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SOLD      BY 

Thomas  Baker^ 

72  Newman  Street, 

LoNDON,\V.  Eng 


Catbolic  Stan^ar^  ILibrari? 


A  HISTORY  OF  THE  SOMERSET 
CARTHUSIANS 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  Toronto 


http://www.archive.org/details/historyofsomerseOOthom 


ST.    HUGH   OK    AVALUN,    BISHOP   OF    MN'COI.N,    TIUKD    I'RIOK    OF   WrrMAM. 


A    HISTORY   OF 

THE    SOMERSET 
CARTHUSIANS 


BY 


E.  MARGARET  THOMPSON 


IVirH  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 

L.   BEATRICE   THOMPSON 


SECOND  EDITION 


JOHN    HODGES 

BEDFORD  STREET,  STRAND,  LONDON 

1896 


IHE  INSTITUTE  cr  ft^FCIA^VAL  STUDIES 

10  ELMCLEY  PLACE 
TOHCNTO  5,  CAf^AOA, 

DEG2nS31 


Printed  by  Ballantyne,  Hanson  &  Co. 
At  the  Ballantyne  Press 


PREFACE 

This  little  work  is  not  meant  as  a  contribution  to 
the  Acts  of  the  Carthusian  Saints  and  Confessors 
of  England,  which  Dom  Victor  Doreau  and  Dom 
Lawrence  Hendriks  may  be  said  to  have  begun 
in  their  two  books,  Henri  VIII.  et  les  Martyrs 
de  la  Chartreuse  de  Londres,  and  The  London 
Charterhouse:  Its  aim  is  to  be  a  faithful  narra- 
tion of  the  origin,  progress,  and  dissolution  of 
the  two  communities  at  Witham  and  Hinton 
as  a  body,  rather  than  a  full  history  of  the 
individual  religious  of  either  Priory ;  indeed,  to 
have  written  the  latter,  owing  to  the  extreme 
paucity  of  material,  would  have  been  an  im- 
possibility, except  in  the  case  of  St.  Hugh. 
But  notice  has  been  taken  in  the  following 
pages  of  the  known  monks  of  both  the  monas- 
teries, and  an  account  will  be  found  of  that 
portion  of  their  lives  which  was  passed  in  either 
of  the  Somerset  Charterhouses,  or  which  affected 


vi  PREFACE 

in  any  way  either  of  those  communities  to  which 
they  some  time  belonged. 

There  is  no  need  to  set  down  here  a  list  of 
the  authorities  to  which  recourse  has  been  had 
in  compiling  this  book,  since  these  have  been 
given  in  the  footnotes.  It  is  well  to  mention, 
however,  that  in  quoting  documents,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  original  spelling  has  been  kept  of 
all  names  of  places,  except  those  of  Witham  and 
Hinton,  and  of  well-known  towns  or  cities,  in 
which  cases  the  modern  form  of  the  words  has 
been  preferred. 

The  thanks  of  the  writer  are  due  to  Miss 
Mary  Baily,  of  Frome  -  Selwood,  who  kindly 
took  the  photographs  at  Witham,  Hinton,  and 
Norton  St.  Philip,  from  which  most  of  the  illus- 
trations have  been  drawn. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
WITHAM    CHARTERHOUSE 

CHAP.  PAGB 

I.    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    THE    FIRST  ENGLISH    CHARTER- 
HOUSE           3 

II.    THE   CARTHUSIAN    RULE 3 1 

III.  AN    IDEAL   MONK 45 

IV.  THE   PROSPEROUS   YEARS    OF   THE   CHARTERHOUSE     .  69 
V.    DECLINING   FORTUNES II9 

VI.    THE   DESTRUCTION    OF   THE   MONASTERY   .  .  .       156 

PART  II 
HINTON    CHARTERHOUSE 


I.    THE   FOUNDERS 

II.    A    LONG    CARTHUSIAN    SABBATH 

III.  BROKEN    PEACE 

IV.  THE   SCATTERING    OF   THE   SHEEP    OF   THE    PASTURE 
V.    A    PLEA    FOR    THE    CARTHUSIANS 

INDEX  ...  .  ... 

vii 


203 
228 

275 
307 

367 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

St.  Hugh  of  Avalon,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  Third 

Prior  of  Witham Frontispiece 

Witham  Friary  Church,  Exterior  .  .  To  face  page  4 
Witham  Friary  Church,  Interior  .  .  .  „  19 
Supposed  Lepers'  Window  in  Witham  Church  „  20 
A  Carthusian— Choir  Dress  .  .  .  .  „  33 
A  Carthusian  Lay-Brother  .  .  .  .  „  39 
Fifteenth  Century  Font  in  Witham  Friary  „  113 
Witham  Friary  Church,  a.d.  1760,  with  sup- 
posed Conventual  Buildings  .  .  .  „  199 
Hinton-Charterhouse  Church,  Exterior  „  250 
Hinton-Charterhouse  Church,  Interior  „  253 
Norton  St.  Philip,  Exterior  .  .  .  .  „  254 
Norton  St.  Philip,  Interior  .  .  .  .  „  259 
Entrance  to  the  Tower  of  Hinton  Priory 

Church  on  the  West „  275 

Exterior  of  the  Carthusian  Chapter-House, 

Hinton »  307 

Interior  of  the  Carthusian  Chapter- House, 

Hinton ,,347 

Piscina  in  Hinton  Chapter-House   .       .       .  „  350 

ix 


ERRATA 

Page  71,  line  i,  for  "  prioracy  "  read  "  priorate." 

J,  85,  lines  3  and  2  from  the  bottom,  for  "in  the 
above-mentioned  inquisition  of  A.D.  1273" 
read  "at  a  later  inquisition  held  in  A.D.  1273." 

„  88,  line  3  from  the  bottom,  for  "  Henry  I."  read 
"  Henry  II." 


PART    I 
WITHAM    CHARTERHOUSE 


WITHAM    CHARTERHOUSE 


OR 


THE   CHARTERHOUSE   IN   SELWOOD 


CHAPTER    I 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  FIRST  ENGLISH 
CHARTERHOUSE 

'*  Through  wisdom  is  an  house  builded  ;  and  by  understanding  it  is 
established." — Prov.  xxiv.  3. 

FEW  miles  within  the  eastern 
border  of  Somersetshire,  and 
within  the  bounds  of  what  was 
once  the  Forest  of  Selwood,  is 
the  little  village  of  Witham- 
Friary,  or  Charterhouse-Witham,  a  simple  quiet 
grey  village,  like  many  another  in  the  West 
Country,  though  unlike  most  in  respect  to  its 
parish  church.  Instead  of  the  handsome  edifice 
with  the  lofty  turreted  tower  so  usual  in  those 
parts,  that  building  is  a  somewhat  low  structure. 


4         SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

in  the  plan  of  an  oblong  without  aisles,  terminat- 
ing the  east  end  in  an  apse,  having  only  a  small 
belfry  in  the  roof.  But  plain  almost  to  ugliness 
as  it  is,  that  little  church  has  a  not  uninteresting 
history,  for,  with  the  name  of  the  village,  it  is  all 
that  remains  of  the  first  English  Charterhouse. 

About  A.D.  1084,  St.  Bruno,  then  a  canon  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Reims,  became  convinced  that 
a  religious  life  could  only  be  led  apart  from  the 
world,  having  come  to  that  conclusion  whilst 
regarding  the  evil  life  of  one  of  the  archbishops 
there,  and,  according  to  the  legend,  having  re- 
ceived a  warning  to  that  effect  in  the  speech 
of  a  dead  friend  at  whose  funeral  he  was  assist- 
ing. Persuading  six  friends  to  go  with  him, 
like  another  Lot,  he  fled  from  his  Sodom  and 
turned  his  face  towards  the  mountains.  In  the 
world  which  he  was  now  quitting  he  was  already 
well  known  as  a  learned  and  a  holy  man  (indeed, 
some  say  he  was  fleeing  from  the  dignity  of 
the  Archbishopric  of  Reims,"*  which  was  likely' 
to  be  imposed  upon  him),  and  he  had  had 
several  renowned  pupils.  To  one  of  these,  St. 
Hugh,    Bishop    of    Grenoble,    he   now    applied. 

*  Montalembert,  Les  Moines  d' Occident^  vol.  vii 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE        5 

The  bishop  readily  granted  the  seven  com- 
panions their  desired  retreat  in  the  rocky  solitude 
of  La  Chartreuse.  An  oratory  and  some  very 
small  cells,  built  at  a  short  distance  from  each 
other,  and  the  cloisters,  were  erected  as  speedily 
as  possible.  Here,  as  if  impregnated  with  the  very 
spirit  of  the  stern  and  wild  scenery  about  him, 
St.  Bruno  formulated  his  harsh  rule,  taking  that 
of  St.  Benedict  as  its  groundwork.  Here,  with 
long  fasts,  and  in  silence  for  the  most  part,  he 
and  his  followers  led  a  hermit  life  in  a  desert 
more  terrible  than  those  to  which  the  early 
Fathers  were  wont  to  retire.  Their  first  name, 
the  Poor  of  Christ,  since  lost  in  the  later  appella- 
tion of  the  Carthusians,  was  not  unsuited  to 
them  as  regarded  their  worldly  resources,  for 
the  sterile  soil  of  the  mountains  could  be  little 
cultivated,  so  that  they  had  to  live  on  the 
produce  of  their  flocks,  which,  in  that  region  of 
spare  herbage,  could  not  have  been  numerous  ; 
indeed,  with  their  scanty  fare  and  general  hard 
way  of  living,  and  with  their  plain  style  of 
architecture  and  churches  barren  of  ornament, 
they  could  not  have  needed  much  wealth,  and 
it  seems  were   not  allowed   it ;  for  when  Count 


6         SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

William  of  Nevers,^  who  later  put  on  their  frock, 
sent  them  a  rich  present  of  silver  plate,  they 
returned  it.  But,  in  spite  of  their  austerity,  the 
Carthusians  excited  the  admiration  of  other 
monks ;  and  laymen,  and  even  women  and  chil- 
dren, sought  to  be  admitted  among  them.  Their 
renown  for  holiness  was  not  less  a  hundred 
years  later;  so  that  when,  in  a.d.  1172,  Pope 
Alexander  III.  commuted  the  form  of  Henry's 
penance  for  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket 
from  a  three  years'  crusade  into  the  building 
of  three  monasteries,  it  was  judged  to  be  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  king  and  his  king- 
dom that  one  of  them  should  be  a  house  of 
Carthusians,  whose  Order  as  yet  possessed  no 
convent  in  England. 

The  site  chosen  for  this  new  monastery  was 
Witham.  In  the  time  of  Edward  the  Confessor 
it  had  been  a  portion  of  the  manor  of  Brewham, 
but  William  the  Conqueror  had  separated  it, 
and  granted  it  partly  to  Roger  de  Corcelle  and 
partly  to  Turstin  Fitzrolf  f  After  the  death  of 
both  of  these,  it  had  reverted  to  the  crown,  and 

*  Montalembert,  Les  Moines  (TOccident. 
+  Domesday  Book. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE        7 

there  continued  until  now,  when  Henry  II. 
granted  it  to  the  Carthusians.  The  little  band 
of  monks  who,  at  the  king's  request,  had  been 
sent  over  from  La  Grande  Chartreuse,  were  hence- 
forth to  make  their  home  in  a  very  different 
tract  of  country  to  that  whence  they  had  come. 
A  solitude,  as  was  commanded  by  the  rule  of 
their  Order,  indeed  it  was,  but  the  solitude  of 
the  forest,  and  not  that  of  a  scarcely  habitable 
region ;  instead  of  the  lofty  mountains  thickly 
covered  with  snow  and  mist  for  half  the  year 
round,  not  far  off  was  the  gentle  undulating 
range  of  the  Mendip  Hills,  from  which  could 
come  no  avalanches  such  as  that  which  in 
January  a.d.  1133  had  buried  the  first  cloisters 
and  cells  and  seven  brethren.'"  But  if  the  new- 
comers had  not  to  fight  against  the  elements 
and  the  physical  difficulties  of  the  land,  they 
had  to  go  through  many  struggles  before  they 
were  peaceably  possessed  of  it. 

Leland  the  antiquary  t  says  that  at  first  there 
was  at  Witham  a  nunnery.  Camden  also  in  his 
Britatmia  says,   '*  Not  far  from   hence  [Nonney 

*  Montalembert,  Les  Moines  cV Occident. 
t  Leland,  Collect.^  vol.   .  p.  T]. 


8         SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

de  la  Mare]  is  Witham,  where  King  Henry  II. 
built  a  nunnery ; "  but  as  he  goes  on  to  say  that 
after  the  dissolution  of  religious  houses  it  came 
into  the  family  of  Hopton,  to  whom  certainly 
Witham  Charterhouse  was  granted,  the  word 
nunnery  must  surely  be  a  mistake  for  monastery. 
At  any  rate,  the  records  as  to  what  became  of 
the  nuns,  who,  with  the  other  inhabitants  of  the 
village,  had  to  be  turned  out  in  order  to  make 
a  fitting  solitary  neighbourhood  for  the  Car- 
thusians, have  apparently  disappeared.  But 
whether  the  monks  had  to  dispute  their  rights 
with  a  sister-community  or  not,  they  certainly 
had  to  dispute  them  with  the  other  settlers  on 
the  soil.  The  first  Prior  soon  wearied  of  his 
difficulties ;  used  to  the  freedom  and  quiet  of 
the  mountains,  his  delicate  mind  could  not  bear 
the  anxiety  of  planning  and  constructing,  and 
the  constant  quarrels  with  the  natives,  to  whom 
he  and  his  appeared  as  monsters,  who,  not 
content  with  their  own  boundaries,  were  come 
to  swallow  up  their  acres ;  moreover,  their 
manners  and  customs  and  the  strange  diet 
troubled  him.  Seeing  him  to  be  incapable  of 
the   management   of  their   affairs,   his   brethren 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE        9 

allowed  him  to  return  home.  Another  monk  was 
sent  from  La  Grande  Chartreuse  to  be  their  Prior 
instead,  but  he  too  was  affected  with  a  like 
weariness,  and  soon  **  by  a  happy  death  received 
the  end  of  his  labours  and  the  beginning  of 
life."  *  The  troubles  of  the  remaining  brethren 
continued,  and  the  king  himself  began  to  fear 
lest  he  should  fail  in  his  undertaking  of  estab- 
lishing the  Order  in  England.  It  was  probably 
some  time  in  a.d.  1173,  when  Henry  was  nego- 
tiating with  the  Count  of  Maurienne  about  a 
contemplated  marriage  of  the  latter's  daughter 
with  Prince  John,  that  the  Count,  hearing  of  his 
difficulties  concerning  WItham,  recommended  him 
to  entreat  the  community  at  La  Grande  Char- 
treuse to  send  to  England  their  present  Proctor, 
who  from  his  office  must  have  gained  some 
experience  in  monastic  affairs.  This  was  Hugh 
of  Avalon,  St.  Hugh  as  he  was  afterwards  called. 
There  would  be  found  in  this  one  man,  said 
the  Count,  not  only  all  the  usual  virtues,  but 
whatever  of  long-suffering  and  sweetness,  what- 
ever of  magnanimity  and  gentleness,  could  be 
discovered  in  any  mortal  being;  he  would  certainly 

♦  Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis. 


lo       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

adorn  the  whole  English  Church  by  the  bright- 
ness of  his  **  most  pure  religion  and  his  most 
religious  purity."  To  none  would  he  seem  an 
undesirable  neighbour ;  none  would  shun  him  as 
a  foreigner ;  every  one  would  regard  him  as  a 
fellow-citizen,  as  a  brother  or  an  intimate  friend  ; 
for  he  himself  embraced  and  cherished  all  men 
**in  the  arms  and  on  the  bosom  of  his  unique 
love."  "^  The  king  followed  the  advice  given, 
and  sent  Reginald  Fitz-Jocelin,  Bishop  of  Bath, 
at  the  head  of  an  embassy  to  La  Grande  Char- 
treuse. 

Being  joined  on  the  way  by  the  Bishop  of 
Grenoble,  the  diocesan  of  the  place,  himself 
formerly  one  of  the  community,  the  royal  mes- 
sengers on  their  arrival  presented  their  master's 
letters  to  the  Prior  and  brethren.  The  worth  of 
St.  Hugh  was  well  known ;  the  Prior  at  first 
refused  to  let  him  go,  and  most  of  the  brethren 
were  of  the  opinion  that  so  valuable  a  man  ought 
by  no  means  to  be  sent  to  so  remote  a  region. 
But  one  of  them,  Bovo,  later  himself  Prior  of 
Witham,  said  that  Heaven  might  have  decreed 
that  by  the  holiness  of  this  man  the  sanctity  of 

*  Magna  Viia  S.  Hugonis. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       1 1 

the  Order  might  shine  forth  to  the  farthest  limits 
of  the  world.  **  Think  not,"  he  added,  **that 
you  will  for  long  be  able  to  hide  him,  your  light, 
under  a  bushel.  A  little  while  since,  Hugh  ap- 
peared to  me  by  his  virtues  rather  as  a  bishop 
than  a  monk."  St.  Hugh's  own  opinion  was 
that  he  was  unfit  to  rule  others,  for,  surrounded 
by  their  sanctity,  helped  so  much  by  their  warn- 
ings and  examples,  he  had  never,  even  for  one 
day,  had  to  take  care  of  his  own  soul  indepen- 
dently. But  the  more  reluctant  were  the  monks 
for  the  parting,  the  more  urgent  were  the  two 
bishops  and  their  company  in  their  request.  At 
length,  some  of  the  brethren  siding  with  the  royal 
party,  St.  Hugh  appealed  to  his  Prior  to  let  him 
remain.  The  Prior,  who  loved  him  as  his  own 
soul,  declared,  **  As  the  Lord  liveth,  never  shall 
that  sentence  go  out  of  my  mouth  by  which  I 
must  order  Hugh  to  desert  my  old  age  and 
widow  the  Chartreuse  of  his  most  sweet  and 
necessary  presence  ! "  But  finally  he  consented 
to  follow  the  advice  of  the  Bishop  of  Grenoble, 
and  send  him  across  the  sea.  Then  turning  to 
St.  Hugh,  the  bishop  said,  "And  as  for  thee, 
Hugh,    dearest    brother,    it    is    right    that    thou 


12       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

shouldst  imitate  in  this  Him  whom  thou  hast 
always  sweetly  followed,  the  only-begotten  Son 
of  the  Almighty  Father,  who,  from  the  deepest 
secret  place  of  His  Deity,  deigned  to  come  forth 
for  the  salvation  of  many  to  the  public  place  of 
human  intercourse."  St.  Hugh  flung  himself  at 
the  bishop's  feet,  and  begged  in  vain  for  a  re- 
versal of  his  decision  ;  then,  having  given  his 
brethren  the  farewell  kiss  of  peace  and  recom- 
mending himself  to  their  prayers,  he  departed 
with  the  embassy  and  came  to  King  Henry, 
who  had  him  conducted  in  honour  to  Witham, 
where  the  monks  there  received  him  with  "in- 
effable joy,"  **as  the  angel  of  the  Lord." 

The  little  community  were  found  in  the  woods 
not  far  from  the  village  of  Witham,  dwelling  in 
what  must  have  been  nothing  better  than  rude 
huts,  for  their  cells  were  made  out  of  stakes 
hedged  round  with  pales  and  a  low  wall.  In  fact, 
the  new  Prior  had  to  begin  his  office  by  building 
the  convent,  for  things  were  in  such  an  imperfect 
state  that  it  had  not  even  been  determined  where 
it  would  be  best  to  erect  the  greater  and  the 
lesser  church,  the  former  with  the  monks'  cells 
and  cloisters,  the  latter  with  the  dwellings  of  the 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       13 

lay-brothers  and  the  lodgings  of  the  guests.  But 
the  saint  would  not  have  the  foundations  of  the 
holy  house  laid  in  injustice ;  therefore  he  urged 
the  king  to  make  provision  that  the  inhabitants 
of  the  village  should  take  no  injury  in  giving 
up  their  ancestral  possessions.  Henry,  admiring 
his  prudence,  granted  his  desires,  and  offered 
the  people  two  alternatives :  they  might,  at  their 
choice,  either  receive  dwellings  and  lands  of 
equal  value  to  those  they  were  leaving  at 
Witham  in  whatever  part  of  the  kingdom  they 
should  select,  or  accept  their  freedom  from  serf- 
dom, which  would  enable  them  to  go  to  culti- 
vate whatever  regions  they  wished.  Some  chose 
their  freedom  ;  others  chose  new  land.  Thus  in 
the  Testa  de  Neville  or  Liber  Feodorum  (temp. 
Henry  III.)  we  find  : — 

In  the  Hundred  of  Northairy,  Ralf  Malet  held 
land  worth  ;^8  a  year  in  the  same  manor  in  ex- 
change for  his  land  at  "  Witteham,"  of  the  gift  of 
King  Henry,  father  of  King  John,  by  the  service 
of  the  twentieth  part  of  one  knight's  fee.*  That 
the  Charterhouse  might  be  free  from  future 
litigation,  the  king  had  it  proclaimed  in  all  the 

*  Testa  de  Nevihe^  p.  162,  b. 


14       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

towns  and  villages  of  Wiltshire,  Dorsetshire,  and 
Somersetshire,  that  any  wishing  for  an  exchange 
of  lands  must  prove  their  rights  to  their  holdings 
at  Witham  within  two  years.'"  St.  Hugh,  mindful 
that  the  inhabitants  might  have  laid  out  much 
upon  their  old  homes,  insisted  upon  their  having 
compensation,  even  to  the  last  farthing,  for  any 
improvements  they  might  have  made.  But  his 
sense  of  duty  to  his  neighbour  did  not  stop  here. 
Referring  to  the  tenements  to  be  evacuated,  he 
said  to  Henry,  **  Behold,  my  lord,  I,  a  stranger 
and  a  poor  man,  have  made  thee  rich."  The 
king  answered,  as  the  Prior  desired,  that  he  did 
not  know  to  what  use  to  put  such  kind  of  wealth 
as  this.  ''Therefore,"  said  St.  Hugh,  "give 
those  buildings  to  me,  that  have  not  where  to  lay 
my  head."  ''Wonderful  man,  dost  thou  think 
us  unable  to  build  new  ones  for  you  ?  What 
dost  thou  want  with  these  ?  "  asked  Henry,  sur- 
prised and  puzzled  at  the  demand.  "It  does  not 
become  the  royal  majesty  to  inquire  into  petty 
details,"  returned  the  monk;  "this  is  my  first 
petition  to  thee,  and  since  it  is  moderate,  why 
am  I  to  suffer  delay  in  the  granting  of  it  ?  "     So 

■*  Assise  Roll,  8  Edward  I. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       15 

the  king,  still  wondering,  fulfilled  his  desire.  St. 
Hugh  being  possessed  of  the  houses,  gave  the 
materials  to  the  ejected  natives  of  Witham,  that 
they  might  either  carry  them  away  to  make  their 
new  homes  of,  or  sell  them.  All  difficulties  of 
disseising  the  former  occupants  of  the  soil  being 
now  surmounted,  the  monks  could  turn  their 
whole  attention  to  the  work  of  construction. 

As  a  Carthusian  convent  is  always  built  on  the 
same  system  in  its  main  outlines,  though  the  de- 
tails may  vary,  in  default  of  any  known  extant 
description  of  the  Witham  monastery,  we  will 
follow  that  given  by  Father  Doreau  "^  of  Charter- 
houses in  general.  *'  The  entrance  presents  to 
the  sight  only  bare  walls,  adorned  by  statues  of 
the  saints,  and  by  the  predominating  Cross.  If 
any  openings  are  made  there,  they  are  sashed, 
and,  as  if  that  were  not  enough,  are  protected  by 
a  strong  iron  fence  against  those  who  might  be 
tempted  to  a  breach  of  cloister.  One's  gaze  then 
rests  on  a  gloomy  courtyard,  flanked  by  the  long 
buildings  which  contain,  along  with  the  cells  of 
the  lay-brethren,  their  respective  obediences,  the 

*  Henry   VI I L  et  les  Martyrs  de  la   Chartreuse  de  Londres^ 
chap.  iii. 


1 6       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

kitchen,  pantry,  bakehouse,  forge,  the  carpenter's 
workroom.  Adjoining  these  out-buildings,  if  it 
is  not  included  amongst  them,  is  the  guest- 
house for  the  accommodation  of  strangers,  who 
come  to  indulge  their  curiosity  or  to  fortify  them- 
selves with  the  exercises  of  the  retreat.  This 
court,  then,  with  a  few  exceptions,  however  im- 
portant and  ornamented  as  it  may  be,  offers 
nothing  monastic  in  its  appearance."  It  is  the 
little  cloister  which  "is  the  heart  of  a  religious 
house.  In  this  retired  part  of  the  monastery  is 
to  be  found  the  chapter-house,  where  the  religious 
assemble  for  prayer  on  certain  days,  and  where 
they  meet  whenever  the  community  is  invited  to 
consider  the  reception  of  a  would-be  member,  or 
on  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  house.  In  another 
place  is  the  refectory,  that  of  the  fathers,  and 
sometimes  on  the  same  plan  that  of  the  lay- 
brethren,  separated  from  the  first  by  a  partition. 
In  either  meals  are  taken  but  rarely,  and  then 
always  in  silence.  A  reading  in  Latin  for  the 
former,  and  in  the  common  tongue  for  the  latter, 
nourishes  the  spirit  and  heart  at  the  same  time 
that  a  modest  pittance  repairs  the  strength  of  the 
body."     At  the  end  of  the  little  cloister,  is  the 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       17 

church,  with  its  chapels  radiating  from  it  for  the 
use  of  the  religious.  The  Carthusian  church  is 
always  without  aisles,  and,  like  the  refectory,  is  in 
two  distinct  parts.  The  choir  of  the  brethren  is 
that  division  where  the  lay-brethren  take  part  in 
the  service  chanted  by  the  monks  in  the  neigh- 
bouring choir.  Communication  to  the  two  choirs 
is  through  an  open-work  gate,  which  is  opened 
two  or  three  times  a  year  on  solemn  occasions. 
Beyond  the  church  is  the  large  cloister,  the 
"  enclosed  garden  "  of  the  monastery,  where,  sur- 
rounded by  walls,  is  generally  the  burial-ground. 
"  Each  cell  is  a  complete  dwelling  by  itself." 
"  Besides  the  little  garden  which  the  recluse  culti- 
vates and  trims  according  to  his  taste,  he  has  a 
long  and  spacious  corridor  where  he  may  walk 
up  and  down  in  the  hour  for  recreation.  On  the 
ground-floor  a  workroom  with  a  stock  of  tools 
enables  him  to  make  a  diversion  from  his  spiritual 
exercises,  which  fill  up  a  good  part  of  the  day." 
In  the  first  story  is  the  cell  proper,  consisting  of 
two  rooms,  of  which  one  serves  as  an  antechamber 
to  the  other,  where  is  all  the  furniture.  The 
latter  consists  of  "an  oratory,  a  work-table,  some 
shelves  filled  with  books  of  devotion,  a  mattress 

B 


1 8       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

in   a   recess,    two    chairs,    a    '  refectory '   in   the 
embrasure  of  the  window." 

Looking  at  it  merely  as  a  work  of  art,  there 
is  probably  little  to  regret  in  the  destruction  of 
the  Charterhouse  at  Witham.  For,  unlike  other 
Orders,  the  Carthusians  eschewed  all  ornamen- 
tation in  their  architecture ;  not  that,  like  the 
Puritans,  they  thought  that  the  richly  carved 
designs  in  the  mediaeval  masonry  savoured  of 
superstition,  and  that  therefore  such  decorations 
rather  did  dishonour  to  the  house  of  God,  of 
which  the  whole  monastery  might  be  considered 
a  part ;  on  the  contrary,  we  find  that  St.  Hugh, 
in  whom  their  ideas  were  thoroughly  instilled, 
when  he  came  to  be  bishop,  rebuilt  the  Cathedral 
of  Lincoln  in  the  splendid  style  of  his  own  days, 
because  it  was  so  much  more  beautiful  than  the 
old."*^  But  in  comparison  with  other  things, 
they  probably  regarded  architectural  adornment 
as  a  matter  of  indifference  ;  or  perhaps,  like  St. 
Bernard,  they  asked  what  was  the  meaning  of 
**that  deformed  beauty  and  that  beautiful  defor- 
mity before  the  eyes  of  the  brethren  when  read- 
ing," fearing  that  it  might  be  *'more  pleasant  to 

*  Giraldus  Cambrensis. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       19 

read  in  the  stone-work  than  in  books,  to  spend  the 
day  in  admiring  these  oddities  than  in  meditating 
on  the  law  of  God."  ^'^  Nevertheless,  what  they  did 
build  doubtless  they  built  strongly  and  well,  as  was 
the  manner  of  their  times.  We  read  how,  under 
St.  Hugh's  directions,  the  fabric  of  the  house  of 
God  was  erected  by  the  hard  labour  of  the  work- 
man, with  its  solid  bases  and  strong  supports,  so 
that  it  should  not  fall  through  age ;  how  the  roof 
and  walls  rose,  not  of  wood,  which  would  rot,  but 
of  durable  stone,  t  The  present  parish  church  of 
Witham,  whose  unusual  stone  vaulted  roof  points 
to  its  foreign  origin,  according  to  the  authorities  } 
in  these  matters,  if  not  wholly  built  by  St.  Hugh, 
must  have  been  the  church  of  the  former  villagers, 
which  he  altered  for  the  use  of  the  conversi  or 
lay-brethren  ;  for  in  the  early  Charterhouses,  not 
only  were  the  dwellings  of  the  latter  separate, 
but  their  church  was  a  separate  building  from 
that  of  the  fathers  or  monks  proper,  that  is,  those 
who  had  taken  the  vows  and  entered  holy  orders. 
The  peculiar  splay  of  the  windows  suggests  the 

♦  Life  of  St.  Bernards  by  J.  C.  Cotter- Morrison. 

t  Metrical  Life  of  St.  Huf^h. 

\  Somerset  Archcsological  Society  Proceedings  for  1878. 


20        SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

adaptation  of  an  older  edifice  to  new  ideas  of 
architecture ;  the  inside  splay  measures  2  feet 
10  inches,  and  the  outside  splay  measures  1  foot  8 
inches,  instead  of  about  five  or  six  inches  accord- 
ing to  the  ordinary  width.  Now,  as  St.  Hugh 
wished  to  roof  the  church  with  stone,  it  stands  to 
reason  that  the  old  walls  that  had  supported  a 
roof  of  wood  could  not  bear  up  the  much  heavier 
material  that  he  proposed  to  use.  Therefore  it 
is  to  be  concluded  that  he  strengthened  them  by 
encasing  them,  as  it  were,  in  a  stone  covering, 
which  added  twenty  inches  to  their  original  thick- 
ness. In  A.D.  1876  yet  further  support  was  given 
to  them  by  buttresses,  which  the  architect  copied 
from  those  built  by  St.  Hugh  at  Lincoln.''^ 

But  before  they  could  complete  their  building 


*  Sojnerset  Archceological  Society  Proceedings  for  1893,  from 
the  observations  of  Rev.  J.  T.  Westropp  of  Witham  to  the  Society. 
It  may  be  noted  here  that  one  of  the  windows  near  the  east  end, 
known  as  "The  Leper's  Window,"  is  supposed  to  have  been  opened 
for  passing  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to  any  lepers  who  wished  to  com- 
municate ;  their  hospital  was  at  Maiden- Bradley.  From  the  same 
authority  the  following  fact  is  also  derived.  The  font,  the  licence 
for  the  erection  of  which,  in  A.D.  1458,  is  mentioned  in  a  later 
chapter,  was  found  built  into  the  masonry  of  a  modem  tower  during 
the  restoration  of  the  church  in  A.D.  1876  ;  the  tower  was  pulled 
down  at  the  later  date  and  the  font  restored  to  the  church,  where, 
because  of  its  misplacement,  a  new  one  had  meanwhile  been  supplied. 


•     y  ^      ./  ^'/-^    '^^      ^  ^'    -'   III/ 

f0Mr    "^'^^ 


ifi^ 


SUPPOSED    LEI'KKS'    WINUOVV    IN    WH  HAM   CHURCH. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      21 

the  community  had  to  overcome  yet  another 
difficulty.  Henry,  occupied  with  other  affairs, 
neglected  to  provide  them  with  funds,  so  that 
they  had  nothing  wherewith  to  pay  the  work- 
men, who  now  naturally  fell  to  reviling  and 
complaining  against  them.  Twice  they  applied 
in  vain  to  the  king  for  help,  their  messengers 
bringing  back  each  time  words  instead  of  gifts. 
Upon  this  Brother  Girard,  a  man  of  somewhat 
haughty  temperament  and  very  proud  of  the 
Order,  reproached  the  Prior  for  dallying  there 
any  longer  until  it  pleased  that  **most  hard  man," 
the  king,  to  put  a  finish  to  the  work  ;  it  was 
an  insult  to  the  community,  and  laid  them  open 
to  the  derision  of  all,  he  said.  Used  to  speak- 
ing to  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  he  was  ready 
to  go  to  Henry  and  declare  his  mind  to  him, 
and  tell  him  they  would  return  to  their  own 
country  ;  let  Hugh  come  with  him  and  hear 
what  he  had  to  say.  The  rest  of  the  brethren 
being  called,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Prior,  with 
Brothers  Girard  and  Ainard,  an  aged  monk, 
should  go  to  court.  St.  Hugh  previously  warned 
Girard  to  moderate  his  language  to  Henry. 
"  That  prince,"  said  he,  "  has  great  sagacity  and 


22       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

an  almost  inscrutable  mind,  and  may  be  pre- 
tending to  listen  to  us  in  order  to  try  us." 
The  king  received  them  reverently,  as  if  they 
were  angels  of  heaven,  spoke  them  fair,  and 
promised  everything,  but  again  gave  them 
nothing.  Then  Brother  Girard,  unmindful  of  his 
Prior's  advice,  burst  out  into  a  furious  invective  : 
"  Whatever  you  think  now  to  do  or  to  omit  to 
do,  my  lord  king,  it  does  not  concern  me  ;  I 
leave  you  to  the  quiet  possession  of  your  whole 
kingdom  ;  bidding  you  farewell,  I  shall  speedily 
return  to  our  hermitage  at  the  Chartreuse.  You 
think  to  show  us  grace  in  feeding  us  with  your 
bread  when  we  are  not  in  need  of  it.  Truly 
we  are  more  content  to  find  shelter  on  our 
Alpine  rocks  than  engage  in  a  conflict  with  such 
a  man,  who  cares  so  little  for  his  soul's  good. 
Let  him  have  for  himself  the  riches  which  he 
loves  so  much  ;  neither  Christ  nor  any  good 
Christian  is  thought  worthy  to  have  a  share  of 
these."  St.  Hugh  listened  to  the  angry  words 
with  amazement  and  "confusion  of  heart."  Not 
so  the  king,  who,  like  a  philosopher,  waited  with 
unmoved  countenance  and  in  silence  until  the 
**  verbal  flagellation"  was  over.     Then  turning  to 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      23 

the  Prior,  who  was  holding  down  his  head  in 
confusion,  but  whom  he  had  been  observing  all 
the  while  :  "  What  dost  thou  think  of  doing, 
good  man  ?  "  he  asked  ;  **  wilt  thou  too  leave  us 
and  our  kingdom  ? "  The  saint  returned  the 
gentle  answer,  "  My  lord,  I  do  not  so  greatly 
despair  of  you.  I  pity  rather  your  hindrances 
and  occupations,  which  impede  the  beneficial 
study  of  your  soul ;  for  you  are  busy,  and  in 
the  Lord's  own  time  you  will  follow  up  these 
wholesome  beginnings."  '*  By  the  safety  of  my 
soul,  while  I  live,"  cried  the  king,  embracing 
him,  **  thou  departest  not  from  my  kingdom." 
And  forthwith  he  sent  them  money  and  help 
for  the  completion  of  the  buildings.  The  con- 
struction now  went  on  without  interruption,  and, 
when  finished,  the  monastery  was  dedicated  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
and  All  Saints. 

The  charter  of  the  foundation"^  granted  by 
Henry  II.  prescribes  the  boundaries  of  the  con- 
ventual estates,  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
identify  the  names,  which  not  only  appear  in 
strange  guise   in  the   Latinised   forms,   but  pro- 

*  Appendix  i.  vol.  vi.  pt.  i  o{  Monasticon  Atiglicanum. 


24       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

bably  even  have  been  changed  with  new  owners 
of  the  lands,  for  many  of  them  are  but  the  names 
of  fields,  paths,  crofts,  or  perhaps  of  hamlets 
no  longer  existing.  Then  the  charter  goes  on 
to  enumerate  the  privileges  of  the  monks — **  My 
foresaid  house  of  Witteham,  and  the  brethren 
of  the  Carthusian  Order  serving  God  in  it,  are 
to  have  and  to  hold  all  the  foresaid  [lands]  in 
free  and  perpetual  alms,  well  and  in  peace,  freely 
and  quietly,  wholly  and  fully  and  honourably, 
with  all  the  liberties,  as  I  [the  king]  have  ever 
held  them  ;  with  all  their  free  customs,  as  well 
concerning  the  election  of  a  prior  as  other  cus- 
toms which  a  Carthusian  house  is  wont  to  have 
in  wood,  in  plain,  in  meadows  and  pastures,  in 
waters  and  mills,  in  parks,  lakes,  fishponds,  and 
marshes,  in  ways  and  byways,  and  in  all  other 
places  and  other  things  thereto  pertaining,  free 
and  quit  of  taxes,  danegeld,  hidage,  scutage,  of 
working  at  castles,  bridges,  parks,  and  moats, 
and  houses."  Also  the  monks  were  to  be  un- 
troubled by  tolls  and  other  customs  due  to  the 
king  throughout  his  realm  on  both  sides  of  the 
sea,  or  by  attending  at  the  courts  of  the'^shire 
or  hundred,   or  at  any  lawsuit.      And  all   their 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       25 

lands  were  to  be  free  from  the  penalty  of  murder 
for  ever,  and  from  every  other  worldly  exaction. 
Foresters  and  their  officers  were  to  leave  them 
undisturbed  within  their  boundaries.  If  any  one 
shall  dare  to  do  anything  against  this  pious 
donation,  either  in  any  way  to  disturb  it  or 
diminish  it,  the  charter  goes  on,  he  shall  incur 
**  the  anger  of  the  omnipotent  God  and  my 
curse "  until  he  make  worthy  satisfaction ;  but 
for  all  those  who  shall  cherish  it  in  peace,  let 
there  be  **  peace  and  reward  from  the  Eternal 
Father." 

It  may  interest  some  of  our  readers  to  read 
the  charter  in  its  original  language  : — 

"Henricus  Dei  gratia.  Rex  Angliae,  dux  Nor- 
manniae  et  Aquitanise  et  Comes  Andegaviae, 
archiepiscopis,  episcopis,  etc.,  salutem.  Sciatis 
me  pro  anima  mea  et  antecessorum  et  successo- 
rum  meorum,  construxisse  domum  in  honorem 
beatae  Marise  et  beati  Johannis  Baptistae  et 
omnium  sanctorum,  in  dominio  meo  de  Witteham 
de  ordine  Cartusiae,  et  sit  mea  et  heredum  meorum 
dominica  domus  et  elemosina :  et  concessisse 
eidem  domui,  et  fratribus  ibidem  Deo  servientibus, 


26       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

et  dedisse  in  liberam  et  perpetuam  elemosinam 
ad  sustentationem  eorum  totam  terram  infra  sub- 
scriptos  limites,  liberam  et  quietam  ab  omni 
servicio.  In  primis  a  parte  septentrionali  a 
fossato  de  parco  ad  Hachstok ;  ab  Hactoch  de 
Posteberry  per  fossatum  de  Berwa  usque  ad 
pratum  regis,  de  prato  regis  per  medium  prati 
usque  ad  Hacheweie,  de  Hacheweye  ultra  Hum- 
burna  usque  ad  Rugalega,  de  Rugalega  usque 
ad  Waletonia,  de  Waletonia  per  Hanhesda  usque 
Luthbroka,  de  Luthbroka  per  cursum  aquae  usque 
ad  Pennemere,  de  Penemere  usque  ad  maram 
Willielmi  filii  Petri,  de  hac  mara  usque  ad 
Kincput,  de  Kincput  juxta  pontem  usque  ad 
Wodecroft-Petri,  de  Wodecroft-Petri  usque  ad 
Fraggemera,  de  Fraggemera  usque  ad  Cleteweia, 
de  Cleteweia  usque  ad  Fleistoke,  de  Fleystoka, 
usque  ad  Snepsuedesweia,  de  Snepseudesweia 
usque  ad  Ruggesclivaheaved,  hinc  usque  ad 
Chelsledesweie,  de  Chelsledeweie  percilium  men- 
tis usque  ad  Fisborne-Heafole,  hinc  per  cursum 
aquae  ad  parcum  ;  hinc  per  fossatum  parci  usque 
ad  Fromweia,  de  Fromweia  usque  ad  Hachstock. 
Prseterea  hsec  dedi  eis  ad  pasturas  eorum  apud 
terram  de  Cheddenford  Harechina  in  Hindcome 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       27 

senda  usque  ad  Lecherberg,  de  Lecherberg  usque 
ad  Sternberg,  de  Sternberg  usque  ad  Hoppewell, 
de  Hoppewelle  usque  ad  Staberga,  de  Staberga 
usque  ad  Sgaldebereg,  de  Sgaldebereg  usque  ad 
Stanamlanam  et  inde  usque  ad  petram  perforatam 
per  medium  putei ;  et  de  petra  perforata  usque 
ad  Chinendclive,  et  inde  per  vallem  usque  ad 
Faldam  latronum,  et  inde  usque  ad  Kingdones- 
westende,  et  de  Kyndoneswestende  per  vallem 
versus  orientem,  usque  ad  viam  quae  vadit  de 
Pridia  usque  ad  Chederford,  et  inde  supra  pratum 
Johannis  Marescalli,  usque  ad  petram  de  Pemble- 
stoma,  de  Pemblestorna  per  semitam  usque  ad 
collem  prati  Mallierbe,  et  inde  usque  ad  Harestana 
inter  pratum  regis  et  pratum  Malherbe,  et  de 
Harestona  usque  ad  petram  semitae  quae  ducit 
usque  Hindesgravam,  et  de  Hindesgrava  usque 
ad  latam  viam,  et  inde  usque  ad  spinam  parvam, 
et  de  ilia  spina  usque  ad  Hedewoldesting,  et  de 
Hedewoldesting  usque  ad  puteum  inter  pratum 
regis  et  pratum  Rugaberga,  de  puteo  illo  usque 
ad  Rademera,  et  inde  usque  ad  petram  quae 
facit  divisam  inter  pratum  regis  et  pratum  de 
Rugaberga,  et  de  petra  ilia  usque  ad  aliam 
petram ;  et   de    petra    ilia    usque    ad    petram    de 


28       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Cliva,  et  de  petra  de  Cliva  usque  ad  latam  petram, 
et  de  lata  petra  usque  ad  Merlestresenda,  de 
Merlestresenda  usque  ad  Stanrodam,  et  inde  ad 
Begesethle,  de  Begesethle  usque  ad  Esweie,  de 
Esweia  ad  Sigodesfeld,  et  inde  per  vallem  de 
Smelecuma  usque  ad  croftam  Rogeri,  de  crofta 
Rogeri  usque  ad  Rugelege,  de  Rugelega  ad 
Clotleg,  de  Clotleg  usque  ad  crucem  de  Meleweia, 
et  inde  usque  Smelecuma,  de  Smelecuma  usque 
ad  Lefiwiesmere  et  inde  ad  Snedelesputte,  et 
inde  ad  Eilstesmede,  et  inde  ad  Bikwelle,  et 
inde  ad  Suthemaste-Rodberg,  et  inde  ad  furcas  ; 
de  furcis  per  cavum  ductum  ad  platam  petram,  et 
de  plata  petra  ad  Horswelle,  de  Horswelle  ad 
Hindeswelle,  et  inde  ad  Walborgam,  de  Walborg  ad 
Herachmam.  Quare  volo  et  firmiter  prsecipio  quod 
supradicta  domus  mea  de  Witteham,  et  fratres 
ordinis  Chartusise  in  ea  Deo  servientes,  omnia 
praedicta  habeant  et  teneant  in  libera  et  perpetua 
elemosina,  ita  bene  et  in  pace,  libere  et  quiete, 
integre  et  plenarie  et  honorifice,  cum  omnibus 
libertatibus  suis,  sicut  ea  unquam  liberius  tenui, 
et  cum  liberis  consuetudinibus  suis,  tam  de  priore 
eligendo,  quam  de  aliis  consuetudinibus  quas 
habet    domus    Cartusiae,    in    bosco   in   piano,    in 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      29 

pratis  et  pascius,  in  aquis  et  molendinis,  in  vivariis 
et  stagnis  et  piscarils  et  mariscis,  in  viis  et  semi- 
tis,  et  in  omnibus  aliis  locis  et  aliis  rebus  ad  ea 
pertinentibus,  libera  et  quieta  de  geldis  et  dane- 
geldis,  et  hidagiis,  et  scutagiis,  et  operationibus 
castellorum  et  pontium  et  parcorum  et  fossarum 
et  domorum.  De  theoloneo  vero  et  passagio,  et 
paagio,  et  pontagio,  et  lestagio,  et  de  omni  ser- 
vitio  et  consuetuedine  et  omni  quaestu  pecu- 
niario  ad  me  pertinente  sint  liberi  et  quieti  per 
totam  terram  meam,  tam  ultra  mare  quam  citra 
mare,  de  essartis  et  regardo  forestse  infra  ter- 
minos  suos  ;  et  de  siris  et  hundredis  et  sectis 
sirarum  et  hundredorum  et  placitis  et  querelis 
omnibus.  Et  omnes  terrae  eorum  de  quibus 
solebat  dari  murdrum  in  perpetuum  sint  quietae 
de  murdro,  et  de  omni  exactione  et  vexatione 
et  inquietatione  mundana. 

**  Prohibeo  etiam  ne  forestarii  vel  eorum  ministri 
aliquam  eis  molestiam  faciant  infra  limites  suos, 
nee  ingredientibus  vel  egredientibus  per  eos.  Si 
quis  autem  contra  banc  piam  donationem  meam 
venire  vel  eam  in  aliquo  perturbare  si  diminuere 
prsesumpserit,  iram  omnlpotentis  Dei,  et  meam 
maledictionem   incurrat  nisi  ad  condignam  satis- 


30       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

factionem  venerit.  Omnibus  vero  misericorditer 
earn  amplectantibus,  et  in  pace  foventibus,  sit 
pax  et  remuneratio  ab  Eterno  Patre  in  ssecula 
sseculorum.     Amen. 

*'  Testibus  Hugone  Dunholmensi,  Gaufrido  Eli- 
ensi,  Johanne  Norwicensi,  Reginaldo  Bathoniensi 
episcopis,  Johanne  filio  meo ;  comite  Willielmo 
Sussexiae,  Ranulpho  de  Glanvilla,  Waltero  filio 
Roberti,  Reginaldo  de  Courtnay,  Hugone  Bar- 
dulf,  et  Hugone  de  Norwico  senescallo,  Ra- 
dulpho  filio  Stephani  camerario,  Gilberto  filio 
Reinfi*edi,  Gaufi-ido  filio  Petri,  Roberto  de  White- 
feld,  et  Michaele  Bedet,  apud  Marleburgam." 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       31 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  CARTHUSIAN  RULE 

Mundus  est  Religio  est 

Turbulenta  trepidatio  Requies  sanctificata 

Callis  inexplicabilis,  Sabbathum  Domini. 

— Theodore  Stumpwick,  Schema  Monastica  Rdigionis 
Prcerogativoru  m, 

^v>/?^t7r^  H  E  Stern  manner  of  the  Carthu- 
sian life  won  little  favour  in 
England,  for  though  within  thirty 
years  after  St.  Hugh's  death  in 
A.D.  1200,  Hinton  Charterhouse, 
in  Somersetshire,  was  founded  in  his  honour,  there 
were  never  more  than  nine  houses  of  the  Order 
here.  Capable  as  Englishmen  are  of  enduring 
hardship  upon  occasion  for  some  present  end, 
the  generality  of  them  would  be  far  too  matter- 
of-fact  to  submit  themselves  year  after  year  to 
such  suffering  as  the  rigid  Carthusian  rule  must 
have  entailed  on  many  of  its  followers,  unless 
for  a  more  tangible  object  than  the  future  good 
of  their  souls. 


32       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

St.  Bruno's  rule  was  founded  on  that  of  St. 
Benedict ;  the  chief  difference  between  them 
being  that  to  the  vows  of  poverty  and  obedience 
there  was  added  a  more  thorough  system  of  self- 
mortification.  Poverty  among  the  Carthusians 
was  ensured  by  their  statutes,  the  appointed 
number  of  inmates  of  a  Carthusian  institution 
having  reference  to  it ;  the  monks  being  thir- 
teen, and  the  lay-brothers  sixteen,  "because  we 
think  that  that  number  can  support  themselves 
on  their  own  resources."  *  And  as  the  religious 
were  to  be  limited,  so  also  were  their  cattle  and 
their  hired  servants,  which  last  were  necessary, 
as  no  Carthusian  might  go  beyond  his  monastery 
walls,  except  the  Prior  and  Procurator.  They 
might  have  25  paid  servants,  1200  sheep  and 
goats,  12  dogs,  32  oxen,  20  bull  calves,  and  6 
pack-horses ;  if  their  live  stock  increased,  they 
were  to  give  the  excess  to  the  poor.  No  wealth 
was  to  be  spent  even  on  the  church  ;  for  not 
only  were  tapestry  and  other  rich  hangings  not 
to  be  used,  but  there  were  to  be  no  ornaments 
of  gold  or  silver,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
Eucharistic  vessels.      All  bodily  comforts  were 

*  Customs  of  Guigo  I.,  fifth  Prior  of  the  Grande  Chartreuse. 


A   CARTHUSIAN— CHOIR    DRKSS. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      33 

eschewed.  The  frock  was  white,  with  a  black 
plaited  cloak  for  out  of  doors ;  two  frocks  were 
allowed  to  each  monk,  of  a  better  and  worse 
quality,  for  different  occasions.  This  simple  dress, 
under  which  they  only  wore  the  hair  shirt,  seems 
to  have  been  found  scarcely  warm  enough  for 
the  English  climate,  for  a  general  chapter  of  the 
Order,  held  in  a.d.  1261,  forbids,  amongst  other 
things,  the  wearing  of  wolf-skins  and  furs  of 
other  wild  animals.  The  bed  was  a  board  and 
a  blanket,  with  a  bolster  of  rags  covered  with 
the  coarsest  skins.  Their  food  consisted  of  bread, 
fruit,  herbs,  and  vegetables,  varied  on  feast  days 
by  fish  and  cheese ;  once  a  week  at  least  they 
fasted  on  bread,  water,  and  salt ;  flesh  they  might 
not  eat  at  any  time,  not  even  when  ill.  Any 
one  wishing  to  indulge  in  harsher  exercises  of 
mortification  in  sleep  or  in  diet  must  first  obtain 
permission  from  the  prior,  who,  however,  had 
no  right  to  withstand  him  if  he  were  much  in 
earnest,  lest  in  doing  so  he  should  "withstand 
God  also." 

But  the  chief  feature  in  the  rule  was  the  com- 
plete solitude  of  the  Carthusian's  life.  The 
monks  of  other  Orders  separated  themselves,  it 


34       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

is  true,  from  the  world  ;  nevertheless,  owing  to 
the  hospitality  which  they  often  maintained  on  a 
large  scale,  they  were  bound  to  see  not  a  little 
of  that  world.  The  Carthusians,  on  the  contrary, 
preferred  to  close  their  doors  against  all  comers. 
In  fact,  at  first  they  did  not  have  stabling  even 
for  those  guests  who  could  pay  them,  nor  yet 
almshouses  for  poorer  wayfarers,'"*  though  in 
their  later  monasteries  they  seem  to  have  allowed 
some  accommodation  for  strangers.  One  of  the 
customs  of  Guigo  I.,  their  fifth  Prior,  runs 
thus  : — **  To  the  poor  we  give  alms  in  bread  or 
anything  else  that  we  can,  but  rarely  take  them 
under  our  roof;  for  we  fled  to  this  hermitage 
to  attend  to  the  welfare  of  our  souls  ;  therefore 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  we  grant  more 
intercourse  and  comfort  to  those  who  come  hither 
for  the  sake  of  their  souls  rather  than  of  their 
bodies  ;  otherwise  we  should  not  have  gone  to 
this  almost  inaccessible  place."  Women,  indeed, 
they  utterly  refused  to  admit  on  any  pretext 
within  their  bounds,  knowing  that,  as  instanced 
in  Holy  Writ,  no  wise  man,  prophet,  or  judge, 
not  Samson,   David,  nor  Solomon,  not  even  the 

*  Customs  of  D.  Guigo  /.,  cap.  Ixxxix. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       35 

very  first  man  formed  by  God,  could  resist  the 
attraction  of  a  wily  woman.'"'  But  not  only  did 
the  Carthusians  keep  themselves  more  strictly 
aloof  from  outsiders  than  other  monks  ;  their 
system  of  solitary  cells  and  rule  of  silence  made 
their  lives  yet  more  secluded.  They  spent 
their  whole  time  apart  from  each  other  with 
closed  doors,  meditating,  praying,  reading,  or 
working,  in  perfect  silence,  which  was  allowed 
to  be  broken  only  in  the  case  of  the  sudden 
illness  of  a  brother,  or  of  fire,  or  of  any  other 
unexpected  danger,  in  advertising  which  few 
words  were  to  be  used.  They  were  to  pray  in 
church  and  repeat  the  Hours  in  their  cells  in  as 
quiet  a  voice  as  possible,  lest  they  should  inter- 
rupt their  fellow-worshippers.  Even  their  food 
was  received  in  silence  through  a  window  in 
their  cell.  And  there  are  minute  rules  for  pre- 
serving the  same  stillness  in  their  bodily  move- 
ments during  the  services  in  church, — how  they 
are  not  to  look  about  them,  how  they  must  not 
twist  their  fingers  together,  nor  swing  their  legs, 
nor  play  with  their  books  while  singing,  and 
how  they  must  obtain  pardon  if  they  let  a  book 

*  Consuetudines  Guigonis  /.,  cap.  xxi. 


