1245. as the Chron. of John Abbot informs us Therefore all that Mr. G. hath out of Matthew Paris belongs not to this time In that very year which he mentions the eighth year of his Abbotship which was 1241. the milites of the Abby were summoned to Saropesbury to go to Wales Fol. CCLXX. whither the Abbot himself went and some Knights with him Who earnestly insisting to have their expences Horses and Arms from the Abbot he would by no means grant it but commanded them by the Fealty they owned to the King and to him to follow the King to Chester which they did The Abbot also came thither where they again made the same demands pretending that Stephen de Segrave had given judgment for them apud Lehayetayle Of whom when the Abbot had diligently inquired he declared before him and his family that it was false and said the Knights ought to defend the Abbot at their own charge with Horses and Arms. Then they complained to Hugh Earl of Hereford Marshal of the Army who determined the matter against them and the Abbot commanded them that at the summons of the Marshal they should be inrolled which they refused But the Abbot ad cautelam caused Radulph de Ayston and Hugo de Bernack to be inrolled and two Servants of his family pro uno milite And so the Abbot returned with good grace from the King and his Knights neither going nor coming could recover one farthing of him The Steward of the Bishop of Lincoln and other Prelates did the same And by the diligence of the Abbot he received from the Kings Exchequer plenarie scutagium suum sc de quolibet scuto X L. Sol. In like manner in the time of John de Calceto he had scutagium suum plenarie de dictis militibus And when they complained to the King and the Magnates that the Abbot ought to pay that scutagium out of his own Chamber the Abbot made it appear that he ought not In that grand Priviledge of Innocent's there is the same grant which is mentioned in Greg. the IXths that they might say divine Service with a low voice in the time of a general Interdict the gates being shut no Bells rung and all Excommunicated and interdicted persons excluded Many other Bulls there were of his as I noted out of Swapham some of which remain One of them imports that by his Mandate they stood bound to pay to Opizomus Archdeacon of Parma a Pension of fifteen Mark yearly untill they had provided him with some Ecclesiastical Benefice worth forty Mark of Silver yearly o◠more But he now granted them this indulgence for the future that they should not be bound to provide any person with a benefice for the future against their wills nor receive any Letters Apostolical to that purpose unless they made express mention of this Indulgence and said that notwithstanding any Apostolical Indulgence they must do it Afterward Letters Apostolical were directed from another Pope to several Priors therein named to see his Absolution executed which he had granted to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh from the payment of such Pensions when the person who received them would not accept of the Ecclesiastical Benefices to which they offered to present them when they fell Which some refused because they had benefices already but no dispensation to hold another and so would have kept their Pensions when a Benefice was provided for them to the great grievance of the Monastery Another of Innocent's is dated from Lyons on the Kal. of Sept. the seventh year of his Pontificate which was a little before his death Wherein they having represented their Monastery to be built in a cold place so that they could not without danger in Winter time especially perform divine Offices with heads uncovered he grants them a licence utendi pileis ipsorum ordini congruentibus to use Capps suitable to their Order according as the Abbot in his discretion should think fit Another is that they having represented to him how great a disturbance it was to their devotion to have causes frequently referred to them by the See Apostolical he grants them this Indulgence that they should not be bound against their wills to take Cognizance of any cause committed to them by the same See for the future unless in the Letters of Reference express mention were made of this Indulgence There is a Statute made by this Abbot but I do not find in what year with the consent of the Chapter that on the Feast of the Dedication of their Church as upon the principal Feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul seven Candles should burn before the Altar super baccas and four upon the Altar à principio Matutinorum usque ad finem totius servitii and that the Arm of St. Oswald as I noted before should be carried in procession on this festival unless