deum devotiores He was commemorated here on the day after Symon and Jude as appears by the Kalander where over against that day I find Deposuio Domini Roberti de Lyndsey which doth not agree with Swapham's account who places his death on the 25th of October ALEXANDER de Holderness So named from the Country where he was born which also gave the preceding Abbot the name of Lyndesay He was a man much beloved by his Convent because he was a good Pastor who gave many very rich Vestments to the Church mentioned particularly in Swapham and built not only the Halls Mr. G. speaks of but the solarium magnum at the door of the Abbots Chamber and a Cellerarium under it and furnished the Church also with that pretious Crystal Vessel as Swapham calls it wherein the blood of Thomas a Becket was kept and with divers Reliquerâ—â— And the was about many other works in which death stopt him after he had governed four years compleat For he dyed on the same day he was chosen Abbot which was the Feast of St. Edmund King and Martyr or as he saith a little after the Vigils of that day An. 1226. And so it is in the Kalander Nov. 17. it should be 19. Depositio Alexandri Abbatis Anniversarium Reginaldi de Castre Matildis Vxoris ejus The Chron. Johan Abbatis agrees to the year beginning An. MCCXXVI with these words Ob. Alexander Abbas Burgi cui successit Martinus In his time the fifteenth part of all the Goods in England were given to the King Hen. 3. as appears by his Charter The Friers Minors also came into England as Abbot John bewails with many deep sighs and groans at the end of An. MCCXXIV Eodem Anno O dolor plusquam dolor O pestis truculentissima fratres Minores venerunt in Angliam He made this composition with Baldwin de Ver of Thrapestone from whom the Abbot and Convent claimed many payments de auxiliis Vicecom sectis Hundredorum visu franciplegil c. that he should he be free from those and all other demands upon the account of his Lands in the Abbots VII Hundreds paying yearly on the Feast of St. Michael half a Mark of Silver c Swaph fol. CCIII He made also a friendly confederacy with Hugo the Abbot of St. Edmund and their respective Convents who by this league were tied in a Bond of special affection for mutual Counsel and assistance for ever It is set down at large in Swapham Fol. XCIX but I shall only give the Reader a taste of it They were so linkt together as to account themselves one and the same Convent so that if one of the Abbots dyed the survivor being desired was immediately to go to his Convent and there before him they were to make a Canonical Election or if already made they were to declare it in his presence If the Friers of either place were by any necessity driven from their Monastery the other was to receive them and afford them a familiar refuge and aid with a place in their Quire Chapterhouse and Refectory secundum conversionis suae tempus This Abbot among others signed the confirmation of the great Charter of England and the Charter de Foresta in the 9th year of Hen. 3. unto which the great Bishops and Abbots and Earls are witnesses and among the rest Abbas de Burgo Sancti Petri but he is not named in the Annales Burton ad An. 1224. But that which was most memorable concerning this Abbot is the care he took about the VIII Monks augmented by his Predecessor which I find in a Charter by it self in these terms Vniversis Sanctae Ecclesiae filiis ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit Alexander permissione Dei Abbas de Burgo salutem in Domino c. Wherein out of his paternal care to provide well for those eight Monks which Robert his predecessor had added to their wonted number and at the Petition of the Convent he granted and confirmed to the Celerary all the new assarts belonging to the Monastery in Nasso Burgi sc Belasis with all its appurtenances Glintonhawe and the assart of Estuude and Franehawe of the purchace of the forenamed Robert Abbot of Will. de Ginniges and all the Meadow in Norburch to find fifty seam of Wheat and threescore of Barley and 80. of Oates for the drink of those VIII Monks He grants also to the Chamber of the Monastery for the increment of those Monks X. Marks of Silver to the wonted Rent of LXX Marks from Fiskerton Collingham and Scottere to be paid yearly at the 4. quarters viz. XX. Marks at the Feast of the Nativity c. And besides he grants to the same Chamber all his Land in Thurlbey with all the appurtenances c. His Successor Martin confirmed this Charter in the very same words Fol. CVI. MARTINVS de Ramsey Alexander dying on the Viglis of St. Edmund and being buried the next day after Martin was chosen on the fourth of the Nones of