36       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

fall  They  met  together  only  at  the  services 
and  on  chapter-days  and  festivals,  when  they 
also  dined  together  in  the  refectory  and  might 
speak  to  one  another.  Even  at  these  privileged 
times  their  conversation  was  to  be  on  serious 
and  non-secular  topics  appertaining  to  the  obser- 
vance of  religion,  and  their  speeches  were  not 
to  be  prolix,  and  they  were  to  avoid  dissolute 
or  scandalous  talk.  No  one  was  to  whisper  or 
say  anything  which  he  w^as  not  willing  that  all 
should  hear.  During  the  common  meals  in  the 
refectory  there  would  be  little  opportunity  for 
conversation,  as  they  must  listen  to  some  sermon 
or  homily  meantime  from  a  reader,  who  was 
specially  enjoined  to  read  what  could  be  under- 
stood by  all,  and  in  a  voice  that  could  be  heard 
by  all.  Once  a  week  the  monk  might  walk  in 
the  grounds  of  his  monastery,  but  no  one,  unless 
especially  sent  by  the  superior — and  then  he 
must  not  receive  hospitality  of  strangers  except 
by  permission — was  to  go  beyond  the  bounds. 
As  a  rule,  the  prior  or  proctor  alone  ever  went 
abroad,  and  then  only  on  the  necessary  business 
of  the  house.  The  proctor  or  steward,  who  had 
also  the  charge  of  the  lay-brethren,  had  to  receive 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      37 

any  strangers,  welcoming  them  with  a  kiss,  and 
was  to  eat  with  them,  if  no  special  fast  was 
going  on,  sending  those  who  were  worthy  of 
the  honour  to  the  prior.  Although  **  busy  over 
many  things,  like  Martha,"  he  also  was  bidden 
not  to  shun  the  silence  of  his  cell,  but  to  have 
frequent  resort  thither  to  read,  pray,  and  think, 
and  compose  his  mind  after  attending  to  temporal 
matters,  and  to  consider  in  what  he  had  best 
instruct  the  brethren  committed  to  his  care. 

Even  after  death  the  same  rule  of  seclusion 
was  carried  out,  for  no  stranger,  whether  a  re- 
ligious or  not,  was  to  be  buried  in  the  cemetery 
of  their  convent,  unless  his  own  people  were 
unable  or  neglected  to  give  him  burial.  The 
graves  of  the  monks  themselves,  except  in  the 
case  of  the  generals  of  the  Order,  were  and  are 
marked  only  by  wooden  crosses  without  inscrip- 
tions, as  if  to  impress  all  the  more  on  the  living 
the  insignificance  of  all  mortal  parts  of  the  human 
person. 

The  occupation  of  the  monks,  besides  the  per- 
formance of  the  divine  offices  and  their  private 
devotions,  consisted  principally  in  transcribing 
manuscripts,  especially  the  Holy  Scriptures  and 


38       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

religious  books,  thus,  as  they  said,  preaching  the 
word  of  God  not  by  word  of  mouth,  but  by  the 
work  of  their  hands.  The  tools  and  materials  for 
writing  on  the  parchment  were  part  of  the  furni- 
ture of  each  cell  ;  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of 
the  transcripts  formed  part  of  the  maintenance 
of  the  community,  the  produce  of  their  flocks 
supplying  the  rest.  Each  monk  was  supplied 
from  the  library  with  two  books,  of  which  he 
was  warned  to  take  ''all  diligent  care"  lest  they 
should  be  soiled  by  smoke,  dust,  or  other  dirt. 
When  he  was  tired  of  these  sedentary  occupations 
he  might  work  at  carpentry  or  in  the  garden  which 
was  always  attached  to  his  cell,  or  might  walk  in 
the  corridor  outside.  In  addition  to  this,  every 
monk  must  take  his  week  of  service  in  the  church. 

Thus  in  this  routine  of  services,  mortifications 
of  the  flesh,  penances,  and  peaceful  occupations, 
the  Carthusian's  existence  ran  on  in  one  long 
fast,  as  it  were,  from  the  day  of  taking  the  vows 
till  the  day  of  death. 

In  one  of  his  Pensdes,  Pascal  compares  a 
soldier  and  a  Carthusian  : — '*  Quelle  difference 
entre  un  soldat  et  un  chartreux  ^  quant  a  I'obeis- 
sance?    Car  ils  sont  egalement  ob^issants  et  de- 


muStii!iti!«!'i!i«^'''^'' 


A    (  AKTHUSIAN    LAV-HKOTHKK. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      39 

pendants,  et  dans  les  exercises  egalement  penibles. 
Mais  le  soldat  espere  toujours  devenir  maitre,  et 
ne  le  devient  jamais,  car  les  capitaines  et  princes 
meme  sont  toujours  esclaves  et  dependants ; 
mais  il  I'espere  toujours,  et  travaille  toujours  a 
y  venir ;  au  lieu  que  le  chartreux  fait  vceu  de 
n'etre  jamais  que  dependant.  Ainsi  lis  ne  diffe- 
rent pas  dans  le  servitude  perpetuelle  que  tous 
deux  ont  toujours,  mais  dans  lespdrance  que 
I'un  a  toujours  et  I'autre  jamais."  But  if  the  Car- 
thusian became  master  of  nothing  else,  his  train- 
ing must  have  made  him  completely  master  of 
himself  so  far  as  controlling  his  personal  desires 
and  impulses  went,  for  there  could  not  be  a  more 
thorough  system  of  self-annihilation,  leading  to  a 
perfect  obedience  to  rule,  personified  by  the  prior 
and  chapter  of  his  convent.  No  military  dis- 
cipline, not  even  the  famous  Jesuit  system,  could 
call  forth  a  stricter  obedience  than  was  demanded 
of  and  shown  by  the  disciples  of  St.  Bruno.  An 
episode  in  the  life  of  Einard,  one  of  the  monks 
who  came  to  Witham,  is  an  illustration  of  this 
fact.  This  Einard  was  a  lay-brother,  who  had 
been  sent  forth  at  different  times  to  help  in  the 
labour  of  instituting  new  houses  of  the  Order  in 


40       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

various  parts  of  Europe  ;  at  last,  when  nearly  a 
hundred  years  old,  he  was  bidden  to  go  on  a 
mission  for  the  establishment  of  a  charterhouse 
in  Denmark.  He  had  conceived  a  great  dislike 
to  the  Danes,  and,  in  fact,  feared  them  as  untaught 
barbarians,  and  entreated  the  Prior  to  release  him 
from  this  duty.  The  Prior  refused,  representing 
to  him  that  his  experience  was  necessary  to  the 
younger  brethren  of  the  mission.  Einard  had 
entered  the  monastery  in  his  boyhood,  and  had 
as  yet  shown  perfect  obedience ;  but  now  he 
boldly  declared,  that  though  he  should  have  to 
make  expiation  for  his  disobedience,  he  would 
never  see  Denmark  whilst  in  the  flesh.  The 
usual  punishment  of  the  refractory  was  awarded 
him  ;  old  as  he  was,  and  in  spite  of  valuable  work 
that  he  had  done  in  propagating  the  Order,  he 
was  expelled  from  the  doors  of  the  Grande  Char- 
treuse. His  superior  being  inexorable  to  his 
entreaties  for  pardon,  he  wandered  half-clothed 
and  barefoot,  suffering  meantime  bitter  cold  and 
hunger,  from  one  charterhouse  to  another,  seek- 
ing their  intercessions  for  him.  At  last,  during 
the  bitterest  winter  weather  of  that  wild  region, 
toiling  through  snow  and  ice  in  the  daytime,  and 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      41 

resting  as  best  he  could  without  shelter  at  night, 
he  made  his  way  once  more  to  the  Grande 
Chartreuse,  bringing  with  him  intercessory  letters 
from  all  the  priors  of  his  Order.  This  time  his 
own  Prior  could  scarcely  refuse  to  receive  him 
again  ;  he  was  readmitted,  and  soon  after  sent 
to  Witham,  and,  notwithstanding  all  the  hard- 
ships of  his  exile,  lived  another  thirty  years. 

It  could  not  have  been  the  fear  of  punishment, 
expulsion,  or  confinement  in  the  monastery,  which 
was  later  the  fate  of  the  refractory,  which  caused 
these  ascetics  to  obey  so  well,  but  a  true  love 
of  the  discipline  to  which  they  submitted  them- 
selves. From  their  first  entrance  they  knew 
what  this  discipline  was,  for  the  novices  were 
at  once  put  to  the  proof  and  submitted  to  its 
harshness  and  strictness,  so  that  they  might  form 
their  decision  to  go  or  stay  gradually  and  from 
no  sudden  or  uncontrolled  impulse.  Youths  under 
twenty,  who  could  scarcely  know  their  own  minds, 
were  not  admitted  to  the  vows.  It  was  to  the 
grown  man,  to  the  man  who  was  capable  of 
understanding  the  bearing  of  this  harsh  mode  of 
life  on  his  own  spiritual  growth,  that  the  seclusion 
of  the  Carthusian  cell  was  granted,  and  in  it,  as 


42       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

a  rule,  he  found  happiness.  We  have  seen  how 
it  grieved  St.  Hugh  to  depart  from  La  Grande 
Chartreuse ;  it  grieved  him  just  as  much  when, 
later  on,  he  had  to  leave  Witham,  and  when  at 
intervals  he  returned  thither,  he  always  went 
back  to  the  old  way  of  living.  His  affection  for 
the  rule  was  common  to  the  Order.  When  he 
went  to  La  Grande  Chartreuse  for  the  first  time, 
he  was  struck  with  the  expression  of  calm  happi- 
ness on  the  faces  of  the  monks  ;  that  happiness 
is  no  less  expressed  in  the  lines  comparing  life 
in  the  world  to  life  in  the  monastery  written  by 
a  Carthusian  of  much  later  date,  from  which  the 
motto  of  this  chapter  is  taken. 

The  form  of  the  vow  was  thus  : — '*  I,  Brother 
N.,  promise  stability  and  obedience  and  the  altera- 
tion of  my  ways,  before  God  and  His  clerks  and 
the  relics  belonging  to  his  solitude,  which  has 
been  built  to  the  honour  of  God  and  the  ever- 
blessed  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Blessed  John  the 
Baptist,  in  the  presence  of  Dom  A.,  the  Prior.""* 

But  the  question   rises  whether   in  this    hard 

*  Cotton.  MSS.  Nero  A.  III.  fol.  139  et  seq.^  being  the  customs 
of  the  Order  as  collected  by  John  Batemanson,  elected  Prior  of 
he  London  Charterhouse  in  A.D.  1531. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      43 

warfare  against  the  flesh  the  physical  strength 
was  not  destroyed.  Sometimes  it  was  so  doubt- 
less ;  but  generally  the  contrary  seems  to  have 
been  the  case.  The  Carthusians — and  the  above- 
mentioned  brother  Einard  is  an  instance — were 
as  long-Hved  as  other  monks,  who  were  remark- 
able as  a  class  for  their  longevity.  The  Car- 
thusian's life  was  probably  not  so  unhealthy  as 
a  life  of  luxury  ;  if  his  fare  was  hard  and  scanty, 
at  least  he  could  not  suffer  from  pampering  his 
body  with  unwholesome  delicacies  or  with  over- 
feeding ;  and  if  his  occupations  were  quiet,  he 
need  not  make  them  too  sedentary,  as  he  was 
always  at  liberty  to  do  some  manual  labour, 
such  as  carpentering,  instead  of  reading  and 
writing.  The  vows  would  be  no  hardship  to 
him,  but  more  likely  added  to  his  content  of 
mind,  for,  as  the  Marquis  de  Montalembert  ob- 
serves, **  Le  chretien,  le  vrai  sage,  sait  bien  que 
jamais  les  obligations  volontairement  perpetuelles 
n'ont  rendu  I'homme  malheureux  d'une  maniere 
permanente ;  il  sait  au  contraire  qu'elles  sont  in- 
dispensibles  au  triomphe  de  Tordre  et  de  la  paix 
de  son  ame.  Ce  qui  le  torture  et  ce  qui  le 
consume  c'est  ni  la  r^gle  ni  le  devoir ;   c'est  Tin- 


44       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

stabilite,  c'est  Tagltation,  c  est  la  fievre  du  change- 
ment."  *  The  Carthusian,  of  all  monks,  must  have 
felt  this  stability  in  his  hermitage,  where  he  could 
keep  himself  "unspotted  from  the  world,"  whose 
ways  were  to  him  as  intricate  as  an  undefined 
pathway  through  a  forest.  To  him,  his  religion, 
his  existence  as  monk,  was  a  sanctified  rest,  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Lord. 

St.  Hugh  of  Avalon  was  a  typical  Carthusian, 
therefore  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  give  some  account 
of  his  life  up  to  the  time  when  he  was  called 
from  his  duties  of  Witham^  to  preside  over  the 
See  of  Lincoln. 

*  Les  Moines  d*  Occident^  tome  ii. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      45 


CHAPTER  III 

AN    IDEAL    MONK 

"  He  that  loveth  pureness  of  heart,  for  the  grace  of  his  lips  the  king 
shall  be  his  friend." — Prov.  xxii.  1 1. 

|T  was  about  a.d.  1135,  during  the 
era  of  the  Crusades,  in  an  atmo- 
sphere of  awakened  Christianity 
and  revived  monasticism,  both 
alike  quickened  by  the  eloquence 
of  the  great  St.  Bernard,  that  St.  Hugh  was  born. 
Scarcely  eight  years  later,  his  mother  having 
recently  died,  his  father,  William  of  Avalon, 
divided  his  castles  and  possessions  among  his 
other  children,  and  taking  him  with  him,  entered 
the  Priory  of  Villarbenoit,  a  house  of  regular 
canons  not  far  from  his  own  estates  and  attached 
to  the  cathedral  church  of  Grenoble.  There  was 
here  a  school,  where,  besides  moral  instruction, 
sacred  and  secular  letters  were  taught  to  noble 
youths ;  amongst  these  St.  Hugh  was  brought 
up,  under  such   harsh   discipline   that    it  is   sur- 


46       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

prising  that  his  loving  and  lovable  nature  was 
not  withered  by  it.  For  his  childish  delinquen- 
cies he  was  flogged  ;  and,  as  intended  by  his 
father  for  the  Church,  if  he  was  inclined  to  laugh 
and  play  with  his  young  companions,  his  stern 
teacher  would  rebuke  him.  *'  The  stupid  and 
giddy  levity  of  thy  comrades  is  not  permissible 
to  thee,  whose  lot  is  different  to  theirs.  Little 
Hugh,  little  Hugh !  I  am  bringing  thee  up  for 
Christ.  Joking  is  not  for  thee."  The  boy,  **dear 
to  God  and  man,"  eagerly  drank  in  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  heavenly  doctrine,^  and  soon  became 
proficient  in  sacred  knowledge,  for  he  had  an 
excellent  memory,  and  forgot  nothing  that  he 
had  been  taught.  His  gifts  of  grace  and  his 
natural  endowments  seemed  to  be  balanced 
equally  in  him.  Even  thus  early  fervently  reli- 
gious, he  did  not  confine  himself  to  studying 
the  meditations  of  the  saints  ;  he  soon  put  into 
practice  the  lessons  learnt  from  them  and  from 
a  higher  Authority,  and,  fulfilling  his  duty  to 
God  and  to  his  neighbour,  he  began  not  only 
to  attend  diligently  at  the  divine  offices,  but  also 
to  seek  every  opportunity  of  doing  services  to 

*  Magna  Vita  Sancti  Hugonis. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      47 

his  brethren.  In  fact,  he  showed  himself  in 
every  way  worthy  of  his  father,  who  was  a  man 
of  singular  modesty,  courteous  and  kind  in  his 
manners,  full  of  active  friendliness,  and  most 
acceptable  for  his  benignity.  By  the  time  his 
son  was  grown  up,  William  of  Avalon  had  be- 
come infirm  through  age ;  so  now,  by  the  Prior's 
express  orders,  St.  Hugh,  who  had  served  the 
whole  brotherhood  with  a  filial  devotion,  was 
intrusted  with  the  entire  charge  of  his  father. 
In  after  life  he  used  to  tell  how  he  led  him, 
carried  him,  dressed  and  undressed  him,  washed 
him,  laid  him  in  bed,  and  prepared  his  food,  and 
even  fed  him,  winning  in  return  from  him  a 
thousand  benedictions,  which  he  greedily  drank 
in  as  if  thirsting.  Whether  the  old  man  had  the 
gratification  of  seeing  his  son  ordained  deacon 
on  reaching  his  nineteenth  year,  and  of  hearing 
how  already  he  began  to  distinguish  himself  by 
his  earnest  preaching,  is  not  related  ;  but  it 
scarcely  seems  likely  that  he  was  living  when,  a 
few  years  later,  he  was  appointed  to  govern  the 
cell  of  St.  Maximus,  not  far  from  Villarbenoit. 
Here  St.  Hugh,  with  an  aged  canon  to  advise 
him,  was  put  in  charge  of  the  whole  parish,  and, 


48       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

through  his  pure  life  and  ardent  way  of  living, 
soon  made  himself  valued  not  only  by  his  imme- 
diate parishioners,  but  also  by  the  people  of  the 
country  round  about. 

But  scarcely  a  year  was  over  before  there  came 
the  turning-point  in  the  young  man's  career. 
About  A.D.  1 1 60,  having  left  St.  Maximus,  St. 
Hugh  went  on  a  visit  with  his  Prior  to  La 
Grande  Chartreuse,  and  there  he  realised,  what- 
ever other  people  might  say  of  his  wonderful 
virtues,  that  he  had  not  even  reached  the  begin- 
ning of  perfection.  He  noticed  the  position  of 
the  monastery,  almost  raised  above  the  clouds 
and  touching  heaven,  and  wholly  remote  from 
all  the  feverishness  of  earthly  things  ;  here  there 
would  be  excellent  opportunity  of  devoting  him- 
self to  God  alone,  as  well  as  numerous  books 
to  help  his  devotions  and  unbroken  quiet  for 
prayer.  He  saw  how  the  inmates  mortified  the 
flesh,  but  with  serenity  of  mind  bore  cheerful 
countenances  ;  he  observed  their  freedom  of  spirit 
and  their  purity  of  speech,  and  a  great  longing 
was  kindled  in  his  heart  to  become  one  of  them. 
On  disclosing  his  desire  to  them,  some  of  the 
brethren  encouraged  him,  but  one  of  the  seniors 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      49 

of  the  Order,  looking  at  his  delicate  frame,  sternly- 
rebuked  him.  **  How  canst  thou,  O  little  son," 
he  asked,  ** presume  to  think  of  this  thing?  The 
men  thou  seest  inhabiting  these  rocks  are  harder 
than  all  stone,  knowing  not  how  to  take  pity- 
on  themselves,  or  on  those  dwelling  with  them. 
The  mere  aspect  of  the  place  is  terrible,  the 
Order  exceedingly  harsh ;  the  very  hair  shirt 
would  eat  away  thy  skin  and  flesh  to  the  bones." 
As  for  the  Prior  of  Villarbenoit,  great  was 
his  sorrow  on  learning  St.  Hugh's  intentions, 
and  bitterly  did  he  regret  that  unlucky  visit  to 
the  Carthusians  ;  to  lose  him,  he  declared,  would 
be  to  suddenly  extinguish  the  light  of  his  eyes, 
and  to  take  from  him  the  staff  of  his  old  age 
when  he  most  needed  it.  Working  on  him  with 
his  tears  and  lamentations,  he  finally  extracted 
from  him  an  unwilling  oath  to  remain  with  him 
for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  which  could  not  be 
for  long.  Nevertheless,  further  reflection  led  St. 
Hugh  to  the  conclusion  that  an  oath  thus  forced 
from  him  and  against  his  soul's  benefit  was  not 
to  be  kept ;  so  he  stole  away  and  was  admitted 
at  La  Grande  Chartreuse  during  this  same  year. 
Among  his  new  associates,  cleric  and  lay,  he 

D 


50       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

found  many  holy  and  reverend  men  ;  the  Prior, 
Basileus,  was  himself,  on  account  of  his  eminence 
and  virtues,  commonly  called  saint.  As  for  the 
rule  of  the  house,  rigorous  as  it  was,  it  was  tem- 
pered with  discretion  ;  the  subjugation  of  the  flesh 
was  not  allowed  to  be  carried  on  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  all  physical  strength,  to  which  the  zeal  of 
both  the  monks  and  the  lay-brethren  might  lead  ; 
for  it  was  the  aim  of  both  alike  to  maintain  strict 
poverty,  to  throw  aside  all  superfluity,  and  even 
to  be  sparing  in  necessaries,  and  to  forget  all 
temporal  matters  in  the  contemplation  of  heavenly 
prospects.  The  lay-brethren  had  received  such 
excellent  oral  instruction  that,  though  they  did 
not  know  their  letters,  if  the  reader  in  church 
made  any  mistake  in  the  lessons,  they  would  at 
once  perceive  it  and  gently  cough  their  disap- 
probation. With  such  teachers  and  companions, 
it  was  natural  that  St.  Hugh  should  make  quick 
progress  in  learning  and  holiness,  especially  as 
he  spent  days  and  nights  over  his  books  and 
his  devotions.  But  he  found  that  even  in  the 
stillness  of  a  Carthusian  monastery  the  path  to 
perfection  was  none  too  easy.  In  after  time  he 
would  relate  how,  soon  after  his  entrance  there. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       51 

he  was  beset  by  the  most  violent  carnal  tempta- 
tions ;  how  day  and  night,  threatening  and  buffet- 
ing him,  the  angel  of  Satan  departed  not  from 
him.  What  these  temptations  were  we  cannot 
tell ;  it  might  have  been  that  his  recent  escape 
from  Villarbenoit  suggested  to  him  the  possibility 
of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  the  cloister  altogether. 
He  was  scarcely  more  than  five-and-twenty,  and 
it  would  not  have  been  unnatural  if,  high-souled 
and  courageous  as  he  was,  and  with  the  eagerness 
of  youth  for  activity,  he  had  wished  to  venture 
forth  to  try  the  world,  full  of  dangers  as  it  might 
be  to  his  soul,  and  to  take  a  man's  part  in  it. 
Having  gained  the  victory  over  himself,  such 
desires  might  well  have  seemed  to  him,  to  whom 
monasticism  must  have  been,  after  all,  a  second 
nature,  deserving  of  the  extremely  contrite  lan- 
guage in  which  he  described  the  internal  struggle 
of  those  and  later  days  just  before  he  was  sent 
to  England,  when  he  was  again  tempted  in  the 
flesh. 

Like  many  another  deeply  religious  man,  St. 
Hugh  had  unbounded  love  to  all  living  things. 
As  at  Villarbenoit,  his  care  to  serve  his  brethren 
had  led  to  his  being  intrusted  with  the  charge 


52       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  his  aged  father,  so  now  he  was  appointed  to 
attend  to  all  the  personal  wants  of  an  old  monk, 
who  in  return  seems  to  have  looked  after  his 
spiritual  welfare.  But  his  love  did  not  show 
itself  to  his  fellow-men  only  ;  it  condescended  also 
to  the  smaller  beings  of  creation.  The  saint 
could  find  some  solace  for  his  combats  with  the 
evil  one  by  taming  the  little  birds  and  squirrels 
of  that  wild  neighbourhood  to  come  into  his  cell, 
where,  during  his  meals,  they  would  eat  at  his 
table,  feeding  out  of  his  dish  or  from  his  hand. 
The  stern  Prior,  however,  forbade  him  even  this 
one  amusement,  lest  he  should  take  too  much 
pleasure  in  his  dumb  friends  and  allow  them  to 
interrupt  his  devotions.  It  was  not  till  he  got 
to  Witham  that  he  could  indulge  his  affection 
for  animals  ;  there  for  three  years  a  pet  bird  lived 
in  his  cell,  taking  its  flight  at  nesting-time  and 
returning  later  on  with  its  fledgings  as  if  to 
present  them  to  him  ;  but  in  the  fourth  year  it 
came  back  no  more,  to  his  great  vexation.  Again, 
when  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  an  unusually  fine  swan 
attached  itself  to  him,  showing  as  much  affection 
for  him  as  a  dog. 

After  some  time  had  elapsed,   St.   Hugh  was 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      53 

at  last  advanced  to  the  grade  of  priest,  to  which 
he  had  long  looked  forward.  In  his  new  office 
he  performed  the  services  of  the  altar^with  the 
most  exemplary  reverence.  He  used  to  handle 
the  sacred  elements  of  the  Eucharist  '"as  if  he 
were  touching  indeed  the  visible  Body  of  the 
Lord,  and  by  his  ardently  devotional  manner  in 
celebrating  the  mass,  it  seemed  as  if  he  sang 
the  exultant  words  of  the  bride  in  the  Canticles, 
'*  My  beloved  is  mine,  and  I  am  his."  Meantime 
he  imposed  on  himself  the  harshest  self-discipline, 
subduing  his  flesh  by  vigils,  fasts,  and  flagella- 
tions, and,  according  to  the  wont  of  the  Order,  by 
the  use  of  the  hair  shirt.  His  food  was  water 
and  dry  bread,  which  hard  fare  for  no  sickness  or 
weakness  or  other  cause  would  he  give  up  until 
he  became  a  bishop,  and  by  that  time  such  severe 
abstinence  had  injured  his  health.  In  those  days 
St.  Peter,  Archbishop  of  Tarentaise,  used  fre- 
quently to  visit  the  Chartreuse,  where  he  would 
stay,  "  like  a  most  prudent  bee,"  for  some  months 
in  a  solitary  cell  amongst  the  dwellings  of  those 
holy  men,  as  if  in  some  honey-stored  hive."*^ 
There  he  was  given  a  most  willing  attendant  in 

*  Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis. 


54       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  person  of  St.  Hugh,  whom  he  found  to  be 
also  a  most  congenial  companion  ;  for  the  young 
monk,  besides  having  at  his  fingers*  ends  all 
passages  in  Holy  Scriptures,  the  lives  of  the 
saints  and  the  writings  of  the  doctors,  and  besides 
having  the  quality  of  being  a  good  listener,  was 
himself  a  keen  and  eloquent  talker,  and  thus 
could  readily  converse  with  the  worthy  prelate. 

At  length  the  days  of  humble  service  and  of 
quiet  devotion  came  to  an  end,  and  St.  Hugh 
must  serve  the  community  on  a  larger  scale  as 
their  Proctor,  which  post  was  assigned  to  him 
about  A.D.  1070.  This  dignity,  second  only  to 
that  of  the  Prior,  gave  him  the  management  of 
the  entire  establishment,  the  care  of  all  the 
secular  matters,  and  the  government  of  the  lay- 
brethren.  As  was  to  be  expected,  in  all  his 
duties,  both  spiritual  and  temporal,  he  acquitted 
himself  well.  But,  as  has  been  related,  four 
years  later  the  Proctor  of  the  Grand  Chartreuse 
became  the  Prior  of  the  first  English  Chartreuse 
(or,  according  to  the  corrupted  form  of  the  word, 
Charterhouse)  at  Witham. 

Ever  since  that  expedition  to  the  court  which 
had  ended  so  happily  for  the  new  monastery,  a 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      S5 

firm  friendship  grew  up  between  the  king  and 
the  saint :  indeed,  the  latter  had  so  frequent  in- 
tercourse with  Henry,  and  the  royal  affection 
for  him  was  so  evident,  that  it  was  even  thought 
that  he  was  Henry's  natural  son,  especially  as 
they  were  somewhat  alike  in  person.  Without 
relapsing  into  flattery  or  adulation,  never  fearing 
to  rebuke  him  where  and  when  necessary,  yet 
modestly  and  gently,  and  alluring  him  to  the 
right  paths,  now  by  subtle  argument,  now  by 
the  splendid  examples  of  great  men,  he  had  an 
immense  influence  over  the  king.  St.  Hugh 
counselled  him  on  the  things  concerning  Christ, 
the  Church,  the  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom,  the 
peace  of  the  people,  and  lastly,  his  own  welfare. 
By  his  intervention,  Henry's  anger  was  often 
turned  into  clemency,  and  churches  and  religious 
houses  obtained  what  they  needed.  He  taught 
him  that  earthly  cares  were  nothing  in  comparison 
to  the  heavenly,  warning  him  not  to  trust  to  the 
fugitive  winds  and  prosperity  of  this  world,  nor 
to  put  his  hope  in  riches,  but  in  the  living  God, 
the  sole  help  and  eternal  happiness  of  those  trust- 
ing in  Him.  He  not  only  vehemently  took  him 
to  task  for  keeping  bishoprics  and  abbeys  vacant. 


56       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

but  often  also  argued  with  him  on  his  various 
excesses.  The  nobler  side  of  Henry's  character 
led  him  thoroughly  to  venerate  his  Prior,  and  his 
reverence  for  him  was  said  to  have  been  increased 
after  a  certain  passage  of  the  Channel.  The 
weather  was  stormy,  and  the  king  was  in  danger 
of  shipwreck  ;  in  his  terror  the  words  broke  from 
his  lips,  *'  Oh  !  if  my  Hugh  of  the  Chartreuse 
were  watching  now  and  aiding  me  with  his 
prayers,  God  would  not  forget  me  for  long." 
Then  with  deeper  groans  he  prayed,  **  O  God, 
whom  the  Prior  of  Witham  serves  in  truth, 
through  his  intervention  and  merits  have  mercy 
on  us,  now  justly  overtaken,  for  our  sins,  by 
these  dangers."  Afterwards  Henry  not  unnatu- 
rally ascribed  his  escape  to  the  mediation  of 
St.  Hugh. 

As  for  his  rule  at  Witham,  no  monk  ever 
realised  more  than  St.  Hugh  the  maxim  laborare 
est  orare.  In  his  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  his  house, 
in  his  industry  as  its  head,  in  his  ceaseless  devo- 
tions, he  showed  how  labour  is  one  of  the  truest 
forms  of  worship.  His  own  life  was  one  continual 
act  of  prayer ;  even  when  his  body  slept,  he  was 
heard  to  repeat  the  word  "  Amen  "  at  intervals. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      57 

as  if  still  awake  and  praying  in  mind.  His  reli- 
gion was  none  of  that  dreamy  kind  which  spends 
itself  in  holy  thoughts  and  aspirations,  yearning 
for  the  Beatific  vision,  but  which  never  results  in 
holy  deeds.  Ever  loving  the  Word  of  God,  at 
his  times  for  receiving  carnal  food  he  drank  in 
through  his  ears  and  consumed  all  the  more 
eagerly  the  spiritual  food  of  the  Bible,  which 
condiment  was  never  wanting  to  his  meals,  how- 
ever plain  might  be  the  rest  of  his  fare.  He 
told  the  brethren  when  in  the  refectory  to  have 
their  eyes  on  the  table,  their  hands  at  their  plates, 
their  ears  towards  the  book,  their  hearts  towards 
God.  At  every  time  and  in  every  place,  what- 
ever by  reason  of  that  time  and  place  was  de- 
manded, he  did  and  bade  others  do.  So  long 
as  he  was  well  he  never  allowed  himself  much 
sleep,  nor  if  he  was  wakeful  would  he  lie  in 
bed  ;  but  if  for  any  cause  he  was  roused,  if  drowsi- 
ness did  not  at  once  overcome  him  again,  he 
would  rise  from  his  bed  to  pray.  He  brought  the 
discipline  of  the  house  to  such  perfection,  that 
persons  of  various  conditions  and  religious  pro- 
fessions flocked  thither  from  all  parts  of  the 
island,    to    whose  confines  the   sweet   savour  of 


58       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  place  had  gone  forth  ;  men  of  deep  learning 
and  great  riches,  putting  aside  the  vain  wisdom 
and  pomp  of  the  world,  sought  him  out  in  the 
humility  of  his  holy  and  sincere  conversation, 
and  put  themselves  under  his  rule.  But  St. 
Hugh  was  not  too  eager  to  admit  new  inmates  ; 
"prudent  and  circumspect,  neither  swiftly  nor 
easily  did  he  open  to  those  knocking  at  the 
gate,"  but  received  them  with  ''cautious  sweet- 
ness and  gentle  asperity."  The  Prior  was  suffi- 
ciently acquainted  with  human  nature  to  know 
that  too  often  it  was  only  a  passing  fit  of 
enthusiasm  that  led  these  candidates  for  the 
Carthusian  frock  to  him ;  but,  in  spite  of  his 
care,  overcome  by  their  perseverance  in  seeking 
entrance  after  former  refusals,  he  admitted  some 
who  afterwards  deserted  Witham  and  went  back, 
not  wholly  after  Satan,  but  to  the  tabernacles  in 
which  they  had  formerly  dwelt.'"'  There  were 
two  who  especially  troubled  him,  for,  after  they 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  life  at  Witham, 
they  bitterly  accused  him  of  having  seduced  them 
to  a  place  of  terrible  solitude  and  hardships  ;  but 
one  of  these,  some  time  later,  repenting  his  de- 

*  Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      59 

sertion,  sought  for  readmittance,  but  was  refused. 
The  Prior  was  always  inflexible  in  these  cases, 
whether  to  lay-brethren  or  to  monks  ;  there  were 
for  such  unstable  men  other  religious  discipline, 
which  could  benefit  them  better  than  the  stern 
Carthusian  Order,  and  so  on  this  occasion  the 
supplicant,  being  turned  away,  went  to  Clugni. 

Having  finished  the  building  of  the  monastery, 
St.  Hugh  turned  his  attention  to  the  edification 
of  the  monks,  to  which  end  he  greatly  desired 
copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  These,  he  said, 
were  to  be  used  as  pleasures  and  riches  in  time  of 
peace,  as  arrows  and  arms  in  warlike  prepara- 
tion, as  food  in  hunger,  as  medicine  in  weari- 
ness, especially  by  religious  men  leading  a 
solitary  life.  On  one  occasion,  mentioning  his 
lack  of  books  and  of  parchment  for  inscribing 
them  to  the  king,  the  latter  gave  him  ten  marks 
to  purchase  the  skins — the  Prior  having  modestly 
said  that  one  would  be  sufficient  for  some  time — 
and  promised  also  to  give  him  a  Bible.  St. 
Hugh  returned  home.  Henry,  not  forgetful  of 
his  word,  looked  about  where  he  might  lay  his 
hands  on  the  best  Bible.  It  so  happened  that 
the  monks  of  St.    Swithun's  of  Winchester  had 


6o       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

just  made  a  magnificent  copy  to  read  at  their 
meal-times.  The  Prior,  being  summoned  to  give 
it  up  whether  he  would  or  not,  was  practically- 
obliged  to  obey,  and  accept  a  promised  gift  in- 
stead of  it.  St.  Hugh,  on  receiving  it,  was 
delighted  with  the  beautiful  volume ;  but  later 
on,  when  entertaining  a  monk  of  Winchester 
at  Witham,  he  came  to  learn  how  the  king 
had  beguiled  St.  Swithun's  monastery  of  it, 
and  though  his  guest  protested  that  he  and  his 
brethren  were  glad  that  so  holy  a  man  should 
have  it,  he  insisted  on  returning  it,  thinking  how 
grieved  they  really  must  have  been  to  part  with 
their  costly  handiwork,  and  the  monk  went  back 
to  his  own  house  not  more  rejoiced  at  his  regained 
possession  than  at  the  courtesy  and  neighbourly 
love  of  his  late  host. 

St.  Hugh  had  been  eleven  years  Prior  of 
Witham  when,  in  May  a.d.  ii 86,  Henry  held 
a  council  at  Eynsham,  near  Oxford.  Amongst 
the  matters  discussed  was  the  nomination  of  a 
bishop  of  Lincoln,  which  See  had  been  for  many 
years  vacant,  the  large  diocese  being  in  conse- 
quence in  much  disorder.  The  Prior  of  Witham 
was  suggested  to  the  canons  as  a  fitting  pastor 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      6i 

for  them  ;  they  were  very  rich  and  enjoyed  much 
worldly  renown,  and  in  fact  were  somewhat  car- 
nally-minded, and  at  first  naturally  were  rather 
horrified  at  the  notion.  His  way  of  life  was  so 
different  to  theirs  that  some  even  made  fun  of 
him,  but  their  levity  being  repressed  by  the 
wiser  men,  they  at  last  were  unanimous  in  elect- 
ing him.  On  the  election  being  announced  to 
St.  Hugh,  he  refused  to  admit  it,  thinking  that 
the  king  had  coerced  the  canons.  The  spirit  of 
the  man  being  revealed  to  them  in  this  answer, 
the  chapter  of  Lincoln  elected  him  a  second 
time  ;  but  he  asked  what  could  wise  and  polished 
men  like  them  want  from  him,  an  uncultured  and 
inexperienced  man  ?  Unless  an  order  to  the 
contrary  came  to  him  from  La  Grande  Char- 
treuse, he  would  still  refuse.  But  upon  applica- 
tion to  them,  his  superiors  in  France  bade  him 
accept  the  See.  The  three  months  that  elapsed 
before  his  consecration  he  spent  in  prayers  and 
preparing  himself  for  the  coming  change  in  his 
existence.  He  looked  forward  to  his  promotion 
as  a  sailor,  seeing  the  gathering  clouds,  waits  for 
an  expected  storm.  The  monarchs  of  those  times 
led   their   bishops   no   easy  lives,   and  he   feared 


62       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

besides  lest  he  should  lose  his  peace  and  serenity 
of  mind  amidst  the  manifold  duties  of  a  prelate, 
and  amidst  the  strifes  which  would  probably 
frequently  arise,  and  lest  the  outward  vanities  of 
the  office  should  sully  what  inward  purity  he 
possessed. 

When  the  time  came  for  his  journey  to  London, 
where  he  was  to  receive  consecration,  he  mounted 
a  horse  whose  trappings  were  the  skins  and 
coarse  blankets  that  he  used  as  a  covering  by 
night  or  day,  while  the  clerks  who  accompanied 
him  rode  horses  whose  harness  was  adorned  with 
gold.  Nor  could  his  companions  induce  him  to 
converse  with  them  by  the  way  either  on  trivial 
or  serious  matters,  for  as  yet  he  feared  to  break 
through  his  old  habits,  and  their  secular  minded- 
ness  clashed  with  his  humility  and  spiritual 
mindedness.  When  he  came  to  London,  he  was 
received  most  graciously  by  Henry,  who,  besides 
rich  gifts  in  gold  and  silver,  supplied  him  with 
various  necessaries  belonging  to  his  new  office. 
A  few  days  later,  on  September  29th,  he  was 
enthroned  at  Lincoln. 

The  first  hesitation  of  the  canons  of  Lincoln 
to  elect  the  Prior  of  Witham  as  their  bishop  was 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       63 

natural ;  they  probably  knew  St.  Hugh  to  be  a 
holy  man ;  but  holiness,  though  it  would  ensure 
a  conscientious  performance  of  his  duties  to  his 
flock,  was  not  sufficient  alone  to  govern  an  im- 
portant diocese.  Moreover,  brought  straight  from 
his  monastery,  and  being  the  personal  friend  of 
the  king,  it  scarcely  seemed  likely,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  he  would  know  how  to  guard  against 
encroachments  on  the  Church,  and  on  the  other, 
that  he  would  care  to  lose  Henry's  favour  by 
opposing  his  wishes  in  ecclesiastical  matters.  But 
the  early  years  of  his  episcopate  must  have 
allayed  all  anxieties  as  to  his  fitness.  St.  Hugh, 
in  his  abstraction  from  all  worldliness,  was  an 
ideal  monk  ;  as  time  went  on,  he  proved  him- 
self an  ideal  bishop.  It  was  largely  owing  to 
the  Carthusian  discipline,  ignorant  as  his  way 
of  life  might  have  made  him  of  mundane  affairs, 
that  St.  Hugh  was  able  to  stand  where  other 
men  would  have  fallen,  either  by  yielding  some 
point  against  their  conscience,  or  by  the  visitation 
of  the  king's  anger  at  their  resistance ;  but  to 
this  Carthusian  worldly  rank  was  vanity  and 
kings'  favours  nothing  ;  his  training  had  perfected 
his  natural  courage  until  he  seemed  utterly  fear- 


64       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

less  in  all  battles  for  the  right,  whether  against 
the  sovereign  or  against  any  other  evil-doer  of 
whatsoever  station.  As  to  the  devout  man  his 
religion  is  his  country,  and  as  in  his  estimation 
there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile,  St.  Hugh  looked 
upon  the  English  not  as  strangers  and  foreigners, 
but  as  fellow-citizens  and  members  of  the  same 
household,  and  thus,  like  St.  Anselm  before  him, 
he  fought  as  warmly  for  the  Church  in  England 
as  if  still  in  his  native  land  ;  for  although  tem- 
poral grandeur  was  nothing  to  him  personally, 
he  would  not  bate  an  inch  in  the  possessions 
and  liberties  of  his  See,  because  these  were  part 
of  a  trust  committed  to  him,  and  the  loss  of  these, 
as  a  true  Churchman,  he  must  consider  to  touch 
the  dignity  of  the  Church  as  a  whole.  But  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  he  was  a  rash  and 
reckless  fighter  ;  he  v/as  possessed  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  serpent  combined  with  the  guilelessness 
of  the  dove,  so  much  needed  by  ecclesiastics  of 
high  rank  under  the  Angevin  rule,  so  that  he 
could  speak  and  deal  with  kings  and  their  minis- 
ters after  a  fashion  which  other  men  could  not 
have  done  with  impunity,  because  they  would 
be  lacking  in   his  tact  and   insight   into   human 


< 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      65 

character.  Besides,  he  knew  how  to  fear  God 
and  honour  the  king  at  the  same  time ;  and 
though  he  sharply  rebuked,  and  laid  hands  on 
the  royal  person  on  one  occasion,  he  always 
succeeded  in  retaining  the  affection  and  winning 
the  admiration  of  each  successive  sovereign,  so 
that  even  King  John  was  solicitous  for  his  friend- 
ship. As  for  his  intercourse  with  men  of  lower 
rank,  one  anecdote  will  be  sufficient  to  show  his 
justice  and  charity  to  all  men.  A  woman  came 
to  him  to  ask  him  to  remit  the  heriot  ox,  for  her 
husband  had  lately  died,  pleading  that  it  was 
the  only  means  of  maintenance  for  herself  and 
her  children.  His  steward  warned  him  that  if  he 
did  so,  he  would  never  be  able  to  keep  his  land 
after  such  a  precedent.  Being  on  horseback  at 
the  time.  Bishop  Hugh  dismounted,  and  taking  up 
a  handful  of  mud,  said,  **  I  hold  the  land  now,  and 
yet  remit  the  ox  to  the  poor  woman  ;  "  then  drop- 
ping it,  and  looking  upwards,  he  added,  "  For  I  do 
not  seek  to  hold  the  earth  below,  but  the  heaven 
above.  This  woman  had  two  bread-winners;  death 
hath  carried  off  the  better  one,  and  shall  we  take  the 
other  from  her  ?     Such  greed  be  far  from  us."  "^ 

*  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  Vita  S.  Huij^onis.l 

E 


66       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

But  it  does  not  lie  within  the  scope  of  the 
present  work  to  write  the  life  of  St.  Hugh  as 
bishop,  especially  as  it  has  been  graphically  set 
forth  elsewhere."^  It  must  suffice  to  say  here,  that 
he  was  held  in  such  high  estimation  of  all  men, 
that  amidst  the  vast  throng  of  all  ranks  at  his 
funeral,  not  the  least  loud  in  their  sorrow  were 
the  Jews,  who  as  a  race  at  that  period  were 
in  their  turn  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  but 
to  whom  this  one  man,  a  saint  indeed,  had  dared 
to  show  his  Christ-like  love. 

To  return  to  our  history  of  Witham.  Once 
or  twice  a  year,  generally  in  the  autumn,  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  would  return  for  a  holiday 
of  a  month  or  so  to  the  Charterhouse.  When- 
ever he  drew  near  to  his  beloved  solitude,  his 
heart  expanded  and  his  face  was  seen  to  glow 
with  joy,  like  that  of  one  returning  home  after 
a  long  absence.  Once  within  the  walls,  he  laid 
aside  his  episcopal  attire  and  put  on  the  habit 
of  his  Order,  his  bishop's  ring  being  the  only 
sign  of  rank  that  he  reserved  about  his  person. 
He  always  celebrated  mass  with  the  sacrist  and 
his  own  chaplain  every  day ;    but  besides  this, 

*  Froude,  SAoH  Studies  on  Great  Subjects. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       67 

as  if  he  were  a  simple  monk  again,  he  took 
his  week  of  service  like  the  other  members  of 
the  house  ;  and  according  to  their  custom,  also, 
he  lived  in  his  solitary  cell,  which  was  always 
kept  unoccupied,  that  it  might  be  free  for  him 
on  his  visits.  On  Sundays  he  proceeded  with 
the  other  members  to  the  refectory  door,  to  re- 
ceive in  silence  his  weekly  loaf,  though  often, 
with  the  prior's  permission,  he  would  collect  with 
his  own  hands  the  hardest  crusts  and  dry  frag- 
ments to  eat  instead.  He  used  to  take  a  great 
pleasure  in  washing  and  scouring  the  dishes  and 
scuttles  of  all  kinds,  rubbing  and  polishing  each 
as  if  he  were  handling  *'the  cup  of  the  Lord."  ■^'' 
Following  the  rule  of  the  monastery,  every  Satur- 
day he  made  his  weekly  confession,  and  some- 
times more  frequently  ;  he  would  often  confess, 
with  the  greatest  contrition,  whatever  he  had 
done  amiss  throughout  the  year. 

One  visit  to  Witham  was  specially  marked  in 
the  history  of  the  monastery.  It  was  the  even- 
ing before  the  Bishop's  departure  ;  he  had  made 
his  final  confession  and  received  absolution,  and 
given  his  benediction  and  the  kiss  of  peace  to  the 

*  Magna  Vita. 


68       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

monks,  and  had  retired  to  the  house  of  the  lay- 
brethren,  where  were  his  own  clerks  and  servants. 
Thence  he  went  to  their  church  to  celebrate  the 
usual  nightly  praise  to  God.  During  the  service 
the  west  windows  were  lighted  up  with  a  sudden 
glare.  The  men  standing  near  the  doors  rushed 
out  to  find  the  kitchen  on  fire.  It  was  danger- 
ously near  the  sacred  edifice  and  the  wooden 
cells  of  the  lay-brethren  round  about  it,  and  the 
guest-hall  was  only  six  or  seven  feet  apart  from  it, 
with  a  very  combustible  roof  of  wooden  shingles. 
St.  Hugh  discontinued  the  nocturnal  office,  and 
gave  himself  up  to  prayer  before  the  altar  until 
the  fire  ceased.  The  kitchen  was  only  a  kind  of 
wicker  construction  roofed  with  thatch,  and  was 
quickly  consumed  by  the  flames,  without  damage 
to  the  surrounding  buildings.  Future  danger  of 
the  like  kind  was  guarded  against  by  the  building 
of  a  new  kitchen  of  stone,  which  the  Bishop  had 
frequently  warned  the  monks  to  use  for  it  before. 
On  the  morrow  St.  Hugh  bade  his  Witham 
brethren  farewell  for  the  last  time,  for  his  life 
was  nearly  at  its  close.  In  a.d.  1200  he  died, 
honoured  by  all  men. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      69 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PROSPEROUS  YEARS  OF  THE 
CHARTERHOUSE 

'*  Far  from  the  madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife, 

They  kept  the  noiseless  tenour  of  their  way." 

— T.  Gray. 

T  might  almost  seem  as  if  Witham 
Charterhouse  had  accomplished 
Its  purpose  in  the  designs  of 
Providence  in  having  served  as 
the  instrument  for  bringing  St. 
Hugh  to  England,  so  little  do  we  know  of  its 
history  after  his  promotion  to  the  See  of  Lincoln. 
A  few  charters  and  patents,  an  entry  here  and 
there  on  the  assize  rolls,  a  rare  reference  in  the 
chronicles  of  other  religious  houses,  and  two  or 
three  letters,  are  almost  the  only  records  left  of  its 
existence.  Its  private  documents,  its  register,  its 
library  have  been  long  since  hopelessly  scattered, 
if  not  destroyed,  during  the  complete  effacement 
of  the  monastery  that  took  place  more  or  less 
speedily  on  the  dissolution.     After  the  firm  estab- 


70       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

lishment  of  the  house  by  St.  Hugh,  its  necessities 
were  not  such  as  to  call  forward  any  of  its  active 
members  from  retirement.  The  priors  who  came 
after  him  were  doubtless  good  and  holy  men,  but 
in  most  cases  even  their  names  are  not  recorded. 
The  monks  whom  they  ruled  may  have  been 
saints,  but  what  traces  they  left  behind  them 
have  disappeared,  and  of  "the  eleven  learned 
authors  of  the  English  Carthusians,"  whose  books 
**  contain  much  tending  to  mortification,"*'^  we  do 
not  find  that  one  belonged  to  Witham.  But  our 
ignorance  of  the  Carthusians  is,  besides  the  loss 
of  written  witnesses,  due  also  to  the  seclusion  of 
their  lives ;  generally,  it  would  only  be  in  the 
case  of  some  great  emergency  that  they  could 
appear  before  the  public  gaze.  When  the  last  sad 
days  for  monasteries  came,  when,  if  ever,  Car- 
thusian fortitude  and  indifference  to  suffering 
and  worldly  comfort  should  have  been  displayed, 
Witham,  the  mother  of  the  whole  Order  in 
England,  as  the  royal  patents  style  it,  was  found 
wanting.  But  the  few  known  details  of  its  his- 
tory must  now  be  told. 

*  Thomas  Fuller,  History  of  Abbeys^  p.  269.     The  names  of  the 
eleven  are  given  in  Steven's  Supplement  to  Dugdale's  Monasticon. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      71 

St.  Hugh's  immediate  successor  in  the  prioracy 
was  Bovo,  who  at  the  Chartreuse  had  had  a 
prophetic  vision  of  him  as  a  bishop.  In  the 
Cottonian  Library  there  is  a  small  volume "^ 
containing  miscellaneous  manuscripts  in  various 
hands  and  of  various  dates,  among  which  is  a 
fragment  bearing  on  the  history  of  Witham 
Charterhouse.  From  this  it  may  be  gathered 
that  Bovo  was  succeeded  by  Prior  Albert.  Under 
the  rule  of  the  latter  there  were  admitted  to  the 
monastery  four  "most  excellent  men,"  of  whom 
one  was  a  layman,  a  certain  youth  named  Theo- 
dore, and  the  three  others  already  priests  and 
monks. 

Of  the  last,  the  best  known  is  Master  Adam 
the  Scot,  or  the  Prsemonstrant.  **  He  was  of 
middle  height,  and  for  the  mediocrity  of  his 
stature  sufficiently  stout,  with  a  merry  face  and 
a  bald  head,  and  greatly  reverenced,  as  well  for 
his  grace  of  manners  as  for  his  circumstances 
and  old  age."  He  had  been  Abbot  of  the  Prse- 
monstrant Abbey  of  Dryburgh  in  Scotland,  and 
was  a  learned  man  and  a  theologian  of  some 
note,  having  written   many  sermons  and  several 

*  V^espasian  D.  ix. 


72       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

treatises  before  coming  to  bury  himself  in  a 
charterhouse.  The  unknown  author  of  the  above- 
mentioned  fragment  knew  of  his  works  as  con- 
tained in  two  great  volumes  entitled,  Sermonarii 
Magistri  Adami,  or  The  Discourses  of  Master 
Adam,  They  were,  of  course,  in  Latin.  The 
greater  part  of  them  were  printed  by  Migne  in 
his  PatrologicB  Cursus,  vol.  198.  Their  nature 
may  sufficiently  be  seen  by  their  titles  : — 

1.  The  Book  of  the  Blessed  Mary,  the  Mother 
of  God,  and  of  St.  John  the  Baptist ;  which  is 
doubtless  the  same  as  the  work  mentioned  in  the 
Cottonian  fragment  as  **  Concerning  the  Cousin- 
ship  of  Anne,  Mother  of  the  Blessed  Mary, 
and  Blessed  Elizabeth,  Mother  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist." 

2.  Sermons  for  Sundays,  from  the  ist  Advent 
to  the  2nd  after  Epiphany, 

3.  A  Book  on  the  Praemonstrant  Order,  Habit, 
and  Profession. 

4.  Concerning  the  Tripartite  Tabernacle :  a 
book  in  three  parts,  on  the  Tabernacle  of  Moses, 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word  ;  on  the  Taber- 
nacle of  Christ  ;  and  on  the  Tabernacle  of  the 
Soul,  in  spiritual  senses  of  the  word. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      73 

5.  Letters  to  the  Canons  of  the  Prsemonstrant 
Church,  on  the  Threefold  Kind  of  Contemplation. 

6.  Concerning  the  Threefold  Kind  of  Con- 
templation : — Part  I.  It  is  to  be  considered  that 
God  is  incomprehensible.  Part  II.  It  is  to  be 
considered  how  terrible  God  is  to  the  reprobate. 
Part  III.  It  is  to  be  considered  how  loving  and 
sweet  God  is  to  the  elect. 

7.  Soliloquy  on  the  Instruction  of  the  Soul ; 
which  is  a  dissertation  in  two  books  on  the  re- 
ligious life. 

According  to  his  namesake,  St.  Hugh's  bio- 
grapher, Master  Adam,  "from  the  first  flower  of 
his  youth  had  burnt  with  a  happy  desire  "  for  the 
contemplative  life  ;  the  first  attempts  after  which 
he  had  long  been  making,  when  *'the  wings  of 
the  dove  being  secretly  given  to  him,"  he  flew 
away  to  this  solitude  at  Witham,  "  where  for 
about  five  lustres  he  rested  in  a  most  happy  sleep 
of  contemplation."  As  our  unknown  author  puts 
it,  having  become  a  monk  of  the  Carthusian 
Order  for  twenty-four  years,  "he  lived  ever  holily 
and  humbly  under  obedience."  But  he  spent 
some  of  that  time  of  rest  in  writing  more  treatises, 
which  may  be  those  mentioned  in  the  Cottonian 


74       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

manuscript  among  his  works,  which  are  not  in- 
cluded in  Migne's  collection.     These  are  : — 

1.  On  the  Canon  of  the  Mass. 

2.  On  the  Fourfold  Discipline  of  the  Cell. 

3.  On  the  Lord's  Prayer,  dedicated  to  Arch- 
bishop Hubert. 

4.  The  Mirror  of  Discipline. 

5.  A  book  called  The  Dialogue  of  Master 
Adam. 

6.  A  book  called  My  Own  Secret. 

When  Bishop  Hugh  took  his  holidays  at 
Witham,  Master  Adam  was  naturally  one  of  those 
monks  with  whom  he  most  delighted  to  talk. 
To  borrow  the  language  of  the  saint's  biographer, 
**like  twin  silver  trumpets,  gleaming  with  the 
brightness  of  heavenly  eloquence  and  with  the 
exercise  of  regular  discipline,  they  ceased  not,  by 
the  mutual  clangour  of  sublime  exhortation,"  to 
stir  up  in  each  other  a  keener  zeal  for  the  ex- 
ercises of  spiritual  warfare.  The  recluse  would 
set  before  the  Bishop  the  examples  of  the  perfect 
men  of  Holy  Writ  and  the  sayings  of  worthy 
prelates,  accusing  the  modern  pastors  of  the 
Church  of  laziness,  divergence  from  the  footsteps 
of  their  predecessors,  and  of  general  degeneracy. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      75 

He  even  reproached  St.  Hugh  himself,  whom,  he 
said,  as  a  great  and  good  ruler  of  the  Church 
of  God,  many  men  admired,  though  it  was  a 
question  where  he  showed  the  mere  appearance 
of  being  a  worthy  shepherd  in  his  acts.  The 
modesty  of  his  life  and  conversation  was  all  very 
well,  but  to  what  use  was  he  putting  the  talents 
committed  to  him?  What  interest  was  he  winning 
for  his  Master  along  with  those  rare  tradesmen 
who,  suffering  dangers  by  land  and  sea,  not  only 
had  planted  the  Church,  but  had  supplied  and 
fortified  her  with  their  own  blood  ?  This  "  exu- 
berant fountain  of  celestial  doctrine "  in  return 
would  seek  and  receive  admonitions  from  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  with  whose  character  he  was 
little  acquainted,  judging  by  his  addressing  such 
language  to  this  ever-valiant  fighter  against  op- 
pression of  all  sorts. 

