a few days or months Mr. G. hath related how he laboured to inrich this Church with Reliques and Hugo saith many other ways but is mistaken I think in his conjecture about his procuring the Arm of St. Oswald to be brought hither For Hugo mentions it among the benefits which the Church received in the time of Leofricus and thereabouts when Winegotus apportavit brachium Sancti Oswaldi de Bebeburch There it was preserved in Bede's time in urbe regia quae a regina quondam vocabulo Bebba cognominatur as his words are L. III. Cap. 6. and thence the ancient Seat of its rest it was furtim ablatum taken away by stealth if we may believe William of Malmsbury who relates what was pretended by the Church of Burgh which in his dayes said they had Oswald's Arm but doth not seem to give credit to it himself How they came to have his Arm at Bebbeburch a place in the North I cannot imagine if it be true which the MS. Chron. of John Abbot sayes ad An. MLXV that his body was not till then taken out of his Tomb. Agelwinus Dunelmensis Episcopus Ossa beati Oswaldi Regis Martyris apud Tynemutham de tumulo in scrinio cum honore levavit But perhaps Oswaldi is there false written for Oswini for Symeon of Durham saith it was Oswin's body that was taken up by that Bishop From the same Chronicle we learn also when it was that Elfinus went into Normandy and upon what occasion and bought there at Bonavalle the body of St. Florentine pro centum libris argenti Which was not till the year MXIII. when Suanus coming with innumerable Danes into England and exercising unheard of cruelties King Ethelred hardly escaped his hands and sent away his Wife per Abbatem Burgi and another person unto Richard Duke of Normandy he himself following her presently after In the same year Ingulphus P. 56. Oxon. Edit tells us this Monastery was again burnt by the same Suanus or Swanus and many Lands were taken away from the Church as Hugo relates while the Abbot was with the Queen in Normandy the English paying a vast Tribute to the Danish Army which wasted the Kingdom forty years together But he procured from Canutus the confirmation of their priviledges in as ample manner as they had been confirmed to Kenulphus by King Ethelred In these words Ego Cnut Rex Anglorum Deo favente Elfino abbate deprecante hoc Privilegium cum optimatibus corroboravi And in the dayes of Hardecanutus got a Judgment against Wolgatus Abbot of Pegekyrke both for the Seat of his Monastery and all the Mannors belonging thereunto which Elfinus claimed as Kenulphus had done to be part of the possessions of Burgh How just a sute this was I am not able to say Ingulph condemns it most heavily as a monstrous piece of oppression and it will not be amiss if I not only relate the whole story but give an account of this Monastery from its beginning there being very little said of it in the Monasticon Anglicanum St. Pege as Ingulphus informs us was Sister to St. Guthlac a person descended of a noble Stock both by the Father and Mother as Matthew of Westminster writes who being in love with a solitary life setled himself in the Island called Croyland where no body durst dwell because they were terrified as his words are with phantasies of Devils there inhabiting This was in the year DCXCIX as the often named Chronicon of John Abbot tells us Sanctus Guthlacus apud Croylandiam vitam Anchoreticam ducere coepit Anno aetatis suae XXVI About XV. year after he dyed as the same Writer informs us DCCXIIII obiit feria quarta in hebdom Pasch Upon whose death his Sister Pega setled her self in a Cell about four miles Westward distant from his Oratory of Croyland which afterward improved into a Monastery The place from her was called Pegekyrke now Peykirk and had Lands bestowed upon it by Edmund Athebing which of them doth not appear who gave for the redemption of his own Soul and of his Wives and of Siwerthus a little Country gift as he calls it of Land in a place called Pegecyrcan to the new Monastery of the Holy Trinity and our Lady and all the Saints viz. one Mansa and a half in that Village and three Perches in Waltun c Swapham fol. CXXXI It is a very remarkable Charter both for the Preface and for the Blessings and Curses annexed in the conclusion which therefore I have represented to the Reader intirely in the Appendix What other benefactions they had to that Monastery doth not appear but they were all seised as was said before by Beorredus in the year 871. after the first desolation made by the Danes And it was again destroyed by Swanus the Dane in the forenamed year 1013. And so lay waste till the time of Wlgatus when in the year MXLVIII after a long sute with the Abbots of Peterburgh he lost the very sight of his Monastery which was adjudged to belong to Burch Upon which Ingulph makes this severe reflection tantum tunc potuit super justitiam pecunia contra veritatem versutia c. So much could money then prevail over justice and craft against truth and so powerful was the Earl Godwin in the Court of King Hardecnute And he shows how several Mannors were recovered by particular persons from this Abbot Wlgatus so that he and eighteen Monks had nothing to live upon but wandered about till King Edward the Confessor took him into his Court and upon the death of Brickmerus made him Abbot of Croyland The same he repeats again when he comes to the Reign of the Conqueror telling us how in the times of Suanus Cnutus Harold and Hardecnutus many priviledges of Monasteries were lost the limits of their Lands changed c. according as the money of Rich men prevailed in the minds of the Barbarians who sought nothing but ruins Of which the erection of the Monastery of St. Pege was an evidence in the time of Hardecnute when the money of the Abbot of Burgh prevailed against the right of the Pegelandians and the power of Earl Godwin against the simplicity of the Poor So his words are praevalente contra justitiam Pegelandensium Abbatis Burgi pecunia super simplicitate pauperum Godwini comitis potentia But if we compare what he saith with the Chron. of John Abbot it will appear that this sute was commenced long before this in the time of Kenulphus and continued more or less till the time of Leofricus who dyed just before the Conquest I will set down both their words and so leave it Chron. Joh. Abbatis Burgi MS. MXLVIII Wolgatus Abbas de Peykirke amisit sedem Abbatiae suae cum omnibus Maneriis dicto Monasterio quondam pertinentibus per judicium Regis Hardecanuti contra Kenulphum Kinsinum Abbates Burgi ipsum Monasterium de P. suam possessionem esse calumpniantes Which Ingulphus
Imprimatur Jo. Battely RR mo P. D no. Wil. Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domesticis Ex Aedibus Lamb. Aug. 20. 1685. THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF PETERBURGH WHEREIN The most remarkable Things concerning that Place from the First FOUNDATION thereof With other Passages of HISTORY not unworthy Publick View are represented BY SYMON GUNTON late Prebendary of that CHURCH Illustrated with Sculptures And set forth By Symon Patricl D. D. now Dean of the same LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXVI THE PREFACE THe Author of this History was the better fitted for the Work he undertook because he was born at Peterburgh and there lived all his days a few years excepted whereby he had the advantage of being perfectly acquainted with many things about which he writes Particularly the Monuments in the Church broken down in the late Sacrilegious times whose Inscriptions when he was but a Boy as he himself writes in a Letter to Dr. Henshaw late Bishop of Peterburgh he both often read and also transcribed These he hath preserved and transmitted to Posterity as that learned Antiquary Sir William Dugdale hath also done Who in the Year 1641. fearing what shortly followed was at the pains and charge to take the Draughts as well as the Inscriptions of the Monuments in sundry Cathedral Churches of this Realm which soon after were demolished and of this Church among the rest By whose kindness they would have been communicated to the World if the Undertaker had come to the knowledge of them before he had received Subscriptions to his Proposals which were not high enough