December that is on the second day of that month and was received by King Henry on the Octaves of St. Andrew and the same day confirmed by the Bishop of Lincoln after the examination of the Prior and three Monks About his Election in St. Katherines Chapel at Westminister and received his Bendiction as Mr. G. observes on the Feast of St. John Evang. apud Tinghurst and then was installed at Peterburgh on the Sunday after the Octaves of Epiphany Thus Swapham who lived in his time who tells he immediately discharged the Abbey of a debt remaining to the Exchequer from Abbot Robert for the disafforestation of Nassaburgh which was fifty Marks And so the Chron. Johan Abbatis relates ad An. 1227. Martinus Abbas Burgi solvit ad scaccarium Regis pro disafforestatione Nassa de Burgo 50. Marcas argenti The same year he got their Charters confirmed by King Henry for sixscore Marks of Silver to his own use and eight and twenty more to the Chancellors besides many other gifts The Story of Brianus is related by John Abbot as belonging to the same year 1227. with very little difference from the account Mr. G. hath given of it The Inquisition made before the Kings Justice was whether Brians Predecessors held of the Monastery or of the Forest utrum prius fuerunt Predecessores dicti Briani feoffati de domo Burgi an de foresta The Inquisition was taken apud Bernack per XII legales homines Regi transmissa Adjudicata est Warda dicti Briani Abbati de Burgo suis successoribus in perpetuum The next year 1228. the same Chronicon tells us the Pope summoned a Council at Rome but the ways were stopt by
deal of Riches besides Which is the more wonderful since he was so very charitable and frequently gave Presents and Jewels of Gold and Silver to King Henry and Eleanor his Queen and Prince Edward their Son and to the Nobles and great Men of England besides what Mr. G. mentions and all for the peace and tranquillity and defence of the Liberties of the Church He dyed in the latter end of the year as the MS. Chron. of Johan Abbatis P. 690. N. 30. saith Matth. Paris saith 1245. 29 Hen. 3. obiit Walterus Abbas de Burgo 2. Kaland. Januarii Which doth not perfectly agree with the Kalender of the Church where is placed on the 26. Decemb. Depositio Domini Walteri Abbatis Here Swapham's History ends WILLIAM de HOTOT The controversie that had been between this Church and Croyland in the time of Akarius was now revived between this Abbot and Richard Bardenay Abbot of Croyland contrary to the agreements made before between their Predecessors as the words are in the Continuator of the History of Croyland Lately Printed at Oxon. p. 478. Who lays the blame upon this Abbot because he hindred the Abbot of Croyland in their Fair time from taking Toll or making Attachments upon Crowland Bridge c. This he saith was in the year 1240. Which cannot be for then Walter was Abbot it should be therefore 1246. in the very beginning of William's time Who the next year made a composition about this matter 1247. as I find in our Records at the end of Swapham Fol. CLXX where there is an agreement between Richard Abbot of Croyland and Robert Abbot of Burgh about the Fen between Singleshould and Croyland and this agreement made in the Kings Court at Northampton before the King Justices between these two Abbots Richard and William de villa de Croyland ponte tempore Nundinarum which is too long to be inserted It is called finalis concordia but the quarrel was renewed in the time of William of Ramsey In the same year 1247. Robert de Taterhille Physician made his last Will and Testament and thereby gave to the Church of St. Peter his Body with his Palfrey to the Fabrick of St. John's Church V. Shillings and to the Church of St. Mary de Oxney two Shilling c. and four Acre of Arable Land apud Rumpele to find two Wax-Candles before the Altar of the blessed Virgin in Ecclesia majori de Burgo as long as the said Robert lived And if his Wife Ailice out-lived him she was to enojoy that Land and the house he also gave c. for her life if she remained a Widow and to find four Wax-Candles After both their deaths all to go to the Custos luminaris beatae Virginis to find so many lights before her Altar as that Land House and Meadow would furnish In the same year likewise An. 2. Will. 2di Abbatis as the words of the Record are there was a Subsidy given to Pope Innocent according to an Estimation that had been made of the Estate of the Abbey in the time of Stephen Nuncio to Pope Gregory of which subsidy the Obedientiaries as several officers in the Church were called paid the fourth part being taxed seven Pence for every pound of yearly Rent as followeth Estimatio Cellerariae 121 l.  