it had been carried on his own day Out of a Meadow in Peykirk which he bought of Roger Son of Paganus de Helpstona he gave forty Shillings to the celebration of his own Anniversary viz. twenty Shillings for the recreation of the Brethren and the other for the refection of the Poor upon the day of his death This Meadow William his Successor made over to the Convent intirely and warrants it to them that he and his Successors might be freed from the payment of that forty Shillings At the last time of his crossing the Seas he gave several pretious things feretris trium Virginum viz. Kiniburge Kiniswith and Tibbe and a great number of Vessels and Jewels when he dyed which were all brought into the Chapterhouse and there disposed according to the pleasure of the Convent He was not well before he went and the infirmity of his body was increased by his journey so that he dyed not long after his return An. 1245. For whom Swapham makes this prayer The Lord grant he may enjoy eternal life and joy in the Land of the living by the merits of the Mother of God and of St. Peter and St. Benedict and all the Saints He was pious and merciful to all did nothing without the advice of his Brethen of the better sort exacted nothing unduly of his Tenants whether rich or poor But if any poor Man or Woman made their necessities known to him he would burst out into tears and take compassion upon them In some things he acted tepide which he bewailed all his days but he left the Abbey abounding in all good things stored with Horses Oxen Sheep and all Cattle in great multitudes and Corn in some places for three years But after his decease Magister R. de Gosebek to whom the King committed the custody of the Abbey wasted and sold and in a manner carried all away There were found in his Chamber when he dyed a great many Cupps of Gold and Silver whose weight and worth are set down in Swapham with six silver Plates twenty nine Spoons thirty gold Rings and a great
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
till the last year of his Reign DCLXXV Where his words are Wlferus Rex Merciorum omnium Ydolorum cultum ex regione fugavit Leaving these things therefore in uncertainty let us pass to what follows that Wulferus dying Anno 675. as Bede saith in his Epitome after he had reigned 17 years left his Kingdom to his Brother Etheldred or as he calls him Edilredus who Reigning longer had more time to add what was wanting to the perfecting of this Monastery To which he was the more inclined because he loved this kind of life so much as to exchange his Crown for a Cowl So Mr. G. hath observed out of Malmsbury and I find the same in the Chron. Joh. Abbatis An. DCCIIII Ethelredus Rex Merciorum factus Monachus apud Bardeney When he was made Abbot of that place it doth not appear but he tells us that he dyed Abbot the same year that Ethebald came to the Crown Anno DCCXVI Ethelredus quondam Rex Abbas de Bardeney obiit But he that contributed the most towards the beginning and perfection of this Monastery and indeed towards the introduction of Christianity into these parts was that Noble person who became the first Abbot of it SAXVLFVS Venerable Bede calls him Sexuulfus but most other Writers Saxulfus or Saxulphus who was so far assisting to Peada in the foundation of this Monastery which Hugo saith he began to build per Saxulphum virum potentissimum that he is commonly called by all ancient Writers constructor the Builder or at least Co-founder of it In this stile the Chronicon Litchfeldense speaks of him Hic erat constructor Abbas Monasterii de Medamstede quod nunc Petrusburgh And Radulphus de Diceto ad An. 680. speaking of the deposition of Wilfrid Bishop of the Mercians saith that Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury ordained in his place Saxulphum constructorem Abbatem Monasterii quod dicitur Burch in regione Girviorum A great many others speak the same Language and they all have it out of Bede L. IV. Histor Eccles c. 6. where treating of the same matter viz. Sexuulfus his ordination to be Bishop he gives this character of him Qui erat Constructor Abbas quod dicitur Medeshamstedi c. And this memory of him continued after the Monastery was burnt by the Danes till the time of King Edgar who restored it For when Hugo speaks of Athelwold's repairing of Thornei he saith he was moved to it because it had been founded and built by Saxulf who was primus Abbas constructor Medeshamstede The meaning of all which is explained in King Wulphere's Charter where he saith this House Studio venerabilis Saxulphi gloriose est condita was built gloriously by the Care and Study of Saxulf Who excited these Kings to this Work and lookt after it with