to bear the charge of them But the best Monuments the Records of the Church out of which a more compleat History might have been gathered are never to be recovered being torn in pieces or burnt by the more than Gothish Barbarity of those ignorant people who took upon them the glorious name of Reformers An account of which is given by a faithful hand in the conclusion of the Supplement to this Work One Book indeed and but one still remains which was happily redeemed from the fire by the then Chaunter of the Church Mr. Humfry Austin Who knowing the great value of it first hid it in February 1642. under a Seat in the Quire and when it was found by a Souldier on the 22 April 1643. when all the seats there were pulled down rescued it again by the offer of ten Shillings for that old Latine Bible as he called it after which he pretended to enquire The name of the Bible by the help of the ten Shillings preserved this pretious Treasure from the Flames whither it was going as Mr. Austin hath left upon Record in the beginning of the Book with a Copy of the Souldiers acknowledgment that he had given him satisfaction for it in these words I pray let this Scripture Book alone for he hath paid me for it and therefore I would desire you to let it alone By me Henry Topclyffe Souldier under Captain Cromwell Colonel Cromwell 's Son therefore I pray let it alone Vnto which goodly Warrant for its security the Fellow subscribed his name The Book I speak of is commonly called by the Name of SWAPHAM it being vulgarly believed to have been composed by Robert Swapham a Monk of this Church of Peterburgh But in truth is for the greatest and most antient part of its History the work of HUGO surnamed CANDIDUS or White an eminent Monk also of the same Church who himself in the very body of the Book gives an account both when he lived and that he was the Author of the History which now all passes under the Name of Swapham For speaking of the Reliques of the Church the principal of which was St. Oswald's right Arm super omne aurum pretiosum as his words are he saith that he himself saw it and kissed and handled it with his own hands when it was shown intire both in the flesh and skin to Alexander Bishop of Lincoln and to the whole Convent with many others 487 Years after the death of St. Oswald Now he was slain in the year 643 and therefore this was in the year 1130. From whence it appears that Mr. Selden is out in his account when he saith in his Preface to the Decem Scriptores fol. XLVI that this History of our Church vulgarly thought to be Robert Swapham's was written in the Reign of Henry the Third or thereabouts He should have said that then Robert Swapham lived as I shall show by and by he did but he who wrote the greatest and best part of the History lived in the Reign of Henry the First King Stephen and his Successor And therefore it might more truly have been said to have been written in the Reign of Henry the Second or thereabout unless his words be restrained to that particular part of the History which he hath occasion to mention which followed immediately upon the death of HUGO This is declared more plainly and fully in another place of the History viz. in the life of Abbot ERNULPHUS Where mention is made of two famous Sacrists of this Church Victricus and Remaldus The latter of which is said to have made a Brother of his a Monk when as yet he was but a child whose name was Hugo who always attended upon Remaldus and served him qui etiam hunc libellum collegit collectumque scripsit who also collected this little Book and having collected it put it in writing And then follows a description of him that in his childhood he fell into a disease which made him very weak For every Year and that often he vomited abundance of blood and once was brought so low by vomiting fifteen Basons full in one week that they utterly despaired of his life gave him extream Vnction and were called out of the Chapterhouse by Nicolaus then Keeper of the Infirmary to come and commend his Soul to God he being upon the point of departure But Egelbrithus a most holy man perswading them to go into the Church and beg his life of God who would not deny them one man as his words were they did so and he was miraculously restored as there is at large related And he lived a long time beloved by all the succeeding Abbots John Henry Martin William under whom he served the Church having all the business of the Monastery both withindoors and without committed to him till he came at last to the degree of Supprior first under Martin then under William de Watervile in whose time he dyed Remaldus his brother being then Prior. I have given the larger account of this man because he is mentioned in many Authors as an excellent person being known as our History adds in the neighbouring Monasteries nay famed far and near and no less loved than praised by all that were acquainted with him And had the name of Candidus or Albus in all likelyhood from his pale Complexion caused
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
permit the burial of his Father which had been already made at Scottun hâc vice for this time and that in like manner they would be pleased hâc vice to remit the Mortuary due to them And accordingly the Abbot and Convent with respect to the love which the aforesaid Robert bare to them did for that time allow the Burial and release the Mortuary de gratia liberalitate sua Dat. apud Burgh in Crastino Sancti Barthol An. Dom. MCCLXX Quinto In the Year MCCLXX Octavo there was the like case with the first only with this difference that Emma the Wife of Galfridus de Sancto Medardo died about Michaelmas at the Mannor of Osgoteby and the same W. de Wodeford Sacrist of Burg presented himself being ready to defend the right of the Church to have the Body of the said Woman to be buried at Burgh according to an agreement made long before between the Monks and the Knights of the said Church before the Bishop of Lincoln but she having desired to be buried at Stanford at their devout request the fore-named Sacrist out of special grace and favour condescended for that time saving the rights of Burgh to let her desire be fulfilled This Abbot recovered many Rents belonging to the Church and many grants were made to it in his time but I do not find in what years nor have I room to mention them particularly But one must not be forgotten which was the Gift of a whole Street in Burgh by Will. de Wauton or Walton Son of William Son of John de Wauton who says dedi concessi hac presenti carta mea confirmavi Dominis meis Richardo Abhati de Burgo Sancti Petri ejusdem loci convent totam illam plateam cum domibus super aedificatis in villa Burgi sitam in Market stede c. There is a grant which John Gowke of Stowe also made of a Meadow to him which runs in this Style Dedi concessi hac presenti Charta mea confirmavi Domino Ricard Dei gratia Abbati de Burg. Sancti Petri ejusdem loci conventui totum pratum meum c. But Richard himself I find writes himself Abbot only permissione Divina There was an agreement made between him and Oliver Bishop of Lincoln about some things in difference but they are not mentioned in the MS. Chron. Johan Abbatis ad an 1282. where there are these words Dominus Rex Edwardus Walliam adiit David novum principem cepit Facta est etiam concordia inter Dominum Oliverum Episcopum Lincoln Ricardum Abbatem Burgi But four years after they were at difference again perhaps about the same thing for in the fourteenth of Edward the First Dr. Thoreton's Hist of Nottingham p. 190. the Bishop of Lincoln complained of the Abbot of Peterburgh for setting up a Gallows at his Mannor of Collingham and there hanging a Thief to the derogation of the liberty of the Wapentack of Newark which the Bishop held of the grant of the Kings predecessors To which the Abbot answered That the Kings Father in the 37th year of his Reign granted him and his successors Infangthef and Vtfangthef in all his Hundreds and Demeasnes and so he avowed his Gallows and complained against the Bishop for taking two Horses and six Cows at Newark and driving them to his Parc or Pound and there detaining them To which the Bishop replied That he held his Wapentak of