Contributio 70 s. 7 d. Estimatio utriusque Sacristiae 106 l. 10 s. Contributio 72 s.  Estimatio Eleemosynariae 63 l. 6 s. Contributio 36 s. 2 d. Estimatio Pitanciariae  115 s. Contributio  40 d. Estimatio Infirmariae 7 l.  Contributio 3 s. 10 d. Estimatio Precentoriae  36 s. Contributio  12 d. Estimatio Refectoriae  20 s. Contributio  7 d. Estimatio Camerae praeter portionem Abbatis 4 l.  Contributio  28 d. Estimatio auxilii de Pylesgate 100 sol Contributio  35 d. Notandum quod Dominus Willielmus Abbas solus fecit hanc taxationem One half of which was paid at the Feast of St. Martins the other half at the Purification Here a fit occasion offers it self to mention the several donations bestowed upon the forenamed Offices of the Monastery which they called Obedientias and the Names of their benefactors which were very many especially to the Sacristy and to the Altars Sanctae Mariae and Sanctae Crucis in particular but it would prolong this work too much and swell it beyond the designed proportion Fol. CVII This William in the year 1248. obliged himself and Successors to several things very profitable for the Convent For instance that no composition should be made for the future about their possessions and liberties no Wards granted no Woods sold without the consent of the Convent no nor any thing of weight attempted without their advice And moreover that one or two Monks should without intermission be Custodes of the Mannors of the Abbot and two receivers of all the profits of them one of them a Monk residing in the house and one of the Chaplains of the Abbot And lest in process of time the condition of the Convent should be worsted he granted and promised that neither he nor his Successors would diminish their allowances nor procure them to be diminished And that the Parents and acquaintance of the Monks should be competently and sufficiently provided with better bread and beer than ordinary out of the Celerary of the Abbot c. To which he set his Seal and the Chapter theirs In the same year he granted out of his mere liberality to the Celerary of the Church his Mannor of Gosdkirk with all the appurtenances and all the Tenement called Belasise with the appurtenances for the eight pound Sterling in which he and his Predecessors stood bound at the four quarters of the year for the celebration of the principal Feasts and for the forty Shillings which Walter his Predecessor gave for celebrating the Feast of the Dedication of the Church Yet so that he and his Successors should pay the increment of Wheat and Malt for the augmentation of the VIII Monks throughout the whole year without substraction every week out of their own Granary Then follows the assignation of the Capital Messuage in Northbruch for the increase of the Chamber In this year as the Chron. of John Abbot tells us the King demanded a Subsidy of all the Prelates and this William gave him an hundred Pound of Silver presently after which he resigned his place but he doth not tell us any reason why he left it His words are ad An. MCCXLVIII Henricus Rex petiit subsidium à Prelatis Willielmus Abbas Burgi dedit ei C. marcas argenti Cui cedenti successit Johannes de Kaleto The cause which Matth. Paris who places this the year after 1249 assigns of his receding is something strange he having been so compliant as I have related with his Convent and so studious of their good And the damage they complained of was not so great but he had an honourable commemoration in
forty days of Penance that had been injoyned them And he also confirmed such Indulgences as had been granted by any of his Suffragans It bears date from Croyland the Thursday before the Feast of St. Michael There had been the like Indulgence granted a little before by Hugo Balsom Biship of Ely to those who out of devotion went piously to visit the Arm of St. Oswald and other Reliques in this Church c. To whom he grants 30. days relaxation of Penance Dated 11. Kalend. Sept. 1253. Another there is of Will Bishop of Ossory granting ten days Indulgence as I noted before to those that visited this Church on the Feast of the Dedication before mentioned All which show the true nature of Indulgences which were only relaxations of Penance and that other Bishops granted them as well as the Bishop of Rome as they also sometimes canonized a person for a Saint I have transcribed them all and set them down in the Appendix together with an Indulgence of Oliver Sutton some years after wherein he grants a merciful relaxation to all those that on certain times should devoutly come to the Altar of the blessed Virgin in her Chapel in the Monastery of Burgh which he had