such diligence and perhaps procured the charitable Contributions of well disposed People towards it that he might in some sort be accounted the Founder of it And in those terms Leland speaks of him in his Collections de Fundadatoribus Monasteriorum where he saith Ecclesia S. Petri de Burgo à Saxulfo fundata est But Saxulf himself shews this is not to be understood as if it was built at his Charge but by his care in managing the Royal Bounty For when he subscribes his Name to the Priviledges granted to this Church by Pope Agatho approved by Theodore Archbishop of Canterbury and confirmed by King Ethelred he doth it in these terms ✚ Ego humilis Saxulfus regali beneficio ejusdem Monasterii fundator ita coroborare gaudeo But that which is most for the Honour of this Noble person is that he was a great Instrument in bringing the Christian Religion it self into the Kingdom of Mercia As appears from the relation of Hedda who lived in or immediately after those times which show also what hand he had in the erection of this Monastery ' For having told us how Peada was converted and Baptized in the Northern parts and brought with him hither the four Preachers I before mentioned he adds His accessit Comes Cooperator illustris Saxulphus vir praepotens seculo religione Regiq Ecclesiae acceptissimus c. To these joyned himself as a Companion and Co-worker Saxulf a very powerfull man every way both in Secular and Religious affairs being no less gracious with the King than acceptable to the Church Who desiring to inlarge the new Plantation of Christianity by the favour of God and the benevolence of the King molitus est Monasterium nobile quod Medeshamstede dicitur c. built that noble Monastery which is called Medeshamstede in the Country of the Girvii which he consecrated to St. Peter by whom the Lord built his Church tanquam Ecclesiae primitias as the first-fruits of the Church In this place having got together a numerous society of Brethren he sat Abbot and Doctor of the Middle-Angles and Mercians till he was advanced to be a Bishop instructing Unbelievers baptizing those that believed having religious Monks his Disciples within doors and without Masters for the propagating of the Faith Insomuch that he built suffragan Covents and other Churches as Daughters of this fruitful Mother ' Of what Order these Monks were and under what rule this Monastery was founded I believe no body now can determine For it doth not follow that because they were Benedictines in after ages they were so at the beginning Nay it is certain as I shall show in its due place the Rule of St. Bennet was not heard of in England till after the foundation of this Monastery The Benedictine Monks indeed pretend for the honour of their Order that Austin the Monk and his Brethren who came into England between fifty and sixty years before this An. 597 were Benedictines But no such thing appears from any Records but rather the contrary for all agree Austin was of the same Order with him that sent him viz. Gregory the great and no less man than Cardinal Baronius denies that he was a Benedictine It is not certain indeed what Order he was of for there had been so many rules in the World for a long time before him that Cassianus saith about the year 450 we see almost as many types and rules used as there are Monasteries and Cells In Italy it might be easily shown there were several Orders at that very time when Austin came hither and had been so a good while before that Out of which great variety they afterward formed the Regulares Consuetudines which were in such high esteem that they always had regard to them in the reformations which in process of time were made in Monastical Orders as shall appear hereafter All that is proper for this place is to inquire what Rule was observed by the Monks in the North from whence he came who converted Peada and sent Preachers to convert the Mercians Which would prove so long a business and yet leave us in such uncertainty that
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
