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
to be loved than feared and out of mere respect to piety took in two and twenty Monks by whose merits and the merits of all the Saints he prayes the Lord to grant this Abbot pardon and eternal joy Chron. MS. Johan Abbatis saith MCCX obiit Akarius Abbas Burgi cui successit Robertus de Lyndesey He was commemorated on the 13th of March which was Depositio Domini Akarii Abbatis ROBERTVS de Lyndesey When ad An. 1210. John Abbot saith that Rob. de Lyndesey succeeded Akarius it must be understood thus that four year after he came into his place till which time not only this Monastery but many other Churches were kept by King John in his own hands So the same Writer tells us at the year 1214. Vacabant sedes Cathedrales c. ' The Cathedral Sees of York and Durham were void with the Abbey of Wytheby In the Province of Canterbury the Bishopricks of Worcester Exeter Chichester the Abbeys of St. Edmund St. Austin apud Cant. Redyng St. Bennet de Holme St. Martin de Bello Ramsey Burgh Cirencester and Evesham All which were in manu Domini Regis but this year libenter concessit ut istis Ecclesiis vacantibus Pastores providerenter Only he desired it might be secundum formam consuetudinem Regni the Bishops on the other side contradicting and desiring it might be done according to the Canons Thus he who adds that hereupon the Interdict which had continued upon the Kingdom VI. year III. months and XVI days was taken off viris Religiosis non facta restitutione bonorum but without any care that the Religious should have their Goods restored to them So much did Pandulphus favour the Kings inclination This Abbot with whom this Church was happily provided but whether by the Kings Nomination or no I find not for the Chron. before named saith some Abbeys proceeded immediately to chuse their Abbots that the King might not obtrude one upon them was a wise discreet and honest man in all things very provident as Swapham hath delivered his Character to us Who relates a great many worthy things he had done and gifts he had bestowed on the Church while he was only Sacrist Among which that of making thirty glass Windows which before were stuffed with Reed and Straw was one of the least He made one Window also of Glass in the Regulare Locutorium another in the Chapterhouse on the side where the Prior sat nine in the Dormitory and three in the Chapel of St. Nicolas He made the whole Chancel of Oxney and a Table with the Image of the Blessed Virgin upon the Altar He augmented also the Dormitory and made private Chambers and then built a Larder hard by the Kitchin for the use of the Celerarius Which solicitous goodness of his moved the Convent with one consent to raise him to a higher station by chusing him for their Abbot whom they presented to King John at Winchester upon the day of the Assumption of St. Mary Being kindly received by him he went to Northampton and there on St. Barnaby's day received from Hugh 2. Bishop of Lincoln ordinationis suae benedictionem As soon as he returned home he offered a rich Cope and a Pall and then made it his business to deliver the Country from that grievous slavery and bondage they were in by the Forresters and the Beasts which at that time domineered over men Mr. G. hath given some account of it I shall only add that this deafforestation was made in the year 1216. as appears by the agreement made between this Abbot and the Milites and Francolani who had any interest in the Nasse of Burgh which is annexed to the Description of all the woods and their names and the names of those to whom they belonged when it was disafforested In the year before which 1215. King John had granted his Charter confirming all the liberties of the Church which was confirmed by Pope Innocent the Third as may be seen in Matth. Paris and there is the very same in our Records at the end of Swapham Besides the benefactions mentioned by Mr. G. the first of which was only covering the Abbots Hall with lead versus claustrum in that part next the Cloyster I find divers others no less memorable For he gave four Marks of Silver to the Infirmary and eight Shillings custodi Hospitum to buy Matts and other necessaries for his Office and got a Bond out of the bands of the Jews for five and thirty Mark upon which they demanded a vast summ of money it being an old debt He freed also the Tenants of this Church in the Mannor of Stanwig à secta Vn dredi de Hecham for a summ of money which he gave to the Earl of Ferers He purchased likewise the Advowson of the Church of Clopton and gave two Marks of Gold and his own Silver Cup ad feretrum Sanctae Kyneburgae He made the new inward gate and the new Stable for the Abbots Horses and the Vivarium near the Church-yard He built not only the Hall of Collingham but of Stowe which Martin Abbot afterward changed and a Chamber at Tinewell another at Cottingham a Summer-house at Stanwick with a Chapel and almost finished the Chapel at Kettring Barns he built in several places and erected the great building beyond the Bakehouse and Malthouse and by a plea against the Abbot of Croyland obtained the power of inclosing as much as he pleased of the common Pasture in the Marsh of Pykirke and made it separate and finding the Church-yard too strait he gave to the honour of God and of his Church a part of his own Vineyard to inlarge it for the Burial of the Monks and of their Parents and Friends which he surrounded also with a strong and high Wall Anciently the Abbot and Convent received 60. Marks of Silver yearly from Fiskertune and Scoter for their Clothes and Shoes which he finding to be too little added 20. Mark more And twenty shillings also for the celebration of three Feasts in Copes viz. the Transfiguration of our Lord the Translation of St. Thomas and the birth day of St. Hugh For Hugh Bishop of Lincoln who dyed in the year 1200. was canonized a Saint by Pope Honorius 2. in this Robert's time An. 12200. The Bull is at large in the Records at the end of Swapham Fol. LXXXVII directed to the Bishop Chapter Clergy and people of the Diocess of Lincoln bearing date from the same place and the same day and year with that in Matthew Paris who hath set down but a little scrap of it In his time the Monastery petitioned Pope Gregory the 9. representing the danger they were in to lose some Tythes which they had held from the very Foundation of the Church because some Deeds concerning them were lost or could not be found and therefore desiring that he would command some very old men to be examined about this matter before they dyed lest they should lose all
they had received investiture into their Abbeys from the King and not from Anselme So Godricus held his Abbey of Peterburgh but one year which was an unhappy year too for in that year Foreign Thieves from Almain France and Flanders broke in through a window into the Church and stole away a Cross of beaten Gold with many Jewels two Chalices and Patins two golden Candlesticks which Elfricus Archbishop of York had given to this Church Although the Thieves were pursued and taken yet the goods were not recovered but came into the Kings hand who held them so fast that the Abbey could not retrieve them Godricus being deposed the Abbey was destitute of an Abbot about the space of four years all which time it continued in the Kings hand at length King Henry 1. in the year 1103. and the 3 or 4. of his Reign sent an Abbot unto them Until these days of King Henry all the Charters and Grants of former Kings and other Benefactors to the Church were without Seals and signed only with their Names and Figures of a Cross but now they began to affix Seals to their Deeds 16. MATTHIAS Was the man whom King Henry sent to the Abbey of Burgh after that Godricus was deposed One may almost smell the wind that blew Matthias hither for he was Brother to Galfridus Ridel the Kings Chief Justice to whom Matthias gave the Mannor of Pightesly belonging then to his Church What conveyance Abbot Matthias made to his brother Galfridus I cannot determine but Galfridus resolved to hold the Mannor of Pightesly as his own and not of the Monastery of Peterburgh which caused a long suit betwixt them until at length an agree-ment was made betwixt the Abbot not this Matthias but one of his Successors and Galfridus that he should hold the said Mannor for his life paying to the Abbot the yearly rent of four Marks and that after his decease the Mannor should return again to the Church of Peterburgh which it did not long after for Galfridus was drowned at Sea with William Son of King Henry Not long after Abbot John de Sais gave the King 60 Marks in Silver to confirm again the Mannor of Pightesly to his Monastery Matthias held his Monastery of Peterburgh but one year for on the same day he entred thereon on the same day twelve month he died at Gloucester about the year 1105. and the King again kept the Monastery in his hand three years till the coming of 17. ERNVLFVS He was Prior of Canterbury and there being then a Council holden at London wherein many were promoted to Ecclesiastical Dignities Ernulfus was offered to the Monks of Peterburgh for their Abbot and they willingly accepted of him knowing him to be both a pious and prudent man Whilst he was Prior of Canterbury the business concerning the marriage of Priests was hastily agitated and Anselme the then Archbishop was strongly for the negative writing Letters to this Ernulfus which are to be seen in Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments Whilst Ernulfus was Abbot here all things went happily with the Monastery Ernulfus promoting the good thereof by the Kings favour which he had in a plentiful measure He built the new Dormitory the Necessary and finished the Chapter-house which was began before he made an agreement betwixt his Convent and those Knights who held Lands of his Abby that every Knight See in Adulphus should pay yearly to the Sacristary two parts of his Tythes and at his death the third part of his whole Estate for his burial in the Church all his Knightly endowments as well Horses as Armes being to be brought with his body and offer'd up to S. Peter the Convent were to receive the Corps with procession and to perform the office for the dead In the time of this Ernulfus Anno 1112. was the Church of Thirlby near Bourn in Lincolnshire dedicated by Robert Bloet then Bishop of Lincoln Thirlby Church dedicated Swapham fol. 115. pag. 1. which Church with the Mannor belonged then to this Monastery of Peterburgh Abbot Ernulfus was translated from this his government in his seventh year Anno 1114. For King Henry being to pass over the Sea and waiting for a wind at Bourn he sent to Peterburgh for Ernulfus to come unto him to consult about weighty Affairs he being the Kings Confessor but being come the King with Raulfus so our Peterburgh writers call him but Bishop Godwin Rodolphus the Archbishop of Canterbury importuned him to take upon him the Bishoprick of Rochester which Ernulfus did though much against his will the Monks also taking it very heavily wept for the loss of their Abbot Ernulfus being Bishop of Rochester wrote a Book in answer to certain questions propounded See the Catalogue at the end O. and B. by Lambertus Abbot of S. Bertine as also another book of incestuous Marriages although Pitseus makes no mention of him Ernulfus being thus removed the King gave his Monastery to Johannes de Sais or 18. JOHN of Salisbury He being appointed Abbot was honourably received of the Monks He took a journey to Rome but I find not to what end and returned the year following In his time the Monastery was burnt again only the Chapter-house Dormitory Necessary and the new Refectory escaped the flames which took hold of the Village and wholly consumed it Wittlesey writes that one in the Bakehouse being to kindle a fire with much pains could not make it burn which John the Abbot being present seeing in a cholerick mood cried The Devil kindle it and presently the fire flamed to the top of the house ran through all the Abbots Offices and thence to the Town The life burning in one of the Towers for nine days together a violent wind drove the Coals upon the Abbots house and fired that also Afterwards Abbot John began to build the Church anew Anno 1118. which he industriously prosecuted but lived not to finish it for he held his Abby but eleven years and died of a Dropsie Anno 1125. being the 25 or 26 of King Henry I. A year before this was the Church of Castri dedicated as may be seen by an Inscription yet continuing over the Chancel door XV KL MAII DEDICATIO HUJUS ECCLESIAE MCXXIIII Abbot John being dead the King again kept the Monastery in his hand two years And although as hath been said this John gave the King 60 Marks for the confirmation of the Mannor of Pightesly yet upon the death of John the Abbot of Peterburgh the King having all at his disposing for 60 Marks more sold Pightesly to Richard Basset and for Abbot of this Monastery appointed 19. HENRICVS de Angeli Or Henry of Anjou who was made Abbot Anno 1128. He being ambitious sought after many preferments but held them not long for besides he was unstable and voluntarily deserted his present Governments or else found opposition in new ones that he was compelled to withdraw Having an Abbey beyond Sea he got a