newly consecrated The same Boniface on the same day and year directed his Letters to the Bishop of Lincoln mentioning a Constitution of the Council held at Oxford which Excommunicated all those who either violated or disturbed the Ecclesiastical rights and liberties which he being desirous to maintain by these presents commands that all the disturbers or violaters of the rights and liberties of the Church of St. Peter de Burgo which had been granted by the Kings of England or any other persons should publickly and solemnly in general and by name be Excommunicated when it appeared they were guilty of such disturbance or violence About this time I suppose it was that Polebroke before mentioned out of which the ten pound for finding the five Hogsheads of Wine was paid was purchased by this Abbot The whole History of which is related in the Monasticon out of a Register of this Church in Sir Joh. Cotton's Library Which saith that Eustachius Vicecomes Founder of the Church of St. Mary de Huntingdon held two Fees de Honore Burgi in Clopton Polebroke Catworth c. Which Estate came afterward to one Will. de Lovetot and then to his Son Richard who held these two Fees in King Richard the first 's time as appears by his Charter in the first year of his Reign which confirms to the Abbot of Burgh among other Lands duo feoda in Clopton pertinentiis which were held by Richard de Lovetot Who had two Sons William and Nigell and three Daughters Amicitia Rosia and Margeria William dying without Issue the Estate came to Nigel who being a Beneficed Clergyman it came upon his death to the three Sisters The two Eldest of which though married had no share in these Fees but they fell to the youngest who was married to Richard Patrick and by him had a Son and a Daughter William and Margery She married to Will. de Vernon and her Brother William gave all his share in the Estate which was in the hand of Hugo Fleming and Tho. Smert and their Heirs who did homage to Will. Patrick for it to his Sister Margery Who after his death in her free Widowhood gave and granted all the Homages and Services of the aforesaid Fleming and Smert and their Heirs to John de Caleto Abbot of Burgh by her Deed. And afterward Rob. Fleming feofavit praedictum Johannem Abbatem de omnibus terris Tenementis quae habuit in Polebroke per Chartam Which Charter I find in our Records here remaining wherein Rob. de Flemenk gives to John de Caleto his Tenement in Polebroke and the Advouson of the Church In this year King Henry granted the very same Charter to this Church which Richard the first had done confirming all their Lands in the several Counties of the Realm by name It bears date at Windsor 12 Junii Anno Regni sui 37. The like for their Liberties in which is the Fair for eight days and the eight Hundreds c. and for their Woods In the next year 1254. three neighbouring Abbots dyed as I find in the Chron. of John Abbot viz. Thomas de Wells Abbot of Croyland David Abbot of Thorney and William Abbot of Ramsey Pope Innocent the IV. dyed also And in this year there was an aid granted to the King ad primogenit fil suum Militem faciend for the making Prince Edward a Knight An. Regis Hen. 38. sc de quolibet scuto de Honore Burgi XL. Sol. every Knights Fee of the Honour of Burgh paying forty Shillings which was received by one of the Friers Rich. de London So the Title of this account runs in our Book fol. CCCLXXI Recept fratris R. de Lond. de denariis Auxilii Domini Regis H. c. And then follow the names of all the Knights and their payments the first being Galfridus de Sancto Medardo who payd twelve Pound and therefore had six Knights Fees the second Radulph de Kameys who paid as much c. I have not room for the rest who are two and fifty in all some of which had but half Fees and others less In this year it was also that the King sent his Justices into many places in England to do right to every man and to free the Country from Thieves and Highwaymen Quorum unus fuit Abbas de Burgo saith Matth Paris one of which Justices was the Abbot of Burgh as Mr. G. hath observed In the year 1257. there was a power granted to this Abbot to distrain both of his Knights and of all other Freeholders who owed him service but had not done it that he might be able to perform the service wherein he stood bound to the King for his assistance in his War then in Wales For the Abbot stood bound to the King for Sixty Knights Fees which he had not performed and therefore a distress was granted against him upon all the Land he held of the King in that service without any prejudice to what the Church held in perpetuam eleemosynam In the next year I find a final agreement made between him and Ralph Crumbwell Son of Rob. Crumbwell about sixty Acres of Meadow in Collingham A confederation also between him and the Prior of Worcester whereby they engaged their Churches in such a mutual society and Friendship as I mentioned before between Alexander and the Abbot of St. Edmunds and several other things which I cannot find in what year they were done Particularly a Charter made by Steven de Horbiling wherein he gives to him and the Convent a Capital Messuage in Burgh in the Street called Tugate and another hard by it and three Acres of Arable Land c. Mr. G. saith p. 34. that he found no mention of the Rule of St. Benedict in this Monastery till