say Semen Ecclesiae the Seed or Corn of the Church Which I find word for word in very old French in a short Glossary upon unusual English words in the antient Charters or in the Laws of King Alred Alfrid Edward and Knute Chirchesed vel Chircheomer vel Chircheambre un certein de ble batu R checun hume devoyt au ceus de Bretuns e de Englis a le Eglise le jur seint Martin Mes pus le venue de Normans c. donewint sulum la velie ley Moysi ratione primitiarum sicun lein truve en le lettris Cnut Kilenveya a Rome c ' est dit Chirchesed quasi semen Ecclesiae The Letter it self is in Ingulphus but it was not sent adsummum Pontificem as Fleta says but to the Archbishops and Bishops and all the Nation of England as he was coming from Rome 1031. wherein he desires them that before he arrived in England all the dues which by ancient Laws were owing to the Church might be paid and after the rest he mentions the tenths of the fruits in August and in the feast of St. Martin the first-fruits of the seeds called Kyrkset So his Letter concludes Et in Festivitate Sancti Martini primitiae seminum ad Ecclesiam sub cujus parochia quisque degit quae Anglice Kyrkeset nominatur Ingulph p. 61. Edit Oxon. c. This description of their Lands and Goods concludes with a Customary of their Tenants Villani Cottarii and Sochemanni in every Mannor belonging to the Church Which while the King held in his hand he gave away as Mr. G. observes the Mannor of Pithtesle for the same summ of money which the late Abbot had given him to confirm it Deo Sancto Petro Monachis sigillo authoritate regia And the person to whom the King granted it it may be further observed was one imployed to take the forenamed account of the Estate of the Church viz. Richard Basset or Bassed This Abbot was commemorated upon the 10. of November on which it appears by the Kalander was Depositio Johannis de Says Abbatis Anniversarium Henrici Talbot c. HENRICVS de Angeli His story is told more perfectly by Hugo in this manner He was first of all Bishop of Soissons and afterward made a Monk and Prior of Cluni and then Prior of Savenni After which because he was Cosin to the King of England and the Count of Aquitain the same Count gave him Abbatiam Sancti Johannis Angeli from whence he took his denomination And he being crafty cunning and ingenious afterward got the Archbishoprick of Besenscun but staid there no more than three days For he had not yet enough but got the Bishoprick de Senites where he staid about seven days And out of this preferment as well as that of Besenscun the Abbot of Cluni got him expelled He got therefore being never quiet to be Collector of Peter-pence in England Where he obtained this Abbey of Burch by pretending he was very old past labour and toil unable to bear the Wars and Troubles of his own Country and would quit his Abbey there of St. John de Angeli and that by the advice of the Pope and the Abbot of Cluni and would here take up his rest There was another thing also that had a great stroke in his preferment for besides he was near of kin to the King and that the forenamed discourse seemed to have truth in it he was the principal Witness to make Oath in a difference between the Kings Nephew the Duke of Normandy and the Daughter of the Count of Anjoy Upon all these scores the Abby was bestowed upon him in the year mentioned by Mr. G. So John Abbot also in his Chron. MS. An. MCXXVIII Henricus Abbas Andagavensis precibus optinuit à Rege Henrico Abbatiam Burgensem What Walter of Witlesea saith of Spectres seen that year he came to the Abby he had out of Hugo who saith Hoc non est falsum quia plurimi veracissimi homines viderunt audierunt cornua He staid one year in the Monastery and received homage and money of the Milites and of the whole Abbey but did not the least good for he sent and carried all to his Abbey beyond Sea whither he went by the Kings licence And having staid there a whole year he returned hither and said he had absolutely quitted his other Abbey for good and all as we speak The same year came Petrus Abbot of Cluni into England and was honourably received by the Kings command in all the Monasteries Particularly here at Burch whither he came to see Henry who complemented him highly and promised he would procure the Abbey of Burch to be made subject to that of Cluni with which hopes Peter went home The next year Henry got together a great summ of money and went beyond Sea again where the King then was Whom he made believe that he was commanded by the Abbot of Cluni to come and resign his Abbey of St. John de Angeli to him and then he would return free from that care into England So he went thither and there staid till the Feast of St. John Baptist And the next day after the Monks chose another of their own body into his place and installed him singing Te Deum and doing all other things necessary for that end expelling Henry by the help of the Count of Anjoy with great disgrace and detaining all that he had there Where he had done no more good than in other places all the five and twenty years that he had governed them Being thus cast out he went to Cluni where they kept him prisoner the Abbot and Monks being very angry with him saying he had lost the Abby of St. John by his folly Nor would they let him stir out of Doors till by his craft he again deceived them with promises and Oaths that if