the gift of the King within which were the two Towns of Collingham which the said Abbot held and for which he ought to make suit at the said Wapentac by three Men of each Town which he not doing therefore he took the Horses and Kine The Cause went against the Abbot and he was constrained to submit and pull down his Gallows It was this Abbot I suppose who bound himself and whole Convent and all their Goods to certain Merchants for a summ of Mony for the Kings use who made over to them his Mannor de Graham and all the Appurtenances until the Debt was satisfied with all damages and expences For I find Letters Patents of this King Edward the First unto the Abbot and Convent of Burgh making mention of this and of the Writings on each part under their Hands and Seals and how the Debt being paid the Abbot and Convent had restored to the King his part with his Seal but he could not find their Counter-part Which therefore he declared by these Letters to be cassa vacua penitus nullius valoris in perpetuum and should be restored to the Abbot when it could be found There is a Petition also to this King from the Abbot that they might enjoy the right they had per cartas omnium Regum Angliae à tempore Williemi Bastardi usque ad nunc to the Tithe of all the Venison decimam totius venationis taken in the County of Northampton by whomsoever taken in possession of which they had always peaceably remained Which the King confirmed by two Charters and the Queen also sent her Letters about it In this Year 14 of Edw. 1. William Parys died who built as Mr. G. observes the Chappel of the Blessed Virgin adjoyning to the Church on the North-side of the Quire So the MS. Chron. ascribed to John Abbot MCCLXXXVI obiit Dominus Willielmus Parys Prior Burgi Successit Dominus Ricardus de Bernewell This Chapel was finished six year before being consecrated as I observed before by Oliver Sutton in the year 1290. There was a Chapel of the blessed Virgin belonging to this Church before called Capella beatae Virginis de Parco as I noted in the life of Akarius because it stood I suppose in the Park belonging to this Monastery But I find no other memory of it The same Chronicon of John Abbot notes ad An. MCCXCV obiit Dominus Ricardus Abbas Burgi Cui successit Willielmus de Wodeford He departed this Life on the first of August after he had been Abbot one and twenty year For on that day the Kalendar saith was Depositio Ricardi de London Abbatis WILLIHELMVS de Wodeford He was born I suppose at Wodeford in this County where this Church had a great deal of Land as appears from many Records but more particularly from a Transcript of all the Mannors and Tenements of the Abby of Burgh in the several Counties of the Realm as they are contained en le domes dai in Tesauraria Domini Regis apud Westemon tempore Regis Edwardi primi which was made about this time and remains in our Book Fol. CCXCII c. The most memorable thing that I can find done in his time was the Taxation of all the Mannors of the Abbey for their Goods Temporal and Spiritual by Apostolical i. e. the Papal authority which was done I find by 24 Jurates 12 Clergymen and 12 Laymen in the first year of this Abbot 1296. It remains still at the end of the Book called Swapham Fol. CCCXLV. bearing this
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
his History de gestis Regum Angl. where he calls him Adulphus and speaking of Oswald saith cui Venerabilis Medeshamstudensis Abbas Adulphus successit And in that See he sat till the year 1003. Which John Abbot concludes thus Adulphus Archiep Eborac quondam Abbas Burgi obiit In the year before which 1002 as I find in the Chron. of Mailros he took up the Bones of St. Oswald out of his Tomb and honourably placed them in a Shrine Of which there is a larger account given by Thomas Stubbs in his Act. Pontif. Eboracens which explains also what Mr. G. saith about his being translated to Worcester and therefore I shall transcribe some of it Vicesimus Eboracensis Ecclesiae Archiepiscopus fuit Venerabilis Abbas Medeshamstedensis i. e. Burg Adulphus c. Who by the favour of King Adelredus held the Bishoprick of Worcester in his hand as his Predecessor St. Oswald had done Whom he honoured so much that in the 12th year of his Episcopacy his Brethren the Bishops with the Abbots and many other Religious men being gathered together he took up the Bones of St. Oswald out of his Tomb Anno Regis Agelredi XXV VII Kalend. Maii feria quarta and placed them in a Shrine which he had prepared honourably for them And not long after dyed himself 2 Nonarum Maii and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester Symeon Dunelmensis saith the same ad An. 1002. only he makes this to have been done not the VII but the XVII Kal. Maii. And there is a mistake also in the year for it should not be the 12th but the 10th year of his Episcopacy And here now it may be fit to note that in all probability the Monks of this Church were brought under the rule of St. Benedict when it was restored as hath been said by King Edgar and put under the government of Adulphus and not till then For though there was a famous regulation of Monastical Orders made before this time under Cutbert Archbishop of Canterbury An. 747. in concilio Clovishoviae in which some things were mended in the Manners and Habits of Monks yet there is not the least mention made of the Rule of St. Bennet though there was a very fair occasion for it nor is there one word of it in Venerable Bede It is true Wilfrid who was ordained 10 or 14 years after the foundation of this Monastery An. 664. as the Chron. of John Abbot affirms was imployed by Wulfere King of the Mercians to settle Monasteries as the Author of his life tells which is in MS. in Sir J. Cotton's library whom Malmsbury calls Stephanus Presbyter viz. Stephanus Heddius as he is named by Bede And after the death of Deusdedit was sent for by Ecbert King of Kent where he went up and down through his Country saith the same Author C. 14. Et cum regula Benedicti instituta Ecclesiarum benè melioravit and very much improved the Orders of the Churches by the Rule of Benedict which he had learnt beyond Sea being so much addicted to foreign customs that he refused to be consecrated by our Bishops and desired to be consecrated in France when he was to succeed Colman This passage is much to be observed for it appears thereby the Churches he visited were already under Rules and Institutions before he came to them who only bettered them by this Rule of St. Bennet but did not bring those Churches under it And as this was all he did so what he did was in the Kingdom of Kent alone not all England over And so as the Chronologia Augustinensis is to be understood in these words Inter Decem Scriptores p. 2232. Wilfridus Episcopus regulam Sancti Benedicti fecit in Anglia observari ad An. 666. that is in these parts of England for in the midland parts it was little known for several years after As appears by the Bull of Pope Constantine An. DCCIX the very year wherein Wilfrid died to Kenred King of the Mercians Offa his Son and Egwin Bishop of Worcester for the Monastery of Evesham which saith the Monks were to live under the rule Patris Benedicti quae minus in illis partibus adhuc habetur And so it continued to be little known for above two hundred years For Oswald whom Adulphus succeeded in the See of York who had been Bishop of Worcester before he went to York was the man who brought it hither from the Abby of Fleury in France where he had been a Monk So W. of Malmsbury expresly testifies in his Third Book de gestis Pontif. Angl. where not far from the beginning he saith that Oswald being Nephew to Odo the Archbishop was bred up in his Youth apud Floriacum in Gallia taking upon him the habit of a Monk as the custom of that time was for all that were piously disposed in the Benedictine Convent A quo viz. Oswald Religionis hujus manavit exordium as his words are in the MS. Copy in Sir J. Cotton's Library Which are the more remarkable because the very same W. of Malmsbury had a little before mentioned Wilfrid bragging that he was the first who commanded the rule of St. Bennet to be observed by the Monks But after all this there was no