all the English Saints lye that he who desired to address himself to any particular Saint might know where to find him or her And speaking of Tibba he saith she was cosin to the two forenamed Sisters Kyneburgh and Kyneswith whose Reliques here were in such high esteem that Ingalphus reckons the treading of their pretious pledges under Feet as one of the principal profanations when this Monastery was demolished by the Danes in the year 870. when Altaria omnia suffossa c. Sanctarum Virginum Kyneburgae Kyneswitae Tibbae pretiosa pignora pedibus conculcata P. 23. Edit Oxon. Henry of Bolingbroke then Earl of Derby afterward Duke of Hereford and at last King of England lay for some time in this Monastery with a great train in the beginning of this Abbots Government Particularly in the year 1392 when his Courtiers as my Author calls them Hist Croyland Continuatio p. 489. threatned to destroy Depynge and its inhabitants as enemies to him and his Father as well as injurious to Croyland which had suffered much by them and the neighbouring people of Holland Which put them into such a fright that the Steward of the Courts of the Earl of Kent Lord of Depynge and four and twenty of the best of the Town came with all speed to Burgh St. Peter and submitted themselves to the mercy of the Earl of Derby Whose Treasurer interceded for them and procured their Pardon upon promised confirmed by their Oath that they would keep the Peace hereafter with all Hollanders and most strictly punish all disturbers of it that could be found among them WILLIELMUS GENGE If he were the first Mitred Abbot of this Church as Mr. G. sayes Sir H. Spelman's notion is not true that they put on Miters in token they had Episcopal Jurisdiction and being advanced to the dignity of Barons sate in Parliaments which no other Abbots did For the Abbot of Burgh St. Peter sate in Parliament in the 4th year of Edw. 3. as appears by the summons to the Parliament at Winton And there is little truth also in what is commonly said that Mitred Abbots were not subject to any Bishop for after this Abbots time I shall show presently the Bishop of Lincoln kept both the Abbot and Convent for some time under his Visitation There are certain Constitutions I find made by him 1398. and others in the years 1401. and 1406. which I can but mention JOHANNES DEEPING The first of Henry 5th was the fifth year of his Abbotship as a memorandum still remaining tells us and thence we learn he was made Abbot 1407. All that I find of him are some Statutes which he made 1409. about the right observations of certain Festivals and others made by him in the year 1420. Which he calling the eleventh year of his Abbotship from thence it appears he was not made Abbot till the year 1409 He defended also the right the Church had to the Mannor of Walcote in Lincolnshire as I have observed already in the 13 year of Henry the 4th an 1314. against Thomas of Lancaster the Kings Son making it appear that it had been part of the Demeasnes of the Abbey from the first Foundation and had never held of the aforesaid Thomas his Mannor in Holderness In the year 1421. which was the eighth of Hen. 5. a complaint being made to the King of grievous excesses and abuses among the black Monks of the Order of St. Benet all the Abbots and Priors of that Order were Hist Croyl Contin p. 513. summoned to appear before the King at Westminster Where in the Chapterhouse on the 7th of May the King being personally present the charge against them was read by the Bishop of Exeter and he with several persons on both sides were appointed to consider it and to make a reformation which they all promised the King hereafter faithfully to observe RICHARDVS ASHTON In his time about the year 1448. the controversie between this Abbey and that of Croyland revived again the Metes and Bounds of the several Fens belonging to each which had been limited in divers places which the History mentions by crosses and other marks being so worn Hist Croyl