Commission to come over into England to gather up Peter pence which gave him opportunity to espy out some preferment or other here therefore coming to the King and much complaining of the troubles in his own Countrey whose Wars by reason of his age he could not endure he besought the King to conferr upon him the Abby of Peterburgh which was then vacant which he being allyed to the King obtained notwithstanding that both Archbishops and Bishops opposed it telling the King it was not lawful for him to hold two Abbeys But the King afterwards perceiving his fraud and covetousness commanded him to depart the Realm when he had held the Abbey of Peterburgh 5 years and so Anno 1133. he returned to his Abbey De Angeli In the first year that this John came to be Abbot here as Wittlesey writes there were heard and seen in the night time throughout Lent in the Woods betwixt Stamford and Peterburgh Hunters with their Horns and Dogs all of them of black and ugly complexion some riding upon black Horses and some upon Goats they had great staring eyes and were seen sometimes twenty and sometimes thirty in a company 20. MARTINVS de Vecti So called of the Isle of Wight from whence he came some call him Martin Cook He was first Prior of S. Neots and the King gave him the Monastery of Peterburgh into which he was honourably received by the Monks upon S. Peters day Anno 1133. being the 33 of King Henry 1. He was very industrious in repairing and perfecting the buildings of the Monastery and especially the Church to the dedication whereof anew there came thither Alexander Bishop of Lincoln the Abbots of Thorney Croyland Ramsey and others to whom Abbot Martin shewed the Holy Reliques and S. Oswalds arm Anno 1123. 23 years after its burning The tokens of which conflagration are yet to be seen or of some other in the inside of the West Porch above This Martin built a Gate of the Monastery but which I cannot say He likewise changed the situation of the Village to the Western side of the Monastery for before it was on the East he appointed the market place as now it is and built many houses about it He changed also the place of Wharfage for Boats coming to the Town to that place which is now commonly used He removed the Church of S. John Baptist which before stood in a Close still known by the name of S. John's Close to the place where now the said Church standeth And as he was a great builder so was he also in some sort a demolisher for he pulled down a Castle standing near the Church which perhaps was Mount Thorold formerly mentioned He planted the Vineyard and added many buildings to his own dwellings He entertained King Stephen who came hither to see the Arm of S. Oswald to whom he offered his Ring and forgave the Church 40 Marks which it ought him and confirmed many other Priviledges Abbot Martin in the time of his Government took a journey to Rome and along with him the Charter of King Ethelred that the then Pope Eugenius the Third might grant his Confirmation But in Wittlesey the Consistory there arose a debate about the form of the Charter which hitherto had gone currant for the space of almost 500 years for one of the Cardinals present besought the Pope that he would not give the honour of his name to another whereupon a new Charter was granted to Abbot Martin in the name of Eugenius and the name of King Ethelred Founder and Benefactor was put out Martin having sitten in his Abbattical See the Appendix Chair here about the term of 22 years died Anno 1155. which was the second year of King Henry 2. And there succeeded 21. WILLIHELMVS de Watervile Vid. Chartam in App. Who being Elected Abbot by the Monks the Election easily obtained the Kings ratification in regard this William was one of his Clerks or Chaplains The King also confirmed unto him and his Abbey the eight Hundreds of that part of the County which had formerly been granted by the Kings Predecessors This Abbot erected a Priory in Stamford and the Church of S. Michael there He setled a yearly maintenance upon the Church of S. John Baptist in Peterburgh enacting that the Chaplain should yearly upon Michaelmas day bring his Church-Key to the Sacrist of the Monastery as an acknowledgment of his dependance upon it He was very industrious in perfecting the buildings of his Monastery and adding new ones He built the Cloister and covered it with Lead He ordered Cloister and disposed the Quire of the Church in that manner as it lately stood and in some sort continues still He founded Quire the Chappel of Thomas Becket which was finished by his Successor and is now standing in the middle of the Arch of the Church-Porch as you enter into the Church He built a Chappel also in his own House and other necessary Offices At length he was accused by his Monks to the Archbishop so that he was deposed without conviction or his own confession as our Writers say of any crime deserving that censure when he had held his Abby twenty years Anno 1175. being the 21 or 22 year of King Henry the Second And although our Peterburgh Writers are silent in the cause of his deposition yet others have taken notice of it Johannes Brompton Jornallensis relates it thus that Richard Archbishop of Canterbury came to the Abby Pag. 1107 1108. of Peterburgh and deposed William of Watervile the Abbot there for that he against the will of the Monks entred with a band of armed men into the Church and took from thence some Reliques and the arm of S. Oswald pro denariis ad Judaeos invadendos the Monks standing in defence of their Reliques many of them were grievously wounded Roger Hoveden relates another reason as the most principal which he addeth to that of Jornallensis Pag. 313. that this Abbot William was fallen into the Kings disfavour for his brothers sake one Walter of Watervile in the Parish of Achrich in the County of Northampton where anciently was his Castle whom Abbot William received with others of that party being then in Arms against the King which shewed that Abbot William was not so Loyal to his Master the King as he should have been but abetting with his brother it might cause his own deposition 22. BENEDICTVS William being deposed the King held the Abby in his hand two years and then Benedict Prior of Canterbury was thought the fittest for it and made Abbot Anno 1177. in the Twenty fourth of King Henry the Second He was a very Learned man and as Pitseus who gives him very high commendations doth certifie wrote two Books Vitam S. Thomae Cantuariensis De ejusdem post mortem miraculis and certain others saith he yet because I find these Books mentioned in the Catalogue of this Abbots Library it may be
claudit tumulus Pro clausis ergo rogemus 24 ACHARIVS Fol. 456. Whom Hoveden calls Zacharias was Prior of S. Albanes and elected thence to be Abbot here Anno 1200. He by his care and providence much enriched his Church and built many buildings in several Mannors belonging to it He maintained suit with the Abbot of Croyland for the Marsh of Singlesholt and recovered it letting it again to the Abbot of Croyland for a yearly acknowledgement of four stone Petras of Wax He added to the number of Monks that then were two and twenty more And when he had happily governed this Abby the space of ten years he died Anno 1210. being the 11 year of King John And there succeeded 25. ROBERTVS de Lindesey Glass-windows Who was Monk and Sacristary of Burgh and now Abbot unto which he paved the way by his good deeds towards the Church for whereas the windows were before only stuffed with straw to keep out the weather he beautified above thirty of them with glasses and his example brought the rest by degrees to the like perfection He built also the Chancel at Oxney being chosen Abbot he was presented to the King at Winchester and had his election confirmed And at Northampton he received Episcopal benediction from Hugo the second then Bishop of Lincoln in the year 1214. for after the death of Acharius the King held the Abbey in his own hand three years He settled the Hundred of Nassaburgh in peace and quietness for in those days the Foresters with their Cattel over-ran all so that the inhabitants of the Towns therein were much endammaged by them and their domineering in these parts by vertue of Forest Lands therefore Abbot Robert made a composition with the King giving him Vid. Chartam in App. 1320 Marks for the dis-foresting that part of the Country He covered the Abbots Hall with Lead He made in the South Cloister a Lavatory of Marble for the Monks to wash their hands in when they went to Meals their Hall being near on the other The Lavatory side of the wall the door leading into it being yet standing though the Hall be long since demolished only some small remains on the wall side are yet to be seen but the Lavatory continued entire until the year 1651. and then with the whole Cloister it was also pulled down Abbot Robert at his entrance into his place found but seventy two Monks to which number he added eight more assigning the Mannor of Bellasise for their maintenance having built a fair Mannor-house there which Bellasise builded partly is now standing He built also the Hall at his Mannor of Collingham In the time of this Robert the fourth Laterane Council was held under Innocent the fourth Pope of that name Anno 1215. Abbot Robert was cited and went thither and received injunctions for his Convent concerning several times of fasting and other duties which at his coming home he put into execution Fol. 287. In his time there arose great discords betwixt the Civil and Ecclesiastical States that the Land stood interdicted by the space of six years Then followed bitter Wars betwixt King John and his Barons wherein how the Monastery of Peterburgh behaved themselves I find but little in any of our Writers Only by what Matthew Paris relates it may be conjectured they were none of the Kings friends though their Patron Ludovicus saith he besieging the Castle of Dover a long time in vain at length the King passed over into Suffolk and Norfolk and miserably wasted those Countries And coming to Peterburgh and Croyland he plundered the Churches there his Officer Savaricus de Mallo Leone with his accomplices committing many outrages in the Country thereabout At Croyland he fired all their stacks which the inhabitants had newly gathered in and so returned to the Town of Lynn with great spoils But afterwards the King taking his journey from Lynn Northward all his Carriages and Treasures were cast away and perished as he passed the River Wellestre Yet afterwards the Abbot of Peterburgh was summoned to assist King Henry the third in the siege of Rokingham Castle which was then the Abbots and the Abbot himself went in person in that expedition till at length that Castle was reduced to the Kings obedience but whether it was this Abbot Robert or some Hon. de Pightesly of his Successors mine Author tells me not Pag. 288. In the time of this Abbot Robert about the year 1217 according to Pitseus there was one Hugo Candidus or Hugh White a Monk of this Monastery of whom the said Author in his Book De Scriptoribus makes mention who wrote the whole History of his Monastery whose works were extant in later times for John Leland who lived in the days of King Henry 8 collected many things out of him but whether or where the said Author be now extant I know not Pitseus tells us also of another Hugh In Appendice Pag. 865. a Monk of this Church whom he calls an English Historian but professeth his ignorance of what he wrote or when he lived Perhaps both might be but one and the same Hugh But perhaps Wittlesey an antient Writer of this Church may make it clearer by telling us that there was one Hugo Albus so called from his white complexion as being subject to bleed a Monk here who was famous in the time of Abbot Ernulfus and of John Henry Martin and William his Successors who wrote the History of this Monastery and so was before Pitseus his account Robert having been Abbot here the space of seven years died October 25. 1222. being the seventh year of King Henry 3. He was not very rich in Books his Library consisting only of these few Numerale Magistri W. de Montibus cum aliis rebus Tropi Magistri Petri cum diversis summis Sententiae Petri Pretanensis Psalterium Glossatum Aurora Psalterium non glossatum Historiale 26. ALEXANDER de Holdernesse Who was first a Monk then Prior and lastly Abbot of this place after the death of Robert A great builder he was and built the Hall at his Mannor of Oundle that also at Castre Eyebury and other places Having been Abbot here only four years he died on the day of his entrance November 20. 1226. and of King Henry 3. the Eleventh These were his Books Psalterium Concordantiae utriusque Test Claustrum animae Opus alterum quod perfecit Rogerus de Helpston Aurora Poenitentiale Tria Breviaria Concilium Lateranense cum aliis rebus Corrogationes Promethei Missale The first day of May before the death of this Alexander there died at Peterburgh Richardus de Mansco Mr. Philipot Catal. Canc. Angl. pag. 10. Bishop of Durham and Chancellor of England 27. MARTINVS de Ramsey Being a Monk of Peterburgh was elected Abbot after the death of Alexander And on S. Andrew's Eve the King ratified his Election which was also confirmed by Hugo then Bishop of Lincoln in the Chappel