The  second  postulant  to  the  Carthusian  habit 
never  really  took  the  vows.  This  was  Walter, 
Prior  of  Bath,  whose  fleeting  passion  for  St. 
Bruno's  discipline  is  mentioned  somewhat  sarcas- 
tically in  some  accounts.  He  had  been  sub-prior 
of  Hyde  Monastery  in  Hampshire.  He  was  a 
'*  man    of  much    knowledge   and    religion,"    and 


76       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

**for  the  good  fame  of  his  sanctity,"  according  to 
the  Annals  of  Winchester,  was  promoted  to  Bath, 
where,  ''  after  he  had  trained  the  monks  to  a  nicety, 
thinking  to  himself  how  frivolous  is  the  glory  of 
the  world  and  how  fleeting  honour,"  he  betook 
himself  to  the  Carthusians,  preferring  rather  to 
**  do  himself  this  much  good  than  to  rule  over 
others."  At  Witham  a  certain  monk  of  Hyde 
came  to  see  him.  Finding  him  intent  upon  pots 
and  herbs,  who  shortly  before  had  been  intent 
upon  souls,  he  was  tickled  by  the  incongruity  and 
addressed  him  in  an  untranslatable  Latin  verse  in 
mockery  of  his  occupation — 

"  Domine  pater ; 
Quod  facis  est  Kere,  quod  tractas  Kirewivere." 

Prior  Walter,  however,  was  soon  found  an  unfit 
subject  by  the  superiors  of  the  Charterhouse. 
Perhaps  his  former  companion's  laughter  worked 
upon  him,  for  not  many  days  later  he  came  to 
himself;  and  as  much  by  the  entreaty  as  by  the 
injunction  of  the  authorities  there,  he  went  back 
to  rule  the  monks  of  Bath,  understanding  at  last 
**  that  it  is  holier  to  save  several  souls  than  one 
alone."  On  his  return,  he  kept  himself  strictly  to 
his  duties,  remaining  in  office  till  a.d.  1198,  when 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      ^^ 

he  died  in  the  Benedictine  nunnery  at  Wherwell, 
in  Hampshire,  his  body  being  removed  thence 
for  burial  to  Bath."^ 

The  next  monk  whom  Prior  Albert  received 
entered  Witham  Charterhouse  to  quit  it  only  at 
the  summons  of  death,  after  he  had  been  some 
years  under  the  vows  of  the  Order.  This  was 
Robert  Fitz Henry,  who,  having  been  Prior 
of  the  Benedictine  House  of  St.  Swithun's, 
Winchester,  for  three  years,  gave  up  his  office 
there,  and,  in  the  somewhat  scornful  words  of 
Richard  of  Devizes,t  **  having  laid  aside  his  pro- 
fession in  discontent — or  may  I  say  devotion  ? — 
cast  himself  down  amongst  the  Carthusian  sect  at 
Witham."  Unlike  Walter,  the  Prior  of  Bath, 
who,  owing  to  a  **  similar  fervour  or  madness, 
had  preceded  him  there,  but  had  not  stayed, 
and  having  once  withdrawn,  seemed  to  think  of 
nothing  less  than  returning,"  Fitz  Henry  remained 
permanently  in  the  Charterhouse.  Advanced  in 
years  at  the  time  of  his  entrance  there,  he  afforded 
one  of  the  frequent  Instances  of  the  vitality  of  the 
members  of  the  Order.      After  spending  fifteen 

*  Annals  of  Winchester^  vol.  ii.  p.  68  of  the  Annalcs  Monasiici 
(Rolls  edition). 

t  De  Rebus  Gestis  Ricardi  Primi. 


78       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

years  in  the  silence  of  his  cell,  living  on  scanty 
fare  and  enduring  the  continual  discomfort  of  the 
hair-shirt,  St.  Hugh's  biographer  heard  him  de- 
clare that  he  enjoyed  the  best  health,  and  that 
his  youthful  vigour  had  in  a  measure  returned  to 
him  since  he  had  been  deprived  of  the  plentiful 
delicacies  of  his  former  table.  This  monk,  with 
another  of  the  Winchester  community,  Ralph  the 
Sacrist,  also  used  his  persuasion  on  Brother  Adam 
to  write  what  he  knew  of  his  master  ;  but  at  the 
end  of  the  second  book  of  the  Life  it  is  recorded 
that  the  old  man,  with  his  kindly  face,  serene 
mind,  snow-white  head,  eloquent  tongue,  gentle 
spirit,  and  sweet  disposition,  had  **  migrated  from 
this  light  to  the  brightness  of  eternal  felicity,  for 
which  he  had  waited  so  long  with  such  yearning 
expectation  in  weeping,  fasting,  and  watching." 
It  was  for  Robert  Fitz Henry  that  Richard  of 
Devizes  wrote  his  chronicle  of  the  deeds  of 
Richard  L  In  spite  of  his  sarcastic  remarks,  in 
the  mocking  dedicatory  letter,  the  author  shows 
that  he  had  after  all  a  lurking  sympathy  with  his 
former  prior.     He  writes  thus  : — 

**  The  omen  being  good,  after  thou  didst  go 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      79 

forth  from  our  church  at  Winchester  to  the 
Charterhouse,  I  desired  much  and  often  to  follow 
thee,  perchance  to  remain  with  thee,  but  certainly 
to  see  what  thou  wert  doing,  after  what  manner 
thou  wert  living,  and  by  how  much  the  Carthusian 
cell  is  more  excellent  and  nearer  heaven  than  the 
cloister  at  Winchester.  At  length  God  fulfilled 
my  wish.  I  came,  and  would  that  I  had  come 
alone  !  I  was  there,  one  of  three,  and  those  who 
were  with  me  were  the  cause  of  my  return. 
They  disapproved  of  my  desire,  and  made  my 
fervour — I  will  not  say  my  error — grow  cold.  I 
saw  among  you  what  I  have  never  seen  else- 
where, what  I  should  not  have  believed,  what  I 
could  not  enough  admire.  In  each  of  your  cells, 
according  to  rule,  there  is  a  door  which  you  may 
open  at  will,  but  by  which  you  may  not  pass  out, 
except  so  much  that  one  foot  always  remain  on 
the  inner  side  of  the  threshold  of  the  cell.  A 
brother  may  go  out  on  which  foot  he  will,  whilst 
the  other  one  stays  within  the  cell.  A  great  and 
profound  oath  must  be  taken  by  which  neither 
ingress  nor  egress  is  allowed.  I  marvelled  also 
at  another  thing.  Abounding  in  all  temporal 
goods,  having  nothing,  yet  possessing  all  things, 


8o       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

being  more  merciful  and  more  humane  than  all 
men,  having  the  fullest  charity  towards  one 
another,  you  halve  the  result  of  your  charity  by 
giving  your  guests  *  benedicite  ^  without  minister- 
ing to  them.  And  a  third  thing  made  me 
wonder.  You  men  living  apart  from  the  world 
in  secret  and  singly,  you  know  all  the  things 
that  are  done  as  they  happen,  and  even  have  a 
foreknowledge  of  them  before  they  come  to  pass. 
Nor  wouldst  thou  believe  me  to  have  said  this  in 
despite  of  your  more  than  Pythagorean  silence, 
when  I  dare  to  presume  that  men  of  as  much 
gravity  as  of  an  arduous  profession  foretell,  rather 
than  make  up,  the  idle  stories  of  the  world. 
Howbeit,  although  the  Omniscient  God  is  with 
you,  as  is  supposed,  and  in  you,  and  you  know  all 
things  in  Him,  not  by  man  nor  through  man, 
thou,  as  thou  wert  wont  to  say,  hast  wished  that 
my  occupation  should  become  thy  solace  ;  inas- 
much as  that  I  should  chronicle  the  new  transfor- 
mations, how  the  world  moves,  changing  square 
things  into  round,  especially  after  our  transmigra- 
tion to  the  celled  heaven,  so  that  having  its 
mobility  more  fully  before  thy  eyes,  the  world 
might  grow  vile  to  thee,  and  that  the  well-known 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      8i 

handwriting  of  one  beloved  by  thee  should  recall 
him  to  thy  memory.  O  happy  I  !  if  that  saintly 
soul,  if  that  angel  of  the  Lord,  if  that  deified  man, 
now  made  one  of  the  number  of  the  gods,  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  God  deign  a  little  to  re- 
member me  a  man !  I  have  done  what  thou  dost 
ask;  do  thou  what  thou  hast  promised "^ 

The  next  Prior  of  Witham  was  the  former 
proctor,  Robert,  who  wrote  urging  St.  Hugh  to 
take  meat  in  his  last  illness,  and  shortly  after- 
wards attained  the  highest  office  in  the  Charter- 
house. Brother  Adam  prefaces  the  Life  of  St. 
Hugh  with  an  address  to  his  "beloved  friends  in 
Christ,  Prior  R.  and  those  who  with  him  are 
monks  at  Witham,"  by  whose  commands,  he  says, 
he  wrote  the  book.  Without  doubt  this  meant 
the  same  Prior  Robert  just  mentioned.  The  Car- 
thusians were  not  a  literary  Order  (which  in  part 
accounts  for  the  scarcity  of  their  records),  and 
this  is  the  last  time  that  we  find  the  Witham  com- 
munity In  connection  with  ''the  making  of  books." 

The  latest  sign  of  favour  received  by  the  Car- 
thusians from  Henry  II.  was  2000  silver  marks 

♦  Richard  of  Devizes,  Gesta  Reikis  Ricardi  Ptimi. 

F 


82       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

left  to  their  house  and  whole  Order  in  his  will. 
What  portion  of  the  sum  fell  to  Witham  is  not 
related.^  After  his  death  the  latter  enjoyed  no 
extraordinary  share  of  royal  favour. 

The  next  record  to  be  found  concerning  the 
Carthusians  of  Selwood,  as  they  were  sometimes 
called,  is  the  charter  of  a.d.  1229,  where  Henry 
III.  confirms  the  charter  of  the  foundation 
granted  by  his  grandfather,  which,  together  with 
every  later  liberty  and  concession  to  them,  the 
monks  took  care  to  get  confirmed  by  each  suc- 
ceeding king.t  Down  to  a.d.  1243  they  gained 
no  addition  to  their  grounds,  as  in  the  perambula- 
tion of  them  taken  by  royal  order  in  that  year 
their  boundaries  were  discovered  to  be  the  same 
as  those  allotted  by  Henry  I  I.J  Meanwhile,  how- 
ever, the  community  itself  was  increasing,  as 
some  time  during  the  next  eight  years  the  cell  on 
the  Mendip  Hills  must  have  been  built ;  for  in  a.d. 
1250  Henry  III.  exempted  the  lands  of  **  the  prior 
and  brethren  of  the  new  Chartreuse  on  Menedep  " 

*  Geruase  of  Canterbury  (Rolls  edition).  Henry's  will  is  given 
on  pp.  298-300. 

t  Rot.  Cart.,  14  Henry  HI.,  pt.  i.  m.  9. 

\  Mo7ia5ticon^  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  App.  H.,  Inquisitio  Prioratus  de 
Witham, 


WITH  AM   CHARTERHOUSE      83 

from  regard  of  forest,  to  which,  as  lying  within 
the  bounds  of  Selwood  Forest,  they  would  have 
been  otherwise  subject.'""  This  liberty  secured 
in  part  at  least  the  seclusion  of  the  Carthusians 
of  the  lesser  house,  which  otherwise  would  have 
been  constantly  interrupted  by  the  visitations  of 
the  royal  foresters  and  bailiffs,  and  must  therefore 
have  been  highly  prized.  The  monks  at  head- 
quarters indeed  seem  to  have  taken  rather  extra- 
ordinary measures  to  maintain  the  strict  privacy 
of  their  grounds,  if  we  judge  by  the  account 
given  by  the  witnesses  at  an  inquisition  held  on 
"  the  Sunday  next  after  the  feast  of  St.  Ambrose," 
in  A.D.  1273,  concerning  the  rights  and  lands 
alienated  from  the  Crown  in  the  hundred  of 
Bruton.t  The  wood  at  Witham  belonging  to 
them  was  enclosed  by  a  ditch,  a  hedge,  and  a 
stone  wall ;  but  although  it  was  a  part  of  the  forest 
of  Selwood,  they  would  not  permit  any  forester 
to  enter  it  to  take  either  the  deer  or  wood  ;  and 
as  if  they  were  themselves  the  masters,  they  dis- 
posed of  the  beasts  there  at  will.  Further,  when 
any  one  happened  to   be  murdered  within  their 

*  Patent.,  34  Henry  III.,  m.  i. 

+   Rotuli  Hundredorum,  2  Edward  I.,  No.  23. 


84       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

enclosure,  they  buried  the  body  without  spectators, 
"  to  the  prejudice  of  the  king's  coroners,  his  royal 
dignity  and  crown  ; "  and  if  thieves  were  taken 
with  the  stolen  goods  upon  them  within  their 
territories,  the  monks,  keeping  the  goods,  made 
the  thieves  abjure  their  grounds,  again  **  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  lord  king."  As  for  their  re- 
sistance to  the  forest  officers,  it  was  probably 
nothing  more  than  their  assertion  of  their  privi- 
lege granted  to  them  in  the  charter  of  Henry  H., 
that  they  should  not  be  molested  within  their 
own  bounds  either  by  the  ingress  or  egress  of 
foresters  and  their  servants.  But  if  the  last  part  of 
the  relation  was  true,  and  was  not  dictated,  or  at 
least  exaggerated,  by  the  animosity  that  possibly 
still  survived  among  their  neighbours  since  their 
first  coming  into  Somersetshire,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing to  find  the  Witham  monks  in  frequent  collision 
about  that  time  with  both  secular  and  religious 
persons  of  the  district,  though  in  the  latter  case 
litigation  may  have  been  prompted  by  jealousy. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  a 
hospital  for  poor  leprous  women  had  been  founded 
at  Maiden- Bradley,  and  placed  under  the  charge 
of  some  secular  priests,  whom,  about  a.d.   1190, 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      85 

Hubert,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  supplanted  for  a 
Prior  and  Canons  of  the  Order  of  St.  Augustine. 
This  priory  would  scarcely  be  pleased  to  see  a 
rival  in  the  patronage  of  the  piety  of  the  country 
so  close  to  them,  and  when  Henry  HI.  licensed 
the  Charterhouse  to  enclose  the  wood,  or  *'  la 
Holt,"  at  Witham,  in  which,  as  a  part  of  their 
manor  of  Gernefeld  (Yarnfield),  they  had  a  right 
of  common  and  a  certain  amount  of  firing,  called 
''old wood  underfoot,"  their  feelings  must  have 
been  very  bitter,  especially  as  their  claims  were 
not  apparently  in  the  least  considered  until  they 
demanded  satisfaction.  An  inquisition  on  the 
matter  was  held  In  a.d.  1259  at  Frome  by  Henry 
de  Bracton,  the  justiciary,  and  Alan  of  Walton, 
the  coroner  ;  and  the  prior  and  leprous  sisters 
of  Bradley  asked  for  £S  rent  in  Milborne,  in 
Somerset,  or  for  some  ecclesiastical  benefice, 
such  as  Tydolfeshide  (Tilshead)  in  Wiltshire,  in 
exchange  for  their  former  rights  in  the  wood.''^ 
This  or  some  other  equivalent  was  granted  to 
them,  but  the  Canons  were  unsatisfied,  and  in  the 
above-mentioned  inquisition  of  a.d.  1273,  refer- 
ence was  again  made  to  the  affair,  the  witnesses 

*  Inquisition  given  in  the  Monasticon^  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  App.  II. 


86       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

declaring  that  they  had  often  heard  that  the  king 
lost  14s.  a  year,  which  the  Prior  of  Maiden- 
Bradley  and  "  his  men  of  Gernefield "  used  to 
pay  him  for  the  fallen  wood,  by  the  monks  en- 
closing the  Holt.  A  few  years  later  they  came 
to  open  hostilities  with  the  Carthusians.  In  1279 
the  Prior  of  Maiden- Bradley  laid  claim  to  forty 
acres  of  land,  with  appurtenances,  in  Jernefield 
(Yarnfield),  of  which  he  had  been  unlawfully 
disseised  by  William,  the  late  Prior  of  Witham, 
and  once  more  tried  to  win  back  the  lost  common 
of  pasture  in  the  Holt.'^  As  the  monks,  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  of  the  Order,  might  not  appear  in 
legal  proceedings,  the  king  directed  William  de 
Gyselham  to  answer  for  them.  The  assize  was 
held  at  Somerton.  It  was  there  shown  that  the 
land  claimed  lay  within  the  limits  of  the  grounds 
of  Witham  Charterhouse  as  allotted  by  Henry  II., 
and  that,  following  the  tenor  of  the  proclamation 
made  at  the  time  in  all  towns  and  villages  of 
Somerset,  Wiltshire,  and  Dorset,  warning  all 
claimants  of  lands  within  those  limits  to  assert 
their  rights  before  the  end  of  two  and  a  half 
years,   on  pain  of  losing  an  exchange  for  them, 

*  Assiz.  Rot.,  8  Edward  I.,  m.  5,  14,  i  ;  m.  26. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      87 

the  Maiden- Bradley  priory,  having  so  made  its 
claim,  had  been  satisfied ;  and  that  exchange  had 
also  been  given  for  common  of  pasture  in  the  Holt. 
All  this  the  Prior  of  Maiden- Bradley  acknow- 
ledged, and  therefore  was  amerced  for  his  false 
claim.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  sufficient 
warning  for  the  Canons  to  cease  from  troubling 
the  Carthusians  in  the  future. 

Meantime,  perhaps  for  the  benefit  of  their 
dependent  house  on  the  Mendips,  the  Witham 
monks  had  acquired  some  property  at  Cheddar, 
which  the  inhabitants,  justly  or  not,  appear  to 
have  resented.  In  a.d.  1260  certain  men  broke 
into  an  enclosure  of  theirs  at  Cedderford,  damaged 
the  boundary  ditch,  burnt  the  hedge,  and  having 
killed  one  of  the  prior's  servants  whom  they 
found  there,  buried  him."*'^  Henry  HI.  had  also 
conceded  to  them  a  right  to  the  common  pasture 
at  Cedderford,  which  again  proved  a  source  of 
contention  between  them  and  the  men  of  Cheddar, 
until  Edward  I.  directed  his  justiciaries  in  a.d. 
1279  to  inquire  what  liberties  his  father  had 
granted  there  to  the  prior  and  brethren  in  his 
charter,  and  then  to  settle  the  dispute.     But  their 

♦  Rot.  Patent.,  45  Henry  III.,  m.  7. 


88       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

interests  at  Cheddar  also  clashed  with  those  of 
another  religious  body,  to  wit,  the  Canons  of 
Wormley  or  Wormsley,  in  Herefordshire,  who 
held  land  in  the  neighbourhood.  In  the  same 
year  Robert,  Prior  of  Wormley,  accused  John,  the 
Prior  of  the  Charterhouse,  of  having  unlawfully 
disseised  him  of  a  free  tenement  and  eighteen 
acres  of  meadow,  with  the  appurtenances,  at 
Cheddar,  but  the  witnesses  declared  there  had 
been  no  illegal  disseisin,  and  as  Prior  Robert  did 
not  appear  at  the  assize,  he  was  amerced  for  his 
false  claim.  "^^' 

Perhaps  with  a  view  to  the  ending  of  all  these 
quarrels,  the  monks,  in  November  a.d.  1293, 
obtained  from  the  king,  as  well  as  a  confirmation 
of  their  charter  of  foundation,  a  patent  confirming 
the  letters  patent  of  Henry  III.  of  12th  March, 
A.D.  1264.  These  last  had  been  very  explicit 
in  their  language.  The  bailiffs  and  other  royal 
officers  are  therein  directed  to  prevent  trespass 
on  the  Prior's  grounds  at  Witham  and  Cedder- 
ford,  Henry  I.  having  satisfied  all  claims  to  land 
lying  within  their  boundaries  ;  the  monks  are 
granted   permission   to   enclose   what   they    will 

*  Assiz.  Rot.,  8  Edward  I.,  m.  5,  14,  i  ;  m.  3  and  5. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      89 

within  their  own  boundaries,  and  to  possess  the 
enclosures  so  made  in  peace  ;  and  all  claimants 
against  them  are  to  apply  to  the  king,  as  he  is 
the  defender  and  guardian  of  the  monks,  who, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  their  Order,  may 
not  plead  in  trials  at  law."**" 

Two  other  grants  to  the  monks  belong  to  the 
reign  of  Edward  I.  In  a.d.  1284,  Edmund,  Earl 
of  Cornwall,  gave  **  to  God  and  the  Blessed 
Mary,  and  the  religious  men  of  the  Carthusian 
Order  serving  God  at  Wytham,"  an  enclosure 
called  Monksham,  not  far  from  the  Charterhouse, 
from  which  they  were  to  receive  lOOs.  yearly 
rent  from  the  tenant  thereof,  Lord  Robert  de 
Aumare,  and  from  his  heirs  after  him.  This 
was  confirmed  by  King  Edward  the  next  year.t 
Eleven  years  later,  a.d.  1295,  the  "prior  and 
brethren  of  Wittenham,  of  the  Carthusian  Order," 
received  immunity  by  charter  from  all  aids, 
tallages,  contributions,  and  customs  whatsoever, 
levied  for  whatever  cause  by  "us  or  our  heirs. "t 

♦  Patent.,  22  Edward  I.,  m.  28  ;  dated  24th  November.  Carta. 
22  Edward  I.,  No.  42  ;  dated  23rd  November. 

t  Carta.,  14  Edward  I.,  No.  31. 

\  Carta.,  24  Edward  I.,  No.  2  ;  dated  Berwick-on-Tweed,  25th 
August. 


90       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

In  fact,  Edward  I.  appears  to  have  regarded  the 
Carthusians  with  favour,  as  he  especially  wrote 
to  the  monks  of  Witham  and  Hinton  to  ask  for 
their  prayers  during  his  expedition  against  William 
Wallace.  *'We  believe  it  is  not  hid  from  you," 
runs  the  letter,  **  how  for  the  tranquillity  and 
peace  of  our  kingdom,  we,  with  the  company  of 
the  nobles  of  the  said  kingdom,  have  purposed 
to  repress  the  frowardness  and  malice  of  the 
Scots,  our  enemies  and  rebels,  who  continue  in 
their  obstinacy.  And  because  there  is  no  help 
in  man  without  God,  and  therefore  we  must 
needs  support  our  weakness  with  succours  from 
the  Divine  hand,  we  affectionately  require  and 
ask  you,  having  specially  commended  ourselves, 
Margaret,  our  most  dear  consort,  our  children, 
lieges,  and  faithful  people,  and  all  our  ad- 
herents, and  our  expedition  in  the  foresaid  parts 
[of  Scotland],  or  in  whatever  other  place,  in 
solemn  masses,  prayers,  and  other  kind  ser- 
vices, to  humbly  entreat  God  and  the  Lord  our 
Protector  for  us  and  for  them  :  that  through 
the  help  of  your  prayers.  His  grace  may  be 
increased  in  us  and  them,  and  that  with  His 
clemency  He   may   guard  us,   our  said   consort, 


WITHAM   CHARTERHOUSE      91 

children,  lieges,  and  faithful  people  and  adherents, 
and  our  kingdom  from  all  adversities."  Concern- 
ing the  number  of  masses  and  prayers,  the  monks 
were  to  send  an  account  to  the  king.  This  letter 
was  dated  from  the  manor  of  St.  John  of  Perth, 
the  loth  of  July.^ 

From  Edward  II.  the  monastery  gained  no 
new  estate,  but  a  patent  was  issued  in  a.d. 
1 309  to  relieve  the  monks  both  of  Witham  and 
Hinton  from  taxation  of  their  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral goods,  and  in  a.d.  13 18  the  king  granted 
further,  that  if  any  Papal  levy  should  be  laid  on 
England,  though  with  his  consent,  yet  both  the 
Somerset  Charterhouses  should  be  free  therefrom. t 

Another  document  of  the  year  13 18,  the  grant 
of  an  annual  livery  by  Prior  Walter  to  one  of 
the  servants  of  the  monastery,  has  a  more  domestic 
interest  : — 

*  "Apud  Villam  Sancti  Johannis  de  Perth."  Rot.  Claus.,  31 
Edward  I.,  m.  7,  d.  ;  given  in  Rymer's  Fccdcra.  The  letter  to  the 
Witham  monks  is  not  there  given  ;  but  at  the  end  of  that  directed 
to  Hinton  Charterhouse  are  the  words : — "  Eodem  modo  mandatum 
est,  Priori  et  Conventui  Ordinis  Praedicti  de  Selewode." 

t  Patent.,  3  Edward  II.,  m.  22  ;  dated  Westminster,  7th  February. 
Patent.,  12  Edward  II.,  pt.  i.  m.  30  ;  dated  Northampton,  20th  July. 
The  temporal  goods  of  the  "  Prior  of  the  Chartreuse  of  Selewode 
at  Wyteham  "  had  been  assessed  at  ^30  by  the  taxation  of  Pope 
Nicholas  IV.     \Taxatio  Papcc  Nicolai^  p.  203.] 


92       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

**To  all  the  faithful  of  Christ  to  whom  the 
present  writing  shall  come,  Brother  Walter,  Prior 
of  Wytham,  of  the  Carthusian  Order,  and  the 
convent  of  the  same  place,  eternal  salvation  in 
the  Lord.  You  are  to  know  that,  with  unanimous 
assent  and  will,  we  for  ourselves  and  our  successors 
have  conceded  to  John  called  the  Fisher  and 
Edith  his  first  v/ife,  one  annual  livery  in  our 
House,  to  be  taken  so  long  as  he  shall  live,  to 
wit,  every  week  seven  loaves  called  Prickelings, 
and  seven  flasks  of  beer,  of  which  one  half  is 
to  be  from  the  beer  for  the  convent,  but  the 
rest  from  that  for  the  guests  :  item,  a  daily  dish 
of  the  convent  pottage  and  a  pittance  such  as 
every  free  servant  of  ours  is  wont  to  receive : 
item,  every  year  two  pairs  of  new  low  shoes,  and 
one  pair  of  hose,  and  one  old  frock  out  of  those 
which  the  monks  put  off  when  they  receive  new 
ones.  We  have  granted  also  to  the  said  John 
for  his  yearly  wages,  at  the  two  usual  terms  of 
the  year,  as  long  as  he  shall  live  and  be  able 
to  work,  four  shillings  of  lawful  money.  But 
all  these  things  the  said  John  shall  receive  in 
our  Firmaria,  from  us  and  our  successors  on 
this  condition,  so  long  as  he,  while  fit  and  able 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      93 

to  work  In  the  craft  of  fisher  or  plumber,  or  in 
any  other  honest  work  whatsoever  appointed  by 
the  prior  or  procurator  for  the  time  being,  or 
through  any  other  in  their  place,  shall  labour  to 
his  utmost  as  a  faithful  servant  loyally  and  man- 
fully and  without  any  gainsaying  or  lying.  But 
if  the  said  John  shall  become  useless  through  too 
great  age  or  infirmity,  he  shall  by  no  means 
receive  the  said  four  shillings  wages  any  more 
from  this  place,  but  nevertheless  he  shall  have 
in  full  the  said  livery  of  bread  and  beer,  pottage 
and  pittance,  together  with  the  tunic,  shoes,  and 
hose,  from  us  and  our  successors  all  his  life 
without  any  fraud.  If,  however,  the  said  Edith, 
the  first  wife  of  John,  shall  survive  him,  she  shall 
have  weekly  the  seven  loaves  and  flasks  of  beer 
and  the  forementioned  pittance  from  us  never- 
theless ;  but  the  frock,  shoes,  hose,  and  wages 
she  shall  not  have  from  here,  nor  ask  nor  get 
anything  In  their  stead.  And  If  It  should  happen 
(be  It  far  from  him)  that  John  should  fall  In  the 
foresaid  or  other  duties,  or  be  habitually  more 
remiss  than  he  ought,  then  he  may  and  allowably 
can  be  sufficiently  chastised,  and  also  fully  cor- 
rected, by  a  deduction  from  his  livery  and  wages. 


94       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

In  witness  of  all  which  our  seal  is  set  to  this  pre- 
sent writing  drawn  up  between  us  and  the  said 
John  on  either  side  in  the  fashion  of  a  fine.  Dated 
at  Wytham,  the  Wednesday  next  after  the  feast  of 
the  Blessed  Barnabas  the  Apostle,  a.d.  1318."* 

The  Carthusians  especially  needed  servants  and 
labourers,  at  any  rate  for  their  outlying  estates, 
since  not  only  their  religious  exercises  and 
services  took  up  a  large  portion  of  their  time, 
but  also  their  rule  did  not  permit  them  to  go 
beyond  the  precincts  of  the  monastery.  Thus 
retired  as  they  were  from  the  world,  and  perhaps 
therefore  more  or  less  removed  from  infection, 
even  the  Witham  religious  were  somewhat  nearly 
touched  by  the  terrible  pestilence  of  the  reign 
of  Edward  III.,  for  the  Black  Death  of  a.d. 
1348  made  havoc  among  the  Western  folk  as 
among  the  Eastern.  We  do  not  find  that  any 
of  the  monks  themselves,  as  in  some  of  the  other 
houses,  were  carried  off,  but  their  household 
servants   and   workmen   of  all    kinds  almost  all 

*  Translated  from  Madox,  Formulare  Anglicannvij  the  original 
is  in  the  Augmentation  Office.  T\\^  finnaria^  where  the  livery  was 
to  be  given  out,  was  the  apartment  into  which  the  dues  to  the 
monastery  were  paid. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      95 

died.     In  consequence  their  grounds  for  the  most 
part    rested   untitled   and   uncultivated    in    other 
ways,    and    when    harvest-time    came    the    corn 
that  had  been    sown   ** perished    miserably"   for 
the   want    of   harvesters,    to   the    no   little    loss 
and  manifest  impoverishment  of  the  prior  and 
brethren.     The   Statute  of   Labourers,   remedial 
measure  as  it  was   intended  to   be  for   the  em- 
ployers, rather  hindered  than  helped  the  Selwood 
Carthusians  ;  the  clause  by  which  labourers  had 
been   forbidden    to   quit  the   town   and  parishes 
where  they  dwelt  in  search   of  work,  though  it 
secured  workmen  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  more 
populous   districts,    was    a   great    impediment   in 
their  case,  because  their  monastery,  with  all  their 
lands  and  tenements,  lay  far  distant  from  towns, 
and  in  fact  practically  deprived  them  of  means  of 
making  up  the  deficiency  in  their  hired  servants. 
At  last  the  monks  represented  their  condition  to 
the  king,  who  in  a.d.    1354  issued  a  patent  de- 
claring  servants    and    labourers    of  those   parts, 
having  ended  the  term  of  work  agreed  on  with 
their    former   masters,   to    be    free   to   serve  the 
Charterhouse,  provided  that  the  prior  did  not  hire 
more  than  a  necessary  number;  and  in  a.d.  1362 


96       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Edward  directed  his  bailiffs  and  other  ministers 
to  see  that  the  prior  and  brethren  were  not 
hindered  in  employing  men  from  the  counties  of 
Wilts,  Somerset,  Dorset,  and  Devon."^ 

The  other  grants  of  this  reign  for  Witham 
Charterhouse  were  as  follows  : — In  a.d.  1343, 
the  confirmation  of  the  charter  of  foundation, 
and  of  the  later  patents  and  charters,  to  which  a 
further  clause  was  added,  that  if  there  was  any 
liberty  conceded  by  any  of  these  documents  of 
which  the  monks  had  not  hitherto  availed  them- 
selves, they  were  still  to  enjoy  it  in  the  future 
without  any  impediment,  t  A  second  confirmation 
in  A.D.  1345,  together  with  a  declaration  to  the 
effect  that  the  royal  and  other  bailiffs  and  officers 
of  various  towns  in  the  neighbourhood  frequently 
vexed  the  prior  and  brethren  by  exacting  customs 
and  dues,  notwithstanding  their  exemption  there- 
from conceded  by  former  kings,  that  they,  the  Car- 
thusians of  Witham,  **and  their  successors  through- 
out the  whole  of  our  kingdom  of  England,  are  quit 
of  murage,  tallage,  picage,  pavage,  postage,  stallage, 

*  Patent.,  28  Edward  III.,  pt.  i.  m.  20 ;  dated  at  the  Tower  of 
London,  i6th  January.  Patent.,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  ii.  m.  7  ;  dated 
at  Westminster,  20th  October. 

t  Carta.,  17  Edward  III.,  No.  23  ;  dated  at  Westminster,  May  5th. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       97 

and  every  other  custom  in  force  before,  perpetu- 
ally," even  should  they  be  imposed  under  new- 
names  by  the  bailiffs  and  ministers  :^  in  a.d.  1361 
a  licence  to  John  of  Mershton  and  John  Derby  to 
give  in  mortmain  to  the  prior  and  brethren  of 
Witham  an  enclosure  at  Radene  (Rodden  near 
Frome),  consisting  of  twelve  acres  of  meadow 
ground,  and  its  appurtenances,  called  Barboures- 
moor,  to  supply  the  means  of  providing  daily  one 
waxlight  "called  a  Torche'^  for  the  altar  of  the 
priory  church,  to  be  burnt  at  high  mass  during 
the  consecration  and  elevation  of  the  m*ost  holy 
Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lordrt  in  a.d.  1362  a 
licence  to  the  prior  and  brethren  to  acquire  twenty 
pounds'  worth  per  annum  in  land  and  rents  from 
their  own  or  another's  fief,  the  lands  and  tene- 
ments held  in  capite  from  the  crown  being  ex- 
cepted, together  with  a  licence  to  Robert  Cheddar 
of  Bristol,  John  Hacston,  John  of  Mersshton, 
William  of  Coumbe,  John  of  Bekynton,  and  John 
of  Wotton  to  assign  four  messuages  and  los.  rent, 
with  the  appurtenances,  in  Bristol,  which  were  held 
of  the  king,  and  a  certain  messuage  besides,  to  the 

♦Carta.,  19  Edward  III.,  No.  3  ;  dated  Oxford,  26th  October, 
t  Patent.,  35  Edwird  III.,  pt.  ii.  m.  7  ;  dated  20th  July. 

G 


98       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

prior  and  brethren  as  a  part  of  the  said  twenty 
pounds'  worth  of  lands  and  rents,  these  tenements 
being  worth  five  marks,  but  according  to  their 
true  value  six  marks  :*  in  a.d.  1363  a  gift  of  a 
hogshead  of  wine  to  be  received  yearly  at  Bristol 
from  the  royal  butler  at  the  time  being,  in  return 
for  the  prayers  of  the  community  for  the  king's 
family  :t  in  a.d.  1369  a  licence  to  William 
Canynges  of  Bristol  to  give  to  the  convent  five 
messuages  and  four  shops,  with  their  appurten- 
ances, worth  ;^4  per  annum,  but  according  to  the 
full  value  1 00s.,  for  the  maintenance  of  a  chaplain  to 
perform  divine  services  for  the  welfare  of  himself, 
and  of  Agnes  his  wife,  and  of  Geoffrey  Beauflour, 
John  Canynges,  and  Thomas  Nottingham  while 
living,  and  of  their  souls  when  dead,  the  services 
to  be  said  in  the  church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  at 
Witham,  the  tenements  being  in  part  satisfaction 
of  the  twenty  pounds'  worth  of  lands  and  rents 
granted  to  the  prior  :t  in  a.d.  1376  a  permission 
to  Robert  and  William  Cheddre  of  Bristol  to  give 

*  Patent,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  i.  m.  8  ;  dated  Westminster,  2nd 
May. 

t  Patent.,  37  Edward  III.,pt.  ii.  m.  19  ;  dated  Westminster,  2nd 
November. 

X  Patent.,  43  Edward  III.  pt.  ii.  m.  38  ;  dated  Westminster,  13th 
July. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE       99 

to  the  prior  and  convent  in  part  satisfaction  of 
thirty  pounds'  worth  of  land,  tenements,  and  rent 
which  they  had  been  licensed  to  receive  at  various 
times,  fourteen  messuages,  four  shops,  and  six 
acres  of  land,  with  their  appurtenances,  in  the 
suburbs  of  Bristol,  the  value  being  according  to 
the  escheator  and  mayor  of  the  town,  William 
Canynges,  ;^i2,  8s.  4d.,  the  true  value  being  j£i$ 
per  annum,  for  the  maintenance  of  a  secular 
chaplain  to  perform  divine  services  in  the  church 
at  Cheddar  and  other  charitable  works  ;  *  and  in 
November  of  the  same  year  a  licence  to  Robert 
and  William  Cheddar,  Walter  Mullewarde,  Henry 
Wynelescombe,  John  Woderove,  William  Combe 
of  Bristol,  John  Bury,  parson  of  Whateley  Church, 
John  Stourton,  Geoffrey  Waldecote,  Thomas 
Asteley,  and  Thomas  Herdeburgh  to  assign  to  the 
prior  and  convent,  in  part  satisfaction  of  forty 
pounds'  worth  of  land,  tenements,  and  rents  which 
they  were  licensed  to  receive,  four  messuages  and 
seven  shops,  with  their  appurtenances,  in  Bristol 
and  the  suburbs,  which  were  held  of  the  mayor 
and  city  of  Bristol  for  13s.  a^^.  per  annum,  which 

•  Patent.,  50  Edward  III.,  pt.  ii.  m.  22  ;  dated  Westminster,  6th 
October. 


loo     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

according  to  the  true  value  estimated  by  the 
escheator  and  mayor  of  the  city,  Walter  Derby, 
were  worth  £10,  3s.  4d.* 

Soon  after  his  accession,  a.d.  1377,  Richard  II. 
confirmed  the  charters  and  patents  to  the  mona- 
stery granted  by  his  predecessors.  From  his 
charter  it  appears  that  Edward  I.  had  conceded, 
in  A.D.  1282,  whatever  lead-mines  the  monks 
might  find  on  their  estates,  which  they  might 
work  and  put  to  profit  as  they  thought  best.t 
Two  years  later  Richard  granted  permission 
to  Thomas  Erlestoke,  parson  of  Fissherton,  and 
John  Bury,  parson  of  Whateley,  to  give  to  the 
prior  and  convent  of  Witham,  as  a  portion  of  the 
forty  pounds'  worth  of  land  before  mentioned,*^one 
messuage,  one  carucate  of  land,  and  eight  acres  of 
meadow,  with  their  appurtenances,  in  Chelterne- 
vag  and  Chelterne  Dummer  (Chilthorne-Domer 
in  Somerset,  near  Ilchester),  which,  according  to 
the  estimation  of  the  escheator  of  Somerset, 
John  de  Stourton,  are  worth  40s.  ^er  annmn,  the 

*  Patent.,  50  Edward  III.,  pt.  ii.  m.  ii  ;  dated  Westminster,  12th 
November. 

t  Charter  Roll,  i  Richard  II.;  dated  Westminster,  12th  January. 
The  patent  of  Edward  I.  referring  to  lead-mines  is  dated  at  Chester^ 
28th  of  August. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     loi 

true  value  being  four  marks.^  In  a.d.  1387 
the  king  made  the  monks  a  yearly  allowance 
of  a  hogshead  of  wine,  which  they  were 
to  receive  from  Bristol,  for  the  use  of  the 
lead-miners  working  in  their  grounds  on  the 
Mendips.f 

After  Richard's  deposition,  the  Witham  Car- 
thusians, for  five  marks,  received  from  the  new 
king,  in  a.d.  1400,  a  confirmation  of  the  previous 
concessions  to  them,  together  with  a  fresh  grant 
to  the  effect  that  neither  the  monks  nor  the  lay- 
brethren  of  their  house,  nor  their  servants,  should 
be  sued  at  law  or  troubled  in  any  way  on  ac- 
count of  their  buying  or  selling,  for  the  profit  of 
the  convent,  skins  of  their  own  or  other  people's 
beasts,  tanned  or  to  be  tanned  in  their  own  tan- 
nery, the  price  being  settled  between  themselves 
and  the  skin-merchants.|  Eight  years  later  their 
estates  were  increased  by  three  messuages,  sixty 
acres  of  land,  and  eighteen  acres  of  meadow 
ground,  with    the   appurtenances,  in  Woky  and 

♦  Patent.,  2  Richard  II.,  m.  39  ;  dated  12th  July. 

t  Patent.,  11  Richard  II.,  pt.  i.  m.  39;  quoted  in  Collinson's 
History  of  Somerset. 

\  Patent.,  2  Henry  IV.,  pt.  i.  111.  30  ;  dated  at  Westminster, 
I  St  October. 


I02      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Yerdele,  the  gift  of  John  Wykyng  and  Isabella, 
formerly  the  wife  of  Thomas  Tanner  of  Wells, 
and  by  two  messuages,  with  their  appurtenances 
in  Maiden- Bradley,  the  gift  of  Robert  Neel,  clerk, 
and  Thomas  Bathe.  The  prior  had  to  pay  twelve 
marks  for  his  licence  to  receive  these  tenements.''" 
A  far  more  important  addition  was  made  to 
the  territories  of  the  Charterhouse  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  V.  The  Benedictine  Abbey  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  at  Preaux,  in  Normandy, 
in  the  time  of  the  first  Henry  had  received 
certain  possessions  in  England.  These  were  the 
manor  of  Toftes  in  Norfolk,  and  its  church 
of  St.  Margaret,  and  the  manor  and  church  of 
Spectesbury,  in  Dorsetshire,  both  given  to  them 
by  Robert  de  Bellomont,  Earl  of  Mellent  and 
Leicester,  and  the  manor  and  church  of  War- 
mington,  in  Warwickshire,  presented  by  Henry 
Newburgh,  Earl  of  Warwick.  At  each  of  these 
places  the  monks  of  Preaux  had  built  priories, 
those  at  Spectesbury  and  Warmington  being 
generally  considered  as  cells  to  that  at  Toftes,  or 
Monk's  Toft,  Toft  Monachorum,  as  it  came  to  be 

•*  Patent.,  lo  Henry  IV.,  pt.  i.  m.  9  ;  dated  Westminster,  ist 
February. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     103 

called.*  During  the  continuous  war  with  the 
French  under  the  three  Edwards,  the  alien 
priories  were  seized,  t  in  case  they  should  prove 
convenient  nests  to  the  enemy  for  hatching  con- 
spiracy. Some  were  afterwards  restored,  but 
Richard  II.  retained  many  of  them  in  his  own 
hands.  Thus  at  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  the  above-mentioned  manors  were  in 
the  charge  of  Ludovic  de  Clifford,  t  but  some- 
what later,  in  a.d.  1404,  Henry  IV.  conferred 
them,  and  Aston  in  Berkshire,  also  formerly 
belonging  to  the  same  Norman  Abbey,  on  Sir 
Thomas  Erpingham  and  John  Heyles,  a  priest, 
with  the  right  to  the  tenths,  oblations,  fees,  rents, 
and  services,  advowsons,  liberties,  franchises, 
escheats,  and  all  other  privileges  and  emoluments 
proceeding  thence  that  the  Priory  of  Toftes  had 
enjoyed.  Erpingham  and  the  priest,  however, 
did  not  enjoy  the  property  for  long.  A  few  years 
after  they  conveyed  their  interests  in  it  by  in- 
denture to  the  prior  and  convent  of  Witham  of 
the   Carthusian   Order  in  Selwood,  for  the  term 

♦  Monastic.  Ani^lic.^  vol.  vi.  pt.  ii. 

t  Henry   VIII.  and  the  English  Monasteries^  by  Dr.  Gasquet, 
vol.  i.  ch.  ii. 

\  L.  T.  R.  Mem.  Rolls,  Mich.  9  Henry  V.,  Rot.  9. 


I04     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  the  life  of  Sir  Thomas.  In  a.d.  141 3,  Henry  V. 
ratified  the  conveyance  by  letters  patent ;  and 
granted  further,  that  after  the  knight's  death  the 
Charterhouse  might  retain  the  manors^'  of  War- 
mington,  Spectesbury,  and  Aston  for  ever,  with 
the  revenues,  advowsons  of  vicarages,  chapels, 
and  chantries,  all  rights  in  woods,  waters,  and 
mills,  and  every  kind  of  liberty  appertaining,  such 
as  the  Abbots  of  Preaux  and  the  two  secular 
owners  after  them  had  enjoyed,  the  whole  being 
worth  per  annum  £64,  7s.  gjd.  The  same  patent 
licensed  the  monks  of  Preaux  to  cede  their  rights 
for  ever  to  the  Carthusians,  t  though  this  must 
have  been  a  mere  form,  for,  partly  owing  to  the 
attacks  in  Parliament  on  Church  property  during 
his  father's  reign,  Henry  V.  suppressed  the  alien 
priories  altogether  the  very  next  year  (a.d.  1405). 
In  return  for  this  patent,  the  prior  of  Witham 
was  to  have  paid  fifty  marks,  and  for  the  con- 
firmation of  the  other  charters  and  patents  of 
his  house,  100  shillings;  but  while  Sir  Thomas 
Erpingham  lived  he  exacted  such  a  heavy  charge 

*  The  revenues  of  Monk's  Toft  were  granted  by  Edward  IV.  to 
King's  College,  Cambridge  (vide  Monasticon  Anglic). 

t  Patent.,  i  Henry  V.,  pt.  iii.  m.  20  ;  pt.  v.  m.  36  ;  dated  West- 
minster, 15th  July. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     105 

from  the  monks  that  they  found  themselves  im- 
poverished by  their  bargain  with  him.  Henry  VI., 
however,  had  pity  on  them,  and  remitted  the  fifty 
marks  and  other  arrearages  owing  to  him,  out  of 
his  special  grace  towards  **  the  first  house  and 
mother  of  the  whole  Order  in  England  ; "  in 
A.D.  1 44 1  he  himself  confirmed  their  possession  of 
these  manors.^  A  less  important  benefit  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  Charterhouse  during  the  time  of 
the  three  Lancastrian  kings,  in  the  form  of  six 
quarters  of  salt,  which  the  prior  received  annually 
from  the  manor  of  Caneford  in  Dorsetshire,  t 
But  among  all  the  various  grants  and  gifts  that 
the  kings  or  private  individuals  bestowed  on  the 
community  since  the  foundation,  to  us  in  these 
days  the  most  curious  token  of  esteem  was 
shown  to  them  in  a  legacy.  Foreign  spices, 
judging  by  the  frequency  with  which  certain 
quantities  of  some  of  them  were  given  and 
taken  instead  of  money  payments,  were  more 
appreciated  by  our  ancestors  than  by  us,  in  pro- 

♦  Patent.,  7  Henry  VI.,  pt.  i.  m.  12  ;  dated  Westminster,  4th 
December.  Patent.,  19  Henry  VI.,  pt.  i.  m.  14  ;  dated  at  the 
Palace  of  Westminster,  28th  November. 

t  Escact,  14  Henry  VI.,  post-mortem,  John,  Duke  of  Bedford  ; 
vide  Collinson's  History  of  Somerset. 


io6      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

portion  to  the  greater  difficulty  of  obtaining  such 

luxuries.      The  Carthusians  were,   doubtless,  as 

glad    to    season    their    very  plain    fare   as   their 

contemporaries,  and  would  find  quite  acceptable 

the  bequest  of  Richard  Ryborg  of  Salisbury  in 

A.D.    1360,  consisting  of  five  marks  to  the  prior 

and    convent    of  Witham    Charterhouse,   and  to 

each    monk    there,    a  pound    of  ginger,    and   to 

each  brother  (that  is,  lay-brother)  half  a  pound 

of  ginger.  "^^ 

Meanwhile  the  whole  Carthusian   Order   had 

been  affected  as  well  as  their  fellow-Christians  by 

the  Great  Schism  ;  even  among  them  there  were 

two  rival  Papal  parties,  each  recognising  a  separate 

prior  as  visitor-general  of  their  Order.  But  in 
A.D.  1409  the  unity  of  the  Church  was  restored 

by  the  Council  of  Pisa,  Gregory  XII.  and  Bene- 
dict XIII.  being  both  deposed,  and  Alexander  V. 
being  elected.  Following  the  example  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Council,  the  Carthusians,  meeting 
together  in  a.d.  141  i  to  acknowledge  the  new 
Pope,  put  out  of  office  both  the  vicars-general, 
and  unanimously  chose  the  Prior  of  the  Chartreuse 

*  Hoare,  History  of  Modem   Wiltshire^  vol.  vi.  {Old  and  New 
Sarum\  p.  96. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     107 

of  Paris  instead."^  After  this  the  chapter  turned 
their  attention  to  the  government  of  the  Houses, 
for  not  unnaturally,  during  the  late  unsettled 
times,  discipline  had  often  grown  lax,  and  the 
original  strict  simplicity  of  the  rule  had  been 
infringed.  To  this  end  some  of  the  old  consti- 
tutions with  fresh  details  were  re-enacted,  and 
new  regulations  made,  as  well  as  new  arrange- 
ments in  the  religious  services  and  ritual.  It 
would  be  out  of  place  here  to  quote  the  whole 
code,  to  which  each  year  brought  a  fresh  addition 
as  time  went  on,  but  those  constitutions  formu- 
lated between  a.d.  141 1-24,  though  they  apply 
to  the  Carthusian  monasteries  generally,  refer  in 
some  particulars  to  the  English  houses  especially, 
these  having  now  increased  to  eight,  including 
Witham,  and  are  interesting  as  showing  the  life 
of  the  Order ;  therefore  an  account  is  subjoined 
of  some  of  these.t 

Sometimes,  it  appears,  weary  of  their  confined 
monastic  life,  the  inmates  would  break  away  and 

*  Histoire  des  Ordres  Monastiques^  vol.  vii.  chap.  Hi. 

t  Cotton.  MS.  Calig.  A.  II.  Constitutiones  gcneralium  capitu- 
lorum  Ordinis  Cartusiic  ab  anno  141 1,  in  quo  facta  est  Unitas 
Ecclesiic  et  Ordinis,  h.  e.,  quando  Alexander  Papa  V.  in  vcrum  et 
summum  Pontificem  erat  susceptus,  ad  annum  1504. 


io8      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

wander  out  into  the  world,  to  ''the  peril  of  their 
own  souls"  and  ''to  the  scandal  of  very  many," 
and  few  of  their  superiors  were  sufficiently  zealous 
to  see  to  their  capture.  But  now  all  the  priors 
and  procurators  of  the  Order  were  enjoined  to 
seize  any  such  fugitive  whom  they  should  come 
across,  and  send  him  back  under  safe  custody  to 
the  house  from  which  he  had  gone  forth,  and  at 
the  expense  of  the  latter,  or  to  some  other  house 
where  he  might  be  imprisoned  until  the  next 
general  chapter,  provided  it  were  not  above  three 
days'  journey  distant  from  the  house  of  his  former 
profession,  in  which  case  the  chapter  would  decide 
who  should  pay  the  expenses.  In  England,  it 
was  observed  that  certain  persons  of  the  Order 
did  not  fear  to  disturb  the  silence  and  solitude 
of  their  cells  by  entertaining  others  there ;  hence 
the  old  rule  was  repeated,  that  no  one  was  to  eat 
or  drink  with  another  in  his  cell,  whether  that 
other  were  an  inmate  or  a  stranger,  the  case  of 
the  prior  and  proctor  being  excepted.  Offenders 
against  this  statute  were  to  observe  an  abstinence 
for  a  certain  time,  during  which  they  were  to  eat 
but  once,  and  then  on  the  floor  of  the  refectory, 
without  their   wine   and    customary   pittance,   so 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     109 

often  as  they  should  transgress  ;  the  prior  falling 
to  enforce  the  rule  was  also  to  fast  and  to  be  put 
out  of  office  for  a  week.  The  English  manner 
of  singing  also  did  not  please  the  mother-house 
at  La  Grande  Chartreuse,  who  enjoined  on  her 
children  here  to  follow  her  ways,  especially  in  the 
art  of  making  pauses  in  the  middle  of  a  verse, 
and  to  use  her  tunes,  so  that  they  should  not 
make  too  much  noise.  In  a.d.  141 5  a  concession 
was  made  to  the  English  houses ;  henceforth 
their  visitor,  or  other  prior  deputed  by  them  for 
the  purpose,  need  only  attend  the  general  chapter 
every  leap  year  ;  in  other  years  they  were  to  send 
letters  from  their  province  to  the  nearest  priors 
on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  namely,  to  those  at 
Bruges  or  Antwerp,  who  should  despatch  their 
business  for  them,  they  paying  a  fair  share  of 
the  expenses.  The  growing  civilisation  of  Europe 
and  the  gradual  development  of  the  various 
branches  of  art  which  was  leading  the  way  to 
the  Renaissance  at  the  end  of  the  century,  was 
not  without  effect  upon  the  followers  of  St.  Bruno, 
for  the  fathers  of  the  Order  had  occasion  to 
observe  that  in  many  of  the  Charterhouses  about 
the  altars  there  were  strange  pictures,  and  other 


no      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

kinds  of  painting  also  were  **  multiplied,  against 
the  holy  simplicity  and  humility  "  of  the  Order, 
in  the  glass  windows  and  other  places,  represent- 
ing shields  and  arms  of  secular  persons  and 
figures  of  women,  **at  which  notable  men  were 
not  a  little  shocked  ; "  hence  they  ordained  that 
all  such  pictures  and  quaint  paintings  should  be 
removed  where  they  could  cause  no  grave  scandal, 
and  that  new  ones  should  not  be  set  up,  ad- 
monishing at  the  same  time  the  visitors  of  the 
different  provinces  to  look  to  the  matter,  and  the 
priors  not  to  fail  in  punishing  the  disobedient. 