they would permit him to return into England he would subject the Abbey of Burch to them and as Hugo's words are ibi construeret Priores Secretarios Cellerarios Camerarios omnia commendaret in manibus eorum intus foris By which agreement he got into England whither the King also returned out of Normandy Unto whom Henry came and accused the Monks of Burch to him very heavily though with out any truth in order to his end of subjecting them to Cluni The King in great anger sent for them to Bramtun where a Plea was managed against them with so much art that the King was almost deceived But God stept in to help them by the Counsels of the Bishops there present particularly Lincoln and the Barons who understood his fraud Yet he would not desist but being thus defeated indeavoured to make his Nephew Gerardus Abbot of Burch that what he could not do by himself might be effected by him All which made the lives of the Monks very uneasie till the King at last understood his knavery
and Testament petitioning King Richard the II. that it might be fulfilled and representing how she had obtained a new Bull from Pope Vrban directed to the Archdeacon of London for that purpose the King thereupon granted his Licence quod ipse Archidiaconus ad erectionem hujusmodi Collegii faciendam procedere valeat juxta vim formam effectum dictarum literarum Apostolicarum For which licence she gave the King 20 Marks as is expressed in the Letters Patents V. Monast Anglicanum 3. Tom. De Ecclesiis Collegiatis p. 108. There are some Acts of this Abbot mentioned in a MS. Register formerly belonging to this Church now in Sir John Cotton's Library and others in our Records at the end of Swapham in the 18 19 and 21. of Edward III. to which I cannot be allowed to give a place in this History without wrong to the Undertaker I can find no memory of him in the Kalendar of the Church though there is of his Successor because it is likely he left nothing for the celebrating of his Anniversary as several foregoing Abbots did ROBERTVS RAMSEY There is a memorial of him as I said in the Kalendar which tells us he dyed upon the sixth of October which was Depositio Roberti de Ramsey Abbatis fratris Thomae de Burgo And a Memorandum of a gift bestowed upon the Church in the first year of his Government by the Heir of William Everard de Dodestorp but so defaced by time that it cannot all be read I suppose it was written in his time sor it follows after an account of the years that every Abbot from John de Caleto till his time lived in the government of this place but saith nothing how long he continued Abbas Johan de Caleto vixit annis 13. Abbas Robert de Sutton an 12. Abbas Ric. de London an 22. Abbas Willielmus de Wodeford an 4. Abbas Godefrid de Croyland an 22. Abbas Adam de Boyeby an 17. Abbas Henricus de Morkote an 14. HENRY de Overton Born I suppose at Overton now called Orton on the other side of the River Neen and made Abbot here in the year 1360. As appears by an old record of a Fine paid by William Cole Nativus Domini Abbatis de Burgo for a licence in his Court at Thurleby in the forty seventh year of Edward the Third that is 1373 which is said to be in the Thirteenth year of this Abbot In his second year the 37. of Edw. III. 1369. all the Monks of the black Order held a General Chapter at Northampton where Thomas Abbot of St. Alban presided in which it was decreed among other things that they should make a perpetual and continual memory throughout their whole Order for the Quick and the Dead every hour of the day and night as Walsingham P. 180. informs us in his History of these times Who also tells us that in the year 1379 which was the 2. of Rich. II. there was a great Tax laid upon the whole Clergy wherein every Mitred Abbot paid as much as an Earl viz. six Marks and a Noble moreover pro singlis capitibus Monachorum Pole money for every Monk in his Monastery Of which he complains heavily as an unreasonable thing that the poorest of them should pay as much as the richest Earl or Bishop and over and above for his Friers Ib. p. 221. I have give an account already in the life of Martine de vecti of the Insurrection in the fourth year of King Rich. 1381. Which the said Walsingham ascribes to the sins of men of all sorts not excepting the Mendicant Friers who contrary to their profession he faith were grown such flaterers and deceivers that it was thought as good an argument both for matter and form to say This is a Frier therefore he is a Lyar as to say This is White therefore it hath a Colour P. 302. Two years after 1383. The King and his Queen spent their time in visiting the Abbeys of the Kingdom which the same Historian saith was no small burden to them