of S. Katharine at Westminster On the Feast of S. John the Evangelist following he received the said Bishops blessing at Tinghurst and on the Eve of Epiphany following he was received at Peterburgh In his first year he paid to the Kings Exchequer 5 Marks for the disforesting of Nassaburgh and 28 more to the Chancellor In that year died one Brianus de la Marc the Kings Forester in the Marsh of Kesteven and Holland and the King passing by that way towards York seized upon all the goods of the said Brian But Abbot Martin procured the Kings Writ to Hugo de Nevile then Justice of the Forest to enquire if the said Brian was not enfeoffed in certain Lands belonging to the Monastery of Peterburgh which being examined at a Commission holden at Bernat and found to be so the Heir of the said Brian was awarded as Ward to the Abbot of Peterburgh But Abbot Martin gave the said ward to Radulfus de Nevile then Bishop of Chichester and the Kings Chancellor This Abbot Martin in the year 1228. received a grand priviledge from Gregory the Ninth Pope of that name wherein this particular that whensoever there should be a general interdiction of the Land the Monks of Peterburgh when they said their Service might shut the Church doors ring no bell nor say their Service aloud but with a low voice to themselves that the people might not participate thereof But I have not found that ever this was put in practice In the year 1231 Hugh Bishop of Lincoln visited this Monastery and gave Articles to be observed both by the Abbot as also by the Convent Martin having been Abbot the space of six years died His Library was but thin Missale Item Missale ad Altare S. Katharinae Capitula collecta Evangelica in 2 Voluminibus ad magnum Altare 28. WALTERVS de S. Edmundo Who was first Monk then Sacristary and at length Abbot of this Church being void by the death of Martin Anno 1233. the 17 of King Henry 3. Here Robert Swapham ends his story of the succession of Abbots whom hitherto we have been much guided by but now we must follow Wittlesey and a few other Records which like Absirtus his limbs being scattered about in the late dispersion have come to our hands This Abbot Walter was a man generally good pious honest Loyal free and liberal in the dispensation of the demesnes belonging to his Church In those days King Henry was straitly put to it for maintenance and was constrained to live upon Ecclesiastical benevolence going from one Monastery to another to be entertained And he found Abbot Walter very free towards K. Henry at Peterburgh him who at two several times gave him the best entertainment his Monastery could afford At one of which times the Queen and Prince Edward came with the King This Abbot gave the King the summ of 60 Marks towards the marriage of Margaret his Daughter with Alexander 3. King of Scotland He added 30 more Monks to the number erected many buildings to those which were before Having been Abbot the space of 13 years he died Anno 1245 being the 30 of King Henry 3. What that dedication of this Church was which Matth. Paris mentions Anno 1238. I could never yet fully understand Page 481. But we must not leave Abbot Walter thus for the time of his Government is remarkable Three times saith Wittlesey with great costs and charges he journeyed to Rome The first was to have redress concerning the Church of Castre against R. de Somercot who was a Cardinal this journey he took when he was but Sacristary The second journey was being Abbot not to but towards Rome when he was summoned to be at a Council there with the rest of the English Clergy which Council was held there Anno 1234. under Pope Gregory 9. saith Franciscus Longus though Gabriel Pratiolus will have Innocent 4. to be then Pope and Gregory 9. to be some time after But Walter being on the way thither as far as Burgundy and hearing that the Emperour Frederick had imprisoned Otto the English Legate with many others he durst not proceed on his journey but staid in the City of Anvers 6 months and then returned home to the Monastery of Peterburgh But his retreat was so ill taken that presently the Pope sends a Mandate to him for the finding of five men with Horses and Arms which at length he took off at the charge of 174 Marks by the dispensation of Martin the Popes Nuntio The third journey to Rome was after the Council of Lions for thither also was he summoned and appeared there but rather as an offender than an Assessor for he was called to answer his contempt in giving the Church of Castre according to the Kings order and against the Popes yet did he regain the Popes favour by obliging himself to give to a Nephew of the Popes ten pounds a year Our Writers of Peterburgh say no more but Matthew Paris is more copious in Page 554. the story or another like it In the year saith he 1241. Pope Gregory desirous to promote some of his Favourites sends his Letters into England to cast the burthen of that care upon some Churches There was then sent to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh an Apostolick Mandate fraught with intreaties and threatnings that they would conferr the Rent of any Church under their patronage which should yearly be worth one hundred Marks and if it were double the value it would please him the more and the Pope would again demise unto the Church the same Living for the yearly rent of one hundred Marks and the surplusage should redound to the proper use of the Church And that the Abbot and Convent might consent to this provision or rather pernicious compact Simony and secret Fraud demanded by the Pope the Pope wrote Letters to certain Foreign Monks then well Beneficed in England that they should effectually admonish the Abbot and Convent therein and to compel them if need were These Monks coming to Peterburgh called the Monks together and bespake them after this manner Behold Friends and Brethren a great Pontifical kindness is offered to your hand for the Pope requires that of you which with bended knees and joyned hands ye ought to request of him And when they had explained the business they promised to accomplish the business on the Popes part so that the business might be secretly carried without scandal But the Monks of Peterburgh answered that they could do nothing without the Kings permission who was their Patron and Founder The Popes Messengers insisted that the business might be done privately hoping also that other Churches would follow their example and do the like The Monks of Peterburgh would not be circumvented by their Speeches but desired respite of the business until their Abbot came home being then absent that they might have his assent In the mean time they sent to their Abbot acquainting him with the whole business
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
had been founded and indowed by his Uncle of the same name So Hugo relates speaking of the King and Queen who out of love to him gave to him and St. Peter other Abbeys viz. Birtune Coventre quam Comes Leuricus avunculus ipsius construxerat nimis in auro argento ditaverat c. Yet he did not give all he could to this Church for in an antient explanation of Lands as it is called Swaph fol. CXXXIII I find that he gave a forfeited Estate to his Brother Leowinus The words are these Reteford occidit quendam Ylkytelum pro hac forisfactura terra silva sua Franewude pervenit in manus Abbatis de Burch Sed Leofricus praepositus Sancti Petri permisit eam suo fratri Leowino He was Abbot of Burton before he was Abbot of Burgh unless there was another of that name for the Annals of that Church say An. MLI Annalis Monast Burton venit Levericus Abbas The account indeed they give of this Levericus his death is so widely different from what Hugo saith of Leofricus his that it inclines me to think it was another person For they say MLXXXV obiit Levericus Abbas whereas ours dyed as I have said almost twenty year before In his time there were three great Benefactors to this place Egelricus Kinsinus and Wulstanus Of the first of which Mr. G. hath given some account but to make his History more compleat I must let the Reader know how he came to rise to the dignity he held in the Church Which Symeon Dunelmensis relates in this manner L. 3. Hist Eccl. Dunelm C. 6. Eadmundus being chosen Bishop of Durham would first be made a Monk before he was consecrated by Wulstan Archbishop of York who was then at Worcester From whence returning home he diverted into the Monastery of Burch where being mightly pleased he requested the Abbot to bestow a Monk upon him skilful in Ecclesiastical Offices and in regular discipline to be his constant companion and teach him the way of the Monastical life Accordingly the Abbot appointed this Monk Elgericus or Algericus for he is called by all these names to wait upon him who as Hugo writes was vir Sanctissimus a most holy man and thought fit for the Archbishoprick of York to which he saith he was consecrated But being there rejected as Mr. G. out of him relates factus est Episcopus Dunhelmiae he was made Bishop of Durham and there received with love of all both Laicks and Monks This was in the year 1042 as John Brompton informs us where he continued twelve years saith Hugo but it should be fourteen for both the Chron. of Mailros and the Chron. of John Abbot of Burgh say he resigned in the year 1056. the words of the last named are these MLVI quinta feria Kal. Augusti Monachus factus est Dunelmensis Episcopus Egelricus Episcopatu sponte relicto ad Monasterium suum de Burgo ubi quondam Monachus erat remeavit Agelwino fratre suo Monacho ejusdem Monasterii in locum suum consecrato John Brompton places this resignation in the year 1057. the very year Leofricus was made Abbot which agrees with Symeon Dunelmensis who should best know who saith after he had been Bishop fifteen year he returned to his Monastery whither he had sent his Gold and Silver and other Goods of the Church of Durham before The Gold and Silver he acknowledges was found as he was digging very deep to lay the foundation of a Church of Stone in honour of St. Cutberd which before was of Wood but he saith it had been formerly hidden there by the Church of Durham because of the Covetousness and Tyranny of Sephelmus And therefore though he did good Works with this money which he immediately sent away to Burgh intending to follow it himself making Highways with Wood and Stone in the fenny Countries building Churches and other things yet in the Reign of the Conqueror he was accused for carrying away this Treasure which he would not restore and being brought up to London and committed to custody there he died in captione Regis as Symeon of Durham tells the story L. III. Histor Dunel Eccles C. 9. It was in the year 1072. when death delivered him out of Custody and he was buried in the Chappel of St. Nicolas in the Abby of Westminster but constantly commemorated here at Burgh on the 15th of October over against which day I find in the Kalander these words Depositio Domini Eylrici Episcopi Memoria Benefactorum Which no doubt was this Egelricus or Elgericus for so names are wont to be contracted as the Abbot of Rieval Adilredus or Ethelredus is not only called Aluredus but Ailredus also and Eilredus But besides this Hugo Or Swapham as commonly called p. 11. expresly calls him Eilricus and the rode he made in the Fenns for Travellers was called Elrich-rode Whence Bishop Godwin hath it that he was accused of Treason by the Conqueror I cannot yet find Perhaps he was thought to be confederate with his Brother Agelwinus whom he left his Successor in Durham Who as the forenamed Symeon Dunelmensis relates not long after the Conquest viz. An. 1070 L. de gestis Regum Angliae being weary of the troubles of England took Ship at Weremuth with many other great persons and went into Scotland But returned the next year with Hereward de Wake and the rest to the Isle of Eli. Where they were all in a manner taken except Hereward and a few others and Agelwinus being sent prisoner to Abbandon there in the Winter ended his days 1071. one year before his Brother The second of these great men viz. Kinsinus who had been Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor as was said before and succeeded Aluricus as Radulphus de Diceto calls Elfricus in the Archbishoprick of York 1051. after he had sate there nine years dyed at Burg if we may believe John Abbot's Chronicle in the year MLX. where his words are Kynsinus Archiepiscopus apud Burgum obiit jacet tumulatus in scrinio juxta magnum Altare in parte Boreali And there the Scrinium still remains just above that of Elfricus who lies at his feet with these words on the side Hic posita sunt Ossa Kynsini Archiepiscopi Eborac 1059 which by the Characters appear to be a late Inscription and hath mistaken the year For all agree it was 1060. though none but he mention his dying at Burgh but all suppose he dyed at York Particularly Roger Hoveden who saith he was brought from York to this Monastery of Burch to be buried honorifice tumulatus est They agree also that he dyed on the XIth of the Kalands of January and accordingly I find in the Kalander of the Church Decemb. 20. Depositio Kynsini Archiepiscopi Radulphi Comitis It is possible that Chronicle may mean another Burgh which was in the North and belonged afterwards to the Church of York For Tho. Stubbs saith