general Constitution for our Monasteries till the Second Reformation of the ancient English Monkery which was in the Council of Winchester An. 965. under King Edgar the great restorer as hath been said of Monasteries When there was framed a general Constitution partly out of the Rule of St. Bennet and partly out of the antient customs before mentioned which was called Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis and may be found in Mr. Selden's Spicilegium to Eadmerus both in Saxon and in Latin This Rule thus composed was called Oswald's Law as Sir H. Spelman observes he being then Bishop of Worcester to which he was promoted at the instance of St. Dunstan An. 960 Chron. Mailros p. 149. and translated to York not till 971. and had not long before as I have said brought the Rule of St. Bennet from Fleury From which Monastery of Fleury several Monks also were called and advised withal in the drawing up of the Constitutions of this Regularis Concordia So King Edgar himself tells in his Preface to it where he relates how that upon his Exhortation to all under his care to come under the same Rule which many Abbots and Abbatisses with the Colledges of Brethren and Sisters subject unto them had taken upon them to observe that so there might not be divers usages in one and the same Country thereupon the Bishops the Abbots and Abbatisses being wonderfully thankful that God had bestowed upon them such a Doctor who is there called Pastor Pastorum such was the language of those times concerning Kings lift up their hands to Heaven and consented to what he proposed And immediatly sent for some Monks of Fleury and from Gent to advise withal about this matter who as Bees suck
their honey out of several Flowers composed these Constitutions out of several former Rules And more particularly took care about the singing used in Monasteries V. Seld. ad Eadmerum p. 145. that it should not be hudled nor too swift but be so distinct that the mind might accompany the voice and they might fulfill that of the Apostle Sing with the Spirit and sing with the Vnderstanding also All which considered I look upon it as highly probable that this Monastery of Peterburgh now became subject to this Rule being one of those restored by King Edgar And yet it was not the very Rule of St. Bennet which was established in this Council but many ancient Orders and Customs improved by that Rule and accommodated to his Precepts For long after this when there was a Third Regulation of Monasteries under Lanfranc An. 1075 in the Council of London when several things were restored as the words are which had been defined by ancient Canons the Council after consideration of Episcopal affairs decrees concerning Monks ex Regula Benedicti Dialogo Gregorii antiqua Regularium locorum consuetudine as Baronius observes From which Sir John Marsham judiciously concludes in his large Preface before the Monasticon that even in the Norman times the Monastical Laws were mixed and that the Benedictine Rule was not so admitted as that the antient customs of the Monks were thereby abrogated I have noted already the day and year when Adulphus dyed but there is a mistake I since find in the day which if the Records of our Church be true was June 5. when he was solemnly commemorated in this Monastery and is the very first Abbot of whom there is any mention made in the Kalender of this Church which is still preserved in the Library of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth of which I shall give an account in its proper place Where over against the fifth of June are these Words Depositio Adulphi Anniversarium Ricardi de Lincolnia Agnetis uxoris ejus Of all the foregoing Abbots there is not the least memory little being certainly known of what passed in the time of the first Monastery before its desolation by the Danes But it 's like they were all comprehended in that general commemoration which was made in Whitson-Week Specialium Defunctorum and was repeated in the two Ember-Weeks following in September and December Where I find the same Order with this addition that there should be a Missa ferialis cum de Profundis and the names of those speciales defuncti were then read KENVLPHVS The Character which Hugo gives of this Abbot who was chosen by the unanimous consent of the Friers and the favour of King Edgar is that he was Flos literalis disciplinae torrens eloquentiae decus norma rerum divinarum secularium which was the cause of that general concourse from all parts ad ejus Magisterium which Mr. G. hath observed And it 's likely that he brought this Monastery into the credit wherein it continued for several years For Ingulphus P. 83. Oxon. Edit tells us that in the Reign of the Conqueror the Monks of Burgh were so famous and the World had such an high opinion of them ut totus mundus abiret post eos and many of the great men of the Land both the highest Bishops and other Noble Men and Lieutenants of the Countries chose to be Interred among them He procured a confirmation of the Priviledges of this Church and of all that had been given to it from King Ethelred the Son of Edgar in these words Swapham fol. XL. Ego Athelredus Anglorum imperio sublimatus has donationes praedecessorum meorum regnante Abbate Cenulfo solidavi cum hiis testibus Dunstano Oswaldo Archiepiscopis That he surrounded the Monastery with a Wall is certain but that it was thence called Burch or Burgh as W. of Malmsbury writes Mr. G. justly doubts For King Edgar in his Charter calls it upon its restauration by this name of Burch Yet notwithstanding this name Burh and Burgh and Byrigh signifying any place which was walled about and particularly a City or Castle from the Saxon word Deorgan which signifies to defend or take into safety W. of Malmsbury might mean that the place did not deserve the name of Burch till this time His words I confess imply more for he saith the place formerly called Medeshamstede being now incompassed with a Wall by Kenulphus à similitudine Vrbis Burch vocatus est was called Burch from its likeness to a City Upon the translation of St. Elphege to the See of Canterbury Kenulphus succeeded him in the Bishoprick of Winchester as Abbot John among others remembers ad An. 1006. Who saith not a word of his Simony with which William of Malmsbury boldly charges him L. 2. de gestis Pontificum Angl. Wentanum enim Episcopatum Kenulphus Abbas Burgensis nummis nundinatus fuerat Sed non diu sacrilego ausu laetatus ante duos annos hominem exuit For which cause it is likely there was no commemoration made of him in this Church his name not being in the Kalender before named as his predecessors and all his Successors are except one guilty of the same crime and another guilty of the like though he was so great a benefactor and famed also for his Wisdom and Learning Hugo saith he governed most admirably and sweetly till he was promoted to Winchester ELSINVS Called also Elfinus and Alfinus between whom and Kenulfus there was another Abbot viz. KINSINVS if we may believe the MS. Chron. of John Abbot of this Church which I have so often cited For though he say ad An. 1006. that upon Kenulphus his removal Elsinus succeeded him and was the third Abbot after the restauration yet ad An. 1048. speaking concerning the sute which the Abbot of Peykyrke had for the Lands of his Monastery which by the judgement of the Court of Hardecnute as I shall show hereafter were given away from him he saith it was contra Kenulfum Kinsinum Abbates Burgi And that this was no mistake we may learn from his remark upon the year 1051. where he saith expresly Elfinus succeeded him in this Monastery Alfricus Eboracens Archiepis obiit apud Burgum sepelitur cui successit Kinsinus Abbas Burgi cui successit Elfinus in Abbatem promotus Monachus ejusdem loci And again ad An. 1060. obiit Kinsinus Eborac Archiep. quondam Abbas Burgi c. What truth there is in this I am not able to say from any other record but that he was a great man and Archbishop of York and here buried it will appear more hereafter when I come to that time and we have gained this piece of knowledge from John Abbot that Alfinus was a Monk of Burch and chosen to be Abbot saith Hugo by the unanimous consent of the whole Congregation whom he governed fiftyyear By which account Kinsinus must either never have been Abbot here or but for