because they came with an excessive number of attendants non offerre sed auferre not to offer but to carry away I do not find whether they were here or no but he mentions the Abbey of St. Edmunds-Bury with which this was in a confederacy where they were entertained ten days which cost the Monastery eight hundred Marks There is no memory of this Abbot nor of any that follow in the Kalendar I have often mentioned they living not long before it was written and in those tumultuous times that insued having no power its likely to do more than preserve what their ancestors had acquired and scarcely that neither for in Rich. Ashton's time when the Kalendar was written I find but 64. Monks NICOLAVS It is not known where this Abbot was born or bred and there is very little to be found either of what he did or what was done in his time The only thing I meet with besides that which Mr. G. mentions is an ordinance of his about the observation of the Feast of St. Kyneburgh in the last year of his Abbotship 1396. Which Feast it appears by the Kalendar was on the 7. of March whereon was Translatio Sanctorum Kyneburgh and Kyneswith Whom Malmsbury L. IV. de gestis Pontif. Angl. calls Kinedreda and Kines wida the Daughters of King Penda the Reliques of whose Ashes he saith were here kept and worshipped who both of them having dedicated themselves to God in their Infancy preserved their noble purpose till old age The younger of them also not being content with her own resolution prevailed with Offa King of the East Aagles who courted her in marriage to consecrate himself to Virginity They were first buried in Ecclesia Kyneburgensis Castri called now Castre as I suppose which being very ruinous in the time of Elfinus Abbot the Monks of Ramsey as Hugo tells us indeavoured with all their might night and day to carry their bodies away to that Monastery But it was neither the will of the Lord nor their pleasure as his words are to rest any where but under the power of St. Peter sub Clavigeri potestate who brought them to Christianity And therefore they heard the prayers as he goes on of Leof winus Sacrist of Burch who was a devout Servant of theirs and earnestly beseeched them to have their bodies lye in this Church promising to do them the greatest honour as is more fully declared in Translatione earum in the Narative of their Translation which was too long he saith to set down in every particular After the like manner also the same Abbot with Leofwinus his assistance translated the most pious Virgin Tibba de riale Burgi She herself commanding it and by great miracles showing that she desired to rest there among her holy Friends Upon which occasion Hugo relates not only all the Reliques in this Church as hath been before shown but tells also where the bodies of
the end of it The Hall was as fair a Room as most in England and another call'd the Green-Chamber not much inferior to it These all were then pull'd down and destroyed and the materials Lead Timber and Stone exposed to Sale for any that would buy them But some of the Bargains proved not very prosperous The Lead especially that came off the Palace was as fatal as the Gold of Tholouse for to my knowledge The Merchant that bought it lost it all and the Ship which carried it in her Voyage to Holland And thus the Church continued ruined and desolate and without all divine Offices for a time till at length by the favour of a great Person in the Neighbourhood it was repaired and restored to some degrees of decency again and out of the ashes of a late Cathedral grew up into a new Parochial Church in which way it was employ'd and used ever after untill the Kings happy Restauration For Mr. Oliver St. John Chief Justice then of the Common Pleas being sent on an Embassy into Holland by the Powers that govern'd then requested this Boon of them at his Return that they would give him the ruin'd Church or Minster at Peterburgh this they did accordingly and he gave it to the Town of Peterburgh for their use to be employ'd as a Parochial Church their own Parish-Church being then very ruinous and gone to decay Now the the Town considering the largeness of the Building and the greatness to the charge to repair it which of themselves they were not able to defray they all agree to pull down the Ladies Chapel as it was then called an additional Building to the North side of the Minster being then ruinous and ready to fall and to expose the materials thereof Lead Timber and Stone to Sale and to convert the mony that was made of them towards the Repairs of the great Fabrick All this they did and appointed certain persons to oversee the Work and expended several summs thus in Repairs mending the Leads securing