ably with his Countrymen and Friends dyedin peace after he had lived many Years Other Writers say he having taken Ivo Talbois in Battle would not deliver him until the King to have his Nephew preserved promised by Oath unto Hereward Reconciliation Pardon his former dignity with full restitution of all that had been his Which was done in the year 1076. Until which time from the death of Brando not only this Monastery but others also suffered very much For in the year 1070. many Abbots as well as Bishops by the Kings procurement were deposed or ejected upon slight surmises that the English might be deprived of all dignities So John Abbot who after he had related how Stigandus was deposed to make way for Lanfranc adds Plures eo anno tam Episcopi quam Abbates vel nullis vel levibus suspitionibus deponuntur aut ejiciuntr procurante Rege ut Angli nullis dignitatibus potirentur In the year 1072 the Monks of Eli were Outlawed having afforded succour to some Great men who were in Rebellion against the King I suppose to those who in the year before were in that Isle and in that Church in open rebellion with Hereward So Abbot John MLXXI Hereward le Wake Ecclesia intra paludes Heliensi cum multis aliis Anglis exlegatis resistit And then it follows An. MLXXII Monachi Helienses quibusdam Angliae Magnatibus contra Regem rebellantibus succursum praebentes exlegati sunt Et multi Monachi Anglici per totam Angliam malè tractati plurimum vexati Multa Monasteria tam de propriis pecuniis quam de aliorum apud ipsos depositis ad quadrantem ultimum spoliata Walsingham Hypodigm Neustriae p. 418. writes much to the same purpose telling us the Conqueror made all the Abbeys in England to be searched and caused all the money which the Richer people had there deposited to be brought into his Coffers only he places this in the year 1070. In the year MLXXV. Comes Northampt. Sanctus Walterus apud Wynton decollatus as the same Abbot John writes Which was done he saith notwithstanding that Lansranc pronounced him innocent and that if he was put to death he would be a Martyr And accordingly he was honoured by Wlfketulus Abbot of Croyland who gave him an honourable Burial and thereupon was violently deposed As indeed all the Bishops and Abbots were if they were Angligenae as he again repeats it introductis in eorum sedes Normannis Which I the rather mention because this Wlfketulus had been bred up in this Church of Burgh as we learn from what follows For that Coronicle saith that Ingulphus succeeding Wlfketulus for though he was an Englishman born he had lived long among the Normans interceeded with the King for his predecessor that he might come from Glastonbury where he was shut up in the Cloyster ad Ecclesiam suam de Burgo Which was granted ubi post paucos dies morbo correpto in Domino requievit Ingulphus P. 78 79. Oxon. Edit himself saith he was taken with a Palsy and that having been kept ten Year at Glastonbury he dyed 1085 after he had been not a few days but four Months at Burgh While he was here Ingulphus had frequent conversation with him for he procured leave that Wlfketulus might come from Burgh to Croyland as often as he thought good to call him Who informed Ingulphus of the Estate of the Church of Croyland and brought back to it many rich things but some he saith still remained at Burgh He was the more acceptable because there were Lands concealed from that Monastery in the discovery of which he thought Wlfketulus might assist him For one Alsford Bailiff of the Church of Croyland had been notoriously guilty of it and was called to an account for it by Ingulphus presently after he entred upon his Government But as he was in the way to appear before the King's Justices at Stamford he broke his neck by a fall off from his Horse and was carried to be buried at Burgh according to the order he had taken about it in his life time They that delight to read wonderful things may look into Ingulphus Pag. 77. and find a story he tells of a miraculous cloud about the Sun as they were carrying his body thither But it is time to return to Turoldus who as Hugo writes was a mischief to this Church eight and twenty years Which is not to be understood so rigorously as if he did no good for first as he gave away much Land so he got some back again particularly the Mannors that had been granted to Ivo Talbois which he was perswaded to restore to the Monks in his life time so that after his decease they should return ad dominium Sancti Petri. This I find in a Charter of William Rufus which runs thus Gulielmus Rex Anglorum Roberto Lincolniensi Episcopo by this it appears this was William the second for he made Robert Bishop of Linc. in the 6th year of his Reign 1092 Oswino vicecomite omnibus Baronibus suis fidelibus salutem Sciatis me concessisse Sancto Petro de Burgo Thuroldo Abbati Monachis ejusdem Ecclesiae ad victum eorum terras illas quas Ivo Talbois de praedicto Abbate tenuit ipse idem Yvo eisdem Monachis in vita sua reddidit ita sc ut post decessum ejus ad dominium Sancti Petri redirent Testante Cyrographo ab eodem Yvone Thuroldo Abbate conscripto Haec autem sunt terrarum nomina scil Scotere Walcote cum omnibus appendiciis c. And secondly all these Soldiers who had feods given them out of the Estate of the Church for its defence were bound by the original grant to serve the King also when there was occasion in his Wars This I understand out of a description of all the feoda militum still remaining in the Book called Swapham Fol. CCLXX. where this account is given why they were granted Quia omnes milites praedicti pro defensione domus facienda in exercitu Domini Regis alibi cum necesse esset de dominico Abbatis conventus feodati fuerant There also it appears how they sewed in King John's time and before that in Henry the seconds nay from the time of their first Infeoffement So the words are Et ante tempus ejusdem Henrici postquam feodati fuerunt à tempore dicti regis usque ad praesens hac ratione quia c. And Thirdly He and his Souldiers not only built Towns in those wast places which Adulphus had cleared from Wood and let the Lands out to Farm at a certain Rent c. some of which Towns were called by their names and remain to this day as Gunthorp Melton Walton Barnak c. but also Churches and Chappels the profits of which the Monastery received intirely for many years till the time of Ernulphus So the words are Ibid. fol. CCXCV. eodem vero tempore construebatur
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
Charter from King Henry I. for the holding a great many Lands therein specified and in the same right and with the same Customs and Liberties wherein they were held die ipso quo Thuraldus Abbas vivus fuit mortuus habuerit from whose time little had been done by any Abbot till now This was seconded with many other Grants full of great Priviledges and at last in a distinct Charter he gives to the Abbot Manerium suum de Pichelee quod Galfridus Ridellus de eo tenuit cum tota instauratione quae in manerio erat die quo fuit vivus mortuus This was confirmed by King Stephen that I may put all belonging to this matter together in following times that they should have their Mannor de Pichelle quod Henricus Rex eis reddidit concessit charta sua confirmavit quod oculis meis vidi c. And afterwards Hen. 2. confirmed the same in these words Sciatis me concessisse Ecclesiae Abbati de Burgo Manerium suum Pihtislea quod Galfridus Riddel de eo tenuit sicut Charta Henrici Regis avi nostri testatur c. Two years before this there was an alteration made in the Churches and Chappell 's built by the Milites in the time of Turoldus For now in the year 1112. some of them whose profits had hitherto been received intirely by the Monastery were assigned to the use of those that ministred in those Churches and served in the Chappels Who were there appointed to administer the Ecclesiastical Sacraments to the people it being too far for them to come to Burg and the ways also dangerous But there were referred to the Church of Burg two parts of the predial Tythes of those Milites and saved to the same Church the Sepulture of the aforesaid Milites their Wives and their Children and a certain portion of their Goods thereupon saving also to the Church of Burg from some of the Churches so indowed certain Pensions which had been paid to it from the Foundation Then followed the Convention made before Robert Bishop of Lincoln between Ernulphus and the Monks and the Milites of the same Church that every Knight should give two parts of his Tythes to the Sacristry of Burgh and when he dyed tertia pars substantiae suae ad sepulturam cum militaribus indumentis tam in equis quam in armis which were to be brought to his Funeral with him And then a Solemn Procession was to be made by the whole Convent before him and a plenary Office celebrated for him by all and he was to partake both himself and his Wife and their Children of the benefits of the place for ever viz. in Eleemosynis in celebratione Missaram in jejuniis in vigiliis in Psalmodiis in caeteris bonis quae Deo annuente usquequaque in Ecclesia Sancti Petri fiant In like manner their Wives and their Children it was agreed should be brought with their substance belonging to them to the same Church in the end of their life And the Divine vengeance they desired might light upon them who made void this agreement In the same year the dedication of the Church of Turleby mentioned by Mr. Gunton was made by the same Bishop In whose presence and in the presence of the whole Parish Bencelina Mother of Ralph de la Mare granted to that Church for the health of her own Soul and of her Parents dimidiam bovatam terrae unam acram prati c. He lived after he went to Rochester some days above Nine years and dyed leaving many Monuments of his vertue in the 84. year of his age So Malmsbury writes Vixit in Episcopatu aliquot dies super Novennium decessitque quatuor octoginta annos natus multa probitatis suae monumenta relinquens Which doth not disagree with Abbot John if we remember he was elected the year before he was enstalled who says he was Bishop Ten years and dyed An. 1124. So John Bromton also JOHN of SALISBVRY This Abbot whom our Writers call John de Sais or Says was no sooner appointed by the King to succeed Ernulphus but he was immediately dispatched to Rome by the Archbishop of Canterbury Radulphus to fetch his Pall from Pope Paschal So Hugo or Sawpham as it 's commonly thought expresly tells us and names two persons who were sent with him Guarnerius and Johannes Archidiaconus Nephew to the Archbishop which makes it the more strange that Mr. G. should overlook this passage so as not to find to what end he was sent Eadmerus also relates the same from whom we learn also why he was called John de Says for he calls him Johannes Monachus Sagii who being elected and Consecrated Abbas Burchorum was sent to Rome with Warnerius a Monk of Canterbury and Johannes Clericus Nephew to the Archbishop upon the business before named Which they effected in little more than a years time for Radulphus was Consecrated as Radulph de Diceto informs us on the 6. of the Kal. of May and received the Pall on the 5. Kal. of July Agreeable unto which Hugo saith the Abbot returned to the Monastery the next year after he went to Rome upon the Feast of St. Peter One reason I believe why he was chose to be sent upon this errand was that he had been an old acquaintance of the Archbishops bred in the same Monastery wher 's Radulphus had been Abbot as John had been Monk For so I find him called by Gervasius Actus Pontif. Cantuar. Radulphus Abbas Sagiensis and by Symeon of Durham also ad An. 1104. Where he speaks of the body of St. Cutbert being found incorrupt after he had been buried above 400. years a Radulfo Sagiensi Abbate postmodum Hrofensi Episcopo deinde Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo De gestis Regum Angliae From this place I doubt not that is from Say or Says in Normandy he had the name of Says or Sais and is by mistake called John of Salisbury which they fancied was contracted into Sais This must be corrected therefore in Mr. G. for Sagiusn is not Salisbury but Say where he was bred and perhaps born And it is very likely was the Author of that contract of mutual Friendship which was between this Monastery and that of Sais For so I find in our Records fol. CCLXXIV among divers Conventions which were made between the Friers of St. Peter of Burch and a great many other Churches there is one cum fratribus nostris de Sais Wherein they ingaged when any Monk dyed in either Church three plenary Offices should be said for him by the other Church and every Priest should sing three Masses for him and they that did not sing Mass should say the whole Psalter The next year after his return An. 1116. I find he cleared the Abby of the yearly payment of forty shillings which Azeo Wardeden had long unjustly claimed from it For upon a full hearing of the difference between them before King