To  enforce  these  regulations,  and  to  insure 
uniformity  with  the  other  houses  of  the  Order  in 
the  performance  of  divine  services,  the  General 
Chapter  in  a.d.  1424  ordered  a  special  visitation 
of  the  English  Province,  where  there  was,  more- 
over, to  be  counteracted  something  graver  than 
differences  in  ritual — a  tendency  towards  relaxation 
of  Carthusian  discipline.''*'  A  sign  of  the  latter 
was  the  custom,  then  in  vogue  in  the  Charter- 
houses in  England,  for  the  servants  to  wear  party- 
coloured  clothing,  and  in  that  attire  to  accompany 
the  priors  when  they  went  out.    This  must  have 

*  The  London  Charterhouse:  Dom  Lawrence  Hendriks. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     in 

been  particularly  distasteful  to  the  good  fathers, 
considering  how  much  it  was  against  the  spirit  of 
the  Order,  whose  members,  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
in  the  Speculum  EcclesicB  relates,  used  to  refuse  to 
change  their  customary  dress  for  travelling  even 
in  times  of  danger,  unlike  other  monks,  who  would 
put  on  the  habits  of  laymen.  The  Prior  of 
Antwerp,  who  was  Visitor  of  the  Province  of 
Further  Picardy,  and  his  assistant,  the  Prior  of 
Chapelle  in  the  diocese  of  Cambray,  were  charged 
to  conduct  this  visitation  in  England.  The 
Provincial  and  his  assistant  generally  made  their 
inspection  every  two  years ;  their  duty  was  to 
inquire  into  the  spiritual  and  temporal  state  of  the 
monasteries  in  their  care  ;  to  see  whether  the 
priors  performed  their  office  conscientiously,  and 
did  their  best  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munities under  them  ;  and  to  look  to  the  conduct 
and  morals  of  the  monks,  assigning  due  punish- 
ments where  needed.  The  fathers  and  brothers 
of  the  convent  were  to  answer  truthfully  all  ques- 
tions put  to  them,  and  in  conscience  were  bound 
to  report  whatever  was  wrong  in  the  discipline  or 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  their  houses,  or  in 
the  life  of  any  member.     The  visitors,  after  the 


112      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

examination  of  the  inmates,  wrote  their  report,  in 
which  the  statutes  of  the  Order  bade  them  avoid 
exaggerated  praise  or  blame,  and  keep  to  the 
naked  truth,  which  was  to  be  expressed  in  the 
simplest  words.  The  report  written,  they  re- 
paired to  the  chapter-house,  and  read  it  before 
all  the  monks,  except  the  novices,  making  such 
additional  remarks  as  they  saw  fit  ;  after  which 
they  took  their  departure. 

Whether  the  Witham  monks  were  the  worst 
transgressors  or  the  most  faithful  upholders  of 
the  ancient  Carthusian  traditions  is  not  discover- 
able ;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  spent  some 
of  their  increasing  wealth  in  the  introduction  of 
over-much  adornment  of  their  holy  places  ;  for  we 
hear  of  a  beautiful  old  rood-screen  in  the  church 
cruelly  torn  down  by  a  modern  priest  of  the  parish. 
That  the  community  were  growing  rich  is  scarcely 
to  be  doubted,  as  they  were  evidently  maintaining 
a  more  extensive  scale  of  hospitality  than  formerly, 
since  Bishop  Beckington,  a  few  years  later  than 
this  visitation,  caused  them  to  build  a  dormitory, 
which,  not  being  needed  by  the  religious  them- 
selves, must  have   been  used  for   their  guests.* 

*■  Itineraj'hun  Will.  Worcester. 


KIFTEKNTH   CKNTURY    FONT   IN    VVITHAM    FKIAKY. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     113 

During  the  time  of  the  same  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells  we  have  another  glimpse  of  the  Charter- 
house in  connection  with  the  world  beyond  their 
precincts.  In  former  days  the  laity,  prompted 
by  a  greater  fervour  and  a  warmer  devotion 
towards  the  Priory  of  Witham,  putting  on  the 
habit  and  profession  of  religion,  were  wont  to 
dedicate  themselves  to  God  by  ploughing  and 
tending  the  lands  of  the  Charterhouse,  and  doing 
other  necessary  and  helpful  rural  labours  in  its 
behalf.  But  in  the  later  degenerate  times  secular 
persons  no  longer  thus  associated  themselves  with 
the  interests  of  the  monks  ;  therefore,  for  long 
past,  the  convent  had  been  obliged  to  employ 
instead  people  of  both  sexes,  who,  for  convenience- 
sake,  had  to  dwell  even  within  the  bounds  that 
should  have  separated  them  from  the  world.  It 
was  for  those  so  employed  on  the  grounds  that 
the  prior  in  February  a.d.  1458  petitioned  Beck- 
ington  to  allow  him  to  erect  a  baptismal  font  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Friary  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
(that  is,  the  church  of  the  lay-brothers,  "Friary," 
in  the  case  of  Witham,  meaning  merely  **  frerie" 
or  "  brotherhood  "),  and  to  form  a  cemetery  out  of 

a  certain  part  of  the  glebe.      After  making  pre- 

H 


114     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

liminary  inquiries  as  to  the  truth  of  the  represen- 
tations made  to  him,  the  Bishop  granted  the 
requisite  licence  for  the  font  on  May  the  20th 
next  year,  and  commissioned  William,  Bishop  of 
Sidon,  the  prior  of  Mottisfont  in  Hampshire,  in 
his  stead  ''  to  dedicate,  consecrate,  and  bless  the 
ground  to  be  used  for  the  burial  of  the  devout 
bodies  of  the  secular  persons."  ^' 

In  collecting  these  scattered  details  of  the 
history  of  Witham  Charterhouse,  we  have  now 
reached  the  epoch  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  ; 
but  that  long  struggle  did  not  touch  the  fortunes 
of  the  Priory.  Henry  VI.  exempted  it  in  the 
Act  of  Resumption  passed  in  a.d.  1455,  which 
was  not  to  be  in  any  wise  **  prejudiciall  to  any 
Graunt  or  Graunts,  Confirmation  or  Confirma- 
tions, made  by  us  by  our  letters  Patentes  to  the 
Priour  and  Covent  of  Wytham  in  Selwode,  in  the 
Counte  of  Somersete,  of  the  order  of  Charter- 
house, ne  to  theire  successours  of  the  Manours 
of  Warmyngton  in  the  Counte  of  Warrewyk, 
Spectebury  in  the  Counte  of  Dorset,  and  Aston 
in  the  Counte  of  Berk,  with  their  appurtenances ; 

*  Thomas   Beckington's    Register^  in  Hail.  MSS.,  No.    6966, 
f.  90. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     115 

nor  to  any  Graunte  or  Grauntes,  Confirmation 
or  Confirmations,  made  by  us  by  our  Letters 
Patentez  to  the  Priour  and  Covent  of  the  house 
of  the  place  of  God  of  Henton,  in  the  said 
Counte  Somers,  of  the  said  Order."  Having  in 
A.D.  1461  paid  20s.  on  one  occasion,  and  one  mark 
on  another,  to  Edward  IV.  for  his  confirmation 
of  the  patents  and  charters  of  his  predecessor, 
because  these  were  considered  insufficient,  Henry 
VI.  being  king  de  facto  sed  non  de  jure,"^  the 
Charterhouse  neither  gained  nor  lost  anything  by 
him.  After  the  accession  of  the  Yorkist  House 
until  the  breach  with  Rome  under  Henry  VIII., 
the  want  of  materials  necessitates  a  blank  in  the 
history  of  the  monastery. 

But  before  proceeding  further,  it  may  be  well 
to  subjoin  here  a  list  of  the  priors  of  Witham, 
collected  from  various  sources.  The  dates  pre- 
fixed are  rarely  those  of  their  election,  but 
denote  the  years  when  they  certainly  held  the 
office. 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  i  Edward  IV'.,  pt.  iv.  m.  6  ;  dated  Westminster, 
2oth  July.  Rot.  Patent.,  i  Edward  IV.,  pt.  vi.  m.  32  ;  dated  West- 
minster, 3rd  December. 


ii6     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 


THE  PRIORS  OF  WITHAM. 

A.D. 

1 1 73?  The  first  Prior. 

1 1 74?  The  second  Prior. 

1175-76.  St.  Hugh  arrived  at  Witham. 

1 186.  Bovo  succeeded  St.  Hugh. 

1 191.  Dom  Albert. 

1200.  Dom  Robert. 

1279.  Dom  William,  Prior  some  time  previous  to  that  date; 

succeeded  by  Dom  John. 
13 18.  Dom  Walter. 
1387.  Dom  John  de  Evercriche. 
1402.  Dom  Nicholas  de  la  Felde.* 
1458.  Dom  John  Pester  (or  Porter ).f 
1 500-1.  Dom  Richard  Peers  elected,  and  held  office  thirty 

years. 
1532.  Dom  John  Huse. 
1534.  Dom  Henry  Man. 
1536.  Dom  John  Mychell,  the  last  Prior,  who  surrendered  the 

House  in  a.d.  1539. 

The  following  list  of  prominent  monks  of 
Witham  is  taken  from  two  volumes  of  manu- 
script notes  on  the  history  of  the  Order  in  the 
British  Museum. 

*  The  last  two  named  priors  are  given  in  CoUinson's  History  of 
Somerset. 

+  According  to  Collinson,  "  Pester ;"  Dugdale  gives  the  name 
"  Peslir, "  as  in  Cole  MS.,  vol.  xxvii.  f.  87^  The  name  is  printed 
"Porter"  in  the  Somerset  Archceological  Society's  Proceedings 
for  1878. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     117 


MONKS  OF  WITHAM. 

A.D. 

1 1 80.  B.  Eynard,  made  his  profession  at  the  Grande  Chartreuse, 
afterwards  monk  at  Witham  under  St.  Hugh,  and 
died  in  the  said  year,  being  the  126th  of  his  age  and 
the  105th  of  his  profession. 

1 185.  Dom  Radulphus,  who  had  been  Sacrist  at  Winchester, 

became  a  monk  of  Witham  under  St.  Hugh. 

1 186.  B.  Bovo,  a  professed  monk  of  La  Grande  Chartreuse, 

distinguished  by  the  gift  of  prophecy,  became  4th 

Prior  of  Witham,  and  died  about  a.d.  1200. 
1200.  St.  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  3rd  Prior,  died. 
1340.  17th  November,  Dom  Adam,  S.T.D.,  a  professed  monk 

of  Witham. 
1468.  Dom    Daniel    Long    and   Dom    Robert   Mayle,   both 

priests  and  professed  monks  of  Witham,  died. 

1474.  Dom  Hugh  Bostalben  [or  Bostauen],  a  priest  who  had 

also  made  his  profession  at  Witham,  died. 

1475.  I^om  William  Browne,  Prior  of  Beauvale  Charterhouse, 

died.  Having  been  formerly  Prior  of  St.  Anne's 
Charterhouse,  near  Coventry,  he  had  made  his  pro- 
fession first  at  Beauvale,  and  secondly  at  Witham. 

1482.  Dom  Stephen  de  Dodesan,  a  monk  professed  first  at 
Witham,  then  of  the  Charterhouse  of  Jesus  of  Beth- 
lehem, near  Sheen,  died. 
,,       Dom  Thomas  of  London,  died. 
,,       Dom  John  Welde,  died. 

1484.  Dom  Nicholas  Buke,  a  professed  monk  of  the  Charter- 
house of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  Witham,  died.* 

♦  Additional  MSS.,  No.  17,092,  ff.  23,  368,  and  Additional  MSS., 
No.  17,085,  f.  124.  Brother  Adam,  the  author  of  St.  Hugh's  bio- 
graphy, and  Girard,  Count  of  Nivcrnais,  have  been  omitted  from 


ii8     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

In  explanation  of  the  above,  it  may  be  well  to 
remark  here,  that  when  a  monk  was  allowed  to 
change  his  monastery  for  any  reason,  the  second 
Charterhouse  might  require  him  to  make  a  second 
profession  (that  is,  might  require  him  to  take  the 
vows  of  the  Order  a  second  time) ;  but  this  was 
not  always  the  case.  Here,  too,  we  will  remind 
our  readers  that  the  English  word  Charterhouse 
is  merely  a  corruption  of  the  French  word  Char- 
treuse, Every  house  of  the  Order  was  called  a 
Chartreuse,  after  the  parent  convent  near  Gren- 
oble. The  Order,  however,  took  its  name  from 
the  Latin  form  for  Chartreuse,  Cartusia^  some- 
times spelt  Chartusia  in  the  English  royal  patents. 

the  list,  though  these  MSS.  include  them,  because  it  is  doubtful 
whether  they  belonged  to  Witham  {ijide  Mr.  Dimock's  Preface  to 
the  Magna  Vita). 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     119 


CHAPTER  V 

DECLINING  FORTUNES 

"  Men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after  those  things 
which  are  coming  on  the  earth." — S.  Luke  xxi.  26. 

*N  A.D.  1 53 1  the  first  actual  step  was 
taken  towards  the  separation  from 
Rome,  for  it  was  then  that  the 
clergy  ceded  to  Henry  VIII.  the 
ambiguous  title  of  Supreme  Head 
of  the  Church  so  far  as  the  law  of  Christ  allowed. 
When  it  is  considered  that  this  concession  was 
wrung  from  them  as  part  of  the  price  of  their 
pardon  for  a  breach  of  the  Statute  of  Praemu- 
nire, with  which  the  king  most  unjustly  accused 
them  on  account  of  their  submission  to  Wolsey's 
legatine  authority — an  authority  never  called  in 
question  by  himself  until  it  no  longer  suited  him  to 
acknowledge  it — and  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  doings  of  Luther  and  the  German  Reformers 
were  well  known  in  England,  and  that  their 
opinions  were  gaining  ground  here  amongst  all 


I20     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

classes,  it  is  not  surprising  if  the  dismay  and  alarm 
that  Catholics  must  generally  have  felt  caused 
a  spirit  of  restlessness  and  a  sense  of  coming 
change  even  among  the  English  Carthusians. 
At  any  rate,  two  or  three  Charterhouses  were  at 
that  time  much  troubled  by  unruly  monks  ;  more- 
over, the  one  year's  novitiate  allowed  in  those 
days  would  often  be  too  short  a  period  for  the 
postulant  to  rid  himself  of  the  influences  that  had 
affected  him  while  still  in  the  world,  or  for  him 
to  know  whether  he  had  thoroughly  discarded  all 
the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  a  secular  man ;  and 
thus  it  was  scarcely  avoidable  that  the  irrevocable 
vows  should  have  been  now  and  then  rashly  taken. 
This  is  the  explanation  that  suggests  itself  of  a 
few  letters  written  at  this  date  to  the  prior  of 
the  London  Charterhouse,  one  by  the  Prior  of 
Witham,  and  the  others  concerning  Dom  Alnett 
Hales,  a  future  monk  of  Witham.  These  letters 
are  in  volume  viii.  of  the  Calendar  of  State 
Papers,  amongst  the  correspondence  of  a.d.  1535, 
but  are  marked  as  of  doubtful  date ;  but  as  Henry 
Man,  the  English  General  of  the  Order  of  that 
date,  was  not  likely  to  trouble  himself  about 
the  discipline  of  monks  or  "  the  slander  of  the 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     121 

Religion"  {i.e.y  of  the  Carthusian  Order),  and  as 
Prior  Richard  Peers  of  Witham  did  not  hold 
office  later  than  a.d.  1532,  and  for  other  reasons 
needless  to  discuss  here,  they  must  belong  to 
earlier  years,  probably  a.d.  1531,  when  Dom 
John  Jonbourne,  Prior  of  Sheen,  was  the  Pro- 
vincial Visitor.*  The  letter  from  Witham,  given 
farther  on  in  full,  concerns  Dom  (or,  as  that  title 
was  formerly  written,  Dan)  William  Bakster,  a 
professed  monk  of  the  Charterhouse,  Smithfield, 
who  for  some  unrecorded  transgression  had  been 
sent  to  his  brethren  in  Somersetshire,  but  who 
had  to  obtain  the  permission  before  he  could  re- 
turn home,  not  only  of  his  own  prior  in  London, 
but  also  of  the  head  of  the  English  province, 
Prior  Jonbourne. 

"  The  Prior  of  Witham  to  the  Prior  of  the  Charterhouse, 

London. 

"  Ryght  reverend  fader  in  our  Lord,  I  recum- 
mende  me  unto  you  with  vere  glad  desire  to  here 
of  your  good  helth  ;  owre  geste  Danne  William 
Bakster  desyreth  you  to  have  an  answer  of  his 
letter  late  sent  unto   you  ;    he  is   vere  busy  in 

*  Dom  Laurence  Hendriks  :   The  London  Chartcrliousc. 


122     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

desyring  to  cum  home  to  you  agayne.  God 
knawyth  if  he  wold  stabyll  him  selff  he  myghte 
lyve  with  us  in  grete  reste  and  quietnes,  and  I 
am  sure  non  of  our  cloyster  gyveth  hym  con- 
trary cause ;  he  hath  writyn  a  nother  letter  to 
the  Fader  of  Shene  to  have  his  wylle  fulfylled. 
I  pray  God  it  be  not  ad  ruinam  ejus,  but  to 
hys  profyt  of  wurship  of  our  relyglon.  He 
wold  have  no  spekyng  of  his  transgressions,  but 
it  is  not  in  my  power  to  stop  menys  mouthes. 
Our  Saviour  Jhesu  stabyll  him  in  goodnes  and 
preserve  you  and  youres  from  all  adversytels. 
i\.men. 

"Writyn  at  Witham  in  hast  the  xxth  day  of 
July.  Fader,  we  have  sent  you  brevys  ^  for  our 
brother  Dan  William  Burton,  Jhesu  have  his 
sowle.     We  beseche  you  they  may  be  convayed 

shortly. 

"  Per fiiliuni  vestrum  Ricardum  priorem 
ibidem  Christi  inutilem.^'' 

[Addressed] : —  Venerabili  in  Christo  patri  domino  priori 
domus  Cartusiensis  prope  London  dentur.\ 


*  The  Office  of  the  Dead,  recited  alone  in  the  cell  on  the  recep- 
tion of  the  Obiit  of  a  member  of  the  Order.     [Hendriks,  as  above.] 
t  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  viii.  No.  6ii  (8). 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      123 

Alnett  Hales  or  Halys  was  a  Carthusian  of 
London,  who,  being  sick  in  mind  and  body,  had 
been  sent  to  the  Charterhouse  of  Mountgrace  in 
Yorkshire  ;  his  prior  wished  to  exchange  for  him 
Thomas  Barker,  a  professed  monk  of  the  latter 
monastery,  who  had  committed  the  great  offence 
of  breaking  his  vows  and  wandering  out  of  bounds 
without  permission  ;  but  for  some  reason  or  other 
he  wished  that  Barker  should  be  dispensed  from 
punishment,  and  wrote  to  the  Visitor-General 
about  the  matter.  The  correspondence  on  the 
two  monks  affords  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
way  in  which  the  Carthusians  maintained  disci- 
pline, and  at  the  same  time  a  picture  of  Carthusian 
life.  As  for  sending  Barker  to  London,  Prior 
Jonbourne  replied,  "  in  this  holy  feste  called 
Alhalowentyde,"  that  he  could  not  promise  it,  as 
he  did  not  know  to  what  expense  Mountgrace 
Charterhouse  had  been  put  in  maintaining  Hales. 
But  as  for  dispensing  Barker's  punishment,  **  God 
forbid,  father,"  he  wrote,  "that  I  should  discharge 
an  apostate.  The  monk  has  been  out  of  the  house 
of  his  profession  four  weeks  at  the  least,  hurting 
therein  in  special  his  soul,  to  the  displeasure  of 
God  and  to  the  slander  of  the  Religion,  how  much 


124     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

I  know  not  well.  He  was  taken  at  Oxford  for  a 
spy  or  a  man  out  of  due  order,  and  presented  to 
a  commissary  there  and  examined  ;  a  batchelor  of 
divinity,  a  brother  of  one  of  the  Mountgrace  com- 
munity, being  present  at  the  examination,  recog- 
nised him,  and  he  was  committed  to  a  strong 
prison  until  I  sent  for  him.  I  wrote  to  you  to 
take  him  to  discharge  your  expenses  for  your 
brother  at  Mountgrace.  Let  me  know  whether 
you  will  punish  him  after  the  form  of  the  Order. 
If  he  order  himself  religiously  with  you,  in  process 
of  time  he  may  be  more  favourably  dealt  with. 
If  you  will  not  receive  him,  I  propose  to  set  him 
in  our  prison  until  his  father  prior  send  for 
him."^'^ 

Somewhat  later,  Jonbourne  made  a  visitation 
of  Witham  and  some  of  the  other  Charterhouses, 
amongst  others  to  that  of  the  Isle  of  Axholme, 
where  he  found  "Dane  Alnot  Halys"  arrived 
from  Mountgrace  three  or  four  days  before  him. 
Although  the  sick  monk  had  been  sent  without 
his  commands,  he  permitted  him  to  remain,  and 
wrote  to  the  prior  in  London  to  provide  him  with 

*  Abbreviated  from  S^ai^  Papers  of  Henry  Vlll.y  vol.  viii.  No. 
6ii(7). 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     125 

necessaries,  for  he  remarked,  "  Your  said  brother 
will  not  be  content  without  his  necessaries ;  I 
understand  his  pilch  was  destroyed  in  carrying 
from  Mountgrace  to  Axholme ;  what  else  he 
wants  I  know  not."  "*" 

Robert,  the  prior  of  Axholme  Charterhouse, 
also  wrote  himself: — *' Dan  Hales  has  been  with 
us  since  the  Assumption  of  our  Lady.  The 
Prior  of  Mountgrace,  without  authority  or  licence, 
sent  him  hither  for  your  pleasure.  I  was  content 
to  receive  him,  for  we  have  a  brother  at  Mount- 
grace  by  order  of  the  General  Chapter,  but  we 
had  no  commands  for  an  exchange.  Our  brother 
is  a  strong  man,  and  readeth  and  singeth  right 
well,  and  at  his  departing  had  all  necessaries  for 
his  body  and  bed.  Your  brother  is  a  weak  man, 
not  able  to  bear  the  burden  of  our  religion,  neither 
in  fasting,  reading,  or  singing.  He  wanteth  many 
things  necessary,  as  in  raiment  and  bedding.  His 
pilch  [cloak]  is  worth  no  money.  I  have  deli- 
vered unto  him  a  pair  of  blankets,  and  all  other 
things  unto  him,  as  I  do  to  our  brother  :  he  con- 
tinually crieth  of  me  to  send  him  home  to  you, 

♦  Abbreviated  from  S/aie  Papers  of  Henry  VIII. ^  vol.  viii.  No. 
611(6). 


126      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

and  greatly  we  be  unquieted  by  him,  for  he 
thinketh  he  is  laughed  at.  We  are  few  in 
number,  and  some  of  us  are  weak,  and  to  sing 
at  all  we  need  a  strong  man  to  help  us.  Good 
father,  we  pray  you  take  your  brother  home,  or 
provide  another  place  for  him.  We  shall  be 
content  to  receive  Dan  Thomas  Barker,  who  is 
with  you,  if  we  must  have  any  one."'^  But  this 
proposal  concerning  Barker  was  not  accepted,  for 
having  been  sent  to  London,  he  stayed  there 
until  A.D.  1534;  and  Hales  for  a  time  remained 
at  Axholme,  until  at  last  he  was  so  ''marvellously 
mended "  that  his  brethren  there  would  have 
been  content  to  keep  him  with  them  **but  for  his 
mind  and  desire,"  which  were  for  another  change. 
Upon  his  *' fatherhead"  being  petitioned  on  the 
subject,  Dom  Jonbourne  consented  to  his  being 
sent  to  the  Charterhouse  of  St.  Anne's,  near 
Coventry,  **  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul  and  the 
solace  of  his  body,"  and  wrote  to  the  prior  in 
London  to  agree  to  the  plan,  "  Father,  for  the 
love  of  God,  take  ye  good  heed  to  this  matter, 
for  as  it    seemeth    there  is  jeopardy  therein."  t 

*  Abbreviated  from  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  viii.  No. 
611  (I).  t  Ibid.,  No.  611  (5). 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     127 

Hales  did  eventually  go  to  Coventry,  and  still 
later  to  Witham ;  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
latter  Priory  he  received  the  grant  of  a  pension 
as  a  monk  of  the  house,  which  seems  to  imply 
that  he  was  no  longer  reckoned  to  belong  to  the 
London  community. 

It  must  have  been  soon  after  the  disposal  of 
these  two  monks  that  Prior  Richard  Peers  ceased 
to  govern  Witham  Charterhouse ;  he  had  held 
office  for  thirty  years,  and  as  in  those  days  young 
men  were  not  set  at  the  head  of  the  Carthusian 
monasteries,  he  must  have  been  of  advanced  age. 
He  lived  in  his  own  Priory  a  little  longer,  and 
evidently  was  one  of  those  from  whom  the  oath 
to  the  Act  of  Succession  was  demanded,  for  a 
few  months  after  that  incident,  in  a.d.  1534,  he 
wrote  the  following  letter  in  defence  of  the 
liberties  of  Beauvale  Charterhouse  in  Notting- 
hamshire : — 

Letter  from  Prior  Richard  Peers  of  Witham. 

*'To  alle  cristen  peple  to  whome  this  present 
writing  shall  come,  I,  Dan  Richard  Perys,  monke 
of  the  Charterhouse  of  Wyttham,  and  late  prior 
of  the  same  by  the  space  of  xxx  yeres  and  con- 


128     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

visitor  sumtyme  of  th' Order  of  the  Charterhouse 
within  this  Realme,  sende  greting,  and  I  lete  you 
witte  that  by  all  my  tyme,  and  as  ferre  as  I 
knowe  or  ever  herde  synes  the  furste  tyme  of  the 
graunte  made  unto  our  house  by  our  founder, 
king  Henry  the  secunde  and  his  noble  successor 
king  Henry  the  thredde :  By  vertue  of  the  said 
graunte  we  have  use  and  thies  liberties  following  : 
Furste  we  have  used  to  have  within  all  our 
boundes  sanctuary  to  almaner  of  persons  for 
murder  and  felonie  and  to  tarie  at  their  pleasur, 
and  in  caas  at  any  tyme  the  said  felons  have  ben 
taken  out  of  our  boundes  by  violence,  they  have 
ben  afterwarde  restored  unto  us  again,  and  the 
parties  that  soo  violently  have  taken  them  hath 
made  satisfaction  for  their  soo  doing.  Also 
we  have  view  of  frankplege,  wayf,  and  stray, 
bloodwyte,  all  the  kynge  der  that  come  within 
our  boundes  we  have  hunted  and  kylled,  and 
lycensed  gentlemen  our  neybours  being  our  frends 
and  lovers  to  hunte  and  kylle  at  our  libertie. 
Also  noo  sherif,  noo  baillif  or  cunstable,  but  oonly 
our  owne  baillif  doo  at  any  intermedle  or  execute 
any  maner  of  thing  within  our  said  boundes.  Nor 
yet   fforesters,   lieutenants,   verders,   nor   any    of 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     129 

their  officers  doth  at  any  tyme  fetche  outt  the 
kinge  dere  or  hunte  within  any  of  our  boundes, 
but  onely  by  our  licence.  Thies  with  many  moo 
expressed  in  our  said  graunte  we  have  used 
hitherto  by  vertue  of  the  saide  graunte.  This 
I  do  wryte  because  I  am  credibly  informed  that 
the  Charterhouse  of  Bevall,  who  hath  like  liberties 
as  we  have,  be  nowe  interrupted  and  letted  to  use 
their  said  liberties.  And  because  the  shriefe 
officers  ther  be  not  afferde  to  take  strayes  and 
execute  other  their  offices  within  their  said 
boundes.  Wherfor  I  beseche  you  all  to  whom 
thes  presents  shall  come  to  thynke  that  I  do  not 
thus  wryte  for  any  maner  of  affection  for  our 
house  or  any  other  house,  but  only  for  the  declar- 
ing of  the  trouth.  Beseching  you  therfore  to 
take  credence  to  premisses,  and  from  hensforth 
to  suffre  the  said  house  of  Bevall,  forsomuch 
they  have  like  liberties  in  all  thinge  as  we  have, 
peasably  without  interuption  to  use  their  liberties 
as  we  do  ours,  and  to  take  credence  unto  the 
premisses  ;  for  they  be  true,  as  ferre  as  I  knowe, 
as  wol  answer  afor  God  at  the  dredefull  day  of 
jugement,  and  for  more  credence  to  be  given 
herunto,    I    the   said    Dan    Richard    Perys    have 


I30     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

subscribed  the  writing  with  myn  own  hand  the 
xxvii*^  day  of  October,  in  the  xxvi**"  yere  of 
the  reigne   of  our   soverain    Lord   king   Henry 

VHI^ 

*'  Per  manum  dom.  Ricardi  Peers  nuper 
prioris  ibidem  per  annos  xxx^* 

Prior  Richard  could  scarcely  have  seen  more 
than  the  beginning  of  the  misfortunes  of  the 
English  monks  of  all  Orders.  Death  must  have 
spared  him  from  realising  the  truth — 

"  That  a  sorrow's  crown  of  sorrow  is  remembering  happier 
things," 

for  his  name  is  not  amongst  the  members  of  the 
Charterhouse  at  the  Dissolution,  and  there  is  no 
further  record  of  him  at  all  after  the  above 
date.  But  the  letter  of  his  successor,  Prior  John 
Huse,  written  in  a.d.  1532  to  Secretary  Crom- 
well, shows  no  sign  of  coming  troubles. 

Prior  John  Huse  to  Cromwell, 

**  Ryght  worshypful  Syr,  acordyng  to  my  dewty, 
I  humbly  recomend  me  vn  to  your  good  master- 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  Vlll.y  No.  1269,  vol.  vii. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     131 

shyppe,  beseechyng  Almighty  God  to  reward 
you  everlastyngly  in  hevyn  for  the  grett  charyte 
you  have  shewed  and  doyth  to  me  your  pouer 
bedman,  et  my  pouer  brethern  yor  continuall 
bedmen,  in  solicityng  my  mater  vn  to  the  Kynges 
Grace,  whom  I  understand  by  my  proctor  ys 
thorough  your  favorable  information  ryght  good 
and  gracious  vn  to  me  and  my  pouer  House  in 
recevying  us  his  pouer  bedmen  vn  to  his  gracious 
protection,  in  lyke  maner  as  hys  noble  progenitors 
hath  don  befor  hys  tyme,  grantynge  allso  vn  to  us 
that  he  will  defend  the  ryght  of  our  foundacyon 
agenst  all  men,  so  that  we  shall  not  sew  nor  be 
sewed  of  no  person  or  persons,  but  to  gyve  us 
to  continuall  prayar  for  the  prosperous  estat  of 
hys  grace  and  all  hys  noble  progeny.  Wher- 
for  I  besech  your  mastershype  that  you  will 
optayn  the  Kyng's  commyssyon  of  defence  for 
our  tuycion  under  hys  grett  seale.  Ande  that  yt 
wyll  plese  you  to  accept  Mr.  Hyde,  the  berer 
herof,  to  gyve  attendance  on  you  for  that  whyche 
shall  pay  all  the  costs  and  charges  therof.  Ande 
in  the  meane  whyle  I  beseche  you  that  I  may 
have  the  Kyngs  letters  patent  for  my  lord  of 
Glastonbury  that  he  doo  not  enquiet  us  any  mor 


132     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

herafter,  but  to  repare  vn  to  the  Kyngs  Grace, 
our  gracious  protector  and  founder.  Thus  I 
recommend  you  to  our  Lord  Jhesu,  Who  have 
you  in  His  keeping.  From  Wytham,  the  vii^^ 
day  of  Aprell,  by  your  pouer  bedman,  John  Huse, 
prior  there. 

[Addressed] : — To  his  speciall  and  singler  good  master^ 
Mr.  Cromwell^  be  these  delyvered.''' 

John  Huse  was  not  to  preside  over  the  de- 
clining fortunes  of  his  house  ;  his  prioracy  did 
not  continue  much  longer.  A  monk  of  the  same 
name  signed  the  Oath  of  Supremacy  when  it  was 
last  tendered  to  the  inmates  of  the  Charterhouse 
in  Smithfield  on  i8th  May  1837.  Judging  by 
the  somewhat  obsequious  language  of  the  above 
letter,  it  seems  possible  that  he  was  the  former 
Prior  of  Witham  whom  William  Trafford,  the 
unworthy  successor  of  the  martyred  John  Hough- 
ton, may  have  persuaded  to  follow  him  to  the 
London  monastery  in  order  to  help  swell  the 
number  of  **the  perjured,"  as  those  yielding  to 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  v.  No.  920.  Richard  Whiting, 
thereafter  murdered  rather  than  martyred  during  the  Suppression, 
was  the  Abbot  of  Glastonbury. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     133 

the  king  must  inevitably  be  regarded  by  the 
upholders  of  the  Papal  supremacy. 

It  is  to  be  supposed  that  the  letter  written  by 
Huse  had  the  desired  result,  as  nothing  further 
is  to  be  found  on  the  matter.  Whether  the  paper 
concerning  **the  prior  and  friars  of  Wytham," 
mentioned  in  a  catalogue  of  documents  belong- 
ing to  Cromwell  or  in  his  custody,  is  on  this  or 
another  subject  does  not  appear.  In  the  same 
year,  a.d.  1533,  among  Cromwell's  "remem- 
brances "  there  is  a  reference  to  the  warrant  for 
the  restitution  of  temporalities  to  be  signed  for 
**  the  Friars  "  of  Witham.''" 

Somewhere  about  January,  a.d.  1533,  the 
desire  of  Anne  Boleyn's  heart  was  partly  ful- 
filled in  her  secret  marriage  with  the  king ;  for  a 
portion,  at  least,  of  the  following  Lent,  although 
no  sentence  of  divorce  had  as  yet  been  pro- 
nounced against  her  rival,  she  openly  assumed 
the  title  of  queen,  and  on  Easter  Eve,  April 
1 2th,  she  went  to  mass  in  royal  state.  Pious 
people,  in  the  world  or  out  of  it,  were  not 
unnaturally    much    troubled     in    mind    by    their 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  vi.  No.  299,  ix.  G.,  and  No. 
299,  II. 


134     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

sovereign's  barefaced  desertion  of  his  lawful 
wife  and  scandalous  intercourse  with  the  Lady 
Anne,  and  among  them  the  Carthusians — who, 
according  to  Cardinal  Pole,*  bore,  with  the 
Brigittines  and  Observants,  the  greatest  name 
for  holiness  at  that  period — were  unlikely  to  be 
the  least  distressed  by  the  passing  events. 

Indeed,  Father  Hord,  the  Prior  of  Hinton 
Charterhouse,  carried  on  the  debate  even  in 
his  sleep  as  to  whether  he  could  consistently 
acknowledge  Henry's  new  queen  ;  being  sorely 
perplexed,  he  not  unnaturally  dreamed  about  the 
matter,  after  which  he  was  so  discomforted  that 
he  went  to  Witham  to  unburden  his  mind  to 
his  brother  prior.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  times  in 
which  he  lived  that  one  of  the  Witham  monks 
should  have  ventured  out  of  the  monastery  to 
detail  his  story  to  Lord  Stourton,  and  that  the 
latter  thought  it  worth  while  to  repeat  it  to 
Cromwell,  though,  fortunately  perhaps  for  both 
the  priors,  that  period  in  Henry's  life  had  not 
yet  quite  come  when  the  slightest  hesitation  of  the 
humblest  subject  to  approve  of  all  his  proceed- 
ings  could    be    construed    into   an    act    of   high 

*  Quoted  by  Lingard  in  his  History  of  England^  vol.  v. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     135 

treason,   so  that  no   consequences   attended  the 
following  letter : — 


Edward  Lord  Stourton  to  Cromwell. 

**  Ryght  honorable  and  veray  singuler  good 
master,  In  my  most  hartie  maner  I  recom- 
maunde  me  unto  your  goode  mastershipe  with 
lowly  thanks  for  your  manyfolde  goodnes  to  me 
and  my  frendes  shewide.  And  wher  ther  was 
delyvered  unto  me  by  a  frende  of  myne  the  vii 
day  of  this  present  monyth  of  M[ay  ?]  one  of 
the  monkes  of  the  Charterhous  of  Wytham  in 
the  countye  of  Somersete,  named  Dan  Peter 
Watt,  who  hath  deposed  before  me  and  others 
credible  persons  that  the  prior  of  the  Charter- 
hous Henton  within  the  countie  aforsaide  came 
in  tyme  past  to  the  Prior  of  Wytham  aforesayd 
in  the  Lent  tyme  and  said  that  he  had  the 
nyght  before  a  marvelous  vision,  and  declared 
the  same  in  the  maner  and  forme  following. 
That  he  saw  a  stage  ryall  [where]  upon  stowde 
(as  he  thought)  all  the  nobles  of  the  realme ; 
they  by  one  consent  drew  up  into  the  sayd 
stage   the    queenes   grace    that    now    is   (as    he 


136     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

thought)  by  a  lyne.  Wheronto  he  put  his 
honde  with  ayde  to  the  same,  and  so  sodaynlie 
cam  ayen  unto  his  remembraunce  and  sore  re- 
pented his  foly  that  he  had  so  moch  doen  in 
prejudice  to  the  law  of  God  and  holy  Chirch. 
And  forder  saide  (stryeking  himself  upon  the 
breste  with  his  fyste),  '*  God  defend  that  ever  I 
shold  ever  consent  to  so  unjuste  and  unlawfull  a 
dede."  Farther  the  sayd  Dan  Peter  saith  that 
he  hath  mor  other  secrets  toching  the  welth  and 
preservation  of  our  soverayne  the  lorde  the  kyng 
and  queenys  noble  grace.  Which  thynge  he  wyll 
not  (as  yete)  shew  unto  me,  but  reserveth  hyt 
untill  such  tyme  as  he  may  cum  by  your  meanes 
to  the  speche  of  the  kyng  or  queenys  noble 
grace.  The  Witham  monke  I  do  now  send  up 
to  you  with  thes  my  servante  the  berer  of  this 
letter  accordyng  to  the  reasonable  request  of  his 
appellation  and  as  I  am  bounde  to  doe  as  knoweth 
Jhesu  Who  preserve  you  in  honour  with  long 
lyffe.  Writen  at  Bonam  the  xix  daye  of  the 
monyth  above  writen.  By  your  owne  assured 
with  hart  and  mynd  accordinglie.  Also  I  pray 
yow  wyll  continue  your  favourable  goodnes  unto 
my  frende  your  bedman  the  prior  of  Shirburne 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     137 

and  all    thinge  concernyng  the  same  shalbe  at 
your  commaundement. 

[Signed]  Edward  Stourton." 

[Addressed] : — To  the  ryghte  honorable  and  veray  goode  master 
Cromwell  of  the  Kynges  honorable  councell  this  be  delivered,''^ 

A  few  days  after  the  writing  of  the  above 
letter,  the  sentence  of  divorce  having  been 
passed  at  the  Archiepiscopal  Court  at  Dun- 
stable, Anne  was  crowned,  and  the  unhappy 
Katherine  was  left  to  break  her  heart  alone,  in 
spite  of  the  Pope's  decision  somewhat  later  in  her 
favour.  In  the  following  November,  the  Act  of 
Annates,  the  completion  of  the  Act  of  a.d.  1532, 
transferring  those  payments  from  the  Pope  to  the 
English  crown,  brought  about  the  final  breach 
with  Rome.  Meantime  Anne  had  given  birth 
to  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  whose  position  as  heir 
to  the  throne  was  secured  by  the  passing  of  the 
Act  of  Succession  in  March  a.d.  1534.  During 
the  following  summer  the  ecclesiastics  and  re- 
ligious had  to  take  the  oath  in  approval  of  that 
Act,  which  was  made  especially  obnoxious  to 
many  of  them,  because  in   their  case  the  addi- 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  vi.  No.  510. 


138     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

tional  acknowledgment  was  required  that  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  had  by  right  no  more  authority 
in  England  than  any  other  foreign  bishop.  Lord 
Stourton  administered  the  oath  to  the  inmates 
of  Witham  Charterhouse,  but  did  not  find  all  of 
them  compliant  *'to  the  kyngs  high  commaunde- 
ment."  **  The  prior  himself,"  he  relates  on  June 
13th  in  a  letter  to  Cromwell,  **is  gone  in  pyle- 
gremage  and  this  xiii""^  days  hath  byn  from 
home,  and  vii  of  his  monk[s]  wull  not  take  no 
othe  untyll  they  se  the  sayde  prioure  swear 
fyrste ;  and  when  the  sayde  prioure  comythe 
home  I  wull  go  to  them  ageyne  acordinglie ; 
but  if  he  and  they  or  ony  of  them  make  refusall 
that  to  do,  I  pray  you  to  send  me  your  mynde 
howe  I  shall  order  my  selff  with  them  and  how 
they  shall  be  ordered."^  As  there  appears  to 
have  been  no  further  correspondence  on  the 
matter,  probably  Stourton's  second  visit  to  the 
monastery  was  more  successful. 

Scarcely  more  than  a  year  after  their  subscrip- 
tion to  the  Oath  of  Succession,  the  seclusion  of 
the  monks  of  Witham  was  again  interrupted  by 
visitors  on  a  royal  errand.     The  Act  of  Annates, 

*  state  Papers  of  Henry  VI  11.^  vol.  vii.  No.  834. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     139 

granting  to  the  king  the  first-fruits  of  all  bene- 
fices, and  the  tenth  part  of  each  year's  income 
from  the  spiritual  and  temporal  possessions  of 
ecclesiastics,  as  has  been  related  above,  was 
passed  in  the  autumn  of  a.d.  1534.  To  make 
sure  that  his  new  revenues  should  amount  to  the 
correct  sum,  Henry  appointed  commissioners  to 
survey  all  church  property  in  England  and 
Wales.  After  swearing  to  perform  their  work 
faithfully,  the  commissioners  received  minute  in- 
structions as  to  how  they  were  to  proceed.  In 
the  case  of  the  religious  houses  they  were  to  find 
out  the  names  of  the  chief  governors,  and  of 
every  "spiritual  person"  that  had  any  distinct 
dignity,  office,  cure,  or  chantry,  and  the  names  of 
all  offices  of  any  kind  belonging  to  the  houses, 
and  of  all  sorts  of  "spiritual  promotions"  in  their 
gift,  together  with  the  clear  yearly  values  of  each 
of  the  latter  ;  and  where  alms  and  fees  for  masses 
had  been  wont  to  be  paid,  they  were  even  to  dis- 
cover not  only  "  the  names  of  the  persons  and 
places  whereunto  and  to  whom  such  annual 
and  perpetual  rents  and  pensions  had  been 
yearly  paid,"  but  also  the  names  of  the  per- 
sons   for    whose     souls     such    alms    had     been 


I40      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

given. ^  It  was  to  these  searching  inquiries  that 
the  Selwood  Carthusians  had  to  submit  some 
time  early  in  a.d.  1535.  The  total  yearly  value 
of  all  their  possessions  was  found  to  be  £2 1 5,  1 5s., 
about  ;^2589  according  to  the  present  rate  of 
currency.  The  details  are  given  in  the  following 
pages,  t 

ARCHDEACONRY    OF   WELLS 

DEANERY  OF  FROME 

The  Priory,  or  Chartreuse  House,  of  Witham. 

Declaration  of  the  extent  and  yearly  value  as  well  of  all  pos- 
sessions, Temporal  as  Spiritual,  belonging  to  the  said  Priory, 
and  assessed  in  the  presence  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Lord  King  in  the  time  of  Henry  Man,  the  Prior  there. 

BERK' 

Aston 

Value  of  rents  after  the  deduction  of  xiijs.  ivdl      S    s.        d. 
annual  fee  to  Thomas  Sadler  the  bailiff  there]     ix   xvij        x 

WARWIK 

Warmyngton 

Value  of  rents  besides  xxvjs.  viijd.  yearly  fee'j 
to    Thomas    Draper   the    bailiff,   and    ivs.  I 

r     XXV  X  11 

annual  rent  to  be  paid  to  the  King  for  his  j  ■' 

manor  of  Kyngton      .         .         .         .         .J 

*  Introduction  to  the  Valor  E celestas ticus^  by  Rev.  Jos.  Hunter, 
t  Valor  Ecclesiasticus^  vol.  i.  pp.  157-158. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     141 


DORS' 

Spetisbury 

Value  in  rents  after  xxvjs.  viiid.  deducted  for  the")    -^        ^' 
,    ^       ^„ ^      ,     ,    .,.^^  ,  v-xxxv     — 


yearly  fee  of  William  Fry  the  bailiff  there     .J 


WILTES' 

FONTEL   GyFFORD 

Value  in  all  rents  there  after  the  2s.  annual^ 
rent  to  the  King  and  2S.  annual  rent  to  the 
Prior  of  Maidon  Bradeley  .... 


X 


-       Ivj     - 


SOMERS' 

Merston 
Value  of  all  the  rents  per  annum     .         .         .      iiij     xv    iiij 

Clynck 

Value  of  the  rents  of  all  the  tenements  there ) 

per  annum |  -    xxvj    viij 

Braddeley 
Value  of  the  rents  of  all  the  tenements  there  | 


per  annum  .         .         .         .         .         .  j 

Bristol 

Value  of  the  rents  of  all  tenants  and  tenements' 
per  annum  after  deducting  xvs.  yearly  rent 
to  the  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  there  for  one 
tenement  in  the  high  neighbourhood,  Ixjs. 
rent  to  the  chamberlain  there  for  divers 
tenements  on  the  bridge,  ijs.  yearly  to  the 
custodian  of  Retclyffe  church,  xvd.  rent 
yearly  to  the  Prior  of  St.  John's,  London, 


—        xj    nij 


142      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 


for  a  tenement  in  Temple  Street  there,' 
besides  £x  yearly  to  the  custodian  of  the 
church  of  Cheddar  for  a  certain  chantry 
called  Cheddar's  Chantry,  vjs.  viii.  to  the 
prior  of  the  Kalendars  there,  vijs.  viijd.  to 
the  chaplain  of  the  chapel  of  the  B.V.  Mary 
and  Ixs.  fee  to  David  Harrys,  baiHff  there    .; 


s.     d. 
xj    vij 


BERK' 

NUEBURYE 

Value  in  rents  besides  ivs.  viijd.  yearly  rent  to' 
the  Abbot  of  Redynge,  and  iijs.  iiijd.  fee  to 
Henry  Burges,  bailiff  there . 


—     xliiij    vij 


SOMERS' 

WOKES   AND   YeARDESLEV 

Value  of  the  rents  of  all  tenements  yearly        .    —      xlij     vj 

Chilternefagg 
Value  of  the  rents  of  all  the  tenements  yearly  .    —  xxxvj   viij 

Morelond 

Value  of  the  rents  of  all  the  tenements  there^j 

yearly   besides    iijs.    iiijd.    fee   to    Thomas  j-  —    xlviij     vj 
Sutton,  the  bailiff  there       .         .        .         J 

WiTTAM    and    HiDON 

Rents    of  the   demesne   land^ 

there  remaining  in  the  hands 

of  the  prior  and  indicated 

by  four  lawful  men 
Payments  from  the  land  thereS 

with  cxvs.  ijd.  from  the  sale  I  vj     —      xxij 

of  wood      ...         .J 


if< 


-Ixvj     —     xxij 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     143 

BiLLERICA  - 

£       s.       d. 
Farm  rents  of  the  demesne  land  per  annum     .    xiij      vj     viij 

Westbarne 
Farm  rents  of  the  demesne  land  per  annum     .      xv      vj     viij 

QUARRE 

Value  in  farm  rents  per  annum  of  the  demesne) 
land ^     X    xuj     luj 

MONCKSHAM 

Value  in  farm  rents  per  annum  of  the  demesne)    . 
land P"j    '^"J      "^J 

The    Priory   also    received    from   certain   en- 
closures the  following  rents  : — 


s.  d. 

Este  Poundehayes          .         .         .  viij  — 

West  Poundehay    .         .         .         .  x  — 

Hollemeade  . 

Newhichyns  . 

Hickesparke          ....  xxvj  viij 

Drowfe xl  — 


X     —  y  vij     vnj     — 
liij     iiij 


The  Spiritual  Profits  follow — 

WiTTAM    FraRVE 

Value  of  the  greater  and  lesser^l    j-  , 

tenths    of  the  rectory  with  r Jj^jj:        j: 

the  oblations       .         .         .J 


144     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 


Aston 


Value  of  certain  other  annuaH 
pensions  received  from  the 
church  there 

Warmynton 

Value  of  certain  other  yearly 
pensions  received  from  the 
church  there       . 

Spetisbury 

Value  of  certain  other  yearly"! 
pensions  received  from  the  V 
church  there       .         .         J 

NUEBURYE 

Value  of  certain  other  pensions^ 
received  yearly  from  the  [ 
church  there       .         .         J 

WiLBYE 

Value  of  certain  other  pensions 
yearly  received  from  the 
church  there 


£ 


S. 

liij 


d. 

liij 


-  —     xuj     inj 


XXX 


—   xxnj      inj 


vj      Vllj 


/ 

Total  value  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal! 
possessions  above  mentioned      .         ./ 


£    s.     d. 
ix     ix       X 


ccxxvij 


XX 


But  from  the  above  sum  there  were  certain 
payments  to  be  deducted,  as  follow  • — 

In  yearly  payment  to  Nicholas "j  jC        s.       d.^ 
Fitz James,  steward  of  all  the  v  iiij      —     — 
above-mentioned  possessions  J 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     145 


£       s-      d. 
xj       vj      Vllj 


In  yearly  payment  to  Robert^  jQ      j-,        ^_ 
Bugett,   bailiff  of    Witham  \  —      xl      — 
and  Marston       .         .         J 
In     money     paid     to    Heliel 

Byrche,  chaplain  of  Witham  \  —     cvj      viij 
Frary,  every  year         .         .] 

Sum  of  the  allowances     .         .     —      —      — 
And  thus  there  now  remains  clear  after) 

>CCXV      XV        "^ 

all  deductions  made         .         .        . ) 

The  tenth  thereof       .      xxj     xj       vj 

The  process  of  valuation  could  hardly  have 
been  agreeable  to  the  inhabitants  of  any  of  the 
religious  houses,  for  besides  receiving  directions 
to  examine  the  registers,  books  of  accompt,  and 
Easter  books  of  each  monastery,  the  commis- 
sioners were  bidden  to  search  any  other  writings 
which  might  be  thought  necessary  by  them,  and 
to  use  their  discretion  in  finding  out  other  ways 
and  means  of  coming  at  the  truth.  Judging  by 
the  set  of  officials  a  few  months  later,  the  dis- 
cretion of  royal  agents  led  them  to  very  dubious 
ways  for  finding  out  truth,  and  to  show  very  little 
consideration  for  those  whose  peace  they  had 
come  to  disturb.  To  the  Carthusians  of  Selwood, 
who  from  their  earliest  days  had  hitherto  been 
exempt  from  inspection  by  ministerial  persons  of 
whatsoever  authority,  except  the  Generals  of  their 

K 


146      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

own  Order,  it  must  have  been  exceedingly  annoy- 
ing to  have  their  private  documents  ransacked 
and  to  be  questioned  upon  oath  concerning  the 
details  of  their  property.  But  if  the  Witham 
monks  were  inclined  to  murmur,  the  commis- 
sioners probably  found  a  willing  coadjutor  in  their 
Prior,  Henry  Man,  who  was  soon  to  prove  **the 
assuryd  beydesman  and  servant "  of  Cromwell,  as 
he  signs  himself,  in  more  than  the  merely  formal 
meaning  of  those  words. 

Witham  Charterhouse  had  but  two  priors  who 
became  bishops ;  between  the  one,  Hugh  of 
Avalon,  who  during  his  priorate,  the  third  from 
the  beginning,  helped  to  establish  the  foundation 
of  the  monastery  on  a  firm  basis,  and  Henry 
Man,  who  after  his  priorate,  the  third  before  the 
suppression,  as  Visitor-General  of  the  English 
houses,  helped  to  make  easy  the  fall  of  the  Order  ; 
between  St.  Hugh,  who,  rightly  sometimes  called 
the  patriarch  of  the  English  Carthusians,  died 
Bishop  of  the  important  See  of  Lincoln,  and 
Henry  Man,  who,  a  traitor  to  his  Order  In  the 
eyes  of  a  faithful  few,  died  Bishop  of  the  in- 
significant See  of  Man,  there  is  a  great  contrast. 
Both  were  young  men  when   they  adopted  the 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      147 

Carthusian  habit ;  the  stern  discipline  and  silent 
prayerful  life  strengthened  the  one  in  holiness 
and  stability  of  character,  but  had  no  effect  on 
the  other,  unless  it  made  him,  being  probably  a 
man  of  excitable  temperament,  more  restless  by 
confinement,  and  inclined  to  spend  the  hours  of 
devotion  in  his  cell  in  vain  speculations  and  faith- 
less seekings  after  signs  of  heavenly  wrath  or 
favour.  Hugh,  even  amidst  his  high  estate, 
remained  a  true  monk,  careless  of  worldly  con- 
siderations, and,  to  the  last,  fearless  of  worldly 
disgrace  or  punishment  or  death,  resisted  all 
manner  of  oppression,  and  never  truckled  to  kings 
or  their  ministers ;  Man,  truly  converted  to 
Henry's  views  or  not,  received  advantage  from 
the  proceedings  of  that  tyrant,  and  after  be- 
guiling his  brethren  to  follow  his  submissive 
conduct,  and,  subsequently  to  the  suppression, 
accepted  promotions  under  the  new  regime, 
in  the  first  years  of  which  the  noblest  of  his 
Order  and  of  the  faith  in  which  he  had  been 
brought  up  had  been  martyred  or  judicially 
murdered. 