the Roof Glazing several Windows and then fitting up the Quire and making it pretty decent for the Congregation to meet in And this they did by taking the Painted Boards that came off from the Roof of the Ladies Chapel and placing them all along at the back of the Quire in such manner as they continue to this day When the Place was thus fitted up and the Devastations which the Souldiers had made in some measure repaired one Mr. Samuel Wilson School Master of the Charter-house in London was sent down by the Committee of Plundred Ministers as they were then called to be Preacher with a Sallary of 160 l. per an in which employment he continued untill the Kings Return Then Dr. Cosin the antient Dean of the Church after almost 20 years Exile in France return'd and re-assumed his Right again in the year 1660 about the end of July He then after so long an Interval renew'd the antient usage and read divine Service first himself and caused it to be read every day afterward according to the old Laudable use and Custome and setled the Church and Quire in that order wherein it now continues But though the Church was thus delivered from publick Robbers and Spoilers yet it was not safe from the injuries of private hands For some ten or twelve years after certain Thieves in the dead of the Night broke into the Church and stole away all the Plate they could find viz. a fair Silver Bason gilt and the Virgers two Silver Rods and a Linnen Table-Cloth to wrap them in which were never heard of to this day This was the same Bason that had been plunder'd by the Souldiers and recovered again but irrecoverably lost now Yet both these losses were soon repaired one by Dr. Henshaw Bishop then of the Place who gave a fair new Silver Bason gilt the other made up by Dr. Duport then Dean who furnisht the Virgers again with the Ensigns of their Office by buying two new Silver Maces for the Churches use And thus is this History brought down at length within our own knowledge and remembrance where we have seen what various fortunes this Antient Church has had which now reckons at least 1000 years from its first Foundation It has been often ruinated and as often reedified Once it was destroyed by Danes twice consumed by Fire It escaped the general downfal of Abbies in Hen. the Eighth's time though not without the loss of some of her fairest Mannors And yet what that King took away in revenues he added to it in Dignity by converting it from an Abbey into a Cathedral Church But the worst mischief that ever befel it was that in the late Rebellious times when the Church it self was miserably defaced and spoiled and all the Lands for the maintenance thereof quite alienated and sold And yet through Gods especial goodness and favour we have lived to see the one repaired the others restored and the Church it self recovering her ancient beauty and lustre again And that it may long thus continue flourish and prosper and be a Nursery for vertue a Seminary for true Religion and Piety a constant Preserver of Gods publick worship and service and free from all Sacrilegious hands is the earnest and hearty Prayer wherewith I shall conclude this Discourse Ex Libro Memorandor Oliv. Sutton Episc Lincoln Anno Pontificatus sui XI A. D. 1290. OLiv c. Archidiacono Oxon. c. Ad Audientiam nostram nuper certa relatione pervenit Quod nonnulli juxta suarum mentium inconstantiam quasi vento agitati a cultu fidei temere deviantes locum quendam in campo juxta Ecclesiam Sancti Clementis extra Municipium Oxon. fontem beati Edmundi vulgariter nuncupatum veluti locum sacrum venerari illumque sub simulatione sacrorum Miraculorum quae perpetrata confingunt ibidem causa devotionis erroneae frequentare ac populum non modicum illuc attrahendo hujusmodi figmentis dampnatis decipere imo pervertere noviter presumpserint errorem Gentilium inter Christicolas introducere superstitiose conando Nos vero hujusmodi incredulitatis perfidiam veluti contra fidem Ecclesiae Doctrinam Apostolicam ne corda renatorum caligine haereticae pravitatis obducat temporis per processum si forte radicari germinare zizania permittatur tortuose serpente virus sui cautius ministrante fomentum eliminare prorsus amputare deo propitio volentes Vobis firmiter injungendo mandamus quatenus in singulis Ecclesiis intra Missarum folempnia locis aliis Archidiaconatus vestri in quibus videritis expedire per vos alios firmiter inhibeatis ne quis ad dictum locum causa venerationis ejusdem de cetero convenire illum superstitiose frequentare presumat sub pena Excommuncationis Maj. omnes singulos contra hujus inhibitionem scienter temere venientes dicta sententia comminata solempniter in genere innodantes donec de culpa contriti