are of his but I shall name only one more concerning their Woods in Nasso Burgi with free liberty of hunting the Fox the Hare the Cat in all their Mannors saving to the King his other game and that they should have Canes non expedatos Dogs not lawed as they called it by cutting off the three fore Nails or paring the ball of the foot There was this priviledge also in the same Charter that they should not answer for any offence in this kind but before himself or his Chief Justice de Foresta because his pleasure was that they should be quiet from all other Bailiffs The Charter mentioned by Mr. G. granted by King John while he was only Earl of Mortaing runs thus Karissimo amico meo Benedict Abbati de Burgo omnibus successoribus c. wherein he grants tres cervos sex damas singulis annis capiendas whensoever they pleased between the feast of St. John Baptist and the Exaltation of Holy Cross either in his Forrest de Siruuod or in Clay I must omit the Compositions made by him with several persons Among his Ordinances this was one that the Sacrist should find a Cope and an Albe every year for the blessing of Fonts and Wax in the Vigils of Easter Swaph fol. CCLXXIV Statutum est per venerabilem Abbatem Benedictum c. quod Sacristia inveniet singulis annis in perpetuum unam cappam novam bonam ad benedictio nem fontium unam albam bonam bullatam ad benedictionem cerae in vigiliae Paschae There was a great controversie in his time between Baldwin Archbishop of Cant. and the Monks of the Holy Trinity where Benedict had been Prior about Roger de Norreis whom the Archbishop had made Prior against the will of the Monks and some other things About which the Pope sent over a Cardinal à latere who with King Richard his Mother and a great many Bishops and Abbots made peace and a final agreement between them unto which they all set their Seals and among others Benedictus Abbas de Burgo An. 1189 Rog. Hoveden p. 662. Three years after Hugo the Bishop of Durham being Excommunicated by Gaufridus Archbishop of York and appealing to Pope Celestine he sent his Letters directed to the Bishops of Lincoln and Rochester dilecto suo Abbati de Burgo requiring that in their Churches they should declare the Excommunication to be void Which Letter John Bromton hath set down at length ad An. 1192. The next year this Abbot dyed as the Chron. Johan Abbatis tells us An. MCXCIII obiit Benedictus Abbas Burgi cui successit Andreas So he did not live to see King Richard return from his Captivity which was not till the next year as the same Writer saith MCXCIV Rex Richardus liberatus à carcere venit in Angliam The Counsel he gave about the Kings redemption is thus related by Swapham Many of the Nobles being of opinion that ten of the best Cities of the Kingdom should be sold and with that money his Ransome paid this Abbot being extreamly afflicted to think of the disgrace and damage it would be to the Realm humbly advised them to have all the Chalices in England prized and gathering their price as his words are into one summ that should be given for his redemption sine gravamine alicujus Which Counsel was approved and confirmed by all present and it was done accordingly But Walsingham reports it thus that the greater Churches promised their Treasures which had been heaped up from antient time the Parish Churches their Silver Chalices and by common consent it was agreed that the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors of Conventual Churches Earls and Barons should give the fourth part of their Annual Rents Swapham saith he dyed on Michaelmas-day But the Kalander saith on the 25. was Depositio Domini Benedicti Abbatis ANDREAS The Character Swapham gives of him is that he was a man of great Religion and Authority as well as age and being very mild and peaceable made it his indeavour to plant and establish peace and tranquillity in his flock He gave as Mr. G. observes the two Towns of Alwalton or Athelwoltone and Fletun to the Kitchin of the Convent but with exception of the auxilia ad festum Sancti Michaelis Which his Successor remitted and assigned also to the Monks Kitchin by his Charter He gave also to the Infirmary 6 Marks a year de furno Burgi as appears by his Charter fol. 102. which gift remained till the time of Abbot Walter who assigned those 6. Marks to the pitanciary to find as much Wine as should be sufficient But afterward the Pitanciarius being negligent they were brought into the Treasury by the order of the Abbot and Convent to be imployed for the above said use This Andrew first assigned forty shillings de Alebode for the Anniversary of his Predecessor Benedict who had recovered that Man nor of Alebode from the Canons of Berlinges I do not read of any Anniversaries observed before this and therefore suppose those words primo assignavit are to be understood as if he had said that Andreas first brought up the Custom of Anniversaries with such solemnity that is as shall be hereafter mentioned Fol. CCLIII He gave also two Windmils at Paston and six pound per an from Tinewell and forty shillings from Castre as appear by his Charters which I find about other matters but have not room to give a particular account of them Among the innumerable gifts to the Eleemosynary the time of whose grant is not specified I find one in this Abbots days by Willielmus de Witerinton with the assent and will of his Wife and his Son William and his Heirs of IIII. Acres of Arable Land sub Estwood which lay between the tillage of the Abbot and the Land of Salomon fratris piae memoriae B. quondam Abbatis Burgi Which four Acres he offered upon the great Altar of St. Peter to God and the Eleemosynary coram Dominis meis Andrea tunc Abbate Burgi toto conventu ejusdem c. as the words of the Charter are Immediately after which follows a gift of David de Beggevile of all his Land in the same place in consideration of which the Abbot and Convent received him and all his whether living or dead into their Fraternity in vigiliis jejuniis orationibus in missarum celebrationibus in omnibus aliis beneficiis quae fient in praenominata Ecclesia in perpetuum Not far from which there is a Deed of William Vicar of Burgh it is not said in what time which in an exchange of Land mentions a Chapel of St. Botulphs which I know not where to find It is in these words sciant presentes futuri quod ego Willielmus Vicarius de Burgo ad petitionem Parochianorum meorum dedi concessi in Escambium Deo Sancto Petro Eleemosynarie Burgi unam dimidiam acram terrae arabilis quam adquisivi sc illam que
them but the shrine of their Saint and Patrone at length they sold him also all but his head which they still reserved to themselves Elsinus having bought the body sent it to Peterburgh whither the Monks of that Abbey in Normandy did often repair to do their devotions to their Saint But whilst Elsinus was careful abroad for profitable reliques his Abbey at home sustained loss in more real endowments for Hoveden in Yorkshire with many other lands were wrested from the Monastery of Peterburgh Yet Elsinus added something of his own purchasing a fourth part of Wittleseymere and giving it to his Monastery which had a part thereof before purchased by Adelwoldus Bishop of Winchester in the time of King Edgar Wittlesey In those days was the Monastery of Ramsey accused to the King who threatned the dissolution thereof but by the mediation of this Elsinus it was reprieved upon condition that Elsinus should undertake the charge of it which Elsinus afterwards remitted to the Ramisians About this time Leofricus who was Secretary of Burgh translated the bodies of S. Kyneburga and Kyneswitha from their Church of Castre and the body of S. Tibba from Rihale to Peterburgh Others place this translation in the Harpsfield from Capgra pag. 85. time of King Henry the first and that they had a yearly memorial celebrated here In the time of this Abbot Elsinus Anno 1051. Elfricus Archbishop of York died at Southwell and was buried at Peterburgh where he had been a Monk of whom more hereafter Elsinus having been Abbot here the space of fifty years died Anno 1055. and there succeeded 11. ARWINVS or ERNWINVS Ingulphus He was made Abbot by Election which deservedly passed upon him being a man of great holiness and simplicity but he liking better a private and solitary life freely surrendred his government after eight years continuance therein In his time Anno 1059. or as some say 1060. died Kinsius Archbishop of York who formerly had been Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor and was buried in the Church of Peterburgh where he had been a Monk Radulphus de Diceto calls him Kinsigius and commends him highly for his austere way of living his humility and other vertues Of whom again hereafter About this time S. Wulstan formerly Monk of Peterburgh was made Bishop of Worcester Bishop Godwyn Anno 1062. 12. LEOFRICVS or LEVRICVS Vid. appendiam Chartarum Having by his birth relation to the Royal bloud was first made a Monk of Burgh and afterwards Abbot upon the retirement of Arwinus He being dear to King Edward and Edgith his wife held by extraordinary benevolence five Abbeys in his hand at once viz. Burton Coventry Croyland Thorney and Peterburgh He redeemed of King Edward certain lands belonging to his Monastery as Fiskerton for twenty marks Fleton for eight marks and Burleigh for eight marks which being demised by lease to Elfgarus the Queens Chaplain for the term of his life he being dead the Queen would have taken it from the Church of Peterburgh had it not been for Abbot Leofricus In the third year of this Abbot Anno 1066. William Duke of Normandy entred England with an army and subdued it to his Norman power Of which I find these old Monkish Verses in some of our Writers Anno Milleno Sexageno quoque seno Agenito verbo Duce jam regnante superbo Anglorum metae crinem sensêre cometae Belli transacti sunt hic anni numerati Quod fuit hic factum quod est nunc usque vocatum Dilecti Christi fuerant tunc festa Calixti Abbot Leofricus was then in the English army where sickning he returned to his Monastery of Peterburgh and died the night after All-Saints day Deeping Bank In the time of this Abbot Leofricus one Egelricus a Monk of Burgh was made Archbishop of York but the Canons there envying that a Monk should be set over them though but lately it had been so refused to receive him wherefore he was made Bishop of Durham where he was received with general approbation Whilst he was Bishop there he gathered great store of wealth yet not to himself but that he might be rich in good works amongst which there is one that continues his memory to this very day the bank from Deeping to Spalding for in those days the passage being very difficult by reason of Woods and deep Marishes he raised that Causey for the benefit of Travellers which for many years after was called by his name Egelric Rode though now it be known only by the name of Deeping Bank But some affirm that Egelricus found his wealth for intending to build a Church at Coneester now Chester upon the street in laying the foundation thereof he chanced to light upon a great mass of treasure wherewith he finished that work and many others Such a new found treasure might be an additional to what he had before which surely was not small else he would scarce have undertaken to build Churches When Egelricus had held his Bishoprick of Durham long enough to weary himself with publick employments he returned to his Monastery of Peterburgh having resigned his Bishoprick to his brother Egelwinus But it hapned that these two brethren were accused to King William the Conqueror who laid up Egelricus in Chains at Westminster during his life and when he was near his end he refused to have his Fetters taken off and desired that he might be buried with them and so was he buried in S. Nicolas Porch in Westminster the other Brother Egelwinus was deposed from his Bishoprick by King William and sent to Abendone where he died The Writers of Peterburgh Swapham and Wittlesey say That in the time of Abbot Leofricus his sickness this Egelricus being at his accustomed Evening devotions the Devil appeared to him in the shape of a boy of terrible countenance and told him that ere long he should triumph over the chiefest of them which perhaps was in the death of Leofricus Abbot and that three several times he would revenge himself upon the Monks and Monastery telling him also the manner First that he would cause all the Monks to be expelled and the goods of the Monastery to be taken away Secondly he would cause the Monastery to be set on fire Thirdly he would set the Monks so at strife that they should cut one anothers throats But Egelricus replying The Lord rebuke thee Satan the Devil vanished and left a horrible stink behind him 13. BRANDO Having been Coadjutor to Leofricus was thought the fittest to succeed him and being elected he made his address to Edgar Atheling for his confirmation supposing him to be lawful heir to the Crown of England notwithstanding the late Conquest by K. William but William hearing thereof was much incensed against Abbot Brando that he was forced to give him forty marks for his favour to confirm him in his Monastery and the Lands to his Church Whilst he was a Monk