relates in this manner Wlgatus diutissimam calumniam passus ab Abbatibus Burgi Elfino Arwino Leofrico Abbatiae suae sedem amittens tandem succubuit proh dolor totum situm Monasterii sui judicio Regalis Curiae perdidit In the time of Edw. 4. 1477. John Wysbech Abbot of Croyland rebuilt the Chappel of St. Pege de Paylond as it was vulgarly called quae per multas ante annos solo aequata jacebat as I find in the Continuation of the History of Croyland lately printed p. 560. For though the Church of Peterburgh had the greatest interest in that place and still hath the Mannor and Advowson of Peykyrke yet the Abbot of Croyland also had some Land there by an antient right Which appears from an agreement made between John de Says Abbot of Burgh and Godfrey Abbot of Croyland in the year MCXVI. in coemiterio de Peichirche in the Church-yard of Peykyrke where there were complaints on both sides de Sochemannis For the Abbot of Croylande had antiently as the agreement acknowledges a certain Court in that Village in which were his Houses de qua nulla soca Ecclesiae Sancti Petri de Burgo reddi debebat But all the rest of the Land in the Village de soca Sancti Petri de Burgo erat consuetudines socae Abbati Monachis reddebat Now the Monks of Croylande complained that some did unjustly intra septa suae curiae hospitari whereas they ought to have in that Court octo hospitum domos quietas sine soca And therefore they came at last to this conclusion that it was acknowledged upon Oath that all the Land was in soca Sancti Petri except that antient Court and the eight houses therein the House of the Abbot of Croyland himself not excepted So the words are Swaph fol. CXVIII Fuit ergo in praedicto coemiterio de Peichirche disraimatum per Sacramentum firmatum omnes esse in soca Sancti Petri excepta illa antiqua Curia octo hospitum domibus Domus quoque Abbatis de Croylande quam Monachi in soca Sancti Petri fecerant sicut justum erat in soca Sancti Petri fuit jurata The names of the Jurates on both parts are set down and the Witnesses also The last of which on the part of Croyland is Robertus Nepos Abbatis Ingulphi There have been more Records belonging to this matter but a whole Leaf concerning it is torn out of the Book and other differences between this Church and that if I have room shall be noted hereafter Towards the latter end of the government of Elfinus all our Historians agree Elfricus or Alfricus for his name is diversly written as the other is was buried in this Church He had been bred up here but came to be first Bishop of Winchester as Tho. Stubbs tells us Actus Pontif. Eborac and afterward Archbishop of York who had a Palace at Suthwell where he died An. MLI and commemorated here in this Church of Burgh upon the 23. Jan. over against which I find in the Kalender these words Depositio Elfrici Archiepiscopi He was succeeded in his See by Kinsinus or Kinsius as some call him Radulph de Diceto calls him Kinsigius then Chaplain to King Edward the Confessor Four years after which Elfinus dyed as among many others John Abbot tells us Whose words are these ad An. MLV. Elfinus Abbas Burgi obiit successit Ariwinus It hapned in January also for in the forenamed Kalender are these words over against the 13. day Depositio Elfini Abbatis Anniversarium Matthaei Capellani I have nothing further to add but that Elfricus the Archbishop gave to this Church together with his body as Hugo writes two rich Albes wrought with Gold two of their best Copes an Altar with Reliques two Palls and two great Silver Candlesticks which were afterward stoln and his own Staff with many other things AREWINVS Eruinus as some call him or Arnewinus was chosen by the whole company being vir mirae Sanctitatis simplicitatis as Hugo Characterizes him Who out of too much simplicity changed the Royal Village of Holneie which was in the Demean of St. Peter as the writings of the Church witness for that of Stokes for no other reason but because it was a nearer way unto his own Farm to go by Stokes In this private Farm it was I suppose that he chose to live rather than in this great dignity wherein he continued a far less time than Mr. G. mentions For if W. the Conqueror came into England the XIth year it should be the IXth of Leofricus as Hugo saith then Arewynus could not possibly be Abbot here eight year For Elfinus dying as hath been shown 1055 there passed from thence till the coming in of the Conqueror which was 1066. no more than Eleven year He resigned therefore his place after he had been two year Abbot An. MLVII as it is in the Margin of Hugo and after that lived eight year So the words of Hugo run very plainly Hic in prosperitate vitae suae voluntarie dimisit Abbatiam suam VIII postea feliciter vivens annos And so I find it in the MS. Chron. of Abbot John ad An. 1057. Arewynus Abbas Bur i demisit se de Abbatia cui successit egregius Pater Leofricus He dyed it appears by the Kalender on the 30. of May where are these words Depositio Arewyni Abbatis LEO FRICVS Called in the Kalander of this Church Lefricus and by Hugo Leuricus and by the Annals of Burton Levericus was chosen by the whole society with the consent of the King and of Arewinus being pulcherrimus Monachorum as Hugo describes him flos decus Abbatum descended of the noble Stock of the Angles and more Noble for his behaviour most nobly governed and inriched this Church and as it is written ornavit tempora sua usque ad consummationem vitae For he purchased much Land and bestowed divers Ornaments upon it particularly the great Crucifix upon the Altar of marvellous work of Silver and Gold Gold and Silver Candlesticks a great Table before the Altar all of Gold and Silver and precious Stone and besides other things mentioned in Hugo Casulam ex purpura optime de auro pretiosis gemmis ornatam alias multas casulas cappas pallia alia ornamenta plus quam ullus ante cum fecit aut post eum facturus est In short this place he saith was inriched so incredibly in his time that now it was called not simply Burch but Gildinburch i. e. aurea civitas the Golden City At his petition Edward the Confessor confirmed all the Grants of his Ancestors to this Church and made him the more able to inrich it by letting him hold four other Abbeys with it Which though mentioned by Mr. G. I take notice of again because he hath omitted the reason why the second of them viz. Coventry was granted to him which was because it
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
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
in a little Charter Ibid. pag. CXXII containing the Names of all the Lands and Possessions of the Church which was recorded for the honour of their Benefactors whose names are written in the Book of Life c. Among which it is said Askill filius Toke dedit Walcote super Humbram dum adhuc viveret post obitum illius fratrum ejus sc Scirici Siworthi dedit Brand Abbas frater eorum eidem Ecclesiae Sancti Petri Muskam c. And in the Charter of Edward the Confessor confirming this benefaction it is said that Askil or Askitill gave this Land upon occasion of a journey which he undertook to Rome Askitillus Romam pergens dedit Sancto Petro Ecclesiae suae de Burch septem carrucatas terrae in Walcote duabus bovatis minus in Alcheburn unam Carrucatam totam Ecclesiam in Normandy unam Carrucatam quae sunt super fluvium Humbre William the Conqueror in his confirmation Ibid. pag. CIX petente Abbate Brand saith the same concerning the number of Plough-Lands in that place held by the Monastery sub Rege Edwardo Most of which it should seem by a trial which John Deeping Abbot of this Church had about the Lands in those Towns in the 13th year of Hen. 4. were part of the possessions of the Abby from its foundation and being alienated perhaps were again restored or redeemed by Brand and his Brethren before mentioned For that Abbot then before the Kings Judges at Westminster Ibid. pag. CCCLII. declaring how he was destrained by the Servants of Thomas de Lancaster the Kings Son pretending that he held a Mannor of his in Holderness and ought to do him homage and suit at Court