Henry  Man,   a  native   of  Lancashire,  having, 
after  a  course  of  education  at  Oxford,  become  a 


148     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Carthusian  at  the  time  when  the  king's  desire 
was  first  drawn  to  the  goods  of  the  monasteries, 
was  the  Proctor '"  of  the  Charterhouse  at  Sheen. 
Judging  by  his  letters,  he  was  at  this  period  of 
his  Hfe  devout  enough,  but,  like  many  other  men 
whose  fervour  is  largely  emotional,  he  was  too 
prone  to  believe  in  visions  and  dreams  as  divine 
warnings  ;  hence  it  was  only  natural,  when  wiser 
and  better  men  than  he  were  half  inclined  to  con- 
sider her  hysterical  fits  and  hallucinations,  with 
the  attendant  denunciations  of  coming  woe  on 
Henry  VHL,  of  importance,  that  he  should  give 
credence  to  the  '*  Holy  Maid  of  Kent,"  especially 
as  he  probably  then  disapproved  of  the  divorce 
and  of  the  king's  supreme  headship  of  the 
Church,  which  was  shortly  to  be  acknowledged. 
Indeed,  he  was  so  carried  away  by  his  admiration 
of  Elizabeth  Barton  as  to  write  of  her  to  her 
confessor.  Father  Bocking,  in  somewhat  extrava- 
gant language.  ''  Let  us,"  he  said,  "magnify  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  who  has  raised  up  this  holy 
virgin,  a  mother  indeed  to  me  and  a  daughter  to 
thee,  for  our  salvation.     She  has  raised  a  fire  in 

*  Proctor  is  the  contracted  English  form  of  the  -^ox^  procurator^ 
the  Latin  name  of  the  steward  of  a  charterhouse. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     149 

some  hearts  like  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  primitive  Church."  *'God  has  been 
pleased,"  he  wrote  later,  "  to  give  me  some  know- 
ledge of  His  secret  and  wonderful  works  which 
He  does  daily  in  His  specially  elect  virgin  named 
Elizabeth  Barton,  your  spiritual  daughter.  This 
knowledge  doth  more  fervently  '  accend '  my 
heart  in  the  love  of  God  than  anything  that  I 
ever  heard  spoken,  or  anything  that  ever  I  have 
read  in  Holy  Scripture."  *'  Put  my  good  mother 
Elizabeth,"  he  asked,  *'in  whom  is  my  trust 
above  all  mortal  creatures,  in  remembrance  to 
offer  me  up  in  sacrifice  to  the  most  glorious 
Trinity,  and  to  beg  the  grace  for  me  to  mortify 
myself,  so  that  I  may  live  only  for  Christ."  He 
had  personal  interviews  with  her,  and  talked 
enthusiastically  *  of  her  virtues  with  Sir  Thomas 
More.  The  latter,  after  the  Nun's  confession 
at  Paul's  Cross,  sent  to  warn  the  Proctor  of 
Sheen  that  she  had  proved  herself  a  hypocrite, 
but  ''the  good  man"  had  so  high  an  opinion  of  her 
that  he  would  scarcely  believe  it.  The  execution 
of  Elizabeth  and  her  deceived  supporters  t  must 

♦  Ca/.  state  Papers^  Henry  VIII.^  vol.  vi.  Nos.  835,  1 149  ii. 
f  Jbid.y  vol.  vii.  No.  287. 


I50     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

have  been  a  rude  shock  to  Man  ;  but  it  also 
must  have  alarmed  him  as  to  whether  he  might 
not  have  to  endure  some  punishment  for  having 
listened  to  her.  Henceforth  he  was  the  humble 
servant  of  Henry  and  Cromwell.  The  adminis- 
tering of  the  Oath  of  Succession  to  the  Car- 
thusians of  Sheen  in  May  a.d.  1534  was  attended 
with  no  difficulties,  for  the  Prior  and  Proctor 
showed  themselves  **  faithful  subjects,  honest 
men,  and  obedient  to  the  laws,"  not  only  giving 
their  own  subordinates  a  good  example,  but  also 
exhorting  the  Friars  Observant  at  Richmond  to 
subscribe  also."^  Shortly  afterwards  Henry  Man 
was  rewarded,  no  doubt  at  Cromwell's  instigation, 
with  the  higher  post  of  Prior  of  Witham  Charter- 
house. There,  as  has  been  related,  he  received 
the  commissioners  for  the  ecclesiastical  survey. 
A  few  months  later,  however,  he  was  back  at 
Sheen  as  Prior  there,  and  about  the  same  time 
was  commissioned  by  the  royal  Vicar-General  to 
be  Visitor  of  the  English  Carthusians,  instead 
of  John  Houghton,  the  head  of  the  London 
Charterhouse,  one  of  the  earliest  martyrs  for 
the    Papal    supremacy.     Mention    will    be   made 

*  Cai.  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  vii.  No.  622. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     151 

of  Prior  Man  again,  but  his  later  fortunes  as 
regards  the  history  of  Witham  are  of  no  further 
interest. 

Meanwhile  the  king  had  come  .to  recognise 
that  English  monasticism,  on  the  whole,  could 
not  bring  its  conscience  to  bow  to  his  supre- 
macy in  the  Church,  and  therefore,  although  it 
might  refrain  from  rebellious  acts,  it  would  be 
well  to  do  away  with  it,  especially  as  its  pro- 
perty would  afford  new  funds  for  his  constantly 
decreasing  treasury.  Hence  he  and  Cromwell 
planned  that  show  of  righteousness,  the  Visitation 
of  the  religious  houses,  which,  in  the  light  of  re- 
cent historical  researches,  was  too  apparently  only 
a  framework  on  which  to  fabricate  the  grossest 
scandals  that  could  be  invented  against  reputed 
religious  men.  The  appointed  Visitor  for  the 
south-western  counties  was  Dr.  Layton,  who,  as 
one  of  the  clerks  of  the  Council,  had  examined 
Sir  Thomas  More  and  Bishop  Fisher  in  the 
Tower.  In  August  a.d.  1535  he  was  inspecting 
the  monasteries  on  the  borders  of  Somersetshire 
and  Wiltshire,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  month 
was  at  Witham.  On  the  24th  he  wrote  to  Crom- 
well,  "Witham   the   Charterhouse   has   professid 


152     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

and  done  all  thyngs  accordyng  as  I  shall  declare 
you  at  large  to-morrowe."  *"* 

That  short  report,  with  its  absence  of  charges 
true  or  false,  against  the  monks,  may  mean  that 
their  lives  and  characters  were  so  wholly  unim- 
peachable that  Layton  s  "  swift  reed,"  as  he  calls 
his  evil  pen,  could  find  nothing  to  relate  about 
them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  shows  a  timid  sub- 
mission in  them  to  the  king's  proceedings,  natural 
enough  considering  what  had  been  the  fate  of 
their  brethren  in  London.  Henceforth  the  Prior 
and  brethren,  according  to  the  royal  injunctions 
always  imposed  by  the  Visitors,  were  to  observe 
and  teach  the  king's  supremacy,  and  to  do  their 
best  "to  fulfil  the  statutes  of  this  realm,  made 
or  to  be  made,  for  the  extirpation  and  taking 
away  of  the  usurped  and  pretended  jurisdiction 
of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  within  this  realm  ; "  they 
were  to  instruct  **  all  committed  to  their  care  that 
the  king's  power  is,  by  the  laws  of  God,  most 
excellent  of  all  other  under  God  in  earth,  and 
that  we  ought  to  obey  him  afore  all  other  powers 
by  God's  prescript."  All  statutes  binding  them 
to  obey  the  Bishop  of  Rome  or  any  other  foreign 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry    VIII.^  vol.  ix.  Nos.  42  and  168. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     153 

potentate  must  thereafter  be  abolished  from  their 
books  or  muniments.  No  one,  either  Prior,  Proc- 
tor, or  brother  of  the  monastery,  was  in  future  to 
leave  the  precincts,  a  rule  which  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  keep  if  the  house  was  to  continue  to 
exist  at  all,  for,  as  Ap  Rice,  one  of  the  Visitors, 
pointed  out  to  Cromwell,  recluses  as  the  Car- 
thusians were,  they  recognised  the  necessity  of 
having  a  system  by  which  the  Prior,  intrusting 
the  supervision  of  the  monks  to  a  Vicar,  could 
himself  go  out  on  the  business  of  the  convent. 
To  ensure  less  communication  with  outsiders, 
entrance  must  be  through  ''  the  great  fore-gate 
alone,"  and  this  was  to  be  kept  by  a  specially 
appointed  porter,  and  to  be  opened  only  at  cer- 
tain hours.  Also,  every  day  all  members  of  the 
convent,  under  the  pain  of  punishment,  must 
attend  a  lesson  of  Holy  Scripture  for  an  hour — 
an  injunction  advisable  enough,  but  very  objec- 
tionable to  many,  as  Cromwell  appointed  sup- 
porters of  the  New  Learning  to  give  these  lessons. 
Other  directions  concerned  the  management  of 
the  monastic  property  and  a  stricter  observance 
of  the  rule  of  the  house,  which  was  to  be  kept 
so  far  as  it  agreed  with  Holy  Scripture  and  the 


154     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Word  of  God.  The  Prior  must  expound  to  his 
brethren  that  "  true  reHgion  is  not  contained  in 
apparel,  manner  of  going,  shaven  heads,  and  such 
other  marks,  nor  in  silence,  fasting,  uprising  in 
the  night,  singing,  and  such  other  kind  of  cere- 
monies, but  in  cleanness  of  mind,  pureness  of 
living,  Christ's  faith  not  feigned,  and  brotherly 
charity,  and  true  honouring  of  God  in  spirit  and 
verity;"  and  '*that  they  assure  not  themselves 
of  any  reward  or  commodity  any  ways  by  reason 
of  such  ceremonies  and  observances,  except  they 
refer  all  such  to  Christ,  and  for  His  sake  ob- 
serve them."  They  must  not  show  relics  and 
*'  feigned  miracles "  for  lucre  to  pilgrims,  who 
were  to  be  exhorted  to  give  their  offerings 
to  the  poor  instead.  Further,  every  brother 
who  was  in  orders  must  daily  pray  in  his  mass 
for  the  king  and  **his  most  noble  and  lawful 
wife  Queen  Anne."  ^''  Besides  these  injunctions, 
some  of  which  were  excellent  enough  if  only 
the  whole  scheme  of  the  Visitation  had  not  been 
a  cloak  for  an  unjust  robbery,  it  was  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  Visitors  to  add  more — that 

*  The   injunctions   are   printed   in   the   Collection    of  Records 
appended  to  Burnet's  History^  pt.  i.  bk.  ii.  No.  2. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     155 

is,  they  were  allowed  a  free  tether  to  tyrannise, 
according  to  their  dispositions,  over  the  unhappy 
religious,  who,  to  escape  from  their  exactions, 
not  infrequently  paid  heavy  bribes  to  them  and 
Cromwell.  The  community  of  Witham  later  on 
wrote  letters  complaining  of  extra  expenditure, 
which  probably  was  in  part  incurred  in  this  way. 
Fear  of  what  may  be  is  as  hard  to  endure  to 
some  natures  as  actual  suffering ;  this  must  be 
the  excuse  for  the  monks  for  what  some  would 
call  weakness  on  their  part  in  thus  staving  off 
evil  which  might  end  they  knew  not  where. 


156     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  DESTRUCTION  OR  THE  MONASTERY 

"  Then  might  ye  see 
Cowls,  hoods,  and  habits  with  their  wearers  tost 
And  fluttered  into  rags." — Paradise  Losty  Book  III. 

ITHAM  Priory,  having  an  income 
7  of  over  ^200  a  year,  was  still 
allowed  to  drag  on  an  unhappy 
existence  for  another  three  years 
after  the  Visitation.  During  that 
time  it  witnessed  the  dissolution  of  the  lesser 
monasteries  on  the  ground  alleged  by  Henry  (in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  correspondence  of  his 
agents  produced  no  graver  accusations  of  im- 
morality against  them  than  against  the  greater 
houses),  that  they  were  dens  of  vice,  whereas  in 
the  others  "religion  was  right  well  kept;"  and 
the  disastrous  attempt  of  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace 
to  restore  the  old  order  of  things,  resulting  in  the 
dissolution  by  attainder  of  those  houses  that  had 
shown  however  slight  sympathy  in  word  or  deed 
with  the  rebels. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     157 

But  the  Charterhouse  was  not  left  to  itself  any 
more.  In  March  a.d.  1536,  Dr.  Petre,  afterwards 
Sir  William,  one  of  the  commissioners  for  mon- 
astic affairs,  must  have  been  transacting  some 
business  concerning  it,  for  amongst  Cromwell's 
fees  for  that  month  there  is  noted — **  Dr.  Peter 
for  the  fees  of  Witham  and  Seen  (Sheen), 
10  March,  20/."^ 

Care  was  taken  also  that  the  Carthusians 
should  understand  ''the  Word  of  God"  after  the 
royal  ideas  of  right  interpretation.  Although  not 
a  preaching  Order,  the  commission  to  Henry  Man 
for  the  Visitation  of  their  religion,  commanded 
the  brethren  to  preach  it  within  their  monasteries. 
Man  himself  did  not  think  this  sufficient  for  the 
dissemination  of  the  opinions  which  he  had  em- 
braced, and  suggested  that  **  Prioures  of  our 
Order  (to  whome  it  is  lawfull  and  sometyme 
necessarie  to  goo  and  Ryde  abrode)  shall 
preache  not  onlye  within  the  howses  whear  they 
dwell,  but  allso  in  other  churches  whear  they 
come  wheare  as  they  thynke  convenient."  t 
Doubtless  Cromwell  gladly  conceded  this,  even 

*  Cal.  State  Papers  of  Henry  VI 11,^  vol.  xi.  Appendix  No.  i6. 
t  State  Papers  of  Henry  VII I.^  vol.  xi.  No.  244. 


158     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

though  it  would,  contrary  to  the  injunctions 
quoted  in  the  last  chapter,  afford  frequent  oppor- 
tunity for  absence  from  home  on  the  part  of  the 
heads  of  the  various  houses. 

In  this  year,  a.d.  1536,  the  last  Prior  of 
Witham,  John  Mychell,  began  his  short-lived 
rule,  receiving  also  a  commission  to  act  as  Visitor 
to  the  Order  with  Man.  Either  because  he 
thought  it  best  to  temporise,  or  because  he  was 
of  the  opinion  that  the  Pope's  supremacy  was  not 
one  of  the  vital  points  of  the  Christian  faith,  he 
must  have  been  a  sufficient  upholder  of  the  royal 
head  of  the  Church  to  be  chosen  by  Cromwell 
for  this  post ;  but  considering  that  he  held  a  place 
of  trust  among  the  little  band  of  Carthusians 
reunited  for  a  short  time  under  Queen  Mary,  it 
must  be  concluded  that  he  held  with  the  Roman- 
ists on  the  question  in  his  heart  of  hearts.  But 
whatever  were  his  real  convictions,  in  August 
A.D.  1537  he  with  Man  had  the  delicate  task  of 
reconciling  to  the  royal  supremacy  the  uneasy 
consciences  of  Maurice  Chauncy  and  John  Fox, 
two  of  the  London  Carthusians.  The  success 
of  the  Visitors  was  not  great,  for  they  reported 
the  two  brethren  to   Copinger,  the  confessor  of 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     159 

Sion,  as  not  obstinate,  but  still  **scrupolose."  In 
fact,  Chauncy  and  Fox  were  sent  on  to  Copinger, 
in  the  hopes  that  he  might  remove  their  doubts  ; 
for  as  they  went  by  the  authority  of  a  book  that 
they  each  had,  and  were  prepared  to  argue  the 
points  in  it,  they  were  likely  to  take  up  too  much 
of  the  time  of  Man  and  Michell,  who  had  *'myche 
busynes  with  certen  other"  also.^ 

These  matters  were  occupying  the  Prior  of 
Witham  while  Cromwell  was  making  applications 
to  his  brethren  at  home  for  one  of  their  farms 
called  Westbarne.  The  poverty  of  their  house 
was  growing,  and  in  spite  of  the  submissive  tone 
of  their  letters  to  Layton  on  the  subject,  they 
were  unwilling  to  let  him  have  it,  as  they  must 
not  expect  to  receive  rent  from  him.  The 
correspondence  shows  that  in  the  end  they  were 
obliged  to  grant  it  to  him  so  far  as  they  could 
without  the  consent  of  Michell,  who  without  doubt 
did  not  withhold  it,  his  office  having  been  given 
to  him  probably  to  make  things  work  smoothly 
between  Cromwell  and  the  Charterhouse. 

*  Cotton.  MS.  Cleopatra,  E.  iv.  f.  247. 


i6o     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Letter  from  Witham  Charterhouse  to  Dr.  Lay  ton. 

**  Well-belovyd  Mr.  Doctor  with  dew  recom- 
mendatyons  and  thanks  for  all  kyndnes  shewyde 
un  to  us  youre  pore  beydemen  (undeseruyd  on  our 
parte)  we  recommend  us  un  to  yow  certyfyeing 
yow  that  we  have  receyvyd  yowre  letters  and  as 
myche  as  we  maye  do  not  offendyng  god  and 
our  rule,  we  have  done.  In  our  father's  absens 
also,  for  the  forther  accomplessyng  of  the  same, 
we  have  sent  the  letters  of  my  lorde  privye  seyle 
and  yowre  letters  also  un  to  owre  father  prior  for 
to  have  hys  advysse  and  assent  therto  ;  and  as 
shorteley  as  we  kan  here  Redy  Worde  from  owre 
father  prior,  we  do  trust  sone  after  yow  shall  have 
a  answer  from  us  to  my  lorde  privy  sele,  that 
shall  content  hys  lorshype  and  yow  also.  Now 
good  Mr.  doctor  yff  we  dyrst  be  soo  bolde  with 
yow  as  to  opyn  owre  necessyte  and  poverte  off 
owre  pore  place  un  to  yow  and  fynde  yow  frendely 
un  to  us  in  that  cause  (as  we  truste  that  you 
wylbe)  and  as  conscyens  wyll  (we  do  thynke) 
bynde  yow,  we  pray  yow  to  sumwhatt  ponder 
owre  grete  payments  that  we  have  payede  and 
must  paye  for  the  Whyche  we  have  solde  plate 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     i6i 

off  owre  Churche,  stoke  off  catell  a  grete  parte, 
sale  off  wodde  to  the  most  that  kan,  and  also 
borowyd  and  browghte  owr  howse  in  dette  for  the 
same,  and  off  very  trewthe  we  kan  nott  tell  by 
whatt  menys  we  shalbe  abyll  to  pay  the  nexte 
grett  payment  att  Chryssemas  un  to  owr  nobyll 
prince,  excepte  favowre  of  Relaxacyon  therof  or 
sum  helpe  be  by  lettying  of  this  ferme  fallen  in 
owre  hands  wherefore  we  lamentabely  beseche 
yow  with  the  gretest  Instance  that  we  kan,  that 
with  the  ye  off  pete  and  compassyon  yow  wyll  so 
ponder  owre  poverte  (that  owre  pore  place  be  nott 
forsett  for  defowte  off  the  nexte  payment)  and  that 
for  god's  love  and  charyte  un  to  us,  yow  wyll  be  a 
frendely  solycytor  to  my  lorde  pryve  seyle  in  thys 
cause  for  us.  As  we  may  dayly  pray  for  yow  un 
to  the  blessed  Trynyte  who  ever  preserve  yow. 

**  Wrytten  the  xxiiij  daye  off  September  from 
the  Charterhowse  off  Wyttham. 

"YOWRE   PORE   BEYDEMEN 

THE  Convent  there." 

[Add  ] : —  To  the  J^yght  Worshypefull  Mr.  Doctor  Lay  ton 
thys  letter  be  delyverd  with  spede. 

[Endorsed]  : — From  Witham  to  doctor  Leighton* 

♦  Stats  Papers  of  Henry  VIII .,  vol.  xii.  pt.  ii.  No.  744. 

1. 


1 62     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Letter  from  Witham  Charterhouse  to  Cromwell, 

Jhesus. 

"  Ryghght  honorable  and  owre  syngler  good 
lorde,  after  lowly  commendacions  wyth  humble 
subication  according  to  owre  dutye,  your  lorde- 
shyppe  shall  understand  that  we  be  rygght  sory  to 
here  by  Mr.  Doctor  Leatons  letters  that  your  lord- 
shippe  shulde  esteme  us  not  to  be  fully  wyllyng 
that  yo  shulde  have  a  leese  of  owre  ferme  called 
the  West  barne,  accordyng  to  your  desyre  in  your 
loving  letters.  And  therfore  now  to  expelle  all 
suche  inquientys  owt  of  your  lordshyppys  mynde, 
we  the  covent  with  all  owre  harts  grawnte  you 
owr  good  wyllis  ;  besekyng  your  lordshyppe  to 
ponder  owre  greate  charges  off  payment  to  the 
kynges  grace  now  att  cristmas,  and  that  in  case 
owre  father  prior  can  not  make  provision  for  the 
same,  so  sone  as  he  is  bownden,  your  lordshyppe 
wylle  graunte  hym  ferther  days,  and  accepte  owr 
good  wyllis  at  thys  tyme,  for  we  can  not  religiously 
send  owt  owre  covent  seale  before  hys  com- 
yng  home,  nor  without  hys  consent,  as  knowyth 
the  blessyd  Trinite  who  ever  have  your  good 
lordshyppe    in    hys    mercyfull   tuicion.      Amen. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      163 

From  the  Charterhowse   Wytham   the   xi'^   day 
off  October. 

"By  your  dayly  Bedemene 

the  convente  there." 

[Add.]  : — To  the  Ryght  honorable  and  our  syngler  good  lorde 
my  lorde  prive  seale  be  thys  delyvered  with  spede. 

[Endorsed]  :—Oct.  xf.   The  Couent  of  Wytham* 

From  the  same  to  Dr.  Lay  ton. 

"  Ryght  worshypfull  mr.  doctor,  we  lowly  re- 
commend us  unto  you,  wyth  owre  dayly  preyer, 
thankyng  you  for  your  charytable  counsell.  We 
have  made  my  lord  privey  seale  an  answer  ac- 
cordyng  to  the  same  trusty ng  your  mastershyppe 
wylbe  a  solyciter  to  hym  for  us,  and  speciall  for 
forther  respyte  to  pay  the  kyng  as  we  desyred 
you  in  your  former  letters,  and  In  so  doyng  ye 
shall  bynd  us  to  do  you  that  plesure  we  can 
and  to  be  your  dayly  bedesmen  to  our  mercyfuU 
Lorde  Jhesu  long  to  preserve  you  to  Hys  plesure. 

"  From  Wytham  the  xi'^  day  off  October. 
"By  your  dayly  Bedemen 

THE   COVENT  THERE."  f 
[Add.] : — To  the  Ryght  worshypfull  Mr.  doctor  Laton  dd. 
[Endorsed]  : — The  Couent  of  Witham  to  jnr.  Docter  Ley  ton. 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  xii.  pt.  ii.  No.  882. 
t  Ibid.,  No.  883. 


1 64     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Letter  from  Richard  Lay  ton  to  Cromwell. 

**  Hit  may  please  your  lordshipe  to  be  adver- 
tissede  that  forasmuche  as  at  my  laste  beyng 
with  yowe  then  deliveryng  your  lordeshipe  letters 
from  the  covent  of  Wittham  for  a  ferme  of  thers, 
wiche  ther  letters  (as  I  myght  conjecture  by  my 
letters  they  also  sent  from  them  unto  me)  pur- 
portede  not  so  full  a  graunte  unto  your  lordshipe 
as  I  wolde  they  shulde.  I  therfore  immediately 
after  my  departure  from  them  unto  Harrowe  sent 
my  servant  unto  them  with  newe  letters  per- 
suasious,  willynge  them  to  make  unto  youre  lord- 
shipe a  full  and  a  fast  promes  forasmuche  as  in 
them  was,  wiche  thyng  I  suppos  they  have  done 
as  I  may  conjecture  by  ther  letters,  wiche  here 
inclosede  I  sende  unto  you,  and  in  casse  a 
brabullyng  felowe  one  basyng  make  any  sute 
unto  your  Lordshipe  for  any  former  graunte  the 
folyshe  prior  shulde  at  any  tyme  make  hym,  with 
that  you  have  nothyng  to  do ;  the  hole  covent 
now  hathe  made  yowe  a  graunte ;  the  priors 
graunte  without  the  covent  is  nothyng,  yours  his 
sure.  Shake  ye  off  therfore  lightly  such  besye 
gentilmen  medelyng  in  [?]  manes  matters,  what 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      165 

your  matters,  what  your  lordshipe  shall  com- 
mande  me  further  in  this  or  any  other  your 
affairs,  I  am  and  ever  shalbe  redy  at  your  com- 
mandement.  Thus  I  pray  Jhesu  preserve  your 
lordshipe  long  in  honoure  with  incresse  from 
Harow  xvij°  octobris  by  your  lordshippes  most 
assured  to  commaunde 

**  RiCHARDE  Layton,  pveste!' 

[Add]: — To  the  right  honourable  and  my  veray  good  Lorde 
my  Lorde  Cromwell  Lorde  privy  seale. 

[Endorsed] : — Oct.  xvij°.  Doctor  Layton,''' 

A  few  months  earlier  than  the  date  of  these 
letters  the  London  Charterhouse,  in  yielding  itself 
to  the  king,  had  afforded  the  first  example  of  the 
nominally  voluntary  surrenders  of  the  monas- 
teries. In  fact,  the  work  of  the  general  dissolu- 
tion had  already  begun ;  for  although,  in  the 
following  March,  Cromwell  declared  that  Henry 
"  does  not  devise  for  the  suppression  of  any 
religious  house  that  standeth  except  they  shall 
desire  it  themselves  with  one  consent,  or  else 
misuse  themselves  contrary  to  their  allegiance,  in 

♦  State  Papers  of  Henry  VI IL^  vol.  xii.  pt.  ii.  No.  934, 


1 66     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

which  case  they  will  deserve  the  loss  of  their 
lives  as  well  as  of  their  possessions,"  the  process 
of  gathering  all  monastic  property  into  the  king's 
hands,  either  by  confiscation  or  by  overawing 
the  religious  to  surrender  it,  continued  without  an 
interval  until  a.d.  1539.  Those  words  of  Crom- 
well, indeed,  were  but  a  ruse  sanctioned  by  royal 
authority  to  prevent  the  alienation  of  any  of  it, 
which  would  incur  loss  to  Henry.  It  was  fore- 
seen, either  by  the  Vicar-General  or  his  master, 
that  the  monasteries  would  anticipate  their  fate ; 
for  in  few  cases  could  the  statements  made  on 
the  part  of  the  king  deceive.  The  least  danger 
was  that  the  abbots  and  priors,  caring  less  for 
property  which  would  soon  pass  away  from  the 
communities  which  they  governed,  would  cease 
to  be  such  ''good  husbandmen,"  and  so  lessen  its 
value.  Sometimes,  too,  the  monks,  hoping  to 
save  for  themselves  some  portion  from  the 
universal  ruin,  conveyed  their  lands  cheaply  to 
some  "lover"  of  their  Order,  with  the  under- 
standing that  in  the  event  of  no  dissolution  or  of 
reunion  with  Rome  they  should  have  their  estates 
again  ;  here  and  there  perhaps  they  sold  (and  at 
any  rate  were  accused  of  having  done  so)  some 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      167 

of  their  chattels,  for  money  could  be  hidden  away 
from  the  piercing  scrutiny  of  the  royal  agents  ; 
or  they  secreted  some  of  the  church  plate,  either 
for  selling  afterwards  or  for  use  again  on  the 
restoration  of  the  old  course  of  things.  Thus  it 
was  that  commands  were  issued  to  the  religious 
forbidding  them  to  dispose  of  their  possessions  in 
any  way  upon  rumours  of  a  suppression — a  com- 
mand in  itself  little  likely  to  allay  their  fears,  since 
in  the  natural  order  they  were  permitted  without 
such  interference  to  dispose  of  their  property  as 
they  concluded  best  for  their  house.  In  the  case 
of  Witham  Priory,  Walter  Lord  Hungerford  was 
appointed  steward,  doubtless  to  look  after  the 
management  of  the  estates  to  the  king's  advan- 
tage, for  his  nomination  to  that  post  by  Cromwell 
just  then  could  hardly  have  been  to  any  other 
end.  The  Proctor  of  the  Charterhouse,  Tristram 
Hyckemans  (to  adopt  one  out  of  the  several  ways 
of  spelling  his  name)  was  also  the  Vicar-General's 
nominee  ;  but  he  did  not  supervise  the  affairs  of 
the  monastery  to  Prior  Mychell's  approval,  though 
what  his  proceedings  were  is  not  recorded  ;  the 
two  chiefs  quarrelled,  and  called  in  the  new 
steward  to  settle  their  dispute.     On  the  loth  of 


i68     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

September  a.d.  1538,  Lord  Hungerford  wrote 
to  Cromwell  upon  this  amongst  other  matters 
thus : — 

**  Whereas  you  were  pleased  to  prefer  me  to 
the  stewardship  of  the  Charterhouse,  Wytham, 
Soms.,  I  have  of  late  been  desired  thither  upon  a 
dispute  between  the  prior  there  and  his  proctor, 
and  perceive  by  examination  that  the  proctor  is 
no  good  husband  for  the  said  house.  Seeing 
your  letters  in  the  proctor  s  behalf,  I  advised 
the  prior  to  let  him  continue  till  your  Lordship 
should  know  further  from  me  of  his  demeanour. 
The  house  is  undone  if  he  remain  in  the  office, 
as  you  will  further  learn  from  the  bearer,  Harry 
Pany,  whom  please  credit."  ^"^ 

How  the  dispute  terminated,  or  whether  it 
lasted  during  the  remaining  months  of  the  Priory's 
existence,  does  not  appear. 

Henry,  who  was  always  anxious  to  have,  if 
he  could  have  nothing  more,  the  show  of  legality 
at  least  on  his  side,  preferred  the  monks  to  go 
through  the  form  of  a  free  surrender,  and  his 
commissioners  were  directed  to  always  endeavour 

■^  From  the  abstract  in  the  Cal.  of  State  Papers^  vol.  xiii.  pt.  ii. 
Appendix  No.  39. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      169 

to  bring  about  these  so-called  voluntary  sub- 
missions. In  Somersetshire,  John  Tregonwell 
and  William  Petre  had  the  task  of  persuading  or 
terrifying  the  religious  into  confessing  their  un- 
worthiness  and  the  worthiness  of  the  new  Supreme 
Head  to  possess  what  was  lawfully  their  own. 
In  January  a.d.  1539  they  visited  Hinton  ;  on 
the  25th  they  wrote  to  Cromwell  that  the  Prior's 
"  conscience  would  not  suffer  him  willingly  to 
give  over "  his  house,  and  that  in  the  whole 
convent  three  only  were  "conformable."''*"  **  In 
the  mean  tyme,"  they  continued,  *'  because  wee 
thought  thatt  thother  Charter  howse,  takyng  ex- 
ample by  this,  wyll  nott  conform  themself,  we 
have  determyned  (your  lordeshippes  pleasure 
savyd)  to  differ  the  same  unto  our  return."  The 
commissioners  came  back  to  the  neighbourhood 
in  March  ;  and  whether  affected  by  the  obstinacy 
of  their  brethren  at  Hinton  or  not,  the  monks  of 
Witham  signed  the  deed  of  surrender  of  their 
house  in  the  presence  of  Petre  a  few  days  before 
them,  that  is,  on  the  15th  of  March.  The  docu- 
ment was  as  follows  : — 


*  Quoted  by  Mr.  Arch  bold  in  his  Somerset  Religious  Houses 
and  their  Suppression^  from  R.  O.  Crom.  Corresp.  xliii.  74. 


I/O     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

''  To  all  the  faithful  of  Christ  to  whom  the 
present  writing  shall  come  :  Dom  John  Mychell, 
prior  of  the  House  or  Priory  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  of  Wytham  in  the  County  of  Somer- 
sett,  of  the  Carthusian  Order  in  Selwodde,  and 
the  Convent  of  the  same  place,  eternal  salutation 
in  the  Lord. 

**  Know  ye  that  we,  the  foresaid  Prior  and 
convent,  with  unanimous  consent  and  assent, 
with  deliberate  minds  from  our  certain  know- 
ledge and  pure  motive,  for  certain  just  and 
reasonable  causes  moving  our  souls  and  con- 
sciences especially,  voluntarily  and  willingly  have 
given,  conceded,  and  by  the  presents  give, 
concede,  confirm,  return,  and  confirm  to  the 
Illustrious  Prince  and  our  lord,  Henry  the 
eighth,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  France 
and  England,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  Lord  of 
Ireland,  and  in  earth  Supreme  Head  of  the 
English  Church,  All  our  said  House  or  Priory 
of  Wytham  aforesaid,  and  also  all  the  manors, 
domains,  messuages  and  gardens,  courtyards, 
tofts, ^' lands,  and  tenements,  fields,  meadows,  pas- 
tures, woods,  underwoods,  rents,  reversions,  ser- 

*  To//,  a  place  where  a  house  has  formerly  stood. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE      171 

vices  for  grinding,  tolls,  knights'  fees,  wardships, 
rights  of  bestowing  in  marriage,  neifs,"^^*  villeins, 
with  their  appurtenances,  rights  of  common, 
liberties,  official  jurisdictions,  court-leets,  hundred 
courts,  views  of  frankpledge,  fairs,  markets,  parks, 
warrens,  fish-ponds,  waters,  fisheries,  ways  and 
roads,  waste  soil,  advowsons,  nominations  and 
presentations  of  churches,  vicarages,  chapelries 
and  chantries,  hospitals  and  other  ecclesiastical 
benefices,  and  whatsoever  pensions,  portions, 
annuities,  tenths  and  oblations  of  the  rectories, 
vicarages  and  chantries,  and  all  and  every 
the  emoluments,  profits,  possessions,  heredita- 
ments, and  rights  of  ours  whatsoever,  as  well 
within  the  County  of  Somerset  as  in  the  Coun- 
ties of  Wiltes,  Dorsett,  Gloucester,  and  elsewhere 
within  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Wales,  and 
marches  of  the  same,  pertaining,  belonging  to, 
appending  from,  or  resting  with  the  same  House 
or  Priory  of  Wytham  aforesaid  ;  Also  whatsoever 
charters,  evidences,  writings,  muniments  of  ours 
regarding  or  concerning  in  any  manner  the  same 
House  or  Priory,  manors,  lands,  tenements,  and 
other  premises,  with  their  appurtenances  or  any 

*  A  nei/y/diS  an  unfree  dependant. 


172     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

parcel  of  them  :  To  Have,  Hold,  and  Enjoy  the 
said  House  or  Priory,  site  of  foundation,  cir- 
cuit, and  precinct  of  Wytham  aforesaid,  and  all 
and  every  the  domains,  manor,  messuages,  lands, 
tenements,  rectories,  vicarages,  pensions,  and  the 
other  premisses,  with  all  and  each  of  their  appur- 
tenances to  the  foresaid  invincible  prince  and  our 
lord  King,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever :  To 
Whom  in  this  matter  we  subject  and  submit 
ourselves  with  the  full  consequences  of  the  law, 
and  the  said  House  and  Priory  of  Witham,  and 
all  our  rights  of  any  kind,  as  is  right,  and  by 
these  give  and  cede  to  the  same  royal  Majesty, 
his  heirs  and  assigns,  all  and  every  kind  of  full 
and  free  faculty,  authority,  and  power  ourselves  and 
the  said  House  or  Priory  of  Wytham  aforesaid, 
together  with  all  and  singular  the  manors,  lands, 
tenements,  rents,  reversions,  services,  and  each 
of  the  premises,  with  all  rights  and  appurte- 
nances, to  dispose  of  at  the  liberty  of  his  royal 
will  to  whatsoever  uses  please  his  Majesty,  to 
alienate,  give,  convert,  and  transfer,  the  disposal, 
alienation,  donation,  conversion,  and  transfer  to 
be  made  in  anyway  by  his  said  Majesty,  are 
hereby  ratified,   and  ratified  and  agreeable  and 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      173 

sure  we  promise  to  hold  them  forever  by  the 
presents.  And  that  the  presents  may  have  all 
their  due  effect,  elections  moreover  of  ourselves 
and  our  successors,  and  all  quarrels,  provoca- 
tions, appeals,  actions,  litigations,  entreaties,  and 
our  other  remedies  and  benefits  to  ourselves  for 
example,  and  to  our  successors  in  that  affair  by 
reason  of  the  disposal,  alienation,  transfer,  and 
conversion  aforesaid,  and  of  the  rest  of  the  pre- 
mises of  whatsoever  suitors,  and  from  all  suitors 
to  be,  all  errors  of  fear,  ignorance,  or  of  other 
cause  or  dispositions,  exceptions,  objections,  and 
allegations  being  entirely  put  away  and  rejected 
openly,  publicly,  and  expressly,  out  of  our  sure 
knowledge,  and  with  spontaneous  minds  we  have 
renounced  and  ceded,  as  by  writings  we  renounce 
and  cede  and  withdraw  from  them.  And  we  the 
forementioned  Prior  and  Convent,  and  our  suc- 
cessors the  said  House  or  Priory,  precinct,  site, 
mansion,  and  church  of  Wytham  aforesaid,  and 
all  and  singular  the  manors,  domains,  messu- 
ages, gardens,  courtyards,  tofts,  fields,  meadows, 
pastures,  woods,  underwoods,  lands,  tenements, 
and  all  and  singular  the  other  premises,  with  the 
whole  of  their  appurtenances,  we  warrant  against 


174     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

all  people  forever  by  the  presents.  In  witness 
whereof  we  the  foresaid  Prior  and  Convent  have 
caused  our  common  seal  to  be  set  to  the  presents. 
Given  in  our  chapter-house  of  Witham  aforesaid 
the  xv*^  day  of  March,  in  the  thirtieth  year  of 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  above-mentioned."''' 

The  seal  of  red  wax  is  still  in  good  condition  ; 
it  represents  our  Lord  on  the  cross  between  two 
figures,  presumably  of  the  Virgin  and  St.  John, 
and  in  the  lower  portion  an  ecclesiastic  with  a 
crosier  in  his  hand.      The  legend  runs  thus — 

S  .  COMMUNIE  .  BE  .  MARIE  .  DE  WITHAM  .  ORDINIS  . 

CARTHUS.  The  names  of  the  monks  are  signed 
in  the  margin  of  the  document  in  the  following 
order : — 


John  Mychel  p'or. 
John  Wele. 
Thomas  Secheforde. 
John  Dove  vicar 
John  Mychhyllson. 
John  Clyffe. 
John  Smyth. 


John  Lawson. 
John  Myllott. 
Richarde  Wodnet. 
C.  De  nycss  (?). 
Nicholas  Lychefold. 
Thrustanus  Hyckmas. 


Thus  Wytham  Charterhouse  chose,  as  it  were, 
to  deal  her  own  deathblow  rather  than  receive  it 

*  R.  O.-t  Augmentation  Office^  Deeds  of  Surrender  of  Monas- 
teries^ No.  270. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      175 

from  the  merciless  king's  hand.  Her  last  years 
had  not  been  glorious  ;  not  only  had  she  not  pro- 
duced a  single  martyr,  but  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  monastic  troubles  she  had  mani- 
fested so  little  of  the  martyr's  spirit  as  to  have 
shown  scant  signs  of  resistance  to  what  was  a 
series  of  extremely  unjust  actions,  be  they  looked 
at  in  whatever  light  they  may.  The  Hinton 
Carthusians,  indeed,  surrendered  also ;  but  their 
surrender  was  preceded  by  strong  opposition  to 
the  royal  commissioners,  and  conscientious  hesi- 
tation as  to  whether  it  were  right  to  yield  **  upe 
that  thynge"  which  was  not  theirs  "to  give,  but 
dedicate  to  Allemighte  Code  for  service  to  be 
done  to  hys  honoure  contynuallye,  with  other 
many  good  dedds  off  charite."*  But  among 
the  records  of  the  elder  Charterhouse  there  is 
nothing  like  the  sad  letter  of  Prior  Horde  to  his 
brother  in  London  (from  which  these  words  are 
taken),  where,  though  looking  upon  the  Priory 
and  the  purpose  of  its  foundation  as  a  trust  com- 
mitted to  him  and  his  brethren,  and  not  to  be 
lightly  or   hastily  yielded,   he  confesses  the  fear 

♦  Ellis's  Original  Letters^  2nd  series,  vol.  ii.  p.  130  (MS.  Cleop. 
E.  iii.  f.  270). 


176     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

^'off  the  Kyngs  hye  displeasure  and  my  Lorde 
Prevy  Sealis  ; "  for  which  cause  he  ultimately  per- 
suaded the  monks  under  him  to  surrender. 

But  although  the  end  of  Witham  Charterhouse 
appears  not  worthy  of  the  beginning,  much  allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  the  community.  The 
later  Priors  were  certainly  not  of  heroic  natures  ; 
had  it  been  ruled  by  a  St.  Hugh  or  a  John 
Houghton,  whose  brave  endurance  of  King 
Henry's  cruelty  has  won  him  in  recent  years  the 
well-merited  beatification  from  the  Roman  See, 
there  might  have  been  another  tale  to  tell.  As 
for  the  compliance  of  the  monks  during  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  scheme  of  dissolution,  resist- 
ance usually  entailed  death,  and  if  they  thought 
the  Papal  supremacy — again  tacitly  rejected  in 
their  deed  of  surrender  where  the  king  is  styled 
Supreme  Head  of  the  English  Church — was  no 
cause  for  which  to  die,  they  were  not  the  only 
men  of  their  class  who  did  so  think.  Temporis- 
ing too  often  suggests  cowardice,  but  after  all 
discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valour,  and  the 
Selwood  Carthusians  may  have  thought  it  wiser 
to  bow  to  the  royal  will  for  a  time  than  to  endure 
the  agony  of  soul  and  body  that  the  inmates  of 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     177 

the  London  Charterhouse  were  made  to  undergo, 
and,  like  them  and  the  "  Blessed "  John  Fisher 
and  Sir  Thomas  More,  suffer  a  perhaps  useless 
martyrdom ;  for  even  if  Henry  himself,  once  so 
zealous  for  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  never 
retraced  his  steps,  to  all  devout  sons  of  the  Pope 
England's  perpetual  separation  must  have  seemed 
an  impossibility.  Even  to  these  rather  remote 
monks  of  the  West,  the  knowledge  of  the  debased 
and  debasing  lives  of  the  recent  successors  of 
St.  Peter  must  have  penetrated,  and  probably 
helped,  the  question  once  being  put,  to  make 
them  doubt  whether  the  Papal  supremacy  were 
really  divinely  instituted.  In  the  matter  of  sur- 
rendering their  monastery  and  property,  nobler 
as  it  always  is  to  oppose  illegal  actions,  from  a 
worldly  point  of  view  it  was  their  wisest  course  ; 
resistance  at  that  date  was  utterly  useless,  and 
refusal  to  surrender  generally  meant,  if  nothing 
worse,  deprivation  of  the  poor  pittance  that  the 
king's  greed  allowed  to  the  religious  out  of  their 
own  property  which  he  robbed  from  them. 

As  it  was,  all  the  monks  of  Witham  received 
pensions,  appointed  by  the  king's  commission 
near  the  time  of  their  surrender,  "  every  of  them 

M 


178     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

to  have  one  quarter's  pencion  at  thannunciation 
of  our  Lady  next  cumyng  and  att  the  feast  of 
Saynt  Mychell  tharchaungell  next  after  that  one 
half  yeres  pencion,  and  soo  from  half  yere  to  half 
yere  duryng  their  lyves  and  the  lyfe  of  every 
of  them,"  or  until  they  were  presented  to  any 
ecclesiastical  benefice  or  were  otherwise  pro- 
moted, was  added  in  the  patents  issued  on  the 
24th  April  next  year.  The  accompanying  list  of 
the  recipients '"'  and  their  pensions  was  made 
out  and  signed  by  Cromwell,  John  Tregonwell, 
William  Petre,  and  John  Smythe.  Rather 
strangely,  considering  it  could  not  be  much  later 
than  the  date  of  the  foregoing  deed,  there  is  no 
mention  of  the  monk  who  signs  himself  **C.  De 
nycss,"  and  the  name  of  Alnett  Hales  occurs 
instead,  as  it  does  in  the  patents.  The  last  two 
names  on  the  list  must  be  those  of  lay  brothers. 


Ffurst  to  John  Mychell,  prior 

xxxiii^^ 

vis 

viij^ 

To  John  Wele      . 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij^ 

To  John  Dore       . 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij^ 

To  John  Smythe  . 

Vjli 

xiij^ 

iiij^ 

To  Thomas  Segeforde  . 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij^ 

*  Dugdale,  Monasticon^  vol.  vi.  pt.  ii.  App.  iv.     From  a  Pension 
Book  in  the  Augmentation  Office,  from  which  the  list  of  pensions 

is  also  taken. 


WITH  AM  CHARTERHOUSE     179 


To  John  Clyffe     .... 

vju 

xiij° 

iiij* 

To  John  Lawson  .... 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij<^ 

To  Nycholas  Lychefylde,  impotent 

viij^ 

To  John  Mychelson 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij^ 

To  Richard  Woodnett  . 

viij^^ 

To  John  Mylett    .... 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij* 

To  Alnett  Hales  .... 

vjii 

xiij^ 

iiij<* 

To  Thniston  Hyckemans,  late  proctor 

viij^ 

To  Hugh  Bytt     .... 

xl» 

To  John  Swansea 

xl« 

Summa  of  the  yearly  pencions 

cxxj^ 

VJ8 

viij** 

Besides  the  above  annuities  the  patents  granted 
to  Prior  Mychell  the  gift  of  ^8.  6s.  8d.,  and  to 
each  monk  33s.  4d.,  except  to  Nicholas  Lyche- 
fylde, Thrustan  Hyckemans,  and  Richard  Wood- 
nett, who  had  40s.  each.^ 

The  Carthusians  once  turned  out  of  house  and 
home,  almost  nothing  is  known  of  them.  Except 
in  the  case  of  the  Prior,  whose  large  salary  would 
argue  that  he  could  not  have  lost  favour  with  the 
king  or  Cromwell,  their  pensions  could  scarcely 
be  sufficient  for  their  maintenance.  Moreover, 
they  were  appointed  to  receive  the  allotted  sums 
from  the  Treasurer  of  the  Augmentations  or  from 
the  Receiver  of  the  revenues  of  their  late  monas- 
tery.    This   meant   a  journey  to   wherever  that 

*  R.  0.  Augmentation  Office^  Misc.  B/cs.y  vol.  233,  fT.  247-250. 


i8o     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

official  might  be,  or  in  the  case  of  their  being 
incapacitated  from  travelling,  the  payment  of  some 
person  to  draw  the  pension  for  them  ;  in  addition 
to  these  expenses  there  was  a  fee  of  4d.  to  those 
concerned  in  the  disbursements  of  the  money  ; 
so  that  the  pensions  were  yet  smaller  than  they 
appear."*  Whether  they  found  friends  to  help 
them,  whether  they  went  back  to  their  relations, 
or  how  they  passed  their  lives,  is  not  to  be  dis- 
covered. To  one  or  two  of  them  a  living  may 
have  been  given  later  on,  but  this  is  extremely 
doubtful.  More  certainly  some  of  them,  like 
others  of  their  Order,t  went  abroad,  not  from 
fear,  but  to  lead  the  old  secluded  life  in  foreign 
Charterhouses.  The  following  extract  from  the 
Acts  of  the  Privy  Council  (a.d.  1547,  June  9th) 
is  an  illustration  of  this  fact : — 

**  This  daye  forasmuche  as  the  Lord  Pro- 
tectour's  Grace  and  Counsaile  were  enfourmed  of 
certain  Inglishemen,  late  monkes  of  thorder  of 
the  Charterhowse,  who  reteigning  still  in  their 
hartes  their  old  supersticion  and  popish  monkery, 
had    fownde  the  meanes   to   convey   themselfes 

*   Dr.  Gasquet,  Henry  VIII,  and  the  English  Monasteries. 
t   Mr.  Archbold,  Somerset  Religious  Houses  and  their  Sup- 
pression. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      i8i 

secretely  over  the  sees  into  Flandres,  where  they 
have  againe  received  their  monkes  habite  and 
profession,  and  nevertheles  procured  with  their 
frendes  here  to  have  the  payment  of  their  pen- 
cions  to  them  alloted  by  the  Kinges  Majeste 
contynued  unto  them  as  if  they  remaigned  still 
in  somme  partes  of  Ingland,  lyke  as  also  certaine 
other  Inglishemen  late  religious  persons  of  their 
confederacye  were  of  late  detected  that  they 
intended  shortly  to  have  folowed  the  former  for 
the  semblable  purpose,  in  case  they  had  nat  in 
the  meane  tyme  been  apprehended ;  therefore 
considering  how  the  Kinges  Majeste,  by  the 
meanes  of  conveyaunce  over  the  sees  of  sundry 
suche  popishe  persones  late  religious,  hath  been 
and  may  be  gretely  defrauded  in  allowing  them 
still  of  their  pencions  as  if  they  contynued  here 
his  Highnes  true  subjectes,  and  that  it  may  be 
that  his  Majeste  hath  lykwise  been  deceived  in 
the  contynuance  of  payment  of  suche  pencions  to 
dyvers  late  religious  persones  uses  and  behaulfes, 
who  before  the  tyme  lymited  therefore  were  de- 
ceased, and  for  the  avoidance  of  the  like  errour 
and  losse  that  his  Highnes  shuld  susteigne  by 
theis   deceiptes   hereafter,   it   was   this    day  with 


1 82     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

thadvise  and  consent  of  the  said  Lord  Protec- 
tour's  Grace  and  Counsaill  decreed  that  from 
hencefourth  the  pencioners  of  any  late  Religious 
Howse  dissolved,  having  pencions  yerely  during 
time  of  lief  of  his  Highnes  graunt,  shuld  no  more 
be  paide  the  same  at  thandes  of  the  Particuler 
Receivour  of  the  Courte  of  thaugmentacions,  &c., 
but  shuld  hooly  be  referred  to  the  Treasorer  of 
that  Courte,  so  as  either  at  their  next  tyme  of 
payment  at  Mighelmas  next  comming  they  shuld 
personally  present  themselves  before  the  said 
Tresorer,  or  his  deputes,  to  be  viewed,  whither 
they  were  the  same  persones  to  whom  such  pen- 
cions were  assigned.  Or  in  case  they  did  nat  so 
personally  present  themselfes  they  shuld  at  lest 
sende  uppe  to  the  saide  Treasorer,  by  him  whome 
they  deputed  to  receave  their  pencion  for  them, 
a  certificat  in  writing  under  thandes  of  two 
Justices  of  the  Peace  in  the  shy  re  where  they 
abide,  or  at  leest  under  thandes  of  oone  Justice 
of  the  Peace  and  oone  other  jentilman  of  repu- 
tacion  of  that  shire,  declaring  that  the  persone 
whome  they  beare  witnes  of  is  there  remaigning 
in  lief,  and  in  lawfull  state  to  receive  the  saide 
pencion.     And  that  this  said  Order,   either  for 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     183 

the  personal!  presentacion  of  the  saide  pencion- 
aries  or  the  sending  of  their  testimonies,  shalbe 
contynued  in  fourme  before  expressed  from  tyme 
to  tyme  as  their  paymentes  shall  arise  due  to 
thintent  that  the  Kinges  Majeste  be  nat  other- 
wise charged  then  of  right  shall  appertained' "^^ 

This  order  was  natural  enough,  considering 
that  at  that  date,  as  again  for  so  long  after 
Queen  Mary's  reign,  the  question  of  the  Papacy 
was  quite  as  much  a  matter  of  politics  as  of 
religion  in  the  eyes  of  the  rulers  of  the  country, 
but  it  was  extremely  hard  on  the  Carthusians. 
To  act  against  conscience  at  a  great  crisis,  how- 
ever mistaken  conscience  may  be,  is  one  thing ; 
to  live  perpetually  a  double  life  is  quite  another ; 
and  to  those  who  had  bowed  to  King  Henry 
through  fear,  the  continually  necessary  conceal- 
ment of  their  real  opinions,  and  the  unreal  pro- 
fession of  the  views  enforced  by  tyranny,  must 
have  been  galling  beyond  measure,  especially  as 
the  monks,  through  long  habit  prone  to  self- 
examination,  would  be  often  looking  back  to 
those  days  of  weakness  with  a  sense  of  shame 
for  which  they  must  have  longed  to  atone,  if  in 

*  Acts  of  the  Privy  Council^  vol.  a.d.  1547-50,  pp.  97-98. 


1 84     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

no  other  way,  by  at  least  leading  the  old  exist- 
ence more  earnestly  than  ever.  But  to  live  as  a 
monk  in  England,  even  to  appear  in  the  cowl, 
was  utterly  forbidden.  To  go  abroad  was  their 
only  resource,  and  now  that  their  pensions  were 
stopped,  the  refugees  were  thrown  entirely  on  the 
charity  of  the  foreign  religious  of  their  Order, 
who,  brethren  of  theirs  as  they  were,  too  much 
regarded  them  as  strangers,  and  did  not  always 
welcome  the  prospect  of  having  them  as  constant 
inmates  of  their  Charterhouses. 