  Navesford   Tinwell 16 6 9   Eston 35 10 1 ob q. Collingham 34 4 5 ob  Fiskerton 69 1 2   Scotter 37 6 0   Walcot 9 19 2   Thurlby 7 1 8   Stanford 2 0 0   In all 621 l. 16 s. 3 d. ob  Yet was not this the whole Demesnes of the Abbot in those times for there were many other Mannors and many Rents and Lands in and about Peterburgh and in several Counties but these are all which Wittlesey hath recorded and I have no leisure to examine why there were no more returned Godfrey being dead Anno 1321. 12. Cal. September being the 15 year of King Edw. 2. the person thought fittest to succeed him was 35. ADAM de Boothbie Born there and was made a Monk in Peterburgh where he also had the Office of Subcelerarius Being chosen Abbot he repaired to the King then in the Isle of Tanet for his confirmation which he obtained And having also Episcopal confirmation he repaired the second time to the King for his Temporalities which were likewise confirmed unto him paying the Fees and other demands at that time due His acts in the several years of his government are more punctually related by Wittlesey than I intend to transcribe In his first year Thomas Earl of Lancaster making War against the King to wit King Edw. 2. Adam aided the King with the summ of 133 l. 6 s. 8 d. and towards the Kings expedition into Scotland with 200 l. more In his fourth year the Mannor of Torpel and Vpton came to the possession of Edmund surnamed Woodstock half brother to King Edward the second now reigning and there arising great troubles betwixt the Earls Officers and the Abbots Tenants all was quieted by the Abbots becoming a Tenant to those Lands paying the yearly rent of 106 l. 13 s. 4 d. In his seventh year which was the first of King Edward the third there arose a great contention betwixt him and John Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex about the Son of Galfridus de la Marc which Galfridus Lord of Northburgh died Anno 1327. holding three Knights-fees of the Abby of Peterburgh and was buried at Peterburgh in S. Maries Chappel amongst his Predecessors And the said Galfridus held also of the said Earl of Essex Lands in the County of Essex by Knights-service He had three Wives and his last Wife by name Margaret he put away when she was great with Child at Peterburgh where the Child being born and baptized was called by the name of his Father Galfridus this young Galfridus had two Sisters by his Fathers side who charged him with being illegitimate saying that Margaret his Mother was not their Fathers Wife but his Concubine so that he had no hereditary right to his Fathers Lands Abbot Adam as guardian to the Child defended the Cause three years in the Consistory at Lincoln and in the Arches constraining the Sisters to desist But afterwards Queen Philipp Wife to King Edward the third Daughter of William Earl of Henault whom Roger of Northburgh Bishop of Chester so called by Wittlesey though I cannot find any such man elsewhere the Kings Proxie had beyond Sea espoused for the King coming to Peterburgh on New-years-day and the said Earl of Essex attending on her towards York where King Edward then was expecting her coming for the solemnization of Marriage which was performed the 24 day of the said Month of January 1327 the said Earl demanded young Galfridus of the Abbot and by threatnings and violence gat possession of him Whereupon the Abbot pursued the Earl at the Law the Earl on the other side accused the Abbot and his Covent of certain outrages upon his Mannor of Plaisic in Essex but this matter was composed by the Abbots giving the Earl 100l and yet the Earl was still possessed of Galfridus keeping him at Kimbauton in the County of Huntingdon Registrum Adae in manu D. H. The King sent his Breve to the Sheriff to seize upon him and to bring him to York there to appear before the Judge and to be awarded to his right Guardian But at length the Earl Wittlesey without more ado being conscious of his ill act freely restored the Child to the Abbot and moreover languishing upon his Bed of sickness and drawing towards his end he commanded his Executors to restore the 100l to the Monastery of Peterburgh And the Abbot married young Galfridus to the Daughter of Galfridus Scroope then one of the Kings Chief Justices Regist Adae About this time the Sheriff of Northampton required assistance and contribution from the Abbot of Peterburgh and his Tenants towards the Wall of Northampton Park which was quieted by the Kings writing to the Sheriff from York his Letters bearing date February 12. the second of his Reign wherein he certified the Sheriff that by ancient Charters of Kings his Predecessors the Abbot and Convent of Peterburgh with all their Lands and Dominions should be free from all works of Castles Parks Bridges and Inclosures Regist Adae The same day there was Inquisition made concerning the Bridge leading into Peterburgh which being gone to decay the question was Who should repair it for this there was a Jury empannelled six of Northampton-shire and six of Huntingdon-shire who upon examination returned an Ignoramus after this manner that there was none of right bound to repair or sustain the Bridge seeing none had done it in former time for there was no Bridge there until Godfrey Abbot of Burgh of his own good will in the fourth year of King Edward Father to King Edward that now is erected the said Bridge and himself kept it in repair so long as he lived But the King and Queen coming to Peterburgh the present Abbot Adam repaired the said Bridge for their passage although he was not bound thereunto to this the Jurors set their several Seals At this entertainment of the King Queen and John of Eltham the Kings Brother besides diet of meat and drink the King and Q. at Peterburgh Abbot in gifts Jewels Jocalibus and presents expended in ready mony the summ of 487 l. 6 s. 5 d. And for his Confirmation 50 l. 13 s. 4 d. more At other times also Abbot Adam was very free of his Purse giving the King towards an expendition into Scotland 100 l. and to the Queen 20 l. Attending upon the King at Oundle and Stanford he expended 34l 7s 4d with many other summs when the King or Queen came near his Monastery to Walmisford Bourn or Croyland And the second time giving entertainment King and Q. at Peterburgh to the King and Queen at his Monastery of Peterburgh besides other things he expended 327 l. 15 s. And after this Prince Edward the Kings eldest Son with his two Sisters and their Servants came and staied at Peterburgh eight weeks which cost not the Abbot nothing Wittlesey
of which I shall transcribe nothing but only note a few things wherein these two Writers agree and wherein they differ or which are omitted by the one but related by the other Leland's Author saith that Werbord was tanquam secundarius in Regno prime Minister of State as we now speak And so sayes the other Writer but explains it thus he was Secretary to Wlfere having been a Privy Counsellor to his Father Penda who esteemed him as David did Achitophel and let him govern the whole Kingdom under him as Haman did under Ahasuerus Which puffed him up so much that they both say he aspired to the honour of marrying the Kings Daughter Werburg only Leland's Author sayes that he Courting her for his Wife was despised by the Virgin by the counsel of her Mother Ermenild the other Writer sayes he askt her of the King for his Wife when she was but a little Child and the King consented But the Queen denyed it and the two Brothers were so incensed at the mans insolence especially because he was a Pagan that they opposed his Petition to his face From which time Werbord meditated revenge and contrived their ruin which followed in such manner as is related by Mr. G. Wolfere sayes the Writer now mentioned being like his Father Penda naturally fierce and prone to anger and when the fit was upon him more furious than any wild Beast They both say that upon their being Baptized both the Brothers perswaded St. Chad to remove his Cell nearer to their Fathers Court at Wlfercestre in Staffordshire to give them the advantage of more frequent conversation with him and that upon their being slain by their cruel Fathers own hand he retreated to his old Oratory again But Leland's Author sayes they suffered upon the tenth Kaland Augusti the other upon the ninth They both agree that Werbord ran mad as one possessed with a Devil and the latter of them saith he tore his own flesh from his arms with his own teeth and so died distracted They agree also that the Queen buried both her Martyr'd Sons in uno saxeo Sarcophago in one Stone Coffin and that in process of time she built a fair Church of Stone in that place for a multitude of people coming there to pray were wont to bring Stones along with them for the building which gave the place the name of Stanes And the King when he had in cool blood considered of the fact was pricked in Conscience or rather miserably tormented in mind like a man upon the rack and was thereupon admonished to seek for ease by confessing his Sin to St. Chad and doing whatsoever he enjoyned Who commanded him instantly to destroy all Idolatry and the Temples of Demons to build Churches found Monasteries get Clergy men Ordained cause the Laws of Christ to be observed c. which he did and among other things illud nobile Coenobium in Medeshamstede praediis possessionibus ditavit c. quod hodie Petresburch i. e. Civitas Sancti Petri nominatur saith the last named Author By which passage it appears that he lived after the Restauration of the Monastery by King Edgar and that what follows in Leland concerning the Procurator of the Colledge at Stanes which Wolfere also founded for Canons Regular going to Rome to get the two Martyrs Wulfade and Rufinus put into the Catalogue of the Saints was done also if the story be true long after their death They both say he carried the head of Wulfade with him though much against the will saith the latter Writer of almost all the Brethren For he hoped thereby the more easily to obtain his Petition And to prove their Sanctity though the Records of the Miracles done by them were destroyed by the fury of the Pagans he voluntarily offered to pass through a great fire made by a pile of Wood with the head of Wulfade which he said he had brought with him for that very end But the Pope answered as Christ did the Devil Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God For the Sacred Canons did not appoint such trials by fire or water nor decisions by single combate but they were invented by superstitious men Yet taking compassion upon the great pains he had taken in so long a journey he granted the request and commanded their names to be put into the Martyrology of the Saints The Procurator and his Companions returning home with great joy left the head of St. Wulfade at Viterbium in the Church of St. Laurence as Leland concludes the story Which the other Author explains thus that in their journey they lay one night in the City Biterinum as he calls it and for greater security committed the head to be kept for that night in the Church of St. Laurence the Martyr but in the morning when they came to take it again they could not with all their might remove it from the place where they had laid it And so with shame and confusion of face came to their own Country with the loss of that Treasure it being apparent that their carrying it from Kingdom to Kingdom through various places and perhaps for gain or honour or favour was not a thing pleasing to God and the Holy Martyr Wulfade But what truth there is in all this is hard to say Cedda or Chad being gone from those parts as far as York before Wulfere's Charter to this Church which by the story must be supposed to have been granted immediately upon his going to St. Chad who in his Penance injoyned him sayes the last Author sub omni celeritate with all speed to cause Monasteries to be founded c. For it bears date DCLXIIII and Cedda sayes the Chronicon Litchfeldense MS. in Sir John Cotton's Library was consecrated Bishop of York DCLXIII Where having governed three year he retired to his Monastery of Lestingay where he had been Abbot because Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury was not satisfied that he had been duly consecrated It may be supposed indeed that before he went to York all those things hapned between the years DLVI. and DLXIII But then here is the mischief of it that Jarmannus one of those who subscribes Wulfere's Charter was not then Bishop of the Mercians i. e. of Litchfield for he was made so the same year Cedda went to York DLXIII and yet the story sayes that when Wulfere was troubled in mind his Queen wisht him to be advised by the holy Bishops Jermannum Ceddam Which supposes this to have been after Cedda was come back to his old Cell or Monastery that is after the year DLXVI or in that year For Jarmannus having governed four years saith the Chronicon Litchfeldense died and Theodore made Cedda Bishop of Litchfield Anno DLXVII And there is still one difficulty more that Cedda sayes the story commanded Wulfere immediately to destroy all Idolatry throughout his whole Kingdom and yet that was not done if we may believe the Chronicle of our Church per Johannem Abbatem