for six Carrucatae of Land in Walcote juxta Humbr and one in Normanby which they said he held of the aforesaid Thomas alledged against all this that Wolferus King of the Mercians long before the Conquest gave and granted by his Charter which he there produced and laid before them to God and the blessed Apostle St. Peter and the servants of God in Medhamstede which is now called by another name Peterburgh in puram perpetuam eleemosynam praedictas sex Carucatas terrae cum pertinentibus in Walcote juxta Humbr praedictam unam carucatam terrae cum pertin in Normanby in Lincoln c. Of which Land he and his Predecessor were seised and held as parcel of the first foundation of the Abby from the King and not from the aforesaid Thomas of whom he held no Land at all nor owed him any service c. And accordingly it was adjudged for the Abbot This Estate was in danger to be lost again after the Conquest being got into the hands of Yvo Talbois but restored by him to the Monks as I shall observe in my Remarks upon the next Abbot Turoldus The Character which Ingulphus Pag. 70. Edit Oxon. gives of Abbot Brand is that he was a very Religious person and as he had heard from his Predecessor and many others very much addicted unto Alms-deeds wherewith he relieved the poor and in short adorned with all Vertues They that have a mind may in the same Author find the form and manner after which this Abbot made Hereward a Knight which was a thing forbidden afterward in the Synod of London held under Anselm as Eadmerus informs us p. 68. Where Mr. Selden calls this Abbot Brand Coenobiarcha Edmundoburgensis Spicileg ad Eadmerum p. 207. N. 5. not attending I suppose to those words of Ingulphus where he mentions Abbatem Burgi the Uncle of Hereward which he construes as if he spake of the Abbot of St. Edmundburgh There is mention of Brand as witness to a Charter of William the Conqueror in the second year of his Reign 1068. wherein he setled the Collegiat Church of St. Martins le Grand in the City of London indowed by Ingelricus and Girardus his Brother out of their own Revenues as may be seen in the third Tome of the Monasticon Anglicanum De Eccles Collegiatis p. 26. But the next year after he dyed as not only Hugo but John Abbot of this Church tells us in his Chronicon Where An. MLXIX having spoken of the death of Aldredus Archbishop of York he adds Obiit etiam Brando Abbas Burgi Patruus dicti Herewardi de Wake ex Regis collatione successit Turoldus Brando dedit pro Fyskyrton XX. marcas auri alias XX. pro Quametis pro ibidem ..... VIII. marc auri Our Writings also mention his redeeming Burleigh as well as the forenamed places which shows how studious he was of the prosperity of this place Where he dyed 2. Kaland Decembris saith Hugo agreeable to the Kalander which saith 30. Novemb. Depositio Brandonis Will de Waterville Abbatum c. TVROLDVS Or THVROLDVS as he is called in a Chater of King Henry the First was no sooner setled in the Monastery but all manner of evils as Hugo's words are came to it For that very year 1069 the Danes returned to infest England under the conduct of Suenus Abbot John saith the Sons of Swane their King with a very great Army Part of which under Osbern came to Eli and was presently re-inforced by Hereward de Wake and his associates who came and joyned with them He was a very great man called by one of our best Historians vir Serenissimus Walsingham who at his return out of Flanders where he had been for a while hearing how much his Family and Kindred had suffered by the Normans and finding Ivo Talbois the Conqueror's Sisters Son possessed of his Estate the Conqueror having given Ivo large possessions in Holland was extreamly inraged thereat and resolved by force of Arms to recover his own though with the havock and spoil of other people I cannot say that this place felt the first effects of his fury but here he discharged it after a most terrible manner as Hugo relates the story For he it was that invited and incited also Osbern and his Danes to go and plunder this Abby where he heard the Abbot his Uncle was dead and the place filled with a Norman whom he accounted an intruder and he a very severe man who lay then with some Souldiers at Stamford They came therefore with great speed though not so hastily but the Monks of Burgh had some notice so that the Sacrist called Ywarus by the Counsel of the Monks carried away all that he could viz. the Texts of the Gospel with the Chesibles Copes and Albes c. and went with them to the Abbot Turoldus at Stamford The very same morning came Hereward and his company in Boats against whom the Monks maintained the Close so stoutly as is observed out of him by Mr. G. that he had no way but to set fire to the Houses near the Gate by which means his Forces entred and burnt all the Offices of the Monastery and the whole Town except the Church and one House The Monks therefore
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
at last he was by the anger of the King deposed in the Chapterhouse of Burgh by Robert Archdeacon before a multitude of Abbots and Monks being neither convicted of any crime nor confessing any but privily accused to the Archbishop by some Monks This is all that Hugo if he lived to write the end of this great man saith concerning his deposition Gervasius in his Chronicon saith more that the Archbishop himself came to the Abbey of Burgh and deposed Will. manifestis culpis accusatum convictum but saith not what they were Nor doth Radulphus de Diceto give any account of them but only saith multis impetitus notoriis being charged with many notorious crimes and convicted of them in the presence of the Archbishop he received the sentence of deposition 3. Kaland. Novembris Nay Gervase in another place in the life of Richard Archbishop of Canterbury saith not so much but only that he deposed the Abbot of Burgh certis ex causis for certain reasons John Bromton indeed who saith the Archbishop came hither a little before Christmas and Roger Hoveden as Mr. G. hath observed assign the reasons which I cannot contradict though it seems something strange that a man who was brought in with such an Universal kindness of the society and did such abundance of good should be guilty of the violence which the first of them mentions and of such Sacriledge also as is scarce credible And it is less credible that he who inriched the Monastery so vastly as it hath been already said should impoverish and oppress it as he is accused to have done in the account they gave to the Pope of this business For I must let the Reader know that William thinking himself wronged by this sentence appealed to Pope Alexander Who upon mature hearing of the Cause confirmed the deposition and commanded him silence for ever So we are told in a Bull of his Successor Pope Vrban still exstant Swaph fol. LXXVI directed to Benedict who succeeded this William confirming the aforesaid deposition of W. de Watervilla by whose malignity the Monastery saith the Bull was much attritum gravatum and he himself also de prava conversatione graviter infamatus Which damage done to the Monastery if he was truly accused arose it's likely from borrowing money to carry on all those great works which he did and attempted For in the same Bull it is said that William Norman Procurator for the Abbot having taken up great summs of money in the Abbots name for which he stood bound desired satisfaction But the money appearing to have been borrowed non pro utilitate sed pro gravamine Monasterii Pope Lucius absolved the Monastery ab impetitione tam creditorum quam fidejussorum freeing them from all obligation to pay the money so borrowed as appears the Bull saith by the writing of Pope Lucius Whereupon Vrban being induced by these reasons and moved by the desire of King Henry again confirmed the deposition as Alexander had done and again absolved them from that debt of which they had been acquitted in the judgment of his Predecessor Lucius Thinking it but reasonable that a debt which was remitted them communis juris aequitate should be relaxed also speciali Apostolicae sedis indulgentia But whatever his crimes were for which the King was incensed against him he had been once very much in his