At  last  Mary,  the  hope  of  all  adherents  of  the 
Pope,  ascended  the  throne,  and  once  more  the 
parent -house  of  the  Carthusians  gave  its  care 
to  the  maintenance  of  English  piety.  In  a.d. 
1555,  Dom  Maurice  Chauncy,  who,  with  Brother 
Taylor,  also  of  the  London  Charterhouse,  had 
taken  refuge  with  their  Flemish  brethren  at 
Bruges  on  the  suppression,  received  orders  from 
La  Grande  Chartreuse  to  return  home  and 
attempt  the  re-establishment  of  the  Order  in  the 
island.  In  May  the  two  religious,  with  Dom 
John  Fox,  who  had  followed  them  into  Flan- 
ders, reached  London.  They  were  received,  as 
was  fitting,   by  Sir  Robert  Rochester,  who  had 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     185 

lost  his  brother  in  the  cause  of  the  Pope.  Being 
comptroller  of  the  royal  household,  Rochester  was 
able  to  give  them  apartments  in  the  Savoy,  and 
took  the  earliest  opportunity  to  introduce  them  to 
Cardinal  Pole,  and  then  to  the  Queen,  who,  from 
that  time  until  their  removal,  supported  them  in 
the  Palace  at  her  own  expense.  In  the  summer 
of  A.D.  1556  Father  Fox  died  of  a  fever,  and 
was  buried  by  Sir  Robert  in  the  Savoy  Chapel. 
Chauncy  wrote  thereupon  to  headquarters  to  pro- 
cure another  monk,  and  Dom  Richards  of  St. 
Anne's,  near  Coventry,  was  sent  to  him  from 
a  Dutch  charterhouse,  where,  having  escaped 
from  England,  he  had  made  a  second  profes- 
sion. But  the  latter  after  five  weeks  also  died, 
and  was  buried  beside  his  predecessor.  Utterly 
disheartened,  Dom  Maurice  thought  of  return- 
ing abroad.  By  this  time,  however,  the  existence 
of  the  small  community  was  well  known,  and 
several  monks,  who  meanwhile  had  been  living 
in  the  world,  became  anxious  to  join  them.  The 
Savoy  Palace  was  scarcely  a  fit  Carthusian  monas- 
tery, so  that  other  quarters  had  first  to  be  found. 
The  consequence  was  that  before  the  year's  end, 
through   the  assistance    of  Cardinal    Pole,    once 


1 86     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

more  there  was  a  Charterhouse  at  Sheen.  On 
December  31st  Pole  appointed  Chauncy  Prior. 
In  the  spring  of  a.d.  1557  the  General  Chap- 
ter of  the  Order  confirmed  the  nomination  ;  for 
though  resenting  the  Cardinal's  interference, 
doubtless  under  the  circumstances  they  felt  it 
hardly  politic,  as  well  as  ungrateful,  to  offend  him 
by  rejecting  it.  Nevertheless,  they  added  that  in 
so  doing  they  intended  to  derogate  in  nothing 
from  the  privileges  of  their  Order."* 

Queen  Mary  having  already  issued  the  char- 
ter for  its  re-establishment,  the  monastery  was 
now  settled.  The  community  at  first  consisted 
of  nine  monks  and  three  lay-brothers,  but  soon 
seven  more  monks  returned  from  the  Continent. 
Several  of  the  nineteen  had  shown  weakness  more 
or  less  during  King  Henry's  persecution,  but  none, 
in  all  probability,  regretted  their  past  failures  in 
heroism  as  much  as  their  Prior,  who,  with  the 
terrible  warning  of  the  torments  and  martyrdom 
of  his  leader,  John  Houghton,  and  his  comrades 
before  him,  after  great  suffering  of  body  and  mind 
most  bravely  endured,  had  at  last  given  way  to 

*  Charta  Cap.    Gen.   a.d.    1557.     Quoted  by   Dom  Lawrence 
Hendriks  in  The  London  Charterhouse. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     187 

the  royal  supremacy.  Father  John  Mychell, 
the  last  Prior  of  Witham,  now  Chauncy's  vicar 
at  Sheen,  could  certainly  not  be  reckoned  among 
the  strong  adherents  of  the  Pope.  Seemingly 
after  the  dissolution  of  the  Selwood  community 
he  had,  like  Dom  John  Cliffe  and  Brother  John 
Swansco  or  Swymestowe,  remained  in  England, 
these  three  alone  out  of  the  number  of  their 
house  still  drawing  pensions  at  the  beginning 
of  Marys  reign. "^  It  does  not  appear  whether 
Swansco  and  Cliffe  also  went  to  Sheen.  The 
former  Proctor  of  Witham,  Thrustan  Hyckemans 
(or  Tristan  Holimans,  according  to  one  authority), 
on  the  other  hand,  must  have  been  abroad,  and 
returned  with  the  last  addition  of  seven  monks. 

The  renovated  Priory  of  Sheen  soon  came 
to  an  end.  The  stern  exclusive  Catholicism  of 
Mary  was  succeeded  by  the  more  liberal,  if  less 
ardent,  Churchmanship  of  Elizabeth,  soon  to 
develop  into  the  utterly  hostile  Anglicanism. 
Prior  Chauncy  saw  that  England  was  no  more  a 
place  for  monks.  Having  already  buried  at  dif- 
ferent dates  the  aged  Father  John  Wilson,  once 
Prior  of  Mountgrace,    who  had  died  soon  after 

*  Cardinal  PoUs  Pension  Book. 


1 88     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

his  return  to  England,  Father  Fletcher  of  the 
same  house  or  of  Hinton,  Fathers  Robert  Abel 
and  Robert  Marshall  of  Mountgrace,  and  Father 
Robert  Thurlby  of  the  original  Priory  at  Sheen, 
he  judged  it  best  to  go  back  to  the  Continent  at 
once.  Of  those  that  followed  him  across  the  sea, 
there  was  but  one  Witham  monk,  Dom  Hycke- 
mans.  It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  give  a  list  of 
these  last  spiritual  descendants  of  St.  Hugh  and 
then  to  sketch  the  outline  of  the  later  history  : — 

Prior  Maurice  Chauncy  of  London  died  July  12th,  a.d. 

1581. 
Roger  Thomson,    a   novice   of  Mountgrace,  died  Oct. 

i2th,  A.D.  1582. 
Tristan  Holimans  or  Hyckmans  (of  Witham),  died  Dec. 

6th,  A.D.  1575. 
Leonard  Hall  alias  Stofs  of  Mountgrace,  died  Oct.  loth, 

A.D.  1575. 
Nicholas  Dugmere  of  Beauvale,  died  Sept.   loth,  a.d. 

1575- 
Nicholas  Bolsand  of  Hinton,  died  Dec.  5th,  a.d.  1578. 

William  Holmes  of  Hinton.* 

The  Charterhouse   at    Bruges  was  again  the 
place  of  refuge.     In  a.d.  1561  the  General  Chap- 

*  Dr.  Gasquet,  Henry  VIII.  and  the  English  Monasteries^  vol.  ii. 
p.  487.  Nicholas  Bolsand  must  be  Nicholas  Balland  of  Hinton. 
William  Holmes  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  monks  who  sur- 
rendered Hinton  Charterhouse. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     189 

ter  of  the  Order  appointed  Chauncy  to  the 
Priorate  there,  in  spite  of  his  being  a  foreigner. 
Unfortunately,  the  English  monks  were  not 
popular  with  their  brethren,  for  besides  causing 
the  overcrowding  of  the  house,  they  wished  to 
have  a  separate  novitiate  of  their  own,  in  the 
prospect  of  a  future  restoration  to  England. 
Frequent  disputes  arising,  Prior  Maurice  was 
ordered  the  next  year  to  be  particular  to  choose, 
if  not  Flemish  officers,  at  least  those  able  to 
speak  the  language,  and  six  years  later  he  was 
authorised  to  look  out  for  a  suitable  dwelling 
for  the  English  Carthusians  to  live  in  apart.  In 
A.D.  1569  therefore,  having  been  assisted  by  the 
charity  of  other  voluntary  exiles  from  England 
and  of  various  foreign  friends,  they  settled  in  St. 
Clare's  Street,  Bruges,  naming  their  house  Sheen 
Anglorum.  Here  they  abode  until,  barely  nine 
years  later,  the  Protestants  turned  them  out. 
Once  more  the  community  were  scattered,  but 
some  settled  together  again  at  Louvain  under  the 
protection  of  Don  John  of  Austria.  Unhappily 
that  prince  died  shortly  afterwards,  and  for  some 
time  they  led  a  struggling  existence,  the  support 
coming  from  others  being  too  small  to  meet  their 


I90     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

needs.  It  was  on  a  journey  to  the  King  of 
Spain  for  the  purpose  of  seeking  his  help  that 
Prior  Chauncy  died  at  Paris  in  a.d.  1581. 

As  was  meet  for  these  sufferers  in  the  Papal 
cause,  aid  at  last  came  from  the  Pope.  Sixtus  V., 
hearing  of  their  difficulties,  issued  a  bull  ad- 
dressed to  Cajetan,  Cardinal  Protector  of  Eng- 
land and  the  English  Carthusians,  and  to  Car- 
dinal Allen,  requiring  all  the  visitors  and  priors 
of  the  Order  to  provide  a  proper  house  and 
maintenance  for  them,  and  to  send  to  that  house 
all  those  dispersed  among  the  Continental  char- 
terhouses. The  bull  could  not  have  benefited 
them  much,  for  few  of  the  foreign  Carthusian 
monasteries  had  any  funds  to  spare ;  the  King 
of  Spain,  however,  pensioned  them.  Before  a.d. 
1596  they  were  able  to  take  possession  of  a  suf- 
ficiently large  house  in  Bleek  Street,  Mechlin, 
and  from  that  date  prospered  so  well  that  in 
A.D.  1626  they  removed,  with  the  consent  of 
Philip  III.,  to  Nieuport,  where  they  had  pur- 
chased two  houses  with  a  garden.  This  was 
the  last  Sheen  Anglorum  that  the  wanderers  set 
up,  and  here  an  English  community  existed 
until    their    Charterhouse   was    suppressed    with 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     191 

other  monasteries  in  his  dominions  by  the 
Emperor  Joseph  II.  in  a.d.  1783,  when,  by 
a  strange  turn  of  the  wheel  of  fortune,  some 
of  these  Carthusians  took  refuge  in  England. 
One  of  them,  Prior  Williams,  did  his  best  to 
maintain  here  the  rule  of  his  Order,  though 
living  among  his  relations  at  Little  Malvern  Court, 
Worcestershire,  where  he,  the  last  monk  of  his 
house,  also  died. 

At  this  day,  not  the  least  zealous  in  praying 
for  the  reunion  of  all  England  with  Rome — a 
subject  dear  to  the  hearts  of  all  true  Christians  in 
spite  of  the  many  differences  between  them,  and 
not  only  to  the  sons  of  the  present  saintly- 
minded  Ruler  of  St.  Peter's  See — are  doubtless 
the  Carthusians  of  St.  Hugh's  Priory  at  Park- 
minster  in  Surrey,  one  of  whom  is  our  authority 
for  the  last  paragraph.* 

Having  followed  the  monks  through  their 
troubles  so  far  as  is  possible,  there  remains  to 
be  told  the  destruction  of  their  original  home 
in  Selwood  Forest. 

In  prospect  of  the  sale  or  other  distribution 
of    the   monastic    lands,    in    each    case   a   rental 

♦  Dom  Lawrence  Hendriks,  The  London  Charterhouse. 


192     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

was  made  out.     That  for  Witham  Priory  is  as 
follows : — 


In  the  County  of  Somerset. 

Witham — Rents  and  farms 

Witham — Farms  of  site  with  orchards 

[/«  the  County  of  Dorset ?\ 

Aston — Rents  farmed  out 
Aston — Pension  from  the  rectory 

\In  the  County  of  Warwick^ 

Warmyngton — Rents  of  free  tenants  . 
Warmyngton — Rents  farmed  out 

In  the  County  of  Leicester. 

Ulstrope — Rents  of  free  tenants 
Wilscote — Rents  farmed  out  ^. 
Warmington — Pension  from  the  rectory 

In  the  County  of  Dorset, 

Spetisbury — Rents  of  free  and  customary 
tenants      ,...,, 
Spetisbury — Pension  from  the  church 
Spetisbury — Farm  of  the  manor 

\In  the  County  of  Wilts. '\ 

Fontell — Rents  and  farm  .... 

[/«  the  County  of  So??ierset.'\ 

Monkisham — Firm  of  the  manor 

Merston — Rents  farmed  out 

Feltham  and  Clink — Rents,  &c. 

Mayden  Bradley — Rents  of  tenants 

Moreland — Rents  of  tenants 

Newbery — Rents  farmed  out 

Newbery — Pension  and  portion  of  the  rector 


£ 

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18 

2 

5 

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0 

13 

2 

O 

12 

II 

9 
6 


4 
o 
o 
o 
4 
4 
8 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      193 


£    s. 

d. 

I    15 

0 

0       8 

0 

Wokey — Rents,  &c. 

Yerdeley — Rents  of  tenants    . 

Chiltern   Vage   and  Chiltern-Dommer — 

Farms i     i6       8 

Bristoll — Assessed    rents    of    customary 

tenants i8     15       8 

Bristoll — Assessed    rents    of   conventual 

tenants   .         .         .         .         .         .     25     15       4 

Hydon — Farm  of  the  grange  .         .         .     40       o       o 
Witham — Farm  of  the  rectory  .         .618* 

As  everywhere  else,  there  were  various  would- 
be  purchasers  and  grantees  of  the  above  scattered 
estates  during  the  immediately  ensuing  years. 
But  the  division  of  the  spoils,  except  the  very 
grounds  of  the  Priory,  need  not  be  recorded 
here,  as  no  longer  concerning  the  history  of  the 
Charterhouse.  In  a.d.  1544,  Ralf  Hopton,  Esq., 
received  a  grant  of  the  site  of  **  the  late  monastery 
or  Priory  of  Witham,  otherwise  called  Charter- 
house Witham,"  with  all  houses,  buildings,  lands, 
stables,  dovecotes,  orchards,  gardens,  and  soil 
within  and  around  the  site  ;  the  whole  of  the 
pasture  called  Hedstoke,  the  enclosure  and  wood 
called  Home  Park  and  Pound  Close,  a  corn-mill, 

*  Computatio  Ministrorum  Dojnini  Regis.  Abstract  from  Roll, 
31  Henry  VIII.,  in  the  Augmentation  Office,  given  in  Dugdale's 
Monasticoti^  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  App.  v. 

N 


194     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  meadows  Aldershaies,  Studleigh  Fostok, 
Holte,  Little  More  Park,  Great  More  Park  Chel- 
furd,  Newlands  Southfield,  Tylemeade,  Gurne- 
ham,  Tanner's  Close,  Elm  Hies  [Hayes?],  Le 
Grove,  Cowelease,  Little  Wood,  Longham, 
Pykemead,  Parkefeld  fiat  and  Parkfelde  with 
their  appurtenances,  a  flour-mill  and  enclosure 
called  Newpit,  and  an  enclosed  pasture.  Pities- 
pound  Close,  and  two  other  enclosures  called 
Estbitroy  and  Westbytroy.  The  foregoing  were 
estimated  as  446  acres.  There  was  granted 
besides  to  Hopton  a  whole  grange  called  the 
Frary  Grange,  with  its  **  dayhouse  or  day  re- 
house "  and  the  other  buildings  there,  and  three 
enclosures  at  Witham,Westpoundhays,and  Midde- 
poundhays  of  4  acres,  lately  held  by  John  Gif- 
fard,  and  Estpoundhays  of  3  acres,  lately  held 
by  William  Morvell ;  two  dwellings  in  Witham, 
the  **  Heyhouse,"  with  a  plat  of  ground  thereto 
annexed,  and  ''Fat  Oxenstall,"  lately  held  by 
Roger  Rasing,  with  a  dovecote,  a  carpenter's 
shed,  and  a  little  barton  near  by  ;  the  enclosures 
Oldeorchard  and  Windelease  of  24  acres.  Coder's 
croft  of  10  acres,  Moreleas  of  10  acres,  Wolfe- 
hill   of   20   acres,    Hollowedmeade    of    4    acres. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      195 

Rowestable  of  2  J  acres,  Newmeade  of  10  acres, 
Oxenlease  of  7  acres,  Skinner's  croft  of  i  acre,  with 
all  the  commodities  and  appurtenances  thereof; 
also  the  rectory  of  Witham,  with  all  the  rights 
belonging  to  it ;  also  Hidon  Grange,  with  all  the 
land  and  pastures  and  the  water-mill,  as  well  as 
all  the  profits  issuing  from  Witham,  Westbarne, 
Billerica,  Quare,  and  Lez  Frary.  The  wood 
called  Le  Holt  in  Witham  was,  however,  granted 
to  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  otherwise  Hopton  received 
all  that  the  late  Prior  had  held,  except  that  the 
great  trees  were  reserved  to  the  Crown.  He 
was  to  pay  for  the  property  ;^79.  i6s.  8d.  yearly 
for  twenty-one  years  to  Henry  and  his  heirs  ;  the 
reversion  of  the  house  and  site  he  bought  for 
^572.  i6s.  8d.^ 

Next  year  also  the  King  granted  to  Hopton 
and  his  wife  Dorothy  "  the  grange  called  Le 
Quarre  or  Lee  Quarre  grange,  or  whatever  else 
it  may  be  named,"  with  all  the  land  appertaining 
to  it  lying  in  Selwood,  as  well  as  a  pasturage 
on  the  Mendips  that  could  maintain  a  hundred 
sheep,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  Witham 

♦  Rot.  Orig.^  36  Henry  VIII.^  2  pars.  54  ;  Ibid.^  37  Henry  VHI., 
7  pars.  24, 


196     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Charterhouse.  This  Ralph  Hopton  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  CavaHer  Sir  Ralph,  later  Lord 
Hopton,  one  of  the  generals  of  the  royal  army 
in  the  West  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  latter  dying  without  issue,  the 
Witham  estates  passed  through  the  marriage  of 
his  sister  to  the  family  of  Wyndham.  About  a 
century  afterwards,  Mr.  William  Beckford,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  bought  them  of  a  later  Wynd- 
ham, the  Earl  of  Egremont ;  he  in  his  turn  sold 
the  property,  which  was  finally  purchased  of  the 
new  owners  by  the  Duke  of  Somerset. 

But  besides  the  estates,  there  were  the  mov- 
able goods  out  of  which  the  king  could  make  a 
profit,  if  indeed  the  more  valuable  of  these  were 
not  somehow  purloined  before  the  authorised 
officials  could  lay  their  hands  on  them.  Un- 
fortunately, in  the  case  of  Witham  Priory  there 
is  no  inventory  to  be  found  ;  but  considering 
that  the  Carthusian  rule  did  not  permit  the 
possession  of  precious  things  for  use  or  orna- 
ment except  for  the  service  of  the  altar,  it 
is  not  likely  that  the  monastery  had  much 
valuable  plate  or  many  costly  vestments.  Its 
library   would   soon    be  dispersed  or  destroyed. 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE      197 

the  illuminated  books  and  manuscripts  being  too 
often  regarded  as  rubbish.  As  for  original  works, 
it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  the  English  branch 
of  the  Order  did  much  for  literature,  which  leads 
to  the  supposition  that  not  many  were  lost  at 
Witham.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  royal  gold- 
smith, John  Freeman,  had  pointed  out,  there  were 
**  merchants  within  his  realm  ...  a  great  sort,'' 
who  would  give  the  King  **a  goodly  payment " 
for  the  lead  from  the  roofs  of  monastic  buildings. 
The  suggestion,  if  indeed  it  had  been  needed,  was 
adopted.  In  fact,  that  useful  metal,  so  long  the 
protection  of  the  wonderful  mediaeval  architecture, 
was  in  the  end  the  cause  of  its  ruin ;  for  even 
where  the  stone-work  was  not  carted  away  as 
material  for  new  buildings,  rain  and  frost  and 
other  atmospheric  influences  must  in  time  fret 
away  the  masonry,  when  once  the  roof  had  been 
torn  off  to  abstract  the  lead.  This  happened  at 
Witham. 

In  the  Minister's  Accounts  of  the  Augmenta- 
tion Office*  there  is  recorded  io8s.  wages  to 
the  plumber  Richard  Walker  for  melting  down 

♦  Minister's  Accounts  in  the  R.  O.  (Exchequer  and  Augmenta- 
tions), 30-31  Henry  VIII.,  No.  224,  quoted  by  Mr.  Archbold  in 
Somerset  Religious  Houses. 


198     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

fourscore  and  two  pigs  of  lead  procured  from 
the  church,  cloister,  bell-tower,  and  the  other 
buildings  of  the  Charterhouse,  weighing  about 
43  fodders  9  cwt.  8  lbs.  From  the  same  source 
we  learn  that  the  three  bells  of  the  monastery, 
weighing  about  200  cwt,  were  sold  for  ^14 
to  Richard  Morian,  and  that  the  ''superfluous 
buildings  lately  belonging  to  it  were  purchased 
for  ;^20  by  Ralph  Hopton."  As  regards  the 
bells,  their  price,  ;^i68  in  the  present  currency, 
does  not  seem  high  compared  to  their  great 
weight ;  this  was  doubtless  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  buyer  would  probably  have  to  melt  them 
down  before  he  could  use  them,  and  was  not 
likely  on  that  account  to  give  a  large  sum  for 
them ;  moreover,  upon  the  destruction  of  the 
religious  houses,  bell-metal  must  have  become 
plentiful  cxiid  cheap. 

The  ruins  of  the  Charterhouse  were  allowed 
to  exist  for  more  than  two  centuries  after  the 
dissolution.  In  a.d.  1760  one  of  the  churches 
was  still  standing,  with  some  of  the  original  con- 
ventual buildings  almost  contiguous  to  its  west 
front,  and  with  some  others  more  or  less  altered 
near  its  east  end,  of  which  that  supposed  to  have 


o 

IN 


WITHAM  CHARTERHOUSE     199 

been  the  guest-house  is  now  used  as  the  parish 
library  or  reading-room.  These  very  buildings, 
which  later  occupants  so  easily  adapted  for  a 
farmhouse  and  out-houses,  seem  to  mark  it  as 
the  lesser  church  of  the  lay-brethren,  near  to 
which  would  be  their  own  dwellings,  the  guest- 
house, and  all  the  more  secular  buildings  of  a 
Carthusian  establishment.  In  a.d.  1458  the  Prior 
of  Witham  petitioned  Bishop  Beckington,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  be  allowed  to  put  the  *' chapel  of 
the  Friary "  to  the  uses  of  a  parish  church  for 
the  secular  persons  living  within  the  bounds  of 
the  Priory.  Upon  the  suppression,  this  chapel, 
like  others  elsewhere,  w^as  probably  spared  because 
it  had  really  become  by  that  time  the  parish 
church  for  the  people  of  the  district*     This  little 

*  It  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted  that  the  church  in  question  is 
that  chapel,  and  not  the  larger  church  of  the  monks,  which,  with 
"  the  solid  bases  and  firm  columns "  mentioned  in  the  Metrical 
Life  of  St.  Hugh^  has  long  since  disappeared.  About  sixty  years 
ago  the  little  church  underwent  a  strange  transformation  ;  some 
of  the  adjacent  buildings,  if  they  had  not  been  pulled  down  before, 
were  removed,  and  an  incongruous  square  tower  was  erected  at 
the  west  end  in  an  entirely  different  style  of  architecture.  At  the 
same  date,  an  old  and  beautifully  carved  rood-screen  of  oak  was 
ruthlessly  destroyed  ;  the  entrance  to  the  loft  above  it,  with  the 
steps  formed  in  the  thickness  of  the  masonry,  may  still  be  seen  in 
the  north  wall  of  the  interior.  In  the  same  wall,  a  few  feet  farther 
to  the  west,  there  is  a  blocked  entrance  to  a  passage  which  Collin- 


200     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Church  of  St.  Mary  of  Charterhouse-Witham — 
its  severe  style  of  architecture  harmonising  with 
the  ascetic  life  of  its  builders,  redeemed  from 
ugliness  within  by  the  beautiful  concentration  of 
the  arches  of  the  stone  roof — is  the  sole  relic 
still  in  some  measure  devoted  to  its  original  holy 
uses,  not  only  of  the  first  English  Carthusians, 
but  also  of  the  whole  branch  of  the  Order  in 
England.  Not  the  least  significant  note  of  the 
vast  difference  between  their  age  and  the  present 
is  that  this  church — built,  if  ever  church  was, 
that  it  might  be  the  house  of  prayer — stands 
with  locked  doors  during  the  long  intervals 
between  the  hours  of  service,  when  it  may  indeed 
be  entered,  but  by  the  sight-seer,  and  not  by  the 
would-be  worshipper. 

son,  the  author  of  The  History  of  Somerset^  described  in  A.D.  1791 
as  winding  round  to  the  east  end  of  the  church  and  leading  to  the 
monastery,  and  the  traces  of  which  were  probably  also  removed 
during  these  alterations.  In  A.D.  1876,  Mr.  Burney,  the  then  parish 
priest  of  Witham,  with  a  wiser  spirit  of  restoration,  took  down  the 
tower,  and  enlarged  the  church  westwards  in  a  style  in  keeping 
with  its  original  architecture,  at  the  same  time  raising  the  outer 
roof  and  covering  it  with  red  tiles. 


PART   II 
HINTON    CHARTERHOUSE 


HINTON     CHARTERHOUSE 

OR 

THE  HOUSE  OF  THE  PLACE  OF  GOD 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   FOUNDERS 

"  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy  house,  and  the  place  where 
Thine  honour  dwelleth." — Ps.  xxvi.  8. 

N  the  occasion  of  a  visitation  of 
the  religious  houses  in  his  diocese, 
St.  Hugh  went  to  Godstow.  In 
the  church  there,  in  the  middle 
of  the  choir,  right  before  the  altar, 
he  saw  a  tomb  decked  with  silken  hangings  and 
surrounded  by  lamps  and  wax-lights.  Naturally 
he  wondered  who  was  lying  thus  in  such  state 
near  so  holy  a  spot — in  a  place,  in  fact,  that  was 
usually  reserved  for  the  most  worthy.  Upon 
learning  that  it  was  no  other  than  Fair  Rosa- 
mund,   although    his    informants    represented    to 

203 


204     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

him  that  King  Henry  for  love  of  her  had  been 
a  generous  benefactor  to  that  church,  he  replied 
with  his  accustomed  disregard  of  the  rank  of 
the  transgressor  and  regard  for  the  plain  truth, 
which  would  not  allow  him,  after  the  fashion  of 
later  sentimentality,  to  look  on  this  king's  mistress 
almost  in  the  light  of  an  injured  saint :  **  Bear 
the  body  hence,  for  she  was  an  harlot,  and  bury 
her  with  the  rest  outside  the  church."  He  feared 
otherwise  that  the  Christian  religion  would  be- 
come less  esteemed,  and  that  other  women,  hear- 
ing of  her  honourable  burial,  would  hesitate  the 
less  to  follow  in  her  steps.  **  And  thus  was  it 
done,"  curtly  adds  Roger  of  Hoveden,  who  relates 
the  incident  in  his  Chronicle. 

Henry  and  Hugh  were  both  dead  in  a.d.  1222, 
the  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  second  Eng- 
lish Charterhouse.  That  the  king's  bastard  son, 
William  Longespee — especially  if,  as  later  tradi- 
tions say,  his  mother  was  Rosamund  Clifford 
herself — should  have  founded  this  priory,  seems 
like  a  possible  act  of  atonement  for  the  parents* 
breaches  of  marriage  chastity,  the  keeping  of 
which  whole,  as  the  wise  and  pure-minded 
Carthusian  taught,  could  merit  heavenly  bliss  as 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     205 

well  as  virginity,  and  for  their  sins  against  the 
dignity  of  womanhood,  which  the  saintly  bishop 
held  so  high,  because,  **  whereas  to  man  it  was 
not  granted  to  be,  or  to  be  called,  the  father  of 
God,  yet  to  a  woman  it  was  given  that  she 
should  be  the  parent  of  God."  "^^^  But  it  is  not 
known  whether  the  Earl  had  any  motive  beyond 
religious  ardour  in  establishing  the  monastery  ; 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  was  passed  in  warfare, 
during  which  he  must  have  become  inured  to 
hardship,  and  there  may  have  been  something 
in  the  discipline  of  the  Order  that  met  with  his 
sympathy  as  well  as  its  known  sanctity.  The 
monks  of  Hinton,  however,  owed  their  origin 
scarcely  less  to  Ela  d'Evreux,  his  Countess  ; 
indeed,  the  new  Charterhouse  had  no  eminent 
man  of  the  Order  to  watch  over  it,  but  only 
these  two  secular  persons,  one  of  whom  was 
much  engrossed  in  the  affairs  of  a  very  turbu- 
lent world.  The  history  of  the  founders  is  not 
without  some  savouring  of  romance,  but  it  is  also 
illustrative  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  both 
from  a  religious  and  a  social  point  of  view,  and  a 
short  relation  of  it  may  not  be  inaptly  inserted  here. 

*  Magna  Vita  S.  Hugonis. 


2o6     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Both  the  name  of  his  mother  and  the  date  of 
the  birth  of  William   Longespee  are  unrecorded 
by  the  earlier  choniclers.     The  first  known  in- 
cidents in  his  life  are   the  grant  to  him  by  his 
father,    Henry  II.,   of  Appleby  in    Lincolnshire 
in   A.D.    1 1 88,  and   ten  years  later  his  marriage 
with    Ela,   the  Countess  of   Salisbury.     Among 
the  followers  of  William  the  Norman  had  been 
Walter  d'Evreux,  Count  of  Rosmar,  who  for  his 
services  received  the  domains  of  Salisbury  and 
Amesbury  ;  his  great-grandson  was  Patrick,  the 
first  Earl  of  Salisbury,  and  the  father  of  William, 
the  second  Earl,  who  married  Eleanor  de  Vitr6. 
From  this  last  marriage  Ela  d'Evreux  was  born 
at   Amesbury  in  a.d.    ii  88.      Eight  years  later 
death  had   removed   both  her  parents,   and  the 
child  had  become  the  ward  of  the  king,  according 
to  the   feudal  law.      Her  relations  and   friends, 
however,  did  not  care  to  have  her  under  the  royal 
guardianship,    but   privately    carried    her   off    to 
Normandy,  with  the  intention  of  bringing  her  up 
in   the   strictest  secrecy ;    this  purloining   of  so 
valuable  a  commodity,  so  to  speak,  from  the  hands 
of  King   Richard,  though   he  was   not  likely  to 
have  borne  it  with  equanimity,  does  not  seem  to 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     207 

have  entailed  any  punishment  on  the  family. 
The  royal  guardian  indeed  took  measures  to  re- 
cover his  ward,  but  they  were  of  a  very  gentle 
nature.  At  that  time  there  was  in  England  a 
knight  named  William  Talbot ;  this  man,  pre- 
sumably with  Richard's  orders,  dressed  himself  as 
a  pilgrim  and  crossed  into  Normandy,  where  he 
stayed  two  years  searching  for  the  hidden  abode 
of  the  little  Countess.  At  last,  having  discovered 
it,  putting  off  the  pilgrim's  weeds,  he  donned 
those  of  a  harper  and  entered  the  house.  Being 
a  man  of  merry  temperament,  and  well  versed  in 
the  tales  of  ancient  deeds,  he  was  readily  received 
as  a  friend.  By  what  means  he  obtained  pos- 
session of  her  does  not  appear,  but  when  a 
convenient  season  was  come,  Talbot  repaired  to 
England,  taking  Ela  with  him,  and  brought  her 
to  Richard.  And  very  "joyfully,"  according  to 
the  Register  of  Lacock  Abbey,  the  King  received 
her,  as  no  doubt  he  did,  for  he  now  had  the 
bestowal  of  the  hand  of  the  heiress.  He  must 
have  almost  immediately  given  her  to  his  brother 
William  Longespte  as  they  were  married  that 
same  year.  The  Earl  of  Salisbury,  as  he  now 
was    in  her  right,  had   then   for  wife    a    girl   of 


2o8      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

ten  years  old.  This  was  only  one  instance  of  a 
not  infrequent  mediaeval  practice,  namely,  child- 
marriage,  against  which  but  a  rare  voice  even 
among  the  clergy  was  to  be  heard  now  and 
then.*  In  this  case  the  union,  however,  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  unhappy. 

Salisbury  was  in  the  favour  of  his  brother  John 
no  less  than  of  Richard  ;  for  throughout  his  reign 
he  held  various  high  offices,  being  at  divers  times 
Lieutenant  of  Gascony,  Warden  of  the  Cinque 
Ports  and  Constable  of  Dover,  and  Warden  of  the 
Welsh  Marches,  besides  being  employed  occa- 
sionally in  an  ambassadorial  capacity.  As  a 
prominent  partisan  of  John,  Roger  of  Wendover 
reckons  him  during  the  time  of  excommunica- 
tion among  those  ''most  wicked  counsellors," 
"  who,  desiring  to  please  the  king  in  all  things, 
gave  their  advice  not  with  regard  to  reason,  but 
with  regard  to  his  will."t  His  most  notable  feat 
occurred  a  few  years  later  in  a.d.  12 13,  when  he 
was  sent  against  Philip  of  France,  who,  preparatory 
to  an  invasion  of  England,  had  begun  to  attack 
the  lands  of  Ferrand   of   Flanders,   the  ally  of 

*  During  his  episcopate  St.  Hugh  enjoined  on  his  clergy  the 
refusal  to  celebrate  such  marriages.     Magna  Vita,  p.  174. 
t  Floras  Historiarutn,  vol.  iii.  p.  237,  Hist.  Soc.  edit. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      209 

John.  Outside  Damme  he  found  a  large  French 
fleet ;  he  and  his  party  attacked  it  and  won  the 
victory,  which  caused  the  French  king  to  desist 
from  his  purpose  of  invading  England. 

In  the  following  year  he  was  marshal  of  the 
king's  army  in  Flanders,  and  having  joined  forces 
with  Count  Ferrand  and  the  Emperor  Otto,  fought 
Philip  Augustus  on  the  27th  July  at  the  battle  of 
Bouvines,  where  John  lost  his  last  chance  of  re- 
establishing his  influence  at  home  by  the  glory  of 
a  decisive  victory  on  the  Continent.     The  Earl 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  French  and  delivered 
to  a  kinsman,  Robert,  Count  of  Dreux  ;  the  latter 
afterwards  exchanged  him  for  his  own  son,  who 
had  previously  been  captured  by  King  John.     On 
his  return  to  England,  he  found  his  brother  in  a 
desperate  position,  but  for  the  present  he  clung  to 
the  fortunes  of  his  house  and  did  not  join  the  in- 
surgent barons,  although  he  saw  the  expediency 
of  acquiescing  in  their  proceedings,  and  counselled 
the    granting    their    demands    at    Runnymede. 
When   December  came,  he  was  still   their  open 
enemy,  and  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  John's  army 
in  the  south,  he  concerted  measures  with  Fulkes 

de  Breaute  for  watching  London  and  cutting  off^ 

o 


2IO     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  supplies  of  the  barons ;    with  his  party  he 
overran  the  neighbouring  counties,  and  early  in 
A.D.  1 2 16  committed  the  worst  act  of  his  life,  which 
was  to  join  Fulkes  in  the  devastation  of  the  Isle 
of  Ely.     Indeed,  the  wanton  fury  of  the  king's 
followers  was  perhaps  that  which  most  hastened 
the  appeal  to  Louis,  the  son  of  Philip  Augustus. 
The  Prince  having  landed,  took  Winchester  in 
June ;  at  last  Salisbury  must  have  seen  the  hope- 
lessness of  the  king's  cause.     At  any  rate,  he  now 
joined    Louis  and  yielded  to  him   his   castle  of 
Salisbury.      Upon  John's  death  his  new  master 
sent  him  to  persuade  Hubert  de  Burgh  to  yield 
Dover  Castle.     Hubert  reproached  him  with  the 
words,    "  O  evil  treacherous  Earl  !    and  if  King 
John,  our  lord  and  thy  brother,  is  dead,  he  has 
an  heir,  thine  own  nephew,  to  whom,  though  all 
be  wanting,  thou  who  art  his  uncle  oughtest  not 
to  be  lacking,  yea,  shouldest  be  another  father. 
How,  degenerate  and  wicked  man,  sayest  thou 
such  things  ?  "'" 

Whether  Hubert's  faithfulness  to  young  Henry 
worked  with  the  Earl  or  not,  he  ultimately  deserted 
the  French  prince,  and,  like  other  adherents  of  the 

*  Matt.  Paris,  Chron.  Majora.^  iii.  p.  4,  Rolls  Series. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     211 

latter,  to  give  a  colour  to  his  political  change,  he 
took  the  cross,  and  professed  to  engage  in  the 
war  in  the  Holy  Land  at  the  bidding  of  the  Papal 
Legate.  Whatever  he  had  suffered  in  his  estates 
for  his  disaffection,  Salisbury  was  after  this  re- 
ceived back,  and  moreover  admitted  again  to 
various  offices  of  trust.  At  this  period,  if  at  all, 
he  must  have  gone  to  Palestine,  for  it  does  not 
follow  that  he  really  entered  on  the  crusade  because 
he  took  the  cross.  It  is  true  that  so  important  a 
chronicler  as  Matthew  Paris  ^  asserts  that  he  was 
present  at  the  capture  of  Damietta  in  a.d.  12 19, 
and  distinguished  himself  during  the  war  by  his 
bravery  ;  but  it  seems  probable  that  his  name  has 
been  confounded  with  that  of  a  Count  of  Saar- 
brucken,t  and  it  is  possible  that  some  share  of  his 
son's  prowess  against  the  Saracens  later  on  may 
have  been  mistakenly  attributed  to  himself  At  any 
rate,  he  was  back  in  England  by  the  28th  April 
in  the  next  year,  when  the  Legate  Pandulf  laid  for 
him  and  for  his  wife  two  of  the  foundation-stones 
of  the  new  cathedral  at   Salisbury.      After  the 


♦  Matt.  Paris,  Chron.  Majora^  Rolls  Series,  vol.  iii.  p.  49. 
t  Dictionary  of  National  Biography :  William  de  Longespee, 
by  Rev.  W.  Hunt. 


212     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Pope's  failure  to  obtain  any  firm  hold  of  the 
government  of  England,  and  during  Hubert  de 
Burgh's  ascendancy,  the  Earl  was  a  staunch 
supporter  of  the  national  party ;  as  such  his  name 
appears  in  one  account  ^  as  a  ruler  of  the  king 
and  kingdom  along  with  that  of  the  Justiciary 
on  the  occasion  of  the  disaffection  of  the  mal- 
content barons  under  the  Earl  of  Chester,  among 
the  partisans  of  whom  was  his  former  comrade 
in  arms,  the  mercenary  leader  Fulkes  de  Breaut^. 
Not  long  after  the  settlement  of  these  domestic 
broils,  there  was  a  threat  of  war  abroad  upon  the 
accession  of  Louis  VHI.  to  the  French  throne, 
and  in  A.D.  1224  hostilities  were  actually  begun 
by  the  invasion  of  Poitou.  The  next  year,  there- 
fore, the  English  king's  brother,  Richard,  Earl 
of  Cornwall,  and  his  uncle,  William  Longespde, 
were  sent  to  defend  Poitou  and  Gascony.  Their 
expedition  having  been  successful,  in  the  autumn 
Salisbury  started  homewards ;  he  had  escaped 
the  difficulties  of  warfare  only  to  meet  worse 
dangers  by  sea  through  rough  weather.     Whilst 

*  Memoriale  Frairis  Walteri  de  Coventria^  Rolls  Series,  vol.  ii. 
p.  251.  "  Comes  vero  Sarisbiriensis  et  justitiarius,  regis  rectores  et 
regni." 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     213 

in  imminent  peril  of  shipwreck,  he  and  his 
company  saw  a  bright  shaft  of  light  playing  about 
some  part  of  the  vessel ;  their  fancy  changed  it 
into  an  enormous  lighted  candle,  shielded  from 
the  wind  and  rain  by  a  beautiful  maiden,  whom 
Salisbury  alone  recognised  to  be  the  Blessed 
Virgin  ;  from  the  day  of  his  knighthood  he  had 
ever  provided  a  light  to  burn  before  her  altar,  and 
that  she  had  come  now  to  succour  them,  was  his 
consoling  explanation  of  the  apparition.  Certainly 
afterwards  the  ship  was  driven  on  the  Isle  of 
Rh6,  then  held  for  King  Louis,  where  he  took 
shelter  in  the  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  there,  until, 
being  warned  that  his  refuge  was  known,  he  set 
sail  again,  and  reached  Cornwall  at  Christmas, 
after  a  voyage  of  nearly  three  months.  Unwel- 
come news  met  him  on  his  return.  Upon  a 
report  of  his  death,  Hubert  de  Burgh  had  tried 
to  secure  the  hand  of  the  Countess  Ela  for  his 
nephew.  The  Earl  was  not  unnaturally  wrath, 
and  went  to  Marlborough,  where  the  king  then 
was,  to  complain  of  the  minister's  conduct. 
Henry  managed  to  make  peace  between  them, 
and  Salisbury  dined  with  Hubert.  On  returning 
home  he  fell  ill,  a  consequence  probably  of  the 


214     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

hardships  and  anxieties  of  his  voyage.  Feeling 
his  end  near,  he  sent  for  Richard  le  Poore,  the 
Bishop  of  Salisbury.  As  the  Bishop  entered  the 
chamber  where  he  lay,  carrying  the  Host,  the 
Earl  flung  himself  from  his  bed  almost  naked 
before  him,  and  tying  an  exceedingly  harsh  cord 
about  his  neck,  prostrated  himself  on  the  floor, 
continually  shedding  tears,  declaring  himself  a 
traitor  to  the  Most  High  King;  nor  would  he 
be  removed  from  the  place  until  he  had  con- 
fessed and  received  the  communion  of  the  life- 
giving  Sacrament ;  and  thus  in  extreme  peni- 
tence he  lasted  a  few  days  longer,  and  yielded 
his  spirit  to  his  Redeemer  on  March  7th  a.d. 
1226.'^''  He  was  buried  in  the  still  unfinished 
Cathedral,  where  there  is  a  full-length  recumbent 
effigy  in  armour  on  a  tomb  in  the  south  arcade 
of  the  nave  which  is  ascribed  to  him.  Accord- 
ing to  Wendover,  while  his  body  was  being 
carried  from  the  castle  of  Salisbury  to  the 
Cathedral,  the  wax-lights  which  were  borne  in 
the  procession  along  with  the  cross  and  incense 
were  not  extinguished,  in  spite  of  torrents  of 
rain   and  storms  of  wind,  which  openly  showed 

*  Wendover,  Hist.  Soc.  edit.,  vol.  iv.  pp.  105  and  107. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     215 

that  **the  so  deeply  penitent   Earl  belonged  to 
the  sons  of  light."  * 

The  author  just  quoted  in  an  earlier  part  of  the 
same  passage  calls  William  Longesp6e  *'  praise- 
worthy "  [laudabilis) ;  Matthew  Paris  names  him 
in  his  epitaph  on  him  **the  flower  of  earls."  t 
His  life  shows  little  enough  to  justify  such 
laudation,  which  must,  therefore,  be  owing  not 
so  much  to  what  he  did  as  to  what  he  was. 
Though  often  in  prominent  posts  as  a  com- 
mander, he  was  little  more  than  a  brave  soldier ; 
he  received  the  royal  order,  do  this,  do  that, 
and  he  did  it,  taking  on  himself  doubtless  the 
manner  in  which  he  should  do  it,  but  appa- 
rently not  considering  the  reason  or  result  of 
his  master's  actions.  When  his  own  want  of 
foresight  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  ruin,  he 
changed  sides,  and  worked  as  faithfully  among 
those  who  but  now  had  been  his  enemies  ;  and 
that  it  was  faithfully,  is  apparent  from  the  trust 
reposed  in  him  by  whatever  party  he  served. 
Yet  he  did  not  fight  in  the  spirit  of  a  soldier 
of  fortune,  but  as  one  who,  seeing  very  little  of 

*  Wendover,  Hist.  Soc.  edit.,  vol.  iv.  pp.  105  and  107. 
+  Chron.  Majora.^  vol,  iii.  p.  105,  Rolls  Series. 


2i6     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

his  way  before  him,  is  determined  to  do  that 
little  to  the  best  of  his  power.  In  fact,  he  was 
a  man  of  simple  probity,  and,  like  many  a 
valiant  fighter  before  and  after,  in  spite  of  his 
fierceness,  that  came  to  him  by  inheritance  and 
from  the  habits  of  the  times,  a  man  of  sincere 
piety.  The  latter  appears  not  so  much  in  his 
founding  a  monastery  as  in  his  unfortunate  voy- 
age from  Gascony,  where  his  calm  interpretation 
of  the  vision — doubtless  some  strange  effect  of 
lightning  —  with  his  confidence  of  approaching 
help,  denotes  that  faith  in  the  providence  of  God 
that  allows  no  fear  with  any  amazement,  and  that 
can  only  exist  in  truly  religious  souls.  Moreover, 
the  almost  daring  appellation  of  the  Charter- 
house, Locus  Dei  or  the  Place  of  God,  betokens 
on  the  part  of  the  founders  a  trustfulness  spring- 
ing from  a  deep  conviction  of  the  Almighty's 
merciful  acceptance  of  all  offerings  of  man's 
love  and  of  all  honest  human  effort  after  divine 
perfection,  which,  if  anywhere,  was  certainly 
striven  after  in  a  Carthusian  monastery.  Soldier 
though  he  was,  both  William  Longespde,  and 
the  *'  most  dear  lady "  Ela,  as  the  chaplain  of 
Lacock  Nunnery  calls  his  Countess,  might  have 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     217 

justly  applied  to  themselves  the  Psalmist's 
words  which  we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this 
chapter. 

The  Countess  of  Salisbury  lived  several  years 
in  secular  widowhood,  but  in  the  meanwhile  was 
planning  the  foundation  of  monasteries  for  the 
good  of  her  husband's  soul  and  of  her  own. 
Therefore  she  erected  at  her  own  expense,  and 
on  one  of  her  own  hereditary  estates,  a  house 
at  Lacock  in  Wiltshire  for  Augustinian  nuns. 
Having  superintended  its  building,  she  estab- 
lished them  there  one  morning  in  May  a.d. 
1232.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  she 
also  established  on  her  manor  of  Hinton,  just 
across  the  borders  in  Somersetshire,  a  body  of 
Carthusians,  these  being  indeed  transferred,  as 
will  be  related  below,  from  her  husband's  foun- 
dation at  Heatherop  or  Hethrop  in  Gloucester- 
shire. Upon  the  report  of  the  Earl's  death  in 
A.D.  1226,  Ela's  hand  had  been  sought,  but 
after  his  actual  demise  she  appears  to  have  been 
left  in  peace  ;  finally,  she  ended  her  widowhood 
herself  by  taking  the  veil  in  her  own  nunnery  ; 
two  years  later,  in  a.d.  1240,  when  she  was  fifty- 
three,    she   became   its  first  abbess.     She    ruled 


21 8     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

her  flock  vigorously,  meantime  maintaining  an 
assiduously  stiff  discipline  towards  herself,  and 
"very  devoutly  served  God"  in  a  life  spent  in 
fasts,  holy  vigils,  meditations,  and  all  good  works 
of  charity.  But  cloistered  though  her  existence 
was,  she  evidently  watched  with  maternal  in- 
terest over  her  children  in  the  world.  Her 
eldest  son,  William,  went  on  the  crusade  of 
A.D.  1248-49;  "manfully  fighting  against  Christ's 
enemies  in  the  Holy  Land,  suffering  continually 
for  the  name  of  Jesus,  ending  the  temporal  life 
to  conquer  everlastingly  in  Christ,  the  athlete 
of  God  ascended  to  the  heavenly  court  in  a.d. 
1 249 ; "  that  is  to  say,  he  was  slain  in  battle 
against  the  Saracens,  because  upon  their  over- 
mastering the  Christians  he  refused  to  flee  before 
them,  and  was  regarded  therefore  something  in 
the  light  of  a  martyr.  About  the  time  of  his 
death,  his  mother  is  said  to  have  seen  him 
entering  heaven  from  her  stall  at  Lacock,  and 
to  have  reported  the  same  to  her  nuns — a  very 
natural  dream  for  the  poor  Abbess,  which  she 
would  of  course  accept  as  a  guarantee  of  his 
eternal  happiness.  Of  her  other  three  sons,  two 
rest  at   Lacock,  and   the  heart  of  the  third,  as 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     219 

if  to  show  his  affection  for  her,  was  also  buried 
there,  although,  as  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  his  body- 
was  interred  in  the  Cathedral.  For  eighteen 
years  Ela  governed  the  Abbey ;  at  length,  over- 
come by  the  increasing  infirmities  of  age,  she 
perceived  that  "she  could  not  as  she  would  be 
profitable  to  her  religion,"  and  resigned  her 
post.  Released  from  her  duties,  she  lived  till 
September  a.d.  1261,  when,  in  her  seventy-fourth 
year,  **  possessing  her  soul  in  peace,  she  rested 
in  the  Lord,"  and  was  "  very  meetly "  buried  in 
the  Abbey-choir.^' 

As  for  one  offspring  of  the  religious  fervour 
of  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Salisbury,  Hinton 
Priory,  the  materials  for  its  history  are  even 
poorer  than  in  the  case  of  the  first  Charter- 
house. Probably  some  of  the  monks  came  from 
Witham,  others  would  be  brought  over  from  the 
Continent ;  but  no  details  whatever  remain  of  the 
early  days  of  their  first  establishment  at  Hethrop. 
Besides  the  manor  itself,  they  had  the  wood  of 
Bradene  [ ?]  and  the  estate  of  Chelewurth 

*  Cotton.  MS.^  Vitellius  A.  viii.,  being  the  Register  of  Lacock 
Priory.  It  is  almost  illegible  owing  to  damage  by  fire,  but  is 
printed  in  Dugdale,  Man.  Anglic.^  vol.  vi.  pt.  i.  p.  500  et  seg.y  from 
which  the  above  account  of  Ela  is  taken. 


220     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

(Chelworth  or  Chelwood,  a  few  miles  south  of 
Bristol).  To  help  them  to  build  the  monastery, 
William  Longesp6e,  by  his  will,*  made  in  the 
middle  of  Lent  a.d.  1225,  just  before  his  expedition 
to  Gascony,  left  them  all  the  profits  accruing  to 
him  as  guardian  of  the  heiress  and  estates  of 
Richard  de  Campville  until  the  coming  of  age  of  his 
own  heir,  the  second  William  Longespee,  the  hus- 
band of  his  ward.  To  help  them  in  their  services 
at  the  altar,  he  left  them  also  a  chalice  of  gold 
adorned  with  beautiful  emeralds  and  rubies,  a  pix 
of  gold  adorned  with  pearls,  two  phials  of  silver, 
the  one  gilt  and  the  other  plain,  and  his  "  grand 
chapel,"  or  grandest  vestments  used  in  his  private 
chapel,  namely,  a  chasuble  of  red  samite,  a  choir 
cope  of  red  samite,  a  tunicle,  a  dalmatic  of  yellow 
taffeta,  well  worked,  an  alb  with  apparels,  an 
amice  and  a  stole,  a  fanon  or  maniple,  with  towels, 
and  all  his  relics,  t  Moreover,  for  the  further 
support  of  the  house  he  assigned  1000  ewes, 
300  rams,  48  oxen,  and  20  bulls. 

For  several  years  after  the  EarFs  death,  the 

♦  Enrolled  on  the  backs  of  M.  8,  Close  Roll,  9  Henry  III.,  pt. 
I ;  M.  19,  ibid.,  pt.  2. 

t  Excerpta  Historica :  Illustrations  of  English  History^  by 
Samuel  Bentley. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     221 

monks  lived  on  the  Gloucestershire  manor,  but 
whether  not  remote  enough,  or  unhealthy,  or  for 
some  other  reason,  the  place  could  not  supply  the 
requisites  of  their  Order.  Upon  representing 
their  case  to  the  widowed  Countess,  she,  wishing, 
by  the  intuition  of  God — to  use  her  own  expres- 
sion in  her  charter — to  accomplish  what  her 
husband  had  well  begun,  gave  them  in  exchange 
the  whole  of  her  manor  of  Hinton,  with  the 
advowson  of  the  church  and  the  park,  and  all 
the  other  appurtenances,  and  likewise  all  her 
manor  of  Norton  (Norton  St.  Philip),  with  the 
advowson  of  the  church,  reserving  to  herself  and 
her  heirs,  however,  all  the  military  services  due 
to  her  from  her  tenants  in  both  places.  On  the 
last  point  she  made  one  exception  ;  Richard  the 
Parker  held  one  virgate  of  land  in  Hinton  by  the 
service  of  park-keeper,  or  by  military  service, 
which  he  and  his  heirs  were  henceforward  to 
discharge  to  the  monks.  She  retained  to  herself 
and  her  heirs  also  the  beasts  of  chase  which  were 
without  the  bounds  of  the  manors.  Ela's  charter 
for  this  grant,  which  we  give  at  the  end  of  the 
chapter,  was  confirmed  by  Henry  III.  in  a.d. 
1227,  so  it  may  be  presumed  that  about  that  date 


222     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  monks  began  to  build  the  new  Locus  Dei  at 
Hinton.  The  dedication  of  the  monastery  was 
*'in  honour  of  God  and  the  Blessed  Mary,  and  St. 
John  the  Baptist  and  all  saints."  Although  not 
within  Selwood,  the  second  Charterhouse  was  not 
many  miles  from  the  Witham  Priory,  and  like  it, 
was  situated  amidst  well-wooded  and  undulating 
ground,  but  unlike  it,  was  built  on  the  brow  of  a 
hill,  instead  of  on  more  level  ground  below ;  a 
little  way  off,  the  river  Frome  flowed  on  its 
course  to  join  the  Avon,  and  no  doubt  its  waters 
were  serviceable  to  the  monks. 

Some  years  passed  after  the  dedication  of 
the  house  by  Ela  in  a.d.  1232,  and  Henry  III. 
granted*""  to  the  religious  at  Hinton  in  a.d.  1239 
all  the  liberties  and  free  customs  that  his  grand- 
father had  conceded  to  the  monks  of  Witham, 
as  well  those  concerning  the  election  of  their 
priors  as  those  attached  to  the  possession  of  their 
estates  and  freedom  from  certain  dues.  An 
earlier  royal  charter  had  also  been  issued  allowing 
them  or  their  servants  to  buy  the  necessaries  of 


*  Rot.  Cart,  24  Henry  III.,  m.  i,  dated  Westminster,  September 
7th.  For  the  liberties  granted  to  Hinton  on  this  occasion  vide  the 
Witham  charter  of  foundation. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     223 

their  convent,  and  to  sell  their  cattle  and  other 
saleable  goods  throughout  the  kingdom  free  of 
toll  and  any  other  custom."^  In  a.d.  1245  they 
received  concessions  of  another  kind  from  Pope 
Innocent  IV.t  "Lest  any  one,"  he  said,  "dare 
within  your  boundaries  to  seize  a  man,  commit 
theft  or  rapine,  kindle  fire,  slay  a  man,  or  molest 
those  going  to  and  coming  from  your  house,  no 
religious  may  erect  any  building  or  acquire  any 
possessions  within  half  a  league  of  the  lands  you 
hold."  No  one  was  to  presume  to  extort  from 
them  tenths  for  fallow  ground,  young  crops,  or 
food  for  their  live  stock.  Their  priests  were 
to  be  ordained  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
provided  he  did  it  freely  and  without  dishonesty, 
otherwise  they  might  go  to  any  Catholic  prelate 
whom  they  preferred.  Moreover,  no  bishop  or 
other  person  was  to  compel  them  to  go  to  any 
synod  or  strange  convent,  or  to  subject  them  to 
any  secular  judgment  concerning  their  sub- 
stance and  possessions,  nor  unsummoned  was  to 
presume  to  come  to  their  house  to  treat  of  the 

*  Rot.  Cart.,  21  Henry  III.,  No.  5,  dated  Westminster,  7th  June, 
t  Excerpts  from  the  Register  of  the  Diocese  of  Bath  and  Wells 
in  Harl.  MSS.,  No.  6965,  f.  162. 


224     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

affairs  of  the  Order  or  to  convoke  any  public 
meetings. 

After  this  bull  Hinton  Charterhouse  must  have 
been  fully  established. 

The  Charter  of  Foundation  granted  by  Ela, 
Countess  of  Salisbury. 