following Hugo saith no more than this ' Egbaldus succeeded Cuthbaldus in the government of this Monastery and Pusa succeeded him after whom came Celredus to whom succeeded Hedda But what they did and at what time doth not appear unto us in these Ages all being abolished either by the negligence of Writers or by the times of persecution saving only what is written in Priviledges in which their names are found ' And particularly in the Records of the Church at the end of Hugo's Book fol. CXI there is a Charter of Ceadwalla King of Kent granting to this Abbot XL. terrae illius Manentes ubi Hogh nuncupatur ad Hebureahg insulam In which Charter he is called EGBALTHVS as he is also in one that follows granted by Suehardus Honorabili Abbati Egbaltho wherein he confirms the Donation of Ceadwalla and adds more of his own It would have been grateful perhaps to some Readers if I could have represented them at large but it will not consist with the bounds to which I am confined in this Supplement and therefore I shall only note the same of the next Abbot PVSA Who by the intercession of a great man called Brorda obtained of Offa King of the Mercians a grant of Land viginti Manentium for his Church at Woccing before named I shall set down the beginning of the Charter as I find it fol. CXXX In Trino nomine Divinitatis individuae Juste à nobis pietatis opera persolvenda sunt idcirco ego Offa c. rogatus à venerabili Abbate meo nomine Pusa simul à praefato meo it should be praefecto as appears by the Subscription vocabulo Brorda ut aliquam liberalitatem ejus Ecclesiae quae sita est in loco ubi dicitur Woccingas concederem quod libenter facere juxta eorum petitionem providi pro expiatione piaculorum meorum Domino devote largitus sum c. BEONNA There is a Charter of this Abbot which begins thus In nomine Gubernantis Dei monarchiam totius mundi Ego Beonna Abbas gratia dei cum conscientia licentia fratrum Dominum colentium in Monasterio quod appellatur Medeshamstede Wherein he grants to Prince Cuthberth terram decem manentium quae nuncupatur Suinesheade or Swineheved with the Meadows Pastures Woods and all the Appurtenances acknowledging that the forenamed Cuthberth had purchased the same of him for a valuable price i. e. mille solidis and every year for himself and his Successors unius noctis pastum aut triginta Oravit it should be Orarum I believe siclos Which Territory the Prince purchased on this condition that after his death it should go to his Heirs who should hold it for their lives upon the aforesaid terms in pastu vel pecunia but after their decease it should return quietly and without any suit at Law to the Monastery Of which bargain their were many Witnesses who signed it in manner following Ego Offa gratia Dei Rex Merciorum signo crucis Christi propria manu roboravi Ego Egferth Rex Merciorum consensi subscripsi Ego Higeberth Archiepiscopus firmando subscripsi After two Bishops subscribe and then Ego Beonna Abbas hanc meam Munificentiam signo crucis Christi firmavi To which the Prior and two other Priests subscribe their consent It may be necessary here to note that Ora was a piece of money of a certain weight or rather a weight whereby they received money and is written alsio hora in the Inquisition made into the Lands of this Church in the time of Martin the Second An. 1231. Where speaking of the Fishery at Walcote it is said to have yielded yearly duas horas The best explication of which that I can find is in the Laws of King Ethelred recorded by John Brompton in his Chronicle N. XXX which is concerning his Monetarii in all the ports of the Kingdom who were to take care ut omne pondus ad mercatum sit pondus quo pecunia mea recipitur eorum singulum signetur ita quod XV. Orae libram faciant But in the Inquisition now mentioned which was made through all the Mannors of this Church it seems to signifie a piece of money For thus the account is given of the Mannor of Walcote juxta Humbram after other particulars ibidem est situs unius Piscariae qui vocatur Holflet solebat reddere duas horas fol. CLIIII CELREDVS Besides his name Recorded by Hugo I find no mention of him but in Ingulphus which Mr. G. hath observed by which it appears he was Abbot here in the year DCCCVI and was Brother to Siwardus the third Abbot of Croyland But I suppose he is the same CEOLRED who in the year DCCCXLVIIII subscribed to a Charter of King Berthwulfus or Beorthwulfus wherein he granted great liberties to the Monastery of Breodun depending upon this Church of Medeshamstede as was said before then governed by the Venerable Abbot Swaph fol. CXXXII Eanmundus or rather Eadmundus as I believe it should have been written This Charter being remarkable for many things I have represented at large in the Appendix by which it will appear if my conjecture be true that this Celredus was advanced to the Episcopal dignity as Sexuulf had been though his See be not named whereby way was made for Hedda to succeed him here HEDDA When he entred upon the government of this Monastery or whence he came is not known but by Ingulphus we understand as is observed by Mr. G. that he was Abbot here in the year 833. and continued so to be till the destruction of the place by the Danes Who began to infest this Kingdom in the year 837. as John Abbot writes Chron. MS. in Sir J. C's Library DCCCXXXVII Dani crebris irruptionibus Angliam infestant And again An. DCCCXXXIX Dani passim per Angliam multas caedes agant And though they were several times beaten yet An. DCCCLI a great Army of them in 350 Ships came up the River Thames and pillaged Canterbury and London An. DCCCLIII the English fought against them in the Isle of Thanet magno dispendio An. DCCCLV they wintered in the Isle of Schepie and in the year DCCCLXIV in the Isle of Thanet having made peace with the Cantuarians In the year DCCCLXVI they did great mischief in the North took York depopulated the Country of the Eastangles entred into Mercia and wintred at Nottingham Three year after An. DCCCLXIX they left Mercia and went back to York and wintered there But the next year which was famous for the desolation they made of this Church and many other places they came and landed on Lyndesay Coast destroyed the Monastery of Bardney killing all the Monks without any pity and then entring Kestiven trod down killed and burnt all that came in their way Which Mr. G. hath largely enough related out of Ingulphus and therefore I shall follow my Author no further who hath nothing which is not to be found there The
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
Girardus obtained of King William the second six Churches Five of which he gave to St. Peters Church of York i. e. de Dyrfeld de Kyllum de Pokelymon de Pykerynga de Burgh where perhaps Kynsinus dyed The same Thomas Stubbs Actus Pontif. Eborac saith the vulgar opinion of him was that he was not born but cut out of his Mothers Womb. He gave to this Church the Village of Linewelle as Hugo tells us with the textum Evangelii excellently wrought with Gold and so many Ornaments that they were apprised at three hundred pound which with his Body were all brought hither But Queen Edgit he adds took them all away The Character he gives of him is this that he always lived like a Monk most abstemiously and Holily So that when his Clergy and Family had a splendid Table he contented himself with coarse and Barly Bread and with the viler sort of meat and drink And walking on foot from Town to Town Preaching and giving Alms he often went bare-foot and commonly travelled in the nights that he might avoid vain-glory Which makes him call him Sanctus Kinsinus The last Wulstanus was also Archbishop of of York and Successor to Adulphus holding the Bishoprick of Worcester together with the See of York as he and St. Oswald before him had done Who if we may believe Hugo gave himself and all that he had to this place but going to visit the places where other Saints lay buried and coming to Eli there he fell sick and dyed and was buried in the year MXXIII V. Kal. Junii 3. feria as Thomas Stubbs relates after he had been Archbishop twenty year He and Radulphus de Diceto differ from Hugo in the place of his sickning and dying for they make him to have been brought to Eli to be buried according to his own prediction as the latter of them affirms upon a time when he came thither for devotion sake The mention of him puts me in mind of another of that name who was bred in this Monastery and therefore ought not to be here omitted For though he dyed a good while after this time yet he was advanced to the See of Worcester in the days of Leofricus viz. MLXII So John Abbot Venerabilis vir Wlstanus Burgi Monachus Wigorn. fit Episcopus Roger Hoveden also who saith that literis Ecclesiasticis Officiis imbutus in Nobili Monasterio quod Burch nominatur The very same hath Symeon Dunelmensis John Brompton But the largest account I find of him is in his Life written in Three Books MS. in Sir J. C's Library by Bravonius a Monk of Worcester 1170. who relates at large all that he did both before and after the Conquest He was born at Jceritune in Warwickshire his Father Athelstanus his Mother Wifgena who put him to School at Evesham where he received the first Elements of learning and then sent him hither to be perfected in it so his words are perfectiori mox apud Burch which I shewed before was famous for learning scientia teneras informavit medullas Here he gave great indications of his future Vertue when he had scarce taken the first step out of his Childhood He had a Master called Eruentus who could Write admirably and Draw any thing in Colours Who made Wlstan when he was but a Boy Write two Books Sacramentarium Psalterium and Flourish the Principal Letters in Pictures with Gold The former of which his Master presented to King Cnute the Psalter to Queen Emma After this he went from Burch to his Parents who putting themselves into Religious Houses at Worcester he also became Monk And in a short time was made Master of the Boyes then Chanter and then Sacrist and afterward Praepositus ut tunc Prior ut nunc dicitur Monachorum constitutus and at last made Bishop of Worcester though against his will upon the preferment of Alredus to York Who presuming upon the simplicity of Wlstan committed great rapine at Worcester and kept from him a considerable part of the Possessions of that Church which he could not recover as long as Alred lived but though William the Conqueror seised them at his Death yet Wlstan never left till the cause had a fair hearing and his Church had all restored to it which its first Founders had left unto it The story is told at large by John Bromton Chron. Williel primi p. 976. c. who sayes Lanfranc would have deposed him for insufficiency but by a Miracle was moved to restore him his Staff and his Ring which he had resigned And indeed he was not so ignorant as many imagined but knew all that was necessary for him to be acquainted withal only was not learned in the Fables of the Poets and in the perplexities of Syllogisms which perhaps he did not vouchsafe to know as not worthy his notice So Henry de Knyghton in these remarkable words L. 2. de Eventibus Angliae C. 6. Sed ille magis virtute quam literis fretus res Ecclesiae defensabat Quanquam non it a hebes in literis fuerit ut put abatur quippe qui caetera necessaria sciret praeter fabulas poetarum tortiles syllogismos quae forsan nec nosse dignabatur He pulled down the old Church of Worcester built by St. Oswald and made the new one we now see Weeping as Malmsbury saith when they began the Work For which he gave this reason when he was told he ought rather to rejoyce at the erection of a more magnificent Structure Alas said he we miserable sinners destroy the Works of the Saints that we may get glory to our selves That age of happy men did not understand how to build pompous Temples but under any kind of Roof offered up themselves to God and attracted their Subjects by their examples We on the contrary neglecting the Cure of Souls heap up Stones and raise goodly Piles c. He lived till he was almost 90 years old dying in the year MXCV where John Abbot writes Sanctus Wlstanus obiit BRANDO While he was only a Monk in this Church he was not only a Coadjutor to Leofricus in all the good things that he did as Hugo his words are but also a great Benefactor to the Monastery out of his own Patrimony and that of his Brethren For he and his two Brethren Askatillus and Syricus purchased Walcote de proprio patrimonio and gave it to the Church in perpetual inheritance together with Scotere Scotune and other places mentioned by Mr. G. This was in the time of Edward the Confessor who confirmed this Grant by his Charter rogatus ab Abbate Lefrico Monacho ipsius nomine Brand Hugo or Swap pag. 5. f. 2. Another writing mentions a third Brother named Siworthus in these words Brand Abbas Burgensis Askilus Sericus Sivortus fratres dederunt has terras Deo Sancto Petro fratribus in Burgh sc Muscham ex alia parte Trentae Scotere c. Which is related something more distinctly