favour and procured from him a confirmation of all the priviledges granted by the Kings Grandfather Two of his Charters are very remarkable which run in the form of precepts One is omnibus militibus Abbatis de Burgo whom he commands without delay quod faciatis Abbati de Burgo servitium suum quod ei facere debetis and that not only in the present summons to serve in the Army in Wales but in all other intirely and fully Which if they did not do he tells them his Sheriffs should proceed against them according to Law Vicecomites mei in quorum balivis terras habetis justificent vos c. The other is to all his Justitiaries Sheriffs and Ministers Praecipio quod Willelmus Abbas de Burgo teneat bene in pace libere quiete juste honorifice Octo Hundreda sua cum omnibus libertatibus liberis consuetudinibus suis justitiam suam de octo Hundredis suis sicut aliquis antecessorum suorum melius liberius quietius honorificentius tenuit c. I find an agreement made in his time between the Sacrist of Burgh and Reginaldus Capellanus his Vicar that the same Reginald should serve honourably two Chapels viz. de Eea and de Thorp and pay all duties Swaph fol. CCXXIX to the Bishop Archdeacon and Dean for which he should have the diet of a Knight in the Abbots Hall and the third part of all the profits which belonged to the Altar together with the panis cum companagio altari oblatus which was to be his intirely And upon every Michaelmas-day inter tertiam the whole Convent being present he was to bring the Key of the Chapels and lay it upon the Altar from whence he received it there to receive it again from the Sacrist if he had well behaved himself Besides all which William the Abbot and the Convent of Burch granted and gave to the same Reginald another Chapel which was that I shall hereafter mention belonging to the Hospital of St. Leonard Capellam infirmorum quae sita est prope villam de Burch cum omnibus quae ad eam pertinere noscuntur custodiam infirmorum ananutim reddendo infirmis 2. Sol. This Domus infirmorum Hugo saith was built by William Waterville who did so many other worthy things that I have not room to insert them All agree he was deposed in the year MCLXXV where Chron. MS. Johan Abbatis hath these words Ricardus Cantuar. deposuit Will. de Waterville Abbatem Burgi He was commemorated in this Church notwithstanding his deposition on the last of November where I find these words in the Kalander Depositio Brandonis Will de Walterville Abbatum Anniversarium Adae de Walkote BENEDICT It appears from the Bull of Pope Vrban before mentioned that it was two year after the sentence given against William before Benedict was promoted all which time the King kept it in his hands And the truth is there were a great many Abbies void in his time as Hoveden tells us viz. Grimsbie Thornei Croyland Westminster Holm St. Austins in Canterbury Abendune Abbotsbury Battle Hide c. But at last the Archbishop who four year before had been Prior of Dover and elected to the See of Cant. 1173. prevailed with the King for the advancement of his old Neighbour and acquaintance Benedict who at this time was Chancellor to the Archbishop and also Prior of the Church of Canterbury that is of the Church of the Holy Trinity So Gervasius calls him Chron. ad Ann. 1176. Benedictus Domini Cantuariensis Cancellarius c.
this Abbots time Which is something strange when in the life of Martin de Ramsey P. 30. he takes notice of the Grand Priviledge granted by Gregory the IXth to this Church For in that Bull there is an express command for the observation of it for ever Nay it is the very first thing in it after the Preface Imprimis siquidem statuentes ut Ordo Monasticus qui secundum Deum beati Benedicti regulam in eodem Monasterio esse dignoscitur institutus perpetuis ibidem temporibus inviolabiliter observetur Where he speaks of it as a Rule already instituted in this Monastery before that time which was in the year 1228. And the only thing I have yet met withal to make one think this Rule was here introduced sooner than I have before said viz. in King Edgar's time is the mention of it in the Charter of Ethelbaldus which I have since taken notice of Founder of the Church of Croyland An. 716. Where he calling it the Monastery of Black Monks serving God sub norma Sancti Benedicti Ingulphus p. 3. Edit Oxon. it may thence be probably conjectured that this Neighbouring Monastery then called Medeshamstede was under the same Rule at that time which was when Egbaldus was Abbot here who is one of those that signs that Charter of Croyland There is no account given in the MS. Chron. Johannis Abbatis Burgi of the time of this Abbot's death nor when Rob. de Sutton was chosen though the memorable things are set down which hapned in the following years which makes me think John de Kaleto was the Author of that Chronicon But W. of Wittlesea hath informed us when he dyed which Mr. G. hath noted And the Kalendar I have often mentioned tells us he departed this Life on the first of March which was Depositio Joh. de Calceto Abbatis Anniversarium Ivonis superioris On which day they were to pray for the Souls of the Father and Mother of this John Abbot There are two memorable Statutes of this Abbots which ought not to be omitted because they explain the customs of this Church One is that when a Monk had been four years compleat in the Monastery which in their Language is quatuor annos conversionis suae impleverit he should from that time receive out of the Chamber coopertorium tunicam similiter caputium stragulam which it seems he provided before at his own charges The other is that every Monk should have coradium suum plenarie for a whole year after his decease as if he had been alive except only the pitanciae Insuper Pelliciam Soculares Caligas Pedules together with his Pilch or Shirt his Boots Breeches Socks or Stockings which the Prior Camerarius and Eleemosynarius were to see done and faithfully distributed to the Poor Both these were enacted in Chapter with the full consent of the Convent ROBERTVS de Sutton The year before he dyed he made a Deed like that of John de Caleto's beginning after the same manner wherein he grants to the Convent one Mark a year out of certain Lands of John de Sermoney and forty Shillings of annual Rent for the making the day of his death an Anniversary But he doth not express how he would have it kept He set only his own seal to it datum apud Burgum An. 1273 upon the Munday before the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle In which year on the 11. of the Kal. of March I find an agreement made between the Abbot of Burgh and the Abbot of Sawtry concerning Secta Curiae de Castre which the Abbot of Burgh challenged from him of Sawtry from three Weeks to three Weeks for certain Tenements which he held in Fee of the Abbot of Burgh in Catteworth and Wynewick Which the Abbot of Sawtrey acknowledged to be due from him and his Convent to the Abbot and Convent of Burgh who remitted the same sute for the future upon payment of five Shillings Rent yearly to the Abbot of Burgh c. which if it was not paid he had power to distrain upon the Tenements by his Bailiffs c. Alicia de Scotere Widow gave a great deal of Land to the Church in his time which she had in Burgh Dodestorp Paston c. Nicolaus de Cutyller renounced all his right and claim in a Messuage of twelve acres of Land c. And a great many more Grants I find made to the same Rob. Sutton but it is not said in what year nor have I place for them in this Supplement The Chron. of John Abbot as its title bears being carried on by some other hands and having related how a Council was held at Lyons by Gregory X. in the year 1274 wherein was determined what Order of Mendicants should continue and what should cease adds obierunt ibi multi Praelati in redeundo de Concilio Obiit Dominus Robertus Abbas de Burgo cui successit Dominus Richardus de London The Kalendar saith that on the 22. of March. was Depositio Roberti de Sutton Abbatis Anniversarium Henrici Aurifabri Johannis de Trikingham Prioris Which last I conceive may be the same man whom Mr. G's Authors call Elias Trickingham RICHARDVS de London There were two Agreements I find made by this Abbot at his very