Continuatio P. 525. c. out by carelesness in length of time that a very obscure and confused knowledge was the most that was left of them But by the consent of parties and the supervising of the Bishop of Lincoln the business was referred to four indifferent Arbitrators the Abbots and their Convents binding themselves under their Seals in an Obligation of a thousand Marks to acquiesce in what they should Decree Who met several times and inspected the Evidences on both sides but after much time and expences could not agree to determine any thing but resolved to throw the matter upon the Abbots themselves to make an end of it Who met at Ibury a Mannor of the Abbot of Burgh with the Priors of each Monastery and heard from one of the Arbitrators what it was which they would not determin without the express consent of both parties but after much discourse between them they could come to no agreement nor was the controversie setled till many years after But the most remarkable thing in this Abbots time is the pains he took in the regulation of Divine Service in this Monastery about which he made many Ordinances with the consent of all the Convent and drew up a Gustomary out of the ancient usages of the Church for all the Sundays from the Octaves of Whitsunday to the first Sunday in Advent All which are yet extant in his Grace's the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie's Library at Lambeth in two Volumes One written by Simon of Yarwell as he tells us in six verses at the beginning of the Book the other by John Trentam who concludes it with the like verses By this Customary they were directed how to sing their Offices longer or shorter every day as is expressed in the last Rubrick of it Before these Books is prefixed the Ecclesiastical Kalendar which I have had occasion frequently to name at the side of which are set down those Festivals or Anniversaries which were peculiar to this Church and their neighbour as follows January 3. Depositio Domini Martini Abbatis viz. the first of that name 6. Will. de Hotot Abbatis Anniversarium Richardi de Waterville Johannis filii ejus 13. Depositio Elfini Abbatis Anniversarium Matthai Capellani 23. Depositio Domini Elfrici Archiepiscopi February 21. Depositio Domini Andreae Abbatis Abbas missam celebravit 26. Commemoratio fundatorum omnium benefactorum March 1. Depositio Joh. de Caleto Abbatis pro anima Patris Matris ejus Anniversarium Ivonis Supprioris The Abbot was to say Mass himself and the Prior read Divine Service usque ad dirige Quia ista Depositio est in Albis One Ivo de Gunthorp gave all his Lands in Witherington to this Church as appears by the Charter of Rich. 1. who perhaps
by the many shots they made at length do quite deface and spoil Picture The odiousness of this Act gave occasion I suppose to a common Fame very rife at that time and whence Mercurius Rusticus might have his relation viz. That divine Vengeance had signally seised on some of the principal Actors That one was struck blind upon the place by a Re-bound of his Bullet That another dyed mad a little after neither of which I can certainly attest For though I have made it my business to enquire of this I could never find any other judgment befal them then but that of a mad blind Zeal wherewith these persons were certainly possest And now I am engaged in telling the story of their impiety and profaneness at Peterburgh 't will be no great excursion to step out to Yaxley a neighbouring Town and mention one thing done there Which was This on the 10th of June 1643. some of Captain Beaumont's Souldiers coming thither They break open the Church doors piss in the Font and then baptize a Horse and a Mare using the solemn words of Baptism and signing them with the sign of the Cross But to return to our reforming Rabble at Peterburgh when there was no more painted or carved work to demolish Then they rob and rifle the Tombs and violate the Monuments of the dead And where should they first begin but with those of the two Queens who had been there interr'd The one on the North side the other on the South side of the Church both near unto the Altar First then they demolish Queen Katherin's Tomb Hen. the Eighth his repudiated Wife They break down the Rails that enclosed the place and take away the black Velvet Pall which covered the Herse overthrow the Herse it self displace the Gravestone that lay over her Body and have left nothing now remaining of that Tomb but only a Monument of their own shame and villany The like they had certainly done to the Queen of Scots but that her Herse and Pall were removed with her Body to Westminster by King James the first when He came to the