but XL. Mark ipse dedit XL. Marcas perhaps it should be LX. pro Pichlee Which he held as long as he lived but after his death all this little profited This Story is told more largely in other records which say that forty shillings of that 4 l. Rent reserved upon Pithesle as it is there called was for the use of the Monastery and the other half for the use of the Abbot They say also his Wife and Children swore as well as he upon the Text of the Gospel that the above named condition should be performed And the Witnesses to these Covenants are named Herveus Bishop of Ely Reginaldus Abbot of Ramsey Robert Abbot of Thorney Hugo Vicecomes and of the Abbots Tenants Willelmus de Lusoriis Azelinus de Gunethorp Rogerus de Torpel Richardus de Sancto Medardo and many others Hugo tells us in another place Fol. XII that this Matthias would not believe what was commonly said by the Monks that the Arm of St. Oswald was intire without corruption And therefore the Savrist was commanded for his satisfaction to open the Capsuld wherein it was kept and show it to him The Sacrists name was Eilricus Cnorti who not being expert in handling such things incautiously took hold of the Scapula of one of the Holy Innocents which with some other Reliques were kept in the same Chest with St. Oswald's Arm and it breaking between his fingers blood issued out and fell upon the Cloth wherein it was wrapped Which he relates as a great miracle as indeed it was if it were true but we have reason to think there was some trick in the business whereby they imposed upon Hugo's credulity who saith he saw this Quod oculis nostris vidimus ERNVLPHVs Or Arnulphus after four years vacancy was promoted to the Abbey 1107. and most willingly received because he was known to be a good and wise man and a Father to Monks In his days saith Hugo all went well and there was joy and peace because the King and the Nobles loved him and always called him Father He was by his Country a Frenchman bred a Monk in the Monastery of St. Lucian at Belvacum where seeing some things very full of insolence which he could neither amend nor indure he resolved to leave the place But sent first to Lanfranc for his advice with whom he had studied a long time at Becc who knowing the industry of the man perswaded him to come over hither because where he was he could not save his Soul He came therefore and all Lanfranc's time remained a Monk at Canterbury but was preferred by Anselm to be Prior of the Convent there and presently after to be Abbot of this Church and then by Radulphus to be Bishop of Rochester All which I have transcribed out of William of Malmsbury L. 1. de gestis Pontif. Angl. C. ult who gives the most distinct account of him and says it is not easie to tell quantae probitatis prudentiae in omnibus Officiis fuerit In Kent the fore part of the Church which Lanfranc built being fallen down he raised so splendidly that nothing like it could be seen in England both for the light of the glass Windows and the brightness of the marble pavement and the variety of Pictures in the Roof of the Church At Burgh Monachorum numerus auctus Religio bonis moribus confota aedium veterum ruderibus deturbatis nova fundamenta jacta culmina erecta eaque omnia cum vorax ignis absumpsisset meditanti reficere honos Pontificalis impactus Mr. G. hath given an account of his buildings out of Hugo which sufficiently explains what Malmsbury writes and there is one more which he hath omitted for he began the Refectory and did many other good things saith Hugo in that seven years wherein he governed The Chronicon of John Abbot mentions one XXl. dedit Conventui ad Capas alia ornamenta emenda But this was not strictly his gift if we may believe Hugo who tells this Story That one Robertus de Castre came in Ernulphus his time and being weak gave to St Peter the Abbot and Monks Fifty pound of Silver and turned Monk with his Son a very towardly youth Out of which money the Abbot appointed twenty pound to be imployed to buy Palls and Copes by the hands of the Sacrists Wictricus and Remaldus Two very able men who for thirty year together served the Monastery faithfully and did abundance of good Wictricus was the Elder and growing infirm resigned the place but Remaldus whom they called Spiritualis because he was a little man continued in it till his death for they would not suffer him to leave it He was thought to have the Spirit of Prophecy being able to tell before hand when any of the Monks would dye and having had other things to come shown him by Visions which they took to be from God Particularly one night he thought he was in the Porch of St. Andrew adhuc stante vetere Monasterio and that two honourable persons appeared to him and sat down there clothed in Albes and Chisibles and having on Episcopal Palls and Miters upon their Heads Who called to him and named themselves Kynsinus and Elfuricus who as I noted before lye buried together bidding him call thither several of the Seniors of the Church Adelwoldus the Prior by name and then divers other all honourable persons whom Hugo saith he himself had seen who being come before them they bad Remaldus go out for he could not yet come to them And all those who were thus called dyed one after another in the same order wherein he had seen them come to them Other Stories he tells of like nature and then returns to Ernulfus wishing he had not been so much beloved for by this means they lost him and he was preferred to the Bishoprick of Rochester in the year 1115. Abbot John in his MS. Chron. saith 1114. and they agree well enough he being chosen one year and Consecrated the following So I learn out of Symeon Dunelmensis De gestis Regum Angliae who saith ad An. 1114. that on the day of the Assumption of St. Mary Arnulphus Abbas de Burh ad Hrofensem Ecclesiam eligitur Episcopus where by the way it may be observed that this way of writing Roffensem caused the mistake in the printed History of Hoveden which saith he was chosen in Herefordensem Episcopum And then An. 1115. the same Symeon saith the Archbishop of Canterbury ordained this Arnulphus Abbot de Burh ad Hrofensem Ecclesiam die Sancti Stephani Martyris in Christs Church at Canterbury Eadmerus speaks of the same Consecration and calls him Abbatem Burchorum P. 110 111. and Abbatem de Burcho And by comparing this with what was now said by Symeon we may observe that Burh and Burch and Burg are used indifferently when Writers speak of this place In this year wherein he left this place 1114. it was that he got a
he gave to the Monastery many Lands as in Muscham Schotter Scalthorp Yolthorp Messingham Malmeton Cletham Hibaldstow Rachevildthorp Holme Riseby Walcot Normanby Alethorp there joyning with him Askylus Syricus and Sivortus who procured from King Edward a confirmation of these Lands to the Church Brando when he was Abbot created his Nephew Herewardus le Wake Lord of Brunne now Bourn Knight which Herewardus was a valiant man and stoutly opposed the Normans in those parts Brando enjoyed not long his Government but in November Anno 1069. which was the third of King William he died 14. TVROLDVS or THOROLDVS A Norman was placed by King William in the vacant Abby of Peterburgh He being a stranger neither loved his Monastery nor his Convent him He began to make a strange dispersion of the Lands belonging to his Church conferring sixty and two Hides of Land upon certain stipendiary Knights that they might defend him against Herewardus le Wake This Herewardus was son of Leofricus Lord of Brunne and having had a Military education beyond Seas repaired home to employ his valour in defence of his native Country against the Normans It hapned at that time that the Danes under Sweyn their King son of Canutus invaded this Land amongst whom Osbernus an Earl and Bishop entred into the Isle of Ely with whom Herewardus joyned and incited him to set upon the Monastery of Peterburgh for that the King had given it to a Norman Herewardus and the Danes coming hither the Monks and others with them defended themselves for a time with much valour in a hot dispute at Bolehith-gate now commonly called Bulldyke-gate being on the South of the Monastery and yet standing where when Herewardus and the Danes perceived their entrance doubtful and that they could not cut their way with their Swords and Weapons they assayed to do it by fire upon the adjoyning buildings and so entred through flame and smoke Being entred they seized upon all the good things they found carrying them away to Ely leaving much of the buildings the Monastery only excepted destroyed by fire and taking Adelwoldus the Prior with many of the more ancient Monks thither also But Adelwoldus watching for an opportunity to get away and return home the Danes being jovial and merry at a triumphal feast for this their booty Adelwoldus got privately to himself some gold and silver with some Reliques amongst which was S. Oswald's arm which he hid in his bedstraw till he could make his escape But an agreement being made between King William and Sweyn the Danish King that the Danes should depart with all their spoil most of the good things of this Monastery were carried away towards Denmark and a great part of them lost in the Sea by tempest those which arrived there were afterwards recovered by Iwarus the Secretary of the Monastery who took a journey thither for that purpose And now had Adelwoldus the Prior with the other Monks a time of returning without stealth to his Monastery of Peterburgh and taking the Abby of Ramsey in their way the Ramisians entertained them kindly for awhile but at their departure they detained their Reliques which afterwards upon the threats of Abbot Thorold they yielded up yet did not the Monks enjoy their newly recovered Treasures long for they being careless and drunken and their Abbot absent a fire seized upon the Church and other remaining buildings from which they rescued some few Reliques but little of other things All this while Turoldus Abbot absented himself from his Monastery and made his abode at Stamford but Herewardus being withdrawn he returned to his Monastery where he found all things in a desolate condition He brought along with him 140 Normans well armed to secure him against Herewardus and also built a Fort or Castle within his Monastery which for many years retained the name of Mount Thorold so that now the Monastery of Peterburgh seemed rather a warlike than religious place Yet for all that Turoldus could do for his own security he was at length taken by Herewardus and constrained to ransome himself with the payment of thirty marks in silver So profuse was this Turoldus of the goods of his Monastery that at his entrance an estimate of the goods thereof amounting to fifteen hundred pounds ere Turoldus had done there remained scarce five hundred But his disposing of the Lands as hath been said to certain Knights for their service in these Military times was remarkable and valid in after ages where I could give a large declaration of the persons thus invested with the Church-Lands and what Lands those were but it shall suffice to say that there were in all forty one men of note who received those Lands from Turoldus to hold upon that condition but they did not all receive in equal proportion but some more and some less some to find and afford the service of six Knights some of four some of one and some less as their portions of Land were yet in all the number of Knights for which they were to be answerable amounted to sixty eight and from whence there began a new addition to be annexed unto the name of the place as to be called The Honour of Peterburgh But there happened another Act of Turoldus which raised his discontents higher in himself and brought him lower in the good affection of his Convent for he received into his Monastery two Monks from beyond Sea who secretly stole away and carried many of the Church Goods with them At length Turoldus weary of his Government here procured for himself the Bishoprick of Beavois in France whither he transported many of the goods of the Monastery but he was not so welcome to his new Bishoprick as to make any long continuance there for on the fourth day he was expelled thence and returning again into England he gave the King a great summ of Money that he might be seated again in his Monastery of Peterburgh whither he returned and in all continued his Government there the space of 28 years and died Anno 1100 or as some say 1098. being the 10 or 11 year of William the Second 15. GODRIC VS The Monks now began to be provident for themselves for considering the inconveniences they suffered by Turoldus being imposed upon them they gave the King three hundred Marks in Silver that they might have the power of Electing their own Abbot which having procured from the King they chose Godricus who was Brother to Abbot Brando Whether or no Godricus might incurr the guilt of Simony by what the Church had done Bishop Godwin calleth him Geffrey page 34. I will not determine yet was he with Richard Abbot of Ely and Adelwinus Abbot of Ramsey deposed from their Governments by a Councel held under Anselmus then Archbishop of Canterbury for that as Peterburgh Writers say they had entred by Simony Yet Matth. Paris renders another reason that it In vita W. Rufi was because