entrance one between him and the Abbot of Thornholm another with the Abbot of Swinshened neither of which are named dated at Burg 1275. on the Feast of the Purification After which follows in our Records Fol. CLXV a Deed of Galfridus de Suthorp Knight which he made Richardo de London Abbati de Burg Sancti Petri c. Of which Galfridus he bought the Mannor of Gunthorp and settled it upon the Eleemosynary an 1277. In the same Year upon the Feast of All-Saints died Rob. de Wremerest whereupon Will. de Wodeford then Sacrist of Burg. St. Reter came and claimed his Body to be buried in the Church of Burgh But the Friends of the deceased being very instant with him that with his leave it might be buried in the Church of Vengirst and the fore-named Sacrist considering the inundation of Waters which then was and many other dangers in the ways and moved by their Prayers buried the Corps himself in the aforesaid Church de gratia sua speciali of his special grace and favour as the words are in the Memorandum left of it in our Book Fol. CLXI Nor far from which I find another Memorandum of a thing of like nature which hapned two year before When there was a controversie arose between the Abbot and Convent of Burgh on the one part and Rober a'e Nevile of Scottun on the other part about the burial of the Body of Philip de Nevil Father to the said Rob. and the Mortuary which the Monastery challenged as due to the Church from one of their Knights Which was thus at last composed viz. the aforesaid Rob. humbly petitioned the Abbot and Convent that they would
by the many shots they made at length do quite deface and spoil Picture The odiousness of this Act gave occasion I suppose to a common Fame very rife at that time and whence Mercurius Rusticus might have his relation viz. That divine Vengeance had signally seised on some of the principal Actors That one was struck blind upon the place by a Re-bound of his Bullet That another dyed mad a little after neither of which I can certainly attest For though I have made it my business to enquire of this I could never find any other judgment befal them then but that of a mad blind Zeal wherewith these persons were certainly possest And now I am engaged in telling the story of their impiety and profaneness at Peterburgh 't will be no great excursion to step out to Yaxley a neighbouring Town and mention one thing done there Which was This on the 10th of June 1643. some of Captain Beaumont's Souldiers coming thither They break open the Church doors piss in the Font and then baptize a Horse and a Mare using the solemn words of Baptism and signing them with the sign of the Cross But to return to our reforming Rabble at Peterburgh when there was no more painted or carved work to demolish Then they rob and rifle the Tombs and violate the Monuments of the dead And where should they first begin but with those of the two Queens who had been there interr'd The one on the North side the other on the South side of the Church both near unto the Altar First then they demolish Queen Katherin's Tomb Hen. the Eighth his repudiated Wife They break down the Rails that enclosed the place and take away the black Velvet Pall which covered the Herse overthrow the Herse it self displace the Gravestone that lay over her Body and have left nothing now remaining of that Tomb but only a Monument of their own shame and villany The like they had certainly done to the Queen of Scots but that her Herse and Pall were removed with her Body to Westminster by King James the first when He came to the Crown But what did remain they served in like manner that is her Royal Arms and Escutcheons which hung upon a Pillar near the place where she had been interr'd were most rudely pulled down defaced and torn In the North Isle of the Church there was a stately Tomb in memory of Bishop Dove who had been 30 years Bishop of the place He lay there in Portraicture in his Episcopal Robes on a large Bed under a fair Table of black Marble with a Library of Books about him These men that were such Enemies to the name and Office of a Bishop and much more to his Person hack and hew the poor Innocent Statue in pieces and soon destroy'd all the Tomb. So that in a short space all that fair and curious Monument was buried in its own rubbish and Ruines The like they do to two other Monuments standing in that Isle the one the Tomb of Mr. Worm the other of Dr. Angier who had been Prebendary of that Church In a Place then called the new Building and since converted to a Library there was a fair Monument which Sir Humphrey Orm to save his Heir that charge and trouble thought fit to erect in his own life time where he and his Lady his Son and Wife and all their children were lively represented in Statues under which were certain English verses written mention'd before in this Book Mistake not Reader I thee crave This is an Altar not a Grave Where fire raked up in Ashes lyes And hearts are made the Sacrifice c. Which two words Altar and Sacrifice 't is said did so provoke and kindle the Zealots indignation that they resolve to make the Tomb it self a Sacrifice and with Axes Poleaxes and Hammers destroy and break down all that curious Monument save only two Pilasters still remaining which shew and testifie the elegancy of the rest of the Work Thus it hapned that the good old Knight who was a constant frequenter of Gods publick Service three times a day outlived his own Monument and lived to see himself carried in Effigie on a Souldiers back to the publick Market-place there to be sported withall a Crew of Souldiers going before in Procession some with Surplices some with Organ Pipes to make up the solemnity When they had thus demolished the chief Monuments at length the very Gravestones and Marbles on the Floor did not escape their Sacrilegious hands For where there was any thing on them of Sculptures or Inscriptions in Brass These they force and tear off So that whereas there were many fair pieces of this kind before as that of Abbot William of Ramsey whose large Marble Gravestone was plated over with Brass and several others the like there is not any such now in all the Church to be seen though most of the Inscriptions that were upon them are preserved in this Book One thing indeed I must needs clear the Souldiers of which Mercurius Rusticus upon misinformation charges them with viz. That they took away the Bell-Clappers and sold them with the Brass they plucked off from the Tombs The mistake was this The neighbourhood being continually disturbed with the Souldiers jangling and ringing the Bells auker as though there had been a scare-fire though there was no other but what they themselves had made some of the Inhabitants by night took away the Clappers and hid them in the Roof of the Church on purpose only to free their ears from that confused noise which gave occasion to such as did not know it to think the Souldiers had stolen them away Having thus done their work on the Floor below they are now at leisure to look up to the Windows above which would have entertained any persons else with great delight and satisfaction but only such Zealots as these whose eyes were so dazled that they thought they saw Popery in every Picture and piece of painted Glass Now the Windows of this Church were very fair and had much curiosity of workmanship in them being adorned and beautified with several Historical passages out of Scripture and Ecclesiastical story such were those in the Body of the Church in the Isles in the new Building and elsewhere But the Cloister Windows were most famed of all for their great Art and pleasing variety One side of the Quadrangle containing the History of the Old Testament another that of the New a Third the Founding and Founders of the Church a Fourth all the Kings of England downward from the first Saxon King All which notwithstanding were most shamefully broken and destroyed And amongst other things thus demolisht in the Windows there was one thing Fame had made very remarkable and that was the story of the Paschal Pickeril The thing was this Our Saviour was represented in two places in the Cloyster and in the great Western Window sitting at his last Supper with his twelve Apostles In