Crown But what did remain they served in like manner that is her Royal Arms and Escutcheons which hung upon a Pillar near the place where she had been interr'd were most rudely pulled down defaced and torn In the North Isle of the Church there was a stately Tomb in memory of Bishop Dove who had been 30 years Bishop of the place He lay there in Portraicture in his Episcopal Robes on a large Bed under a fair Table of black Marble with a Library of Books about him These men that were such Enemies to the name and Office of a Bishop and much more to his Person hack and hew the poor Innocent Statue in pieces and soon destroy'd all the Tomb. So that in a short space all that fair and curious Monument was buried in its own rubbish and Ruines The like they do to two other Monuments standing in that Isle the one the Tomb of Mr. Worm the other of Dr. Angier who had been Prebendary of that Church In a Place then called the new Building and since converted to a Library there was a fair Monument which Sir Humphrey Orm to save his Heir that charge and trouble thought fit to erect in his own life time where he and his Lady his Son and Wife and all their children were lively represented in Statues under which were certain English verses written mention'd before in this Book Mistake not Reader I thee crave This is an Altar not a Grave Where fire raked up in Ashes lyes And hearts are made the Sacrifice c. Which two words Altar and Sacrifice 't is said did so provoke and kindle the Zealots indignation that they resolve to make the Tomb it self a Sacrifice and with Axes Poleaxes and Hammers destroy and break down all that curious Monument save only two Pilasters still remaining which shew and testifie the elegancy of the rest of the Work Thus it hapned that the good old Knight who was a constant frequenter of Gods publick Service three times a day outlived his own Monument and lived to see himself carried in Effigie on a Souldiers back to the publick Market-place there to be sported withall a Crew of Souldiers going before in Procession some with Surplices some with Organ Pipes to make up the solemnity When they had thus demolished the chief Monuments at length the very Gravestones and Marbles on the Floor did not escape their Sacrilegious hands For where there was any thing on them of Sculptures or Inscriptions in Brass These they force and tear off So that whereas there were many fair pieces of this kind before as that of Abbot William of Ramsey whose large Marble Gravestone was plated over with Brass and several others the like there is not any such now in all the Church to be seen though most of the Inscriptions that were upon them are preserved in this Book One thing indeed I must needs clear the Souldiers of which Mercurius Rusticus upon misinformation charges them with viz. That they took away the Bell-Clappers and sold them with the Brass they plucked off from the Tombs The mistake was this The neighbourhood being continually disturbed with the Souldiers jangling and ringing the Bells auker as though there had been a scare-fire though there was no other but what they themselves had made some of the Inhabitants by night took away the Clappers and hid them in the Roof of the Church on purpose only to free their ears from that confused noise which gave occasion to such as did not know it to think the Souldiers had stolen them away Having thus done their work on the Floor below they are now at leisure to look up to the Windows above which would have entertained any persons else with great delight and satisfaction but only such Zealots as these whose eyes were so dazled that they thought they saw Popery in every Picture and piece of painted Glass Now the Windows of this Church were very fair and had much curiosity of workmanship in them being adorned and beautified with several Historical passages out of Scripture and Ecclesiastical story such were those in the Body of the Church in the Isles in the new Building and elsewhere But the Cloister Windows were most famed of all for their great Art and pleasing variety One side of the Quadrangle containing the History of the Old Testament another that of the New a Third the Founding and Founders of the Church a Fourth all the Kings of England downward from the first Saxon King All which notwithstanding were most shamefully broken and destroyed And amongst other things thus demolisht in the Windows there was one thing Fame had made very remarkable and that was the story of the Paschal Pickeril The thing was this Our Saviour was represented in two places in the Cloyster and in the great Western Window sitting at his last Supper with his twelve Apostles In