[Rot.  Cart.  12  Henry  III.  m.  4.  **  Given  by  the  hand  of  the 
venerable  father,  R.  bishop  of  Chichester,  our  chancellor 
at  Merwett,  (?)  25th  May."] 

**  Universis  sanctae  matris  ecclesiae  filiis  ad 
quos  praesens  scriptum  pervenerit,  Ela  comitissa 
Sarr'  in  Domino  salutem.  Noverit  universitas 
vestra  quod  dominus  meus  quondam  maritus 
Willielmus  Longespee  Comes  Sarr'  volens  con- 
struere  domum  ordinis  Chartusiae,  per  assensum 
meum    et     bonam    voluntatem,    donavit    ordini 

Chartusiae  manerium  de  Athercop  in et 

boscum  suum  de  Bradene  cum  integritate  sua,  et 
terram  de  Chelewurth  quam  habuit  ex  dono 
Henrici  Basset,  ut  ibi  manerent  tam  monachi 
quam  fratres  ad  serviendum  Deo  imperpetuum 
secundum  consuetudinem  et  ordinem  Chartus'. 
Set  quia  monachi  et  fratres  ad  locum  ipsum 
destinati  licet  stetissent  ibi  per  plures  annos  non 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      225 

potuerunt  invenire  in  praedictis  tenementis  locum 
ordini  suo  competentem,  ego  volens  intuitu  Dei 
perficere  quod  praedictus  maritus  meus  bene 
inceperat,  in  ligia  potestate  et  viduitate  mea  post 
mortem  ipsius,  et  pro  anima  ipsius,  et  pro  anima 
Comitis  Willielmi  patris  mei,  et  pro  salute  mea  et 
puerorum  meorum,  et  pro  animabus  omnium 
antecessorum  et  haeredum  meorum,  donavi  et 
concessi  et  hac  carta  mea  confirmavi  ordini 
Chartusiae  in  escambium  praedictorum  tenemen- 
torum,  totum  manerium  meum  de  Henton  cum 
advocatione  ecclesiae  et  parco  et  omnibus  aliis 
pertinentiis  suis  sine  ullo  retinemento  inde  michi 
et  haeredibus  meis :  et  similiter  totum  manerium 
meum  de  Norton  cum  advocatione  ecclesiae  et 
omnibus  aliis  pertinentiis  suis  sine  ullo  retine- 
mento michi  et  haeredibus  meis  ;  reservatis  tamen 
mihi  et  haeredibus  meis  serviciis  militaribus 
omnium  illorum  qui  de  me  tenent  in  praedictis 
maneriis  per  servicium  militare  ;  excepto  servicio 
Ricardi  parcarii  et  haeredum  suorum  de  j  virgata 
terrae  quam  tenet  in  Henton,  quod  servicium 
pertinebit  in  perpetuum  ad  praedictos  monachos 
et  fratres,  sive  praedictus  Ricardus  defendat  prae- 
dictum  virgatam  terrae  per  custodiam  parci  vel 


226      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

per  servicium  militare ;  et  etiam  salvis  michi  et 
haeredlbus  meis  kaciis  forinsecis,  quae  sunt  extra 
terminos  praedlctorum  maneriorum ;  Ad  fundan- 
dam,  construendam  et  in  perpetuum  sustentandam 
quandam  domum  ordlnis  Chartusiae,  in  honore 
Dei  et  Beatae  Mariae  et  Sancti  Johannis 
Baptistae  et  Omnium  Sactorum  in  parco  de 
Henton,  in  loco  qui  vocatur  Locus  Dei.  Ha- 
bendum et  Tenendum  in  puram  et  perpetuam 
elemosinam  monachis  et  fratris  ibidem  Deo 
servientibus  secundum  consuetudinem  et  ordinem 
ecclesiae  Chartusiae.  Et  ego  et  haeredes  mei 
warantizabimus  praedictis  monachis  et  fratribus 
praedicta  tenementa,  cum  pertinentiis  contra 
omnes  gentes,  et  defendemus  eos  de  omnibus 
serviciis  et  consuetudinibus  et  secularibus  de- 
mandis ;  et  ut  haec  donatio,  concessio,  et  confir- 
matio  mea  rata  et  stabilis  imperpetuum  permaneat, 
eam  praesentis  scripti  testimonio,  et  sigilli  mei 
impressione  corroboravi.  Hiis  testibus  domino 
Joscelino  Bathonensi,  episcopo,  domino  R.  Sarr', 
episcopo,  magistro  Edmundo  de  Abendon,  thes- 
aurario  Sarr',  magistro  Elia  de  Derham,  canonico 
Sarr',  Reginaldo  de  .  .  .  .  tunc  vie.  Wiltesir', 
Barth      de     Turbervill,     Willielmo     Gereberd, 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      227 

Waltero  de  Pavily,  Johanne  Gereberd,  Baldwino 
filio  Willielmi  tunc  senescallo  comitis  Sarr, 
Michaele  de  Cheldrinton,  Willielmo  de  Burneford, 
Nicholao  de  Hedinton,  clerico,  Rogero  Lond  .  .  . 
.  .   .  [et]  aliis.*^ 

*  The  Roll  recording  this  grant  is  torn  where  the  above  gaps 
occur.  Hinton,  it  will  be  observed,  is  spelt  Henton,  which  was  the 
more  usual  mediseval  form  of  the  word.  Unless  quoting  from 
original  MSS.  we  have  preferred  to  use  the  modern  spelling  in  the 
following  pages. 


22  8     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 


CHAPTER  II 
A  LONG  CARTHUSIAN  SABBATH 

**  Conrad.  For  He  who  feeds  the  ravens  promiseth 
Our  bread  and  water  sure,  and  leads  us  on 
By  peaceful  streams  in  pastures  green  to  lie, 
Beneath  our  Shepherd's  eye." 

—The  Saint's  Tragedy. 

|ROM  the  day  that  this  second 
Carthusian  brotherhood  were 
installed  at  Hinton  until  the 
middle  of  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  they  may  be  said  to  have 
enjoyed — to  speak  after  the  fashion  of  a  foreign 
member  of  their  Order — one  long  **  Sabbath," 
an  unbroken  **  sanctified  rest,"  during  which 
generation  after  generation  of  monks  adopted 
their  stern  *'  religion."^'  For  that  period  of  nearly 
three  hundred  years,  the  documents  extant  con- 
cerning them,  those  referring  to  two  or  three  law- 

*  Heading  to   chapter  ii.,   in   the    preceding  account   of   the 
Witham  Charterhouse. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     229 

suits  excepted,  are  merely  records  of  a  peaceful 
acquisition  of  property  and  privileges,  and  of  an 
uninterrupted  tenure  of  the  same.  Indeed,  Car- 
thusians lived  so  retired,  aad  concerned  them- 
selves so  little  with  the  existence  of  those  without 
their  walls,  that  usually  there  was  little  occasion 
for  the  disturbance  of  their  solitude  ;  but  now  and 
again,  perhaps,  some  grant  would  be  made  to  the 
prejudice  of  some  other  party,  naturally  affording 
ground  for  litigation. 

Originating  in  a  cause  such  as  that  last  men- 
tioned may  be,  in  a.d.  1240  a  claim  was  raised 
by  Robert  of  Norton  and  Mary  his  wife  against 
the  Prior  of  Hinton  for  seven  acres  of  land,  with 
their  appurtenances,  at  Meleham  (Mileham),  in 
Norfolk.  In  so  distant  a  county  it  seems  rather 
strange  that  the  Priory  should  have  had  posses- 
sions, and  we  find  no  account  as  to  how  or  when 
it  came  by  them,  nor  is  there  any  reference  made 
to  them  again.  The  claimants'  pretensions  were 
that  the  land  belonged  to  Mary,  having  come  to 
her  through  her  former  husband,  William  Fitz 
Alan  of  Meleham.  The  case  came  on  at  Oxford, 
and  the  Prior  appearing  neither  in  person  nor  by 
attorney,  was  amerced   for   his  default,   and  the 


230     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

judgment  was  awarded  in   favour  of  Robert  of 
Norton."^ 

The  next  two  suits,  the  first  in  a.d.  1246,  during 
the  Octave  of  St.  Michael  at  Bedford,  and  the 
second  in  a.d.  1248,  in  the  Quinzaine  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  at  Ivelcestre  or  Ilchester,  are  pro- 
bably fictitious.  The  former  was  between  Prior 
Robert  of  Hinton,  plaintiff,  and  Philip,  Abbot  of 
Bordele  (Bordsley,  Worcestershire),  deforciant,  of 
one  carucate  and  forty  acres  of  land  in  Chyweton 
and  Whytenhull  (Whitnel,  a  hamlet  near  Wells). 
The  matter  was  settled  by  a  final  concord,  in 
which  the  Abbot  acknowledged  the  Prior's  right, 
as  being  of  his  gift,  to  hold  the  land  of  the  chief 
lord  of  the  fee,  for  which  the  Prior  gave  the  Abbot 
half  a  mark.  The  second  case  was  between 
Robert  de  la  Dune  and  Agatha  his  wife,  plain- 
tiffs, and  the  same  Prior  Robert,  deforciant,  of 
seven  acres  of  land  in  Norton.  The  Prior  finally 
acknowledged  the  right  of  Robert  and  Agatha  to 
hold  it  of  him  by  virtue  of  a  deed  by  which  he 

*  Placitorwji  Abbreviation  p.  ii8.  To  be  ajnerced  is  to  be  pun- 
ished by  a  pecuniary  penalty,  not  fixed  by  law,  but  appointed  at 
the  discretion  of  the  court.  An  amercefneni  differs  from  a  ^ne  in 
that  the  latter  is  a  definite  sum  prescribed  by  statute  for  the  ofifence 
committed. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      231 

had  conveyed  it  to  them  for  a  pound  of  wax 
to  be  paid  yearly  at  the  Feast  of  St.  Leonard, 
warranting  it  to  them  and  to  the  heirs  of  Agatha 
against  all  men.  In  return  for  this,  Robert  and 
his  wife  quit-claimed  their  right  to  common  of 
pasture  in  the  Prior's  lands  in  Hinton  and 
Norton.'"^ 

Rather  curiously,  considering  the  nature  of  the 
Carthusian  Order,  not  many  years  after  the  fore- 
going incidents  there  was  issued  to  the  monks 
of  Hinton  the  first  of  several  licences  granted 
to  them  at  different  times,  wherein  we  see  them 
connected  with  the  very  secular  though  neces- 
sary occupation  of  trading.  In  a.d.  1254  they 
secured  from  Henry  III.  a  charter  for  a  fair  to 
be  held  yearly  on  their  manor  of  Norton  during 
three  days,  that  is,  on  the  vigil,  on  the  day,  and 
on  the  morrow  of  the  Feast  of  SS.  Philip  and 
James,  with  all  *'the  liberties  and  customs  be- 
longing to  that  kind  of  fair."t  Under  the  same 
reign  also  they  had  a  licence  for  a  similar  fair 

♦  Somerset.  Pedes  Finium^  31  Henry  III.,  No.  15,  and  33  Henry 
III.,  No.  25. 

t  Rot.  Cart.,  39  Henry  III.,  No.  6,  dated  at  Merton,  April  5th 
and  confirmed  by  Cart.  22  Edward  I.,  No.  48,  dated  at  West- 
minster, November  24th. 


232     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

at  Hinton  during  the  festival  of  the  Beheading 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  the  days  imme- 
diately before  and  after.  The  customs  men- 
tioned above  were  the  market  tolls,  including  in 
this  case,  as  the  Prior  of  Hinton  owned  the 
soil,  stallage,  the  price  for  permission  to  erect 
stalls,  and  to  keep  open  any  house  of  business 
in  the  vicinity  and  during  the  term  of  the  fair, 
and  picage,  the  price  for  making  holes  in  the 
ground  for  posts.  To  the  Charterhouse  also 
would  be  due  the  tolls  proper  to  fairs  paid  by 
the  vendee,  who  in  return  received  from  the 
market-clerk  "^  a  record  of  the  payment  as  an 
attestation  of  the  genuineness  of  his  purchases. 
Now  as  the  owners  of  fairs  had  the  monopoly 
of  the  trade  for  the  time  being  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, it  may  be  imagined  that,  convenient 
institutions  as  that  mode  of  buying  and  selling 
may  have  been  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  it 
was  not  always  to  the  advantage  of  the  regular 
tradesmen  living  near,  who  did  not  or  could 
not  pay  stallage,  and  were  therefore  liable  to 
the  enforced  closing  of  their  shops  ;  thus  disputes 

*  Owing  to  their  exclusion  from  secular  business,  the  Carthu- 
sians would  probably  have  that  officer. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     233 

were  likely  to  arise,  and  especially  where  the 
terms  of  one  fair  clashed  with  those  of  an- 
other, as  was  the  case  at  Hinton.  For  among 
the  Hundred  Rolls  an  inquisition  is  recorded 
as  taken  at  Bath  in  a.d.  1273,  upon  a  complaint 
from  the  citizens  that  they  received  yearly  los. 
damage,  in  consequence  of  the  fair  at  Hinton 
being  held  on  the  same  day  (the  Beheading  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist)  as  that  granted  to  them- 
selves, and,  moreover,  in  a  place  only  three 
leagues  from  that  city.  Whether  the  people 
of  Bath  were  satisfied  in  any  way  for  their 
annual  loss  or  not,  the  Priors  of  Hinton  were 
permitted  to  hold  the  fair  at  Hinton  without 
alteration  in  its  time  down  to  a.d.  1345.  It  was 
held  in  some  space  near  the  church ;  a  natural 
consequence  of  this  fact  was  that  the  noises, 
the  shouts  of  buyers  and  sellers,  and  **  the 
insolence "  of  the  men  resorting  to  the  fair 
disturbed  the  divine  services  in  that  church. 
Wherefore,  at  their  own  request,  in  that  year 
Edward  III.  granted,  so  that  his  "beloved  in 
Christ,  the  Prior  and  convent  of  that  place," 
should  not  be  hindered  in  their  devotions,  in 
lieu  of  the  fair  at  Hinton,  that  they  might  hold 


234     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

another  yearly  at  Norton  on  the  day  of  the 
Beheading  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  for  the 
two  days  preceding.  As  for  the  original  fair  at 
Norton,  in  the  next  year  its  days  of  duration, 
for  some  reason  not  mentioned,  were  allowed 
to  be  changed  from  the  eve  and  the  morrow  of 
SS.  Philip  and  James  to  the  day  of  the  festival 
itself  and  the  two  days  preceding ;  and  in  a.d. 
1 35 1  the  monks  were  permitted  to  extend  it  to 
five  days,  which  were  the  eve  and  the  feast  of 
SS.  Philip  and  James,  and  the  three  days  pre- 
ceding. But  besides  the  fair  at  Norton,  in  a.d. 
1345  a  weekly  open  market,  to  be  held  there 
on  Tuesdays,  had  been  granted  to  the  Prior  and 
convent,  though,  in  spite  of  their  experience  at 
Hinton,  its  site  was  a  certain  empty  space  near 
the  west  end  of  the  church.  No  mention  in  the 
charter  conferring  this  licence  is  made  of  that 
given  earlier  by  Edward  I.,  by  which  they 
might  hold  a  market  there  every  Friday ;  so 
that  apparently  there  were  two  markets  a  week 
at  Norton,  as  the  last  mentioned  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  cancelled.* 

♦  The   Hufidred  Rolls^   vol.    ii.    pp.    120-132 ;    Rot.  Cart.,   19 
Edward  III.,  No.  5,  dated  at  Westminster,  23rd  October  ;  Rot. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      235 

But  besides  the  right  of  holding  fairs  on  their 
manors,  the  Priors  of  the  Charterhouse  had  other 
privileges  there.  In  a.d.  1258  Henry  III.  granted 
free  warren  in  all  their  demesne  lands  in  Hinton 
and  Norton  to  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Locus 
Dei  and  to  their  successors,  so  that  none  without 
their  consent  and  will  might  enter  their  grounds 
to  course  or  catch  anything."^'  Other  privileges 
are  mentioned  in  the  inquisition  t  of  a.d.  1275, 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made.  The 
Prior,  as  well  as  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  who  had 
property  in  the  neighbourhood,  was  wont  to  hold 
the  assize  of  the  beer  of  Hinton  and  Norton, 
and  had  the  right  of  erecting  gallows  at  both 
places.  On  the  same  occasion  the  witnesses  said 
that  the  Prior,  to  the  loss  of  i2d.  yearly  to 
the  king,  abstained  from  attending  the  hundred 
court  of  La  Berton,  to  which  he  ought  to  be 
liable  for  the  land  of  Rodcombe,  but  according 
to  the  charter   of  liberties    granted    to    Hinton 


Cart.,  17  Edward  III.,  No.  22,  dated  at  Westminster,  i8th  May  ; 
Rot.  Cart.,  20  Edward  III.,  No.  23,  dated  at  Westminster,  24th 
November;  Rot.  Cart.,  25  Edward  III.,  No.  10,  dated  at  West- 
minster, 1st  May. 

*  Rot.  Cart.,  43  Henry  III.,  m.  i. 

f  Hundred  Rolls ^  vol.  ii.  p.  138. 


236     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Charterhouse  in  a.d.  1239,  he  was  exempt  from 
such  courts. 

In  A.D.  1279,  in  the  third  week  after  St. 
Martin's  Day,  the  Prior  had  by  attorney  to 
account  for  his  claim  to  the  view  of  frank- 
pledge, the  right  of  hanging,  and  of  condemning 
transgressors  to  the  punishment  of  the  tumbrel 
or  ducking-stool,  both  at  Hinton  and  Norton. 
According  to  the  witnesses,  the  Countess  of 
Salisbury  and  all  her  ancestors  had  enjoyed 
these  liberties,  and  that  after  she  had  bestowed 
the  manors  with  the  rights  appertaining  to 
them  to  the  Charterhouse,  the  Priors  until  this 
date  had  likewise  enjoyed  them.  Therefore 
the  judgment  was  given  in  favour  of  the 
monks.* 

The  Charterhouse,  however,  would  receive 
more  tangible  profit  from  the  lands  which  mean- 
while, and  at  intervals  afterwards,  various  bene- 
factors gave  up  to  it.  At  Westminster,  in  the 
Octave  of  Trinity  a.d.  1273,  a  finet  was  drawn 
between  Peter,  Prior  of  Hinton,  and  Henry  de 
Montfort  for  a  messuage  and  one  bovate  of  land 

*  Placiia  quo  Warranto^  p.  700. 

t  Pedes  Finium,  i  Edward  I.,  No.  2. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     237 

in  Iford ;  this  De  Montfort  acknowledged  as 
belonging,  by  his  gift  in  frankalmoigne,  to  the 
Prior  and  his  church  of  St.  Mary  and  St.  John 
the  Baptist  of  Hinton, — the  Priory  church,  not 
the  parish  church,  being  meant ;  in  return  the 
Prior  received  him  and  his  heirs  into  all  future 
benefits  and  orisons  in  his  church  for  ever. 
Again,  for  the  same  grace  from  Prior  Peter,  two 
years  later,  Henry  de  Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and 
Margaret  his  wife,  conveyed  by  fine,  dated  at 
Westminster  in  the  quinzaine  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  one  knight's  fee  in  "Henton-Chartus"  and 
Norton.  This  property  the  convent  seem  to  have 
let,  for  in  a.d.  1288  an  inquisition  was  taken  pre- 
paratory to  the  royal  licence  for  Richard  de  Dan- 
tesy  to  assign  to  the  community  a  messuage  and 
a  carucate  of  land  with  appurtenances  in  Norton, 
which  he  held  of  them  in  capite  by  military  ser- 
vice, the  whole  being  worth  eight  marks  a  year. 
The  Prior  and  convent  had  had  the  messuage  and 
lands  and  its  service  in  pure  and  perpetual  alms 
from  Henry  de  Lacy  and  his  wife  Margaret,  as 
of  her  heritage  by  fine,"^  levied  between  the 
two   parties   before  the   passing    of  the    Statute 

♦  Pedes  Finium  for  Somerset,  3  Edward  I.,  No.  10. 


238     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  Westminster."^^  A  few  months  later  the  licence 
was  granted  by  letters  patent  to  Dantesy  thus 
to  return  the  property.t  Some  time  afterwards, 
land  in  Hinton,  Norton,  and  I  ford,  bestowed 
on  the  Charterhouse  by  the  same  Earl  and 
his  wife,  comes  into  question  again.  William, 
the  son  of  John  the  Parker,  and  probably  the 
grandson  of  Richard  the  Parker,  spoken  of  in 
the  Countess  of  Salisbury's  charter  of  foundation, 
had  held  of  the  monks  25^^  acres  of  land,  6 
acres  of  pasture,  i5d.  rent,  and  half  an  acre 
of  meadow,  with  the  appurtenances,  lying  in 
Hinton  and  Norton,  which  were  worth  annually 
I  OS.,  and  for  which  the  only  service  he  per- 
formed was  to  take  care  of  the  Prior's  woods, 
freedom  from  suits  being  apparently  incident  to 
this  duty.J  The  Prior  and  convent  held  the 
estate  in  frankalmoigne  of  the  Earl  and  Countess 
of  Lincoln,  whose  lord  was  the  king.  William 
wishing  to  transfer  them   back  to  the  Charter- 


*  Passed  A.D.  1275  >  it  was  against  usury. 

+  Inquis.  post  mortem,  17  Edward  I.,  No.  34;  Rot.  Patent.,  17 
Edward  I.,  m.  5. 

I  Inquis.  post  mortem,  33  Edward  I.,  No.  256,  where  it  is  men- 
tioned he  was  never  sued  previous  to  this  donation,  on  account  of 
the  Hberty  of  the  Prior  and  convent. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     239 

house,  the  royal  licence  ^^  for  him  to  give  and  the 

monks  to  receive  them  was  issued  in  a.d.  1304, 

the    Prior   having,  on  his  part,  to  pay  into  the 

King's  treasury  four  marks  for  entering  into  these 

lay  tenements,  t 

At  that  very  date  Edward  I.  was  completing 

his  second  conquest  of  Scotland,  during  an  earlier 
period  of  which  he  had  written  from  Perth  the 
letters  quoted  in  the  first  part  of  this  book,  soli- 
citing the  prayers  of  both  the  Somerset  Carthu- 
sian communities.  The  same  war  had  occasioned 
the  muster  at  Carlisle  in  a.d.  1300,  to  which  the 
Prior  of  Hinton  had  been  summoned  under 
the  general  writ  to  perform  military  service 
against  the  Scots,  because  his  temporal  posses- 
sions, according  to  the  return  of  the  commis- 
sioners from  Somerset,  amounted  to  upwards 
of  ;^40  per  annum,  t  The  taxation  of  Pope 
Nicholas  somewhat  earlier  tallied  with  this 
estimate.  The  details  given  in  the  latter  are 
as  follows  : — 


*  Rot.  Patent.,  33  Edward  I.,  m.  2. 

t  Abbreviatio  Rotulorum  Originalium^  p.  142,  and  also  the  en- 
dorsement of  the  Inquisition. 

\  Parliamentary  Writs^  vol.  i.  p.  533. 


240     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

ARCHIDIACONATUS  WELLEN'. 
Decanatus  de  Frome. 

Bathon'  et  Wellen'  Temp'. 
Prior  de  Henton-Cartus'     .   jP^a^  lo     o    Chynton.* 
Prior  de  Henton-Cartus'     .     1200    Norton  Comitis.t 
Idem  Prior         .         .         .     24  15     o    Henton. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  the  only  other  document 
belonging  to  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  is  the  con- 
firmatory charter  t  in  a.d.  1293  of  the  right  to 
the  fairs  on  the  two  manors  and  of  all  the  other 
liberties  hitherto  granted  to  the  monks  of  Hinton. 
During  the  rule  of  his  son  they  twice  received 
gifts  of  lands  ;  the  first,  in  a.d.  1308,  consisted  of 
one  messuage,  one  carucate  of  land,  and  40s. 
rent,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  Hinton  and 
Norton  from  Stephen  Waz  ;  one  messuage,  twelve 
acres  of  land,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  the  same 
towns  from  Thomas  le  Cheseman,  and  one  messu- 
age, three  acres  of  meadow,  and  a  half  virgate  of 

*  Norton  Comitis,  Earl's  Norton,  is,  of  course,  merely  another 
name  for  Norton  St.  Philips,  as  having  once  belonged  to  the  Earls 
of  Salisbury. 

+  Chynton  is  perhaps  a  misreading  for  Chyuton,  that  is  Chewton, 
spelt  "Chyweton"  in  the  Feet  of  Fines ^  31  Henry  III.,  No.  15, 
quoted  earlier. 

\  Rot.  Cart.,  22  Edward  I.,  Nos.  47  and  48.      ' 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      241 

land,  with  the  appurtenances,  likewise  in  the  same 
towns,  from  John  Ganard.  The  licence  for  them 
to  accept  this  property  and  for  the  benefactors  to 
present  it  was  dated  at  Westminster,  6th  May,  **  by 
the  King  himself  at  the  instance  of  the  Earl  of  Lin- 
coln," doubtless  the  former  friend  of  the  Charter- 
house.* The  second  gift  t  was  really  for  the 
foundation  of  a  chantry  in  the  Priory  Church. 
The  Prior  of  Hinton  having  first  paid  a  fine  of 
20s.  to  the  king,  the  latter  granted  that  John 
Sobbury  and  Roger  de  Cumpton  might  give  and 
assign  six  acres  of  pasturage,  twelve  acres  of 
wood,  and  I2d.  rent,  with  the  appurtenances,  in 
Hinton  to  the  Prior  and  convent  of  that  place,  to 
hold  to  themselves  and  their  successors  for  ever, 
for  the  maintenance  of  a  chaplain  who  was  to 
perform  the  divine  services  daily  in  the  Priory 
Church  for  the  benefit  of  their  souls  and  the  souls 
of  their  ancestors,  and  of  all  the  faithful  dead  ; 
further,  that  John  Sobbury  and  Roger  de  Cumpton 
might  concede  fifteen  acres  of  land,  one  acre  of 
meadow,  seven  acres  of  pasturage,  also  at  Hinton, 
which  John  of  Ifford  and  Cecilia  his  wife,  and 

♦  Rot.  Patent.,  2  Edward  II,,  pt.  2,  m.  9. 

t  Rot.  Patent.,  16  Edward  II.,  m.  8,  dated  York,  30th  December. 

Q 


242     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

William  his  son,  and  Margery  the  sister  of 
William,  held  for  their  lives,  but  which  after  the 
death  of  these  four  tenants  ought  to  revert  to 
John  and  Roger,  to  remain  instead  upon  their 
death  to  the  Prior  and  convent,  in  support  of 
same  chantry  and  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  said 
persons.  This  was  in  a.d.  1322;  by  a.d.  1339 
the  necessary  deaths  had  taken  place,  and  the 
monks  procured  the  royal  permission  to  enter 
upon  the  land.*  Evidently  by  the  middle  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  II.  the  Hinton  Carthusians  were 
the  chief  landowners  of  their  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, for  in  A.D.  13 16  the  Prior  of  Hinton, 
pursuant  to  a  parliamentary  writ,  is  returned  as 
lord  of  the  townships  of  Hinton  Priors  with 
the  hamlet  of  Milford,  and  of  Norton  St.  Philip 
with  the  hamlet  of  Yatwich,  in  the  county  of 
Somerset.t 

A  legacy  of  a  small  sum  bequeathed  at  this 
period  must  not  be  passed  over :  one  of  the  items 
in  the  codicil  to  the  will  of  John  Hugh,  burgess 
of  Southampton,  runs  thus  : — **  Item,  I  will  that 


♦Rot.  Patent.,  13  Edward  III.,  pt  2,  m.  17,  dated  Kenyngton, 
17th  October. 
t  Parliamentary  Writs ^  voL  iii.  p.  376,  No,  12. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      243 

my  jerkin  and  cape  of  motley  be  sold  as  best  may 
be,  and  I  leave  of  the  money  thence  proceeding 
2S.  6d.  to  the  monks  of  Hinton  for  celebrating 
one  trental  for  my  soul,  and  the  rest  I  leave  to 
Agnes  my  wife."  ^^' 

The  Charterhouse,  meantime,  had  found  a 
higher  patron  in  the  king.  His  father  had  already 
granted  to  the  Priors  and  brethren  of  Witham 
and  Hinton  to  be  quit  throughout  the  kingdom 
for  ever  of  all  aids,  tallages,  contributions,  and  cus- 
toms whatsoever;  but  Edward  II.,  **out  of  his 
more  ample  grace,"  on  the  part  of  himself  and  of 
his  heirs,  exempted  their  temporal  and  spiritual 
goods  from  taxation,  although  those  of  other 
religious,  by  reason  of  any  concession  made  to 
the  sovereign  by  the  commonalty  or  clergy  of  the 
realm,  should  be  taxed,  t  But  the  letters  patent 
were  not  much  heeded  by  the  royal  ministers  and 
officers  of  the  revenue,  for,  in  spite  of  them,  they 
applied  to  the  Carthusians  for  the  payment  of 


■*  Madox,  Forjnulare  A7iglicanu7n^  No.  DCCLXXlll.  426.  The 
will  belongs  to  a.d.  1325.  A  trental,  often  called  "a  month's  mind," 
was  the  celebration  of  thirty  masses  for  the  soul  of  the  deceased 
for  a  month  after  his  death. 

t  Rot.  Patent.,  3  Edward  II.,  m.  22,  dated  Westminster,  8th 
February  a.d.  1309. 


244     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

taxes,  and  **  grievously "  caused  them  to  be  dis- 
trained, and  many  a  time  ** disquieted"  them  for 
contributions  and  tallages,  until  at  last,  twelve 
years  after  the  exemption,  the  Prior  and  convent 
of  both  places  complained  in  a.d.  132  i  to  the 
king,  who  issued  more  urgent  commands  to  the 
treasurer  and  barons  of  the  Exchequer  to  the 
same  effect,  with  the  further  injunction  to  restore 
forthwith  anything  belonging  to  the  monks  that 
might  have  been  seized  to  the  royal  use."*^ 
Whether  the  tax-gatherers  ceased  troubling  them 
or  not,  the  Carthusians  were  not  likely  to  have 
much  ready  money  if  they  followed  their  Rule,  and 
thus  in  A.D.  1 32 1,  upon  a  recent  Papal  exaction  of 
a  tenth  of  the  property  of  the  English  clergy,  of 
which  the  Roman  Pontiff  conceded  half  to  Edward 
III.,  the  latter  issued  his  permission t  that  the  reli- 
gious of  Hinton  might  pay  their  share  of  the  im- 
position, ;^7i,  by  degrees,  that  is  to  say,  ten  marks 
at  Michaelmas  and  ten  marks  at  Easter  every  year 
until  they  should  have  disbursed  the  full  sum. 
Later  on,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  his  reign,  Edward 


*  L.  T.  R.  Memoranda  Rolls,  15  Edward  II.,  Pasch.  rot.  m.  59. 
+  Rot.  Patent.,  5  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,m.  26,  dated  at  Lincoln,  21st 
of  July. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     245 

III.  altogether  remitted  to  the  Hinton  com- 
munity, for  himself  and  his  heirs,  the  payment 
of  tenths  or  any  other  imposition  levied  from 
the  clergy  of  England  by  any  Pope  or  other 
authority  of  the  Roman  Church."^  But  the 
monks  did  not  meet  with  the  same  leniency  in 
matters  of  taxation  from  the  king's  servants  as 
from  the  king  himself.  Perhaps  not  altogether 
with  disinterested  motives,  the  bailiffs,  ministers, 
and  men  of  diverse  towns  and  places  of  the 
country  **  stupidly  "  refused  their  discharge  from 
all  the  various  kinds  of  burthens  granted  by 
Edward's  predecessors,  and  to  avoid  transgress- 
ing the  letter  of  the  patents  exempting  the 
Charterhouse  from  payment  of  imposts,  while 
going  against  the  spirit  of  them,  hit  upon  the 
expedient  of  levying  the  customs  under  new 
names  from  the  Prior  and  convent  and  the 
conventual  property.  Once  more  the  brethren 
appealed  to  the  royal  patron,  with  the  conse- 
quence that  he  issued  in  a.d.  1345  a  charter 
confirming  the  former  exemptions,  and  forbidding 

*  Rot.  Cart.,  i  Henry  V.,  pt.  i,  No.  13,  makes  mention  of  this 
patent  of  Edward  1 1 1.,  which  was  dated  at  Northampton,  20th  July, 
and  confirms  it,  amongst  others. 


246     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

any  one  to  trouble  them  again  by  exactions,  how- 
ever much  it  might  be  thought  proper  to  levy 
the  usual  taxes  under  new  names.  "^^ 

Some  years  later,  the  Hinton  Carthusians  were 
annoyed,  for  other  reasons,  by  another  class  of 
men  in  the  royal  employ.t  The  Black  Death 
had  been  the  cause  of  difficulties  at  Witham  ; 
in  like  manner,  the  younger  community  did  not 
escape  from  its  influences.  The  plague  had 
indeed  carried  off  a  large  part  of  their  servants 
and  workmen ;  and  other  men,  some  of  them 
tenants  of  the  Charterhouse,  who  were  wont  to 
make  the  wool  from  the  conventual  sheep  into 
the  cloth  for  the  monks'  dresses,  and  to  do  other 
services  for  the  brethren,  after  the  passing  of 
the  Statute  of  Labourers,  for  fear  of  being  sued, 
dared  not  any  longer  work  for  them,  on  account 
of  the  large  salaries  and  rewards  that  their  reli- 
gious employers  thought  it  just  to  give  them. 
Some  of  them,  according  to  the  representations 
of  the    Prior   to   the   king,    had    been    brought 

*  Rot.  Cart,  19  Edward  III.,  No.  2,  dated  Westminster,  26th 
October. 

+  Rot.  Cart.,  i  Richard  II.,  No.  20,  supplies  the  materials  for  this 
paragraph,  where  it  quotes  two  grants  by  Edward  III.  in  A.D.  1355 
and  A.D.  1359. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      247 

before  the  justices  of  the  county  and  roughly 
treated  because  they  had  remained  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  monks.  As  shown  elsewhere,*^'* 
workmen  of  all  kinds  were  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  maintenance  of  a  Carthusian  establish- 
ment, whose  members  might  not  personally  go 
forth  to  seek  the  necessaries  of  the  household. 
Edward  fully  understood  this,  and  taking  the 
"pitiable  state"  of  the  monks  under  these  cir- 
cumstances into  consideration,  granted  that  they 
might  retain  in  their  service  whom  they  would 
of  their  tenants  for  whatsover  wages  were  agreed 
on  between  the  latter  and  themselves,  and  further 
that  neither  they  nor  those  whom  they  employed 
were  for  the  future  to  be  sued  for  any  fines  or 
forfeitures  due  to  the  crown  by  reason  of  the 
Statute  of  Labourers.  On  the  same  occasion 
licence  was  also  given  for  the  lay-brethren  and 
servants  of  Hinton  Charterhouse  to  trade  freely 
in  the  skins  of  the  beasts  of  the  convent  tanned 
on  the  premises,  or  in  other  skins  purposely 
bought  and  likewise  tanned  in  their  own  tannery. 
The  Prior  at  that  time  or  soon  after  was 
probably  John  Luscote,  in  whose  life  the  pestilence 

*  Chapter  iv.,  in  the  preceding  account  of  Witham  Charterhouse. 


248      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

may  be  reckoned  as  an  indirect  factor.  The 
story  of  the  foundation  of  the  third  and  most 
famous  Charterhouse  is  well  known  —  how  the 
Black  Death  worked  such  havoc  among  the 
people  of  London  that  there  was  difficulty  in 
burying  their  bodies ;  how  Ralph  Stratford, 
the  Bishop,  bought,  enclosed,  and  consecrated 
for  a  burial-ground  "No  man's  land,"  building 
a  chapel  on  it  for  funereal  services,  to  obviate 
the  difficulty ;  how  next  year,  following  his 
example.  Sir  Walter  Manny  bought  a  plot  of 
ground  adjoining,  and  caused  him  to  consecrate 
it  for  the  same  purpose,  thus  between  them  afford- 
ing the  resting-place  within  a  twelvemonth  for 
15,000  dead;  and  how  in  a.d.  1371  the  worthy 
knight  founded  in  that  place  the  Charterhouse 
of  the  Salutation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  as 
a  completion  of  his  pious  and  charitable  act. 
The  year  before,  no  doubt  in  contemplation  of 
Manny's  foundation,  which  may  then  have  been 
begun   to  be   built, ^  a  General  Chapter  of  the 

*  Dugdale  gives  a.d.  1371  as  the  date  of  the  foundation  of  the 
London  Charterhouse.  Father  Doreau  {Henry  VIII.  etles  Martyrs 
de  la  Chartreuse)  gives  the  year  before,  doubtless  because  the 
Chapter  of  a.d.  1370  appointed  Luscote  Rector  there  preliminary 
to  his  priorate. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      249 

Carthusian  Order  had  met,  and  had  constituted 
the  English  houses  into  a  separate  province  for 
the  first  time,  they  having  been  hitherto  visited 
by  French  Priors.  At  this  Chapter  John  Lus- 
cote,  who  had  been  Prior  of  Hinton  for  some 
time,  and  had  grown  weary  of  the  government 
of  his  brethren,  was  among  those  who  sought 
the  misericordia  or  discharge  from  office.  His 
superiors  granted  his  desire  as  regards  Hinton, 
but  while  there  his  capacity  for  ruling  and  his 
aptitude  for  business  had  probably  shown  them- 
selves, and  he  was  appointed  Visitor  to  the  new 
English  Province,  and  because  naturally  the  Rule 
could  not  exist  in  its  integrity  in  the  embryo 
Charterhouse  of  London,  being  appointed  its 
head,  he  received,  as  was  usual  in  such  cases, 
the  title  of  Rector.  However  much  Dom 
Luscote  yearned  for  the  seclusion  of  his  own 
cell,  he  put  his  heart  into  his  work,  and  looked 
after  the  completion  of  the  building.  As  soon 
as  the  Charterhouse  was  finished  he  was  in- 
stalled as  Prior ;  thereafter  for  nearly  thirty 
years  he  watched  over  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, receiving  his  discharge  at  last  not  from 
an  earthly  superior,  but  from  death  in  a.d.  1398. 


250     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Long  afterwards,  nearly  a  century,  in  fact,  the 
London  Carthusians  supplied  a  Prior  for  Hinton, 
and  once  again,  still  later,  a  Prior  of  Hinton  be- 
came head  of  the  house  in  Smithfield  ;  but  for 
the  present  we  must  leave  this  new  home  of 
St.  Bruno's  English  sons. 

By  the  charter  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury, 
the  Priors  of  Hinton  received  the  advowsons 
both  of  the  church  of  Hinton  and  of  Norton  ; 
but  apparently  they  afterwards  lost  them  through 
some  lapse,  or  parted  with  them  for  some  reason 
or  other.  Perhaps  the  possession  of  the  advow- 
sons was  more  trouble  than  they  were  worth  ; 
at  any  rate,  at  Hinton  there  were  quarrels 
between  the  convent  and  the  Rector,  which 
were  likely  enough  to  occur  at  Norton  also. 
In  A.D.  1262,  Joceline,  Bishop  of  Bath,  had 
had  to  settle  a  controversy  between  Gilbert  de 
Sarum,  Rector  of  the  church  of  Hinton,  and  the 
Prior  and  convent  about  three  virgates  of  land, 
with  their  appurtenances,  formerly  belonging  to 
the  church  demesne,  and  about  the  great  and 
small  tithes  issuing  from  the  demesne  of  the 
Charterhouse,  and  those  issuing  from  twelve 
virgates  of  land   in  the  villenage  of  the  monks. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      251 

By  way  of  satisfaction  to  both  parties,  it  was 
ordained  that  the  Prior  and  convent  should 
have  the  whole  of  the  demesne  land,  with  all 
its  appurtenances,  free  of  all  tithes  for  ever ; 
that  they  should  hold  in  perpetual  farm  the 
church  of  Hinton,  paying  fifteen  marks  yearly 
to  the  Rector  and  his  successors.  Also  they 
were  to  have  the  dwelling  once  attached  to 
the  rectory,  on  the  condition  that  they  first 
built  and  finished  a  house  for  the  use  of  the 
rectors  in  a  space  near  the  church  containing 
twenty  perches  in  length  and  eight  perches  in 
breadth.  The  Rector  and  his  successors,  on  the 
other  hand,  were  to  keep  this  house  in  repair 
at  their  own  expense,  and  also  the  chancel,  to 
supply  all  books,  ornaments,  and  other  neces- 
saries for  the  services  of  the  church,  and  sustain 
all  burdens,  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  contin- 
gent to  the  rectory.^  Not  a  hundred  years  after 
this  settlement,  the  advowson  of  the  church  at 
Hinton  was  held  by  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells  as  belong  to  the  See.  In  May  a.d.  1342, 
the  king  having  previously  licensed  Ralph 
Shrewsbury,   the  then   Bishop,  to  hand   it  over 

♦  HarL  MS.,  6965,  ff.  104,  105. 


252     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

to  Master  William  de  Littleton,  Precentor  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Andrews,  Wells,  to  hold  of  him  by 
the  service  appertaining,  granted  Littleton,  being 
then  in  peaceful  seizin  of  it,  to  concede  it  to  the 
Prior  and  brethren  of  Hinton."*^  The  next  step 
for  the  monks  to  gain  the  advowson  was  to  apply 
to  the  Bishop  for  his  permission  for  the  appro- 
priation.t  They  put  before  him  their  poverty, 
how  their  hilly  arable  lands  were  very  stony, 
how  their  water-mills  brought  them  in  slender 
profits,  how  certain  heavy  pensions  they  had  to 
pay  on  some  of  their  property  exceeded  its  real 
value,  and  how  their  possession  of  the  patronage 
of  Hinton  would  help  them.  The  episcopal  con- 
sent was  given  in  due  form  at  Ilchester  the  nth 
of  December  a.d.  1344.  By  it,  however,  a  yearly 
pension  of  6s.  8d.  was  reserved  to  the  use  of  the 
cathedral  of  Wells,  and  another  of  4od.  to  the 
Archdeacon  of  Wells,  instead  of  the  profits  which, 
during  a  vacancy,  would  have  gone  to  that  See 
before  the  possession  of  the  living  by  the  monks. 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  i6  Edward  III.,  pt.  i,m.  i6.  The  Church  of  St. 
Andrews  is  the  Cathedral. 

t  Harl.  MS.,  6966,  ff.  170-172.  The  church  in  the  Register 
is  called  the  Ecdesia  de  Henton  Monachorum^  either  in  considera- 
tion of  their  past  or  future  ownership  of  the  living. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     253 

At  the  same  time,  it  was  ordained  that  the  Vicar, 
as  the  parish  priest  of  Hinton  had  now  become, 
in  consequence  of  this  appropriation  of  the  living 
by  an  ecclesiastical  corporation,  should  have  all 
and  every  kind  of  the  small  tenths,  with  all  dues 
to  the  altar  from  the  crops,  and  all  oblations  be- 
longing to  the  church,  and  £4.  sterling  yearly 
from  the  Prior  and  convent,  and  for  fuel  two 
waggons  of  wood  or  3s.  sterling,  and  one  waggon 
of  straw  ;  that  the  religious,  at  their  own  expense, 
were  to  build  for  him  a  suitable  house  near  the 
church,  in  a  space  as  large  as  the  former  rectory, 
within  six  months,  the  expenses  for  the  repairs  of 
which  house,  as  well  as  all  ordinary  and  extraordi- 
nary burdens  contingent  to  the  living,  except  the 
tenths,  he  himself  was  to  pay  for  the  future  ;'^'  and 
also  that  they  were  to  rebuild  the  chancel,  and  find 
the  necessary  books  and  ornaments,  which  after- 
wards the  Vicar  must  supply.  As  for  the  choice 
of  a  Vicar,  the  Precentor  of  Wells  for  the  time 
being  was  to  nominate  two  proper  men,  of  whom 
the  Prior  and  convent  must  elect  one  for  the 
Bishop's  approbation.    , 

*  The  two  pensions  to  the  See  of  Wells  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
monks,  not  the  Vicar. 


254     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

On  the  same  day,  May  i6th,  a.d.  1347,  that 
Edward  III.  Hcensed  Master  Littleton  to  give 
the  advowson  of  Hinton  to  the  Charterhouse,  the 
king  issued  other  letters  patent  about  the  church 
of  Norton  St.  Philip  to  the  effect  that,  whereas, 
by  royal  permission,  Ralph,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  had  conceded  the  advowson  to  Walter 
Rodeney  in  exchange  for  eight  marks  rent,  with 
appurtenances  in  Woky  and  Westbury,  the  said 
Walter,  having  full  and  peaceful  seizin  thereof, 
might  assign  it  to  the  Carthusian  Prior  and  bre- 
thren of  Hinton,  and  that  the  latter  might  receive 
it,  paying  the  same  amount  of  rent  to  the  Bishop.''" 
For  some  reason  this  licence  took  no  effect,  and  in 
October  three  years  later,  another  was  granted  for 
the  Bishop  to  give  the  advowson  to  the  monks.t 
Yet  even  so  late  as  a.d.  1377  these  patents  were 
not  fully  carried  out.  At  that  date,  upon  request  of, 
and  upon  payment  of  one  mark  by,  the  Prior  and 
convent  of  Hinton,  the  king  gave  a  new  licence 
to  John,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  to  grant 
the  advowson  of  Norton  Church  to  John  de  la 
Mare  of  Nony  (Nunney),  Knight,  John  Panes  of 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  16  Edward  III.,  pt.  r,  m.  15. 
+  Rot.  Patent.,  19  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,  nu  2. 


NORTON   ST.    IMm.ll',    KXTKKKjK. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      255 

Wyk,  John  Bury,  parson  of  Whatele  (Whatley), 
and  Robert  Kayner,  parson  of  Lullington,  in 
exchange  for  the  manor  of  Wodewyk  and  its 
appurtenances,  so  that  these  persons  when  once 
in  possession  might  give  the  advowson  to  the 
Prior  and  brethren  afterwards."^'  Probably  after 
this  the  right  of  presentation  to  Norton  St. 
Philip  really  belonged  to  Hinton  Charterhouse  ;t 
but  as  for  the  manor  of  Wodewyk,  the  Bishop 
does  not  appear  to  have  had  seizin  of  it,  since  by 
a  mortmain  licence  bearing  date  July  21st,  a.d. 
1392,  we  learn  that  John  Panes  of  Wyk  still 
had  an  interest  in  it,t  though  neither  the  priests 
nor  the  knight  had  retained  theirs.     The  shares 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  51  Edward  III.,  pt.  i,  m.  30. 

t  In  his  History  of  Somerset,  Collinson,  bearing  in  mind  that 
there  was  some  connection  between  the  Charterhouse  and  Norton 
St.  Philip  Church,  says  that  in  the  south  aisle  of  the  latter  "lies 
the  effigy  of  one  of  the  religious  of  Hinton  Abbey,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  have  rebuilt  the  church  ;  her  hands  are  uplifted  in  a 
suppliant  posture  and  at  her  feet  there  is  a  dog."  In  this  state- 
ment he  makes  two  mistakes  ;  the  Charterhouse  never  was  from 
first  to  last  an  abbey  ;  the  religious  of  Hinton  were  certainly  not 
women.  Moreover,  this  figure  is  not  that  of  a  woman  at  all ; 
it  is  clad  in  a  close-fitting  and  rather  long  surtout,  with  the  hat  or 
cap  of  a  man,  and  is  furnished  with  a  knife  or  short  dagger  in  its  belt. 

\  Panes  and  the  other  owners  of  Wodewyk  perhaps  held  it  of 
the  Bishop,  as  by  Inquisition  of  i  Henry  V.  the  convent  of  Hinton 
held  it  of  the  then  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Walls,  as  part  of  his  manor 
of  Hampton. 


256     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  the  latter  were  then  held  by  two  other  clergy- 
men, Richard  Cook  and  John  Wodeford,  who 
with  Panes  received  permission  by  that  instru- 
ment to  transfer  the  manor  and  the  advowson 
of  its  church  to  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Hinton 
Charterhouse,  and  to  their  successors  for  ever."^ 
The  living  itself,  however,  was  not  appropriated 
to  the  monastery,  as  was  the  case  with  that  of 
Hinton,  for  there  was  still  a  Rector  of  Norton 
in  A.D.  I442.t 

Meantime  the  temporal  possessions  of  the  monks 
had  been  increasing.  In  return  for  prayers  and 
daily  masses  offered  up  in  the  Priory  Church 
for  the  king  and  for  himself,  both  during  life 
and  after  they  should  have  ''migrated  from 
this  light,"  John  Talbot,  on  the  grant  of  the 
usual  licence,  t  gave  them  two  messuages  with 
appurtenances  in  Bristol,  which  he  held  of  the 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  16  Richard  II.,  pt.  i,  m.  17. 

t  Vide  the  witnesses  in  Prior  Richard's  lease  of  that  date. 
The  value  of  the  Church  of  Norton  in  A.D.  1291  was  ;^io,  and  that 
of  Hinton  £().  9s.  3jd.  {Taxatio  P.  Nicolai). 

\  Rot.  Patent.,  33  Edward  III.,  pt.  ii.  m.  17,  dated  Westminster 
30th  July.  Talbot  held  the  property  in  "  free  burgage; "  burgage 
was  the  tenure  of  land  or  houses  in  a  borough,  equivalent  to  free 
socage  in  the  country  ;  socage  was  tenure  of  property  on  condition 
of  fixed  services,  especially  that  of  suit  to  the  lord's  court,  or  soken. 
(Bishop  Stubbs  :  Select  Charters.) 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      257 

Lady  Philippa,  queen  of  England,  for  the  term 
of  her  life,  and  after  her  death  of  the  Lord  King 
and  his  heirs,  in  chief  and  in  free  burgage,  for  the 
rent  of  3fd.,  their  value  being  i6s.  This  was 
in  A.D.  1359.  Three  years  later,  on  Ascension 
Day,  an  inquisition  ^  was  taken  at  Norton  St. 
Philip  preparatory  to  the  licence  granted  after- 
wards t  for  Giles,  parson  of  the  church  of  Norton 
St.  Philip,  to  give  two  messuages,  one  carucate 
of  land,  26s.  4d.  rent,  with  the  appurtenances, 
in  Zatewick  (Shapwick?)  and  Lullington ;  for 
John  Talbot  to  give  one  messuage,  twelve  acres 
of  land,  and  three  rods  of  meadow,  with  the  ap- 
purtenances, in  Norton  St.  Philip ;  for  William 
of  Farlegh  and  Agnes  his  wife  to  give  one 
messuage,  fifty  acres  of  land,  and  seven  acres  of 
meadow,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  Whoweford 

( ?)    and    Stanrewyk    (Standerwick) ;    for 

Master  Nicholas  de  I  ford  to  give  a  messuage, 
four  cottages,  and  one  carucate  of  land  with  ap- 
purtenances   in  Freshford  and   Wodewyk  ;  |   for 

♦  Inquis.  Post-mortem,  33  Edward  III.,  No.  65  (2nd  numbers). 

t  28th  June. 

X  In  the  patent  he  gives  five  messuages,  four  cottages,  a  mill, 
and  two  carucates  of  land  in  Freshford,  Wodewyk,  Overwestwode 
and  Netherwestwode,  Chyne  and  Anenchyne. 

R 


258      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Walter  de  Rodeney  '^''  to  give  his  manor  of  Pege- 
lynch,  and  one  carucate,  two  virgates  of  land, 
and  twelve  acres  of  meadow,  with  the  appurte- 
nances, in  Wodebarwe  (Woodbarrow),  Ekewyk 
(East- Wick),  and  Whittokesmede  (White  Ox- 
mead),  to  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Hinton,  to 
have  and  hold  for  ever  in  part  satisfaction  of  the 
lands  and  tenements  of  their  own  or  alien  fees, 
which  by  a  patent  t  of  March  7th  in  the  same 
year  they  were  allowed  to  acquire  to  the  amount 
of  ;^20  yearly,  and  by  another  to  the  amount  of 
;^ioo  yearly,  with  the  exception  of  tenements 
held  of  the  king  in  chief.  All  this  property  was 
held  of  various  persons  for  different  services, 
some  of  it  indeed  being  of  the  monks*  own  fee, 
and  were  altogether  worth  £2^^  per  annum\ 
They  did  not  enter  into  possession  of  it  imme- 
diately ;  on  November  20  a.d.  1374,  other  letters 
patent  §  were  issued  at  their  request,  that  the 
same  tenements  might  be  conceded  to  them  by 

*  In  the  patent  he  and  his  wife  Petronilla  give  three  carucates 
and  twelve  acres  of  meadow. 

t  Rot.  Patent,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  i,  m.  24. 

\  Inquis.  Post-mortem,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,  No.  60  (2nd 
numbers),  and  Rot.  Patent.,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,  m.  42. 

§  Rot.  Patent.,  48  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,  m.  49. 


NORTON   ST.    PHILIP,    INTERIOR. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     259 

John  de  la  Mare  of  Nunney,  Knight,  John  Panes 
of  Wyk,  Henry  of  Ford,  John  of  Bury,  parson 
of  the  church  of  Whateley,  William  of  West- 
bury,  parson  of  the  church  of  Rode,  and  Robert 
Kayner,  parson  of  the  church  of  Lullington,  then 
holding  them. 

A  portion  of  the  remainder  of  the  sum  of 
£2^,  to  which  the  purchase  of  lands  by  Hinton 
Charterhouse  was  limited,  was  supplied  also  in 
A.D.  1362  by  Giles,  the  parson  of  Norton  again, 
who  conceded  to  the  Prior  and  brethren  two 
messuages  and  twenty  acres  of  land  and  half 
an  acre  of  meadow,  with  appurtenances,  in 
Norton  St.  Philip,  of  the  value  of  eight  shil- 
lings per  annum,  that  he  had  held  of  them 
by  the  service  of  a  twentieth  part  of  a  knight's 
fee."' 

A  grace  of  a  different  nature  the  monks  of 
Hinton,  like  their  brothers  at  Witham,  received 
during  the  reign  of  Edward  III.;  this  was  an 
allowance  of  a  yearly  hogshead  of  wine,  to  be 
received  at  Bristol  from  the  royal  butler  for  the 
time  being  yearly  for  ever,  in  return  for  which 
they  were  to  pray  for  the  welfare  of  the  king, 

♦  Rot.  Patent.,  36  Edward  III.,  pt.  2,  m.  20. 


26o     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

and  of  Queen  Phillppa,  and  of  their  children  while 
living,  and  for  their  souls  when  dead,  and  the 
souls  of  the  king's  progenitors  sometime  kings 
of  England."^^  This  perpetual  gift,  made  ist 
November  a.d.  1363,  was  renewed  by  each  of 
the  successors  of  Edward  III.  as  regularly  as 
the  other  grants  by  charters  and  letters  patent 
were  confirmed. 

The  next  benefaction  to  Hinton  Priory  oc- 
curred under  Henry  IV.  In  a.d,  1407,  John 
Wyking  and  Isabella  Tanner,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  also  favoured  the  Carthusians  at  Witham, 
assigned  to  the  religious  at  Hinton,  after  the 
purchase  of  the  king's  licence  for  loos.,  two 
tofts,  thirty  acres  of  ground,  and  four  acres 
of  wood  with  the  appurtenances  in  Le  Hope 
and  Wells,  in  yearly  value  26s.  8d.,  which  they 
held  for  the  service  of  8^d.  annual  rent  of  John 
Soundenham  and  Agnes  his  wife,  and  of  William 
Nyer  and  Johanna  his  wife,  as  part  of  their 
manor  of  Milton:  the  latter  held  the  property 
of  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  as  belonging 
to  his  Church  of  St.  Andrews  of  Wells.  The 
purpose  of  the  donation  was  to  supply  a  lamp 
*  Rot.  Patent.,  37  Edward  III.,  pt  2,  m.  25. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      261 

to    be   burnt   always   at    high   mass    before   the 
high  altar  of  the  Priory  Church.'"' 

In  the  first  year  of  the  next  reign  the  monks 
received  land  for  the  last  time  from  private 
persons,  t  On  that  occasion  Walter  Hert,  clerk, 
assigned  to  them  a  messuage,  forty  acres  of  land, 
six  acres  of  meadow,  with  the  appurtenances,  in 
Freshford,  Somerset,  which  he  held  by  military 
service  of  themselves  as  of  their  manor  of 
Wodewyk,  which  they  held  of  Nicholas,  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  as  of  his  manor  of  Hampton,  for 
1 2d.  rent ;  also  4^  acres  of  wood,  and  one  acre  of 
pasturage,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  Westwood, 
Wiltshire,  which  he  held  of  the  Abbot  of  St. 
Swithin  s,  Winchester,  for  a  yearly  half-pound  of 
cinnamon  to  be  paid  at  Michaelmas.  Walter  Hert 
and  another  clerk,  John  atte  Water,  together  con- 
ceded a  messuage,  eleven  acres  of  land,  one  rod 
of  meadow  land,  with  the  appurtenances,  in  Fresh- 
ford,  which  was  to  revert  to  them  after  the  deaths 
of  William    Kees    of  Freshford    and   Agnes  his 

*  Inquis.  ad  quod  Damnum,  8  Henry  IV.,  No.  13  ;  Rot. 
Patent.,  9  Henry  IV.,  pt.  i,  m.  31,  dated  at  Westminster,  4th 
October. 

t  Rot.  Patent.,  i  Henry  V.,  pt.  4,  m.  33  ;  and  Inquis.  ad  quod 
Damnum,  i  Henry  V.,  Nos.  23,  24,  and  25. 


262      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

wife,  and  which  being  part  of  the  same  manor 
of  Wodewyk,  they  held  of  the  Prior  and  convent 
for  3s.  yearly  rent.  All  these  messuages,  lands, 
meadows,  pastures,  and  woods  were  worth  23s. 
per  annum. 

Besides  the  foregoing  there  is  one  more  re- 
cord^'" concerning  the  property  of  Hinton  Char- 
terhouse, this  being  the  confirmation  by  Henry 
VI.  in  A.D.  1442  of  a  lease  granted  by  the  Prior 
three  years  earlier.  By  his  *' indented  charter," 
as  the  deed  of  conveyance  is  called  in  the  king's 
letters  patent,  *'  Richard,  late  Prior  of  the  house 
of  the  Place  of  God  of  the  Carthusian  Order," 
let  to  John  Fortescue  and  Isabella  his  wife,  and 
Margery,  formerly  the  wife  of  John  Jamys  and 
the  mother  of  Isabella,  the  whole  messuage  in 
Philip's  Norton  in  which  Margery  then  lived, 
with  the  adjacent  yard  and  garden,  so  much  as 
was  enclosed  by  the  stone  wall,  along  with  the 
whole  messuage  and  its  adjoining  croft  and  gar- 
den, situated  at  the  southern  end  of  the  town,  and 
then  occupied  by  John  Boucher  at  the  Prior's  plea- 
sure ;   and  also  the  croft  **  called  Bennett's  croft," 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  21  Henry  VI.,  pt.  2,  m.  33,  dated  at  Westminster, 
1 2th  February. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      263 

and  four  acres  of  land  in  the  field  south  of  the  said 
town,  and  four  acres  in  the  field  to  the  north  of  it, 
according  to  the  bounds  of  the  said  eight  acres 
newly  set,  with  all  such  gates,  easements,  and 
common  of  pastures  as  the  conventual  tenants 
had  had  hitherto  at  the  Prior's  will ;  to  have  and 
hold  to  themselves  and  to  the  heirs  male  of  John 
Fortescue  and  Isabella  lawfully  begotten  for  ever 
for  the  yearly  rent  of  13s.  4d.,  to  be  paid  in 
equal  portions  at  Easter,  the  Nativity  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  Michaelmas,  and  Christmas ;  and  if 
John  and  Isabella  died  without  male  heirs,  all  the 
above  tenements  on  the  death  of  Margery  were 
to  return  to  the  Prior  and  his  successors.  In 
testimony  of  which  the  Prior  on  his  part  set  the 
convent  seal,  and  John  and  Isabella  and  Margery 
on  their  part  set  theirs ;  the  witnesses  being 
John  Long,  clerk.  Rector  of  Norton,  John  Wyste, 
Patrick  Tarmonger,  John  Troyes,  John  Fyssher, 
and  others,  the  deed  was  dated  in  the  Chapter- 
house of  Hinton,  Tuesday  next  after  the  Feast  of 
St.  Hilary,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  Henry  VI. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  donations  and  grants 
of  liberties  and  privileges,  somehow  the  monks 
had  not  grown  rich,  apparently  not  even  possess- 


264     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

ing  property  quite  sufficient  for  their  support. 
But  in  A.D.  1445  they  received  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  their  income.  Henry  H.  had  allowed 
fifty  marks  yearly,  half  the  amount  being  paid  at 
Easter  and  half  at  Michaelmas,  to  the  Grande 
Chartreuse,  the  Carthusian  house  over  the  sea 
in  Savoy,  as  the  patent  of  Henry  VI.  calls  it. 
Some  of  the  later  kings  granted  the  same  allow- 
ance by  their  letters  patent ;  but  the  parent  com- 
munity, taking  into  consideration  the  poverty  of 
the  Prior  and  convent  of  God's  Place  at  Hinton, 
restored  all  these  letters  through  their  Proctor  to 
the  king  to  be  cancelled,  to  the  intent  that  the  fifty 
marks  should  be  paid  yearly  to  the  last-named 
house,  instead  of  to  themselves.  Henry  VI.,  then, 
on  the  8th  of  November  a.d.  1444,  issued  letters 
patent  granting  the  same  sum  of  fifty  marks  to 
the  Prior  and  convent  of  Hinton,  **  existing  on 
his  patronage,"  and  to  their  successors  in  frank- 
almoigne.  That  is,  they  were  to  receive  ;^i4  at 
Easter  and  Michaelmas  in  equal  portions  from  the 
subsidy  and  alnage  of  cloths  sold  in  the  county  of 
Wilts  at  the  hands  of  the  farmers  and  occupiers 
for  the  time  being  of  the  said  subsidy  and  alnage, 
and  £g.  6s.  8d.  from  the  Prioress  of  Ambresbury 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      265 

from  the  issues  of  her  own  bailiwick  in  the  said 
county,  in  equal  portions  at  the  same  two  terms, 
and  the  remaining  £(^  from  William  Zouch  and 
his  heirs  from  the  farm  of  the  Hundred  of  Calne 
in  Wiltshire,  and  from  a  certain  mill  there,  during 
the  life  of  Sir  Walter  Hungerford,  but  after  his 
death  the  whole  sum  was  to  be  drawn  from  the 
subsidy  and  alnage  of  cloths  sold  in  the  county. 
For  some  reason  the  letters  patent  were  not 
valid,  and  the  Prior  of  Hinton  had  to  get  them 
cancelled  and  obtain  new  ones.  The  latter,  issued 
for  Prior  William  Marchall,  the  19th  July  next 
year,  granted  the  same  amount  in  the  following 
divisions: — £1^^  from  the  subsidy  and  alnage  of 
cloths  sold  in  Wiltshire  and  in  "  New  Sarum,"  to 
be  received  from  the  farmers  and  occupiers  at  the 
time  being  of  the  subsidy,  in  equal  portions  at 
Michaelmas  and  Easter ;  £\.  6s.  8d.  in  equal 
portions  at  Michaelmas  and  Easter  from  the 
Sheriff  of  Wilts;  and  £\^  from  the  fee-farm  of 
the  Hundred  of  Calne  in  Wilts,  and  from  a  certain 
water-mill,  with  its  appurtenances,  in  Calne,  at 
the  hands  of  Sir  William  la  Zouche  of  Totnes, 
and  his  heirs,  during  the  life  of  Sir  Walter 
Hungerford,  and  after  his  death  the  whole  sum 


266      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

was  to  be  received  from  the  alnage  of  cloth  sold 
in  Wiltshire. "*""  In  the  exceptions  to  the  Act  of 
Resumption  of  Henry  VI. t  in  a.d.  1450,  there  is 
a  special  mention  among  those  in  favour  of  *'  the 
Priour  and  Convent  of  the  house  of  the  place  of 
God  of  Henton  "  of  the  **  L.  marcs  to  be  takyn 
yerly  to  theym  and  to  zeir  successours  for  ever- 
more of  the  subsedie  and  awnage  of  sale  clothes 
in  the  counte  of  Wiltes,  and  in  the  towne  of  Newe 
Salysbury,"  as  also  of  the  annual  gifts  of  wine 
to  them  and  to  the  other  houses  of  the  Order, 
**  severally  graunted  "  of  the  king's  **almesse,  to 
be  takyn  and  had  by  ye  hondes  of  our  Boteler 
of  England  for  the  tyme  beynge."  Upon  the 
accession  of  Edward  IV.,  the  monks  had  the 
annuity  of  fifty  marks  once  more  assured  to  them 
by  new  patents  t  given  at  Westminster,  July 
20th,  A.D.  1 46 1,  13s.  4d.  being  paid  into  the 
treasury  for  the  re-issue  of  the  grant,  which  was 
made  to  the  then  Prior,  Dom  William  Hatherlee. 
In  the  preamble  we  learn  that  their  possessions 
had  greatly  fallen  into  decay,  and  that  much  of 

*  Rot.  Patent.,  24  Henry  VI.,  pt.  i,  m.  32. 
t  /^ol/s  of  Parliajnent^  vol.  v.  pp.  i86b,  304a. 
X  Rot.  Patent.,  i  Edward  IV.,  pt.  4,  m.  4. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     267 

the  yearly  value  of  their  property,  which  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  receive,  was  now  to  a 
great  extent  lost  to  them.  The  reasons  are  not 
given  ;  but  a  probable  cause  was  the  Wars  of  the 
Roses,  which  would  affect  even  the  Somerset 
Carthusians  more  or  less  directly  in  their  tem- 
poral welfare  by  impoverishing  their  tenants,  and 
in  other  ways  in  which  war  is  always  a  drag  on 
the  prosperity  of  individuals. 

Considering  that  at  this  period  the  minds  of  all 
ranks,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  of  the  nation, 
must  have  been  chiefly  occupied  by  the  continual 
strife  between  the  Houses  of  Lancaster  and  York, 
it  is  not  unnatural  to  find  after  this  date  no  record 
of  any  endowment  or  emolument  to  the  Charter- 
house until  years  later,  after  peace  had  been  long 
re-established,  and  very  shortly  before  the  peace 
of  all  English  monks  was  disturbed  for  ever. 

Meanwhile  the  life  of  the  religious  of  Hinton 
generation  after  generation  ran  on  in  the  grooves 
set  for  them  of  old  by  St.  Bruno  and  the  early 
Priors  of  the  Grande  Chartreuse,  and,  as  at 
Witham,  along  an  almost  hidden  way.  Before  the 
close  of  the  century  we  have  a  glimpse  of  two  of 


268     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  monks.  Of  these,  Dom  Edmund  Storer  or 
Storan  had  made  his  profession  in  the  London 
Charterhouse,  and  being  appointed  Prior  there  by 
a  General  Chapter  of  the  Order  in  a.d.  1469,  had 
ruled  his  brethren  till  a.d.  1477;  he  then  retired 
to  his  own  cell,  but  its  solitude  was  subsequently- 
interrupted  by  his  holding  the  same  office  at 
Hinton  for  a  time,  though,  when  his  death  took 
place  in  a.d.  1503,  he  had  been  spending  his  last 
days  once  more  in  perfect  seclusion  and  silence."^^ 
A  few  years  before  him,  perhaps  while  he  was 
Prior  there,  Dom  Stephen  of  Hinton  must  also 
have  died.  The  story  of  this  monk,  just  at  the 
period  where  modern  history  is  reckoned  to 
begin,  upon  the  eve  of  the  Reformation  seems 
almost  an  anachronism.  If  it  has  any  real  founda- 
tion, with  its  strange  savouring  of  the  mediaeval 
legend,  it  does  but  show  that  life  in  the  monas- 
tery, however  varied  by  incidents,  however  dif- 
ferent in  individual  cases,  is  spiritually  the  same, 
that  upon  certain  kinds  of  minds  in  all  ages  it 
must  produce  the  same  effect.  Dom  Stephen  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  an  ecstatic 
visionary,  like  many  a  religious  recluse  in  the 

*  Dom  Lawrence  Hendriks  :  TAe  London  Charterhouse. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      269 

centuries  before  him.  A  foreign  Carthusian, 
Petrus  Dorlandus,  living  about  the  same  time, 
gives  the  account  of  his  vision ;  the  author's 
language  is  somewhat  sensuous,  and  suggests  a 
meeting  between  some  mortal  with  a  goddess  in 
Greek  or  Roman  mythology,  rather  than  that 
of  a  holy  man  and  a  saint,  and  in  it  much  of  the 
simple  quaintly  pious  tone  of  the  earlier  Chris- 
tian legends  is  lacking ;  nevertheless  his  words 
show  how,  even  amid  the  din  of  arms  resound- 
ing through  the  England  outside  their  monastery 
walls,  it  was  still  possible  for  these  **  servitors 
of  the  celestial  court "  to  so  abstract  themselves 
from  all  secular  thoughts  as  to  be  haunted  by 
"  rich  ideals  ...  by  day  and  night,"  ^'^  until  these 
last  became  part  of  their  very  life.  Stephen,  the 
monk  of  Hinton,  was  in  fact  an  illustration  of  the 
words  Charles  Kingsley  puts  in  the  mouth  of 
Conrad,  the  monk  of  Marpurg  in  the  thirteenth 
century  : — 

**  Dost  thou  long 
For  some  rich  heart,  as  deep  in  love  as  weakness, 
Whose  wild  simplicity  sweet  heaven-born  instincts 
Alone  keep  sane  ?         .  .         . 

*  TAe  Satnfs  Tra^edy^  act  i.  scene  2. 


270      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

» ■     Then  go — 

Entangled  in  the  Magdalen's  tresses  lie ; 
Dream  hours  before  her  picture,  till  thy  lips 
Dare  to  approach  her  feet,  and  thou  shalt  start 
To  find  the  canvas  warm  with  life,  and  matter 
A  moment  transubstantiate  to  heaven."  * 

The  following  is  a  slightly  abridged  translation 
of  what  Dorlandus  says  in  his  Chronicle  of  the 
Carthusian  Order t  **of  the  admirable  Stephen" 
and  his  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Mary  Mag- 
dalene : — 

We  have  seen  a  house  in  England  near  to  the 
town  of  Hinton,  in  it  flourished  a  certain  monk 
of  rare  piety  named  Stephen ;  he  thought,  he 
slept,  he  dreamed  of  his  well-beloved,  and  was 
transported  in  spirit  to  the  top  of  a  very  beau- 
tiful mountain,  where  he  saw  a  garden  full  of 
roses  and  violets,  and  diapered  with  all  sorts  of 
fair  sweet-smelling  flowers,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
paradise  of  delights.  As  he  was  proceeding  to 
admire  the  place,  he  met  a  wondrously  beautiful 

■*  TAe  Sainfs  Tragedy^  act  i.  scene  2. 

t  Book  V.  chap.  vi.  The  author  in  this  part  of  his  work  is 
giving  anecdotes  of  the  different  houses  of  the  Order  illustrative 
of  the  sanctity  of  the  members.  For  the  date  of  Dom  Stephen's 
death  {atite  A.D.  1500)  vide  Add.  MSS.  Nos.  17092,  17085. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     271 

lady,  from  whose  face  streamed  forth  rays  of 
sunlight,  and  from  whose  head  the  hair  hung 
like  golden  glory.  Breathing  out  an  ambrosial 
odour,  she  shone  in  garments  of  silk  and  gold- 
wrought  fabrics,  that  set  forth  the  exceeding 
beauty  of  her  heavenly  figure ;  she  accosted  him 
with  **  God  keep  thee,  my  lover,  Stephen ! "  but 
he,  astonished  at  her  splendour,  threw  himself  at 
her  feet,  but  recognising  his  saintly  patroness, 
took  courage  to  speak  to  her. 

Stephen.  God  preserve  thee  also,  O  very  sweet 
among  women,  O  my  light,  O  heart  of  my  soul, 
O  fire  of  my  heart ! 

Magdalen.  I  know  thy  affection  very  well, 
Stephen  ;  but  what  wouldst  thou  of  me  ? 

Stephen.  That  I  may  be  like  that  Stephen  who, 
after  many  sins,  was  taken  back  into  favour.  As 
thou  hadst  pity  on  him,  kind  lady,  do  as  much 
for  me,  by  effacing  the  anger  and  indignation 
of  the  Great  Judge  towards  me,  and  restoring 
me  to  His  grace. 

Magdalen.   I  desire  this  with  all  my  heart. 

Stephen.  Go,  my  very  debonair  one,  to  the 
throne  of  His  grace,  for  thou  wilt  easily  obtain 
what  thou  prayest  in  my  behalf 


272     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Magdalen,  Thou  speakest  truly,  for  I  and  all 
the  saints  pray  the  Great  God  for  the  safety  of 
the  faithful. 

Stephen,  I  doubt  not  this,  my  holy  mother, 
but  since  I  love  thee  above  all  the  others, 
saving  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God,  honour  me, 
I  beseech  thee,  by  being  my  special  patroness. 

Magdalen,  Then  thou  deemest  me  the  most 
able  to  help  thee  with  the  Lord  ? 

Stephen.  Yea,  I  find  none  fitter,  save  the 
Sacred  Virgin. 

Magdalen,  What  thinkest  thou  of  the  other 
saints  ? 

Stephen.  I  think  well  of  every  one  of  them, 
but  thou,  my  beloved,  thou  art  my  safety,  my 
guardian,  my  mother,  my  patroness,  my  all ! 

Magdalen.  Why  hast  thou  chosen  me  for 
patroness,  among  so  many  saints  ? 

Stephen.  Because  thou  hast  pierced  my  heart, 
and  thy  love  has  been  praised  by  my  Lord's 
own  mouth,  since  He  became  the  consoler  of 
thy  soul,  thy  Brother,  thy  Spouse,  thy  Friend. 

Magdalen.   Hast  thou  any  other  reason  ? 

Stephen.  We  know  from  Holy  Scripture  thou 
wast  a   sinner,  and  having  washed  thy  sins    in 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      273 

thy  tears,  didst  throw  thyself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  emboldens  a  sinner  like  to  me  to 
ask  thy  favours. 

Magdalen.  Thy  wisdom  is  praiseworthy,  my 
Stephen ;  for  it  is  I,  it  is  I,  I  say,  who  have 
this  pre-eminence  above  all  the  saints,  of  being 
the  advocate  of  poor  sinners  ;  this  I  won  when 
lamenting  my  wickedness  at  the  feet  of  the  Lord. 
But  what  wouldst  thou  have  me  do  for  thee  ? 

Stephen,  That  as  thou  didst  recall  this  sinful 
Stephen  of  Flanders '''  to  thy  grace,  so  thou 
wilt  satisfy  me  with  thy  love. 

Magdalen.  Thy  request  is  pleasant  to  me ;  be 
comforted  then,  and  be  strong,  and  thou  shalt 
find  grace  in  time  and  opportune  help. 

Stephen.  O  words  sweeter  than  honey !  O 
my  most  pious  lady,  since  it  has  pleased  thee 
to  speak  to  the  heart  of  thy  servant,  I  would 
make  some  offering  to  thee,  could  I  find  aught 
worthy  of  thy  deserts. 

*  In  the  notes  to  the  book  added  by  Theodonis  Petreius,  who 
also  wrote  much  on  the  Carthusians,  it  is  related  that  a  certain 
Dominican  was  so  encouraged  by  the  pardon  of  Stephen  of 
Flanders  through  the  Magdalen's  intercessions,  that  he  remained 
in  the  habit  of  his  Order,  instead  of  giving  it  up,  as  at  first 
inclined. 

S 


274     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Magdalen.  The  promise  of  your  heart  I  re- 
ceive joyfully ;  if  thou  givest  this  I  am  con- 
tent, for  outward  gifts  are  to  be  scorned. 

Stephen.  What  inward  gift  am  I  to  offer 
thee? 

Magdalen.  Rejoice  heartily  for  my  blessedness 
and  in  my  privileges,  be  glad  at  having  found 
an  advocate  in  me,  and  of  all  this  thou  shalt 
receive  this  fruit,  that,  obtaining  pardon  and 
grace  through  my  intercession,  thou  shalt  there- 
fore have  with  me  eternal  glory,  joy,  and  rest. 

Hardly  had  she  uttered  these  words  than  the 
Magdalen  disappeared  from  Stephen,  who,  upon 
coming  to  himself,  was  greatly  comforted. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      275 


CHAPTER   III 


BROKEN    PEACE 


'Are  your  minds  set  upon  righteousness,  O  ye  congregation ;  and  do  ye 
judge  the  thing  that  is  right,  O  ye  sons  of  men  ?" — Ps.  Iviii.  i. 

HE  ecstasy  of  Dom  Stephen 
brought  him  comfort.  Perhaps, 
even  then  within  the  walls  of 
Hinton  Priory  there  was  another 
visionary  enthusiast  to  whom  wild 
dreams  brought  much  discomfort  and  sorrow. 
This  monk,  the  Vicar  of  the  Charterhouse,  Dom 
Nicholas  Hopkyns,  is  not  discovered  to  us  upon 
his  knees  before  some  saintly  image  of  his  fancy, 
but  in  the  unhappy  position  of  an  unwilling 
witness  against  a  friend.  The  innocent  cause  of 
the  first  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  convent, 
and  an  innocent  factor  in  the  death  of  that 
friend — the  Duke  of  Buckingham — his  memory 
years  afterwards  was  evoked  by  Sir  Thomas 
More  in  warning  to    Elizabeth    Barton   to   keep 


276     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

close  her  revelations  of  the  future,  especially  **  from 
worldly  men,  who  receive  poyson  of  everythynge."'" 
For,  like  the  Maid  of  Kent,  along  with  great  piety, 
Dom — or,  to  use  the  earlier  form  of  the  word — 
Dan  Hopkyns  thought  himself  in  the  possession 
of  the  fatal  gift  of  prophecy,  and  it  was  this  that 
brought  him  into  near  connection  with  the  first 
tragedy  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

Buckingham,  in  rank,  in  wealth,  by  blood  and 
connections,  the  first  subject  in  the  kingdom,  had 
to  confessor  this  Vicar  of  a  poor  country  Charter- 
house. As  early  as  May  9th,  a.d.  1508,  there 
was  some  kind  of  intercourse  between  Bucking- 
ham and  the  Priory,  for  at  that  date  he  records 
a  fee  **to  a  servant  of  the  Prior  of  the  Charter- 
house at  Henton,  called  Hoxton;"t  this  perhaps 
was  the  time  when  his  friendly  relations  with  the 
community  began.  Hopkyns,  if  not  in  office,  would 
be  there  at  least  as  simple  monk,  and  as  such 
would  appear  before  the  great  man  along  with 
the  rest.  Buckingham  was  not  wholly  free  from 
superstition ;  the  evident  piety  and  earnestness  of 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  vi.  No.  1467, 
which  is  a  letter  from  one  of  Cromwell's  correspondents,  and 
makes  mention  of  that  of  More  to  Elizabeth  Barton. 

t  Calendars  of  State  Papers  ^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i,  No.  1285. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      277 

Dan  Nicholas  would  be  all  the  more  enhanced, 
therefore,  in  his  eyes  by  his  reputed  gift  of 
prophecy,  and  he  chose  him  from  among  his 
brethren  to  be  his  director.  The  mind  of  the 
monk  was  naturally  much  occupied  with  so  im- 
portant a  spiritual  son  ;  moreover,  he  did  not 
altogether  approve  of  the  doings  of  Henry  ;  quite 
as  well  as  the  latter  he  knew  Buckingham's 
proximity  to  the  throne,  and  maybe,  in  hoping 
better  things  from  his  knowledge  of  the  Duke  s 
character,  and  perhaps  from  his  own  influence 
over  him,  his  wish  was  father  to  the  thought  that 
he  would  soon  become  king,  and  he  dreamed  over 
this  desire  in  his  hours  of  silent  meditation  in  his 
cell  until  it  became  to  him  not  a  probable  but  a 
positive  reality  of  the  near  future.  A  dupe  of  his 
own  imaginations,  it  was  almost  a  matter  of  course 
that  he  should  reveal  his  visions  of  things  to  come 
to  the  subject  of  them.  If  Buckingham  actually 
believed  his  confessor's  prophecy  that  he  should 
be  king,  beyond  listening  to  him  he  entered  upon 
no  treasonable  course  ;  so  that  the  poor  monk's 
speech  or  silence  concerning  the  hidden  matter  of 
the  succession  had  really  little  influence  on  his 
fate.      Henry  determined  to  endure  no  rival  to 


278     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  crown  ;  as  was  the  case  with  the  Poles  at  a 
later  crisis,  the  Duke  might  be  in  his  way,  and 
must  therefore  die.  That  "the  Chartreux  friar" 
had 

" fed  him  every  minute 

With  words  of  sovereignty," 

{Henry  VIII. ^  act  i.  sc.  2), 

and  that  he  had  hearkened  to  him,  was  sufficient 
pretext  for  the  judicial  murder. 

But  besides  the  dangerous  topic  of  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  the  monk  frequently  discussed 
other  matters  with  the  Duke,  more  in  keeping 
with  the  ordinary  duties  of  a  confessor.  Thus  he 
wrote  to  him  the  following  undated  letter,  "^^  which 
doubtless  received  a  favourable  answer,  as  the 
request  conveyed  in  it  was  granted  : — 

Nicholas  Hopkyiis,  Vicar  of  Hinton  Charterhouse,  to  t/ie 
Duke  of  Bucking] lam. 

"  My  moste  syngler  and  gracyouse  lorde  in 
god.  I  your  poore  and  worthy  oratour  desyrose 
of  yowre  noble  gracys  prosperyte,  whych  owr 
lorde  gode  omnipotent  of  his  infynizte  mercye 
and  goodnes  continually  conserve   from  all  my- 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VHI^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  No.  1277. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      279 

sauenter  and  parell  as  wele  in  this  myserable 
worlde  as  yn  the  celastyall  worlde  to  cum, 
whereas  is  perdurable  ioy  ineffable,  attempte 
now  to  wryte  on  to  your  gracyouse  hynes, 
trustynge  and  also  bysechynge  yowr  noble 
grace  to  accepth  my  cheritable  stryvynges  as 
yowr  noble  grace  has  done  here  byfore.  And 
whereas  y  now  with  fervent  charryte  am  moved 
to  be  desyrouse  of  yowr  noble  gracys  cheryte, 
I  byseche  your  lordys  grace  to  condescende  on 
to  my  desyrouse  petycyon,  for  as  mych  as  hit 
is  to  the  augmentynge  of  godes  seruyce,  and 
specyally  as  y  do  feyfully  truste  hit  wylbe  yn 
tyme  cumynge  to  the  grett  comforte  of  our 
smalle  cumpaney  and  place,  there  is  now  with 
vs  a  poore  chylde  of  xiiii  yere  of  age,  whych  is 
vertuously  dysposyd,  intendynge  to  be  of  owr 
hooly  relygyon  when  allmighte  god  send  tyme 
lawfull  onto  whom  for  the  vertue  and  grace 
that  y  dayly  se  in  hym  y  owe  grette  fauour, 
wherefore  yf  hit  myght  please  yowr  noble  good- 
nes  to  doo  yowr  almesse  vppon  hym,  fyndyng 
hym  to  his  grammer  tyl  he  be  ful  xxti  yere, 
whych  with  owzte  dowzte  y  truste  veryly  ye 
shall    haue    of    hym    a    good    and    a    vertuose 


28o     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

relygyose  man,  and  also  a  trew  and  truste  bed- 
man,  and  moreouer  awfter  my  confydente  felynge 
y  beleue  hit  shalbe  to  yowr  lordes  grace  as 
chery  table  dede  by  fore  allmighte  god,  and  as 
wele  accepth  as  euer  was  dede  of  cheryte  by 
yowr  noble  gracys  power  donne,  as  knowyth 
Jhesus  which  be  euer  your  protector,  and  at 
his  moste  pleasure  be  onse  yowr  lordes  grace 
conductor  onto  owr  poore  place.  Amen. 
<<  Wry  ten  at  Charterhowse  Henton, 

*' By  your  symple  and  vnworthy  oratour," 
Dan  Nychas  Hopkyns,  Vycar. 

[Add.]: — i .  Jllustrissimo  in  Chris  to  Domino  Dojnino  Edwardo 
Dud  Buckingame  tradatur  haec  liter  a  cum  ho?wre. 

[In  another  hand]  : — 2.    To  the  ryght  honorable  a?id  his 
singular  good  lord  7?iy  lord. 

[Endorsed]  : — Dan  AHcholas  Hopky7is  of  the  Charterhows 
of  Henton  to  the  Duke  of  Buckinghafu. 

After  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  the 
Duke,  who  had  been  present,  though  dis- 
approving of  Henry's  amicable  relations  with 
the  French  king,  had  retired  from  court  and 
occupied  himself  at  home  in  innocent  amuse- 
ments and  employments,  amongst  which  was 
care  for  the  well-being   of  this  ''poore  chylde." 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     281 

The  boy,  ''little  Francis,"  was  then  being 
brought  up  for  a  scholar  at  Oxford,  under  the 
charge  of  the  Prior  of  St.  John's  of  Jerusalem. 
In  Buckingham's  money  accounts  for  a.d.  1520- 
152 1  there  are  several  references  to  him,  his 
clothing  and  other  necessaries,  his  amusements, 
and  his  illnesses,  in  which,  from  a  sore  throat  to 
the  ''yellow  jaundice  for  twenty-four  days,"  he 
was  by  no  means  neglected  ;  '"*  thus  : — For  shav- 
ing his  head,  id.  ;  a  pair  of  gloves,  2d.  ;  a  pair 
of  shoes,  6d.  ;  a  pair  of  hose,  lod.  ;  a  silk  girdle, 
6d.  ;  for  healing  his  head  and  neck,  I2d.  ;  for 
'writing-paper,  id.  ;  pen  and  ink-horn,  2d.  ;  for 
washing  his  petticoat  sundry  times,  3d.  ;  mend- 
ing and  dry  scouring  his  Kendal  coat,  6d. ;  a 
shirt,  2od.  ;  walking  shoes,  8d.  ;  "for  a  hen  at 
shrovetide  for  Francis  to  sport  himself  with  the 
childer,  jd.  ; "  a  bow,  6d.  ;  shafts,  3d.;  strings, 
shooting-glove,  and  brace,  3d.  ;  and  for  a  reward, 
3ps.  ;  for  attendance  on  him  during  the  twenty- 
four  days  of  jaundice,  the  expense  was  4s.  Not 
long  after  these  outlays  on  himself  the  lad  lost 
his  protector. 

While  Buckingham  was  busying  himself  in  the 

*  Calendar  of  state  Papers^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i,  No.  1285  (5). 


282       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

country  with  his  ward,  with  making  religious 
offerings  to  shrines,  training  horses  and  dogs, 
and  attending  to  his  garden  and  domestic  affairs, 
the  king  was  resolving  his  death.  If  the  Duke 
never  plotted  treason,  he  was  careless,  and  had 
dropped  words  not  only  against  Wolsey,  but 
against  Henry ;  he  was  haughty  also,  and  took 
no  special  trouble  to  retain  the  royal  favour.  To 
realise  the  heinousness  of  his  conduct  in  these 
days  of  more  than  free  speech  is  difficult,  and  pity 
only  can  be  felt  for  him,  and  indignation  alone  is 
excited  against  the  king,  who,  after  examining 
the  three  witnesses — Dan  Hopkyns,  crazy  with 
his  hallucinations  and  with  fear  at  the  evil  which 
these  were  now  likely  to  cause,  Knyvet  the  sur- 
veyor, and  Delacourt  the  chaplain  of  the  Duke, 
both  prejudiced  against  him — without  finding 
more  traces  of  treachery  in  any  dealings  of  his 
victim  than  words  such  as  any  might  utter  about 
a  policy  or  ministers  disapproved  of  by  them,  "  is 
convinced  that  Buckingham  will  be  found  guilty 
and  be  condemned  by  the  Lords,"  and  *'for  the 
matter  "  is  going  to  summon  a  Parliament. 

These  words,  from  a  memorandum  written  on 
the    back   of  a  private  letter    by  the    secretary, 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      283 

Pace,"^  are  too  suggestive  of  an  intention  to  find 
the  Duke  guilty. 

Buckingham  was  summoned  to  London  on 
April  8th,  a.d.  1521.  The  Vicar  of  the  Hinton 
Charterhouse  was  sent  for  days  previously ;  after 
his  examination,  along  with  Delacourt  he  was 
taken  to  the  Tower  to  await  the  Duke's  arrival. 
In  the  above-mentioned  notes  Pace  added  that 
Arthur  Pole,  the  Duke's  cousin,  had  **  been 
expelled  the  court,"  and  had  asked  Lord  Leo- 
nard Grey  to  write  about  the  imprisonment  of 
Buckingham,  and  that  Grey  refused,  but  finally 
went  with  his  request  to  the  brethren  at  Hin- 
ton.f  Partly  in  consequence  no  doubt  of  this 
application  to  the  monks,  but  chiefly  on  account 
of  their  Vicar's  connection  with  the  accused,  a 
careful  search  was  ordered  in  the  Charterhouse 
for  any  letters  or  information  throwing  light  on 
the  Duke's  alleged  treason.  The  proctor  had 
been  dispatched  to  London  with  Hopkyns  ap- 
parently, and  had  been  detained  there  for  some 
reason,  much  to  the  inconvenience  of  the  con- 
vent.      The    latter    must    have   been    extremely 

♦  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i,  No.  1204. 
t  Ibid.    *' Ivit   tandem   ejusdem    rogatu    ad   H.  fratrcs "  in  tlie 
memoranda  ;    Dr.  Brewer  interprets  the  "  H  "  as  Hinton. 


284     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

uneasy  just  then  with  suspicions  of  treason 
resting  on  them,  and  in  the  letter '"  written  by 
their  Prior  Henry  on  May  13th  to  the  Earl 
of  Worcester,  giving  a  report  of  the  inquiries 
ordered,  which  he  appears  to  have  been  per- 
mitted to  make  himself,  and  requesting  the  return 
of  "our  brother  proctor,"  they  show  not  a  little 
anxiety  to  wash  their  hands  in  future  of  so 
unlucky  a  prophet  as  Dan  Hopkyns. 

Henry,  Prior  of  Hinton  Charterhouse,  to  the  Lord 
Chamberlain  (the  Earl  of  Worcester). 

Ihc. 

**  My  dutye  to  yowre  Right  honorable  grace 
with  all  hymble  subjection  and  reverens  premised 
certifying  the  same,  that  where  I  had  a  strayte 
commandment  of  yowre  noble  grace  to  make  a 
diligent  inquisicion  of  all  letters  prejudiciall  to 
owre  most  noble  and  gracious  sovereyn  Lord 
the  Kynges  good  Grace  or  any  maner  of  thynge 
that  shulde  turne   contrarie  to  his   noble  astate 

'''State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i,  No.  1276.  Dan 
Hopkyns's  letter  recommending  "  the  poore  chylde  "  to  Bucking- 
ham perhaps  was  enclosed  in  this,  which  would  account  for  its 
second  address  to  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  written,  moreover,  in  the 
same  hand  as  that  of  Prior  Henry's  letter. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      285 

that  oughte  to  be  shewide  by  any  of  my  brethern 
that  it  myghte  cum  to  the  true  knowlege  of  yowre 
goodnes  by  writynge.  Wherefore  Lowly  I  be- 
seche  yowre  grace  to  accept  my  poore  diligens. 
Insomuch  that  I  have  chargid  my  brethern  with 
the  same  commandment  that  I  was  chargid  with 
nothynge  to  consile  or  to  hyde  that  shulde  turne 
to  the  Kynges  displesure  or  hurte.  Ande  more- 
over all  the  letters  that  we  may  fynde  or  the 
effect  of  the  same  I  have  sende  upp  with  this 
present  writyng.  And  such  of  owre  brethern  as 
have  harde  and  knowne  more  of  Dan  Nicolas 
Hopkyns  woordes  then  I,  I  have  causid  them  for 
my  discharge  and  theyrs  to  write  theyre  maters 
with  theyre  owne  hands  and  put  thereto  theyre 
namys  for  the  true  testification  and  for  the  Avoy- 
dans  of  the  Kynges  grace  displesure.  Therefore 
I  umbely  beseche  yowre  noble  grace  to  make 
instans  and  labour  for  us  that  we  may  have  no 
more  besynes  or  troble  abowghte  this  mater,  but 
that  he  may  bater  the  fawte  that  is  fownde 
culpabill  and  nott  we  that  are  inculpabill.  And 
that  it  myghte  please  the  Kynges  noble  grace 
and  his  gracious  concell  that  owre  brother  proctor 
may   cum    home    to    vs   agayne    and    that    owre 


286     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

brother  Dan  Nicolas  Hopkyns  maye  be  sent  to 
sume  other  place  of  owre  religion,  there  to  be 
punisshed  for  his  offenses  as  long  as  shall  please 
the  kynges  noble  grace.  And  in  soe  doynge  ye 
shall  bynde  us  the  more  to  be  the  kynges  con- 
tinuall  orators  and  yowrs  to  Allmyghty  god  for 
the  good  preservation  of  yowre  moste  noble  and 
gracious  Astates. 

**Writen  at  the  Charterhowse  Henton  the 
xiii  daye  of  Mail 

By  the  handes  of  yowre  poore  bedysman 

Wy.^k, prior  V7twor thy. 

''And  for  a  more  large  testification  of  the 
trowghthe  of  this  my  simpull  writyng  conteynyd 
in  this  letter  above  rehersid,  I  have  causid  all 
my  brethern  to  subscribe  theyre  namys  with 
theyre  owne  handes." 

Dan  Hwe  Lakoq.  Dan  thomas  Flatcher. 

Dan  Thomas  Wellys.  Dan  Wyllyam  Stokes. 

Dan  Robert  Fray.  Dan  Nycholas  lycchefeld. 

Dan  Anton  Ynglych.  Dan  John  Hartwell. 

[Add.]  : — To  the  right  honorable,  his  si?igular  good  lord,  viy 
lord  Chamherlayne. 

[Endorsed]  : — The  Prior  of  the   Charterhows   of  He7iton 
letters  to  my  lord  Chaviberlay7ie. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      287 

This  letter  from  the  Prior  was  written  on  the 
very  day  of  Buckingham's  trial.  As  for  the 
Duke's  connections  with  the  Vicar  of  the  Charter- 
house, it  was  alleged  against  him  ^''  that  on  the 
24th  April  A.D.  15 1 2  he  sent  John  Delacourt,  then 
his  chaplain,  from  Thornbury  to  Hinton  Charter- 
house to  Nicholas  Hopkyns,  who  pretended  to  a 
knowledge  of  future  events,  and  who  having  made 
Delacourt  swear  secrecy,  bade  him  inform  Buck- 
ingham that  he  should  have  all,  and  that  he  should 
endeavour  to  obtain  the  love  of  the  community,t 
and  that  this  he  knew  by  the  grace  of  God  ; 
all  which  Delacourt  reported  the  same  day  to 
the  Duke,  who  ordered  him  to  keep  it  secret. 
That  upon  Delacourt  taking  letters  from  the 
Duke  in  July,  the  monk  repeated  the  message. 
That  next  year,  on  Henry's  invasion  of  France, 
Buckingham  again  sent  letters  to  Hopkyns  de- 
siring to  know  the  event  of  the  war,  and  whether 
James  of  Scotland  would  enter  England  ;  in  the 
reply  to  which  was  prophesied  the  king's  death 
without  issue  male  of  his  body.      That  on  the 


*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  No.  1484  ii. 
t  The  "  commonalty,"  that  is  ;  vide  Henry  VII f.^  act  i.  scene  2, 
Thornbury,  in  Gloucestershire,  was  the  Duke's  seat. 


288     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

1 6th  April  a.d.  15 14,  the  Duke  himself  went  to 
Hinton  Priory  and  put  various  treasonable  ques- 
tions to  Father  Nicholas,  who  told  him  that  he 
should  be  king  of  England ;  to  which  Buckingham 
answered  that  he  would  in  that  case  be  a  good 
prince  ;  that  Father  Nicholas  said  he  knew  it  by- 
revelation,  and  advised  him  to  obtain  the  love  of 
the  community.      That  the  Duke  on  this  gave 
then  and  there  to  the  Priory  an  annuity  of  £^  for 
a  tun  of  wine,  and  ^20  for  the  carriage  of  water 
to  the  convent,  of  which  he  *' traiterously "  paid 
down  then  and  there  ^10,  and  at  separate  times 
to  Father  Nicholas  £2> '  40s.;  i  mark  ;  and  6s.  8d. 
That  on  the  20th  March  a.d.  i  5  i  8,  the  Duke  visited 
Father   Nicholas  again,  who  again  told  him  he 
should  be  king,  and  Buckingham  told  him  he  had 
done  well  to  make  Delacourt  keep  it  secret  under 
seal  of  confession,  for  if  the  king  knew  it  he  (Buck- 
ingham) should  be  altogether  destroyed.     That 
in  the  year  before,  the  Duke  had  sent  another 
chaplain,  Gilbert,  to  Hinton  to   request    Father 
Nicholas  to  send  him  word  of  anything  he  should 
hear  about  himself,  to  which  the  monk  answered 
that  before  the  Christmas  following  there  should 
be  a  change,  and  Buckingham  should  have  the 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      289 

rule  of  all  England.  The  depositions  of  Kny  vet, 
the  cousin  and  surveyor  of  Buckingham,  detailing 
the  conversation  **at  the  Rose  within  the  parish 
of  Saint  Lawrence  Poultney," '"  repeat  the  same 
prophecies  of  Dan  Hopkyns.  As  for  the  confes- 
sions of  the  latter  himself,  they  supported  the 
foregoing  so  far  as  he  admitted  that  the  Duke 
granted  the  monastery  £^  a  year  for  the  wine 
and  ;^20  for  the  conveyance  of  water,  of  which 
he  paid  £\o.  In  Buckingham's  accounts  the 
Duke  records  payment  t  on  25th  March  a.d. 
1 5 19  of  loos.  to  his  ''ghostly  father  at  Henton," 
which  might  also  refer  to  the  sums  mentioned  as 
given  at  divers  times  to  the  monk. 

After  the  reading  of  the  depositions,  which 
had  been  taken  unknown  to  himself  before  he 
had  received  the  sudden  orders  to  come  up  to 
London,  at  the  Duke's  own  request  the  witnesses 
were  produced,  but  he  was  neither  allowed  to 
cross-examine  them  nor  to  bring  forth  any  evi- 
dence in  his  own  favour.  His  denial,  or  rather 
different  version,  of  some  of  the  charges  against 
him,    is    contained    In    the   damaged   faded   frag- 

♦  Henry  VIII. ^  act  i.  scene  2. 

t  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  iii.  pt.  i,  No.  1285. 

T 


290     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

ment  in  his  handwriting  among  the  Cotton 
MSS.,^^*  entitled  "Ans[wers  made  by  me  the 
Du]ke  of  Bukingham  beffore  Sir  Thomas 
Lovell,t  knyght,  one  of  the  Kynges  moste 
honorable  concell,  towching  such  wordes  as 
was  between  me  and  my  gostly  ffader  callyd 
th[e]  wycar-generall  of  Hynton."  According  to 
this  paper,  the  summer  before  Henry  went 
to  Calais,  Dan  Hopkyns  wrote  to  the  Duke 
asking  him  to  let  him  see  him,  or  at  least 
a  trustworthy  chaplain  of  his.  **  Whereupon," 
continues  Buckingham,  '*  bycause  he  had  bene 
longe  my  goostly  ffader,  thynking  that  he  coold 
have  infformyd  me  off  sum  wrongs  that  I  had 
doon,  or  elles  in  some  materes  off  pyte,  I 
wrote  .  .  .  and  schewed  hym  that  I  myght  not 
cum  to  hym,  and  prayd  hym  to  wryte  it  to  me, 
or  elles  to  schewe  it  to  Master  Delacourt." 
Instead  of  doing  either,  the  Vicar  preferred  to 
wait  till  the  Duke  could  come  to  him.  A  fit- 
ting opportunity  occurred  later,  when  Henry  was 
departing  for  France,  and  on  the  occasion  of 
the   Duke's  confessing  before  leaving   England. 

*  Cotton.  App.  xlviii.  f.  109. 
t  The  Constable  of  the  Tower. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      291 

When  Father  Nicholas  heard  that  Buckingham 
was  about  to  join  the  king,   "he  sayd  [that  he 
was  very]  glad ;  thereoff :   ffor  .  .  .  the    Kynges 
grace   [would]  wyn   gret   honor   ther,    and   that 
whe  [should]  all  cum   home  save   ageyne ;    but 
that  the  Scotts  schuld  make  sum  trobyl.      And 
then  he  sayd  iff  the  kyng  off  Scotts  came  [into 
this  realm,   he]   schuld   nott   goo   home   ageyn ; 
and  I   .  .  .  axyd  him  wheder  he  had  knowledge 
thereoff    [by]   prophesye ;    and    he    seyd,    naye, 
but  seyd  to  [me]  Ex  Deo  habeo."     Then  enter- 
ing  upon   the  question    of  the    king's  children, 
he  **sayd  I  pray  God  hys  issue  may  co[ntinue] 
ffor   I    ffer  gretly  God  ys    not  contentyd  [that] 
he   makyth    not    restytucion    according    to    the 
Kyng  [his   father's  will]  ffor   he   herd    no    man 
speyk  thereoff;    and  he  charchyd   me    upon  my 
allegiance    towards    hys  Grace,    to    adwyse    hys 
concell   to   make    restitution."       So    far   as    this 
paper    is    preserved,    there    is    not    a  vestige    of 
treason  in  it,   but  it  may  have  gone  on  to  give 
some    account    of    other   interviews    that    might 
serve   as  a  kind   of  confirmation  of  the  reports 
of  the  witnesses.     Lord  Herbert  in  his  History 
of    Henry    VHI.,    for    instance,    relates    that    at 


292     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

another  time  the  Duke  visited  Hopkyns,  with 
his  son  Lord  Stafford  and  the  Earl  of  West- 
moreland, and  that  the  Carthusian  then  said 
that  some  of  Buckingham's  blood  should  here- 
after prove  great  men ;  and  that  afterwards 
Hopkyns  again  sent  to  the  Duke  to  ask  him 
for  a  contribution  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
making  a  conduit  for  the  Priory,  according  to 
his  promise,  because  ;if  lo  formerly  given  to  the 
monks  by  him  had  all  been  spent.'"  The 
Duke's  answers,  the  only  attempt  at  a  defence 
that  he  could  make,  as  is  well  known,  weighed 
nothing  with  his  judges.  Sentence  was  passed 
on  him,  and  on  the  1 7th  May  he  was  executed. 

**  Yet  the  tragedy  ended  not  so,  for  though 
George,  Lord  Abergavenny,t  after  a  few  months' 
imprisonment,  was,  through  the  king's  favour, 
delivered,  yet  Hopkyns,  after  a  serious  repent- 
ance that  he  had  been  the  author  of  so  much 
mischief,  died  of  grief."  Where  the  last  days 
of  bitter  sorrow  ended   for  ''that   devil-monk, "J 

*  Dr.  Brewer's  Reign  of  Henry  VIIL,  vol.  i.  p.  393,  in  the 
footnote.  Recently  water  was  observed  springing  out  of  the  ground 
in  the  lawn  at  "  Hinton  Abbey,"  which  upon  examination  was 
found  to  proceed  from  a  leak  in  a  conduit  said  to  be  that  in  ques- 
tion at  the  Duke's  trial. 

t  The  Duke's  son-in-law.  \  Hetiry  VIIL^  act  ii.  sc.  2. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      293 

as  Shakespeare  cruelly  called  him,  whether  at 
Hinton  or  some  other  Charterhouse,  or  in  prison 
even,  Lord  Herbert,'"'  who  gives  this  informa- 
tion, does  not  say.  Complete  seclusion,  utter 
obliteration  of  his  personality  from  men's  minds, 
must  have  been  the  broken-hearted  prophet's 
desire ;  this  thenceforth  from  all  sides  seems  to 
have  been  accorded  to  him. 

Meanwhile  the  little  cloud  like  a  man's  hand 
had  arisen  out  of  the  sea,  the  precursor  of  the 
storm  that  was  to  overwhelm  English  monkdom. 
From  their  seclusion  the  Carthusians  of  Hinton 
were  watching  it  with  anxious  eyes  as  it  came 
floating  over  from  the  Continent  to  their  own 
land.  While  the  king  was  winning  his  title  of 
"  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  a  servant  of  his  own, 
who  was  also  to  employ  his  pen  against  the 
German  reformer,  had  there  put  on  the  habit 
of  the  Order. 

John  Batmanson,  sometime  Prior  of  Hinton 
Charterhouse,  must  have  immediately  succeeded 
Prior  Henry.  Of  his  varied  life,  with  its  strange 
combination  of  the  religious  and  secular,   almost 

♦  Life  and  Reign  of  Henry  Vlll.y  p.  207. 


294     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

nothing  is  known ;  of  his  writings,  with  one 
exception,  only  the  titles  are  preserved.  In 
September  a.d.  1509  a  commission  was  issued 
to  Sir  Robert  Drury,  Sir  Marmaduke  Con- 
stable, and  Dr.  John  Batmanson,  as  ambassa- 
dors to  Scotland  to  take  the  oath  of  James 
IV.,  in  confirmation  of  the  lately  renewed  treaty 
between  him  and  Henry  VIII.,  for  deciding 
the  mutual  disputes  of  the  two  countries  by 
arbitration  and  not  by  war.  Somewhat  later 
Batmanson  and  John  Sanchare  sent  home  a 
notarial  attestation  of  the  Scotch  king's  oath, 
which  four  years  afterwards  he  broke  in  so 
treacherous  a  manner  by  entering  England 
suddenly  during  the  absence  of  his  brother-in- 
law  in  France.*"*  In  a.d.  1509,  also.  Dr.  Bat- 
manson and  his  fore-mentioned  colleagues  were 
commissioners  for  the  Marches  of  Scotland.t 
Later  his  name  occurs  in  a  rather  unexpected 
connection  for  that  of  an  ecclesiastic,  although 
it  was  not  unusual  to  employ  the  clergy  in 
matters  entirely  foreign  to  their  profession.     In 


♦  CaL  State  Papers^  vol.  i.  Nos.  467,  488,  548,  714. 
t  Ibid.^  pt.  2.    "The  King's  Book  of  Payments  "  records  money 
due  to  them  as  such. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      295 

March  a.d.  15 14,  and  again  the  next  year,  a 
commission  of  Oyer  and  terminer  for  certain 
cases  of  piracy  was  issued  to  him  in  conjunction 
with  the  Earl  of  Surrey,  the  High  Admiral,  and 
Christopher  Middylton,  Bachelor  of  Law,  com- 
missary and  deputy  of  the  Earl.'^^  From  that 
date  for  a  few  years  no  more  is  heard  of  him 
until  he  appears  in  the  field  of  religious  con- 
troversy. It  may  then  be  presumed  that  about 
that  time  he  entered  Hinton  Charterhouse  as 
postulant,  there  to  devote  his  learning  in 
writing  books  of  devotion  and  theology.  One 
hears  of  no  regrets  for  the  active  life  that  he 
had  left,  so  different  in  all  ways  from  that  hence- 
forth to  be  passed  in  the  "solitude,"  but  only 
that  he  was  "assiduous  in  reading  and  in  medi- 
tation of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  and,  in  fact, 
proved  an  exemplary  monk.  His  literary  pro- 
ductions were  not  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the 
community. 

In  March  a.d.  15 19  the  New  Testament  of 
Erasmus  with  his  annotations  had  been  repub- 
lished at  Basle.  His  bitterest  enemy,  Edward 
Lee,  persuaded  Father  Batmanson  to  write  against 

♦  Cal.  State  Papers^  vol.  ii.  pt.  i,  No.  235. 


296     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  work.  In  May  next  year,  Erasmus  wrote 
to  Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  lamenting  the 
controversy  stirred  up  against  him  by  Lee, 
the  latter's  share  in  it  being  likely  to  damage 
his  own  reputation.  "  He  has,"  he  continued, 
**  suborned  a  Carthusian  of  London,  John  Bat- 
manson  by  name,  I  think,  a  young  man  as 
appears  by  his  writings,  altogether  ignorant,  but 
vain-glorious  to  madness."  ^''  The  great  writer 
was  perhaps  piqued  by  the  insignificant  monk, 
of  whom  elsewhere  there  were  higher  opinions  ; 
that  he  knew  nothing  about  him  is  clear,  for, 
besides  his  doubtful  language  concerning  him, 
he  supposes  him  to  belong  to  the  Charterhouse 
in  Smithfield, — a  very  natural  mistake,  as  that 
was  the  only  community  of  the  Order  with  which 
the  foreign  Reformer  was  likely  to  be  acquainted. 
The  Carthusian's  youth  at  that  period  was  some- 
what by-past  also,  if,  as  there  seems  little  reason 
to  doubt,  he  was  indeed  the  same  person  as  the 
above-mentioned  commissioner.  That  he  was 
unskilled  in  controversy  is  possible,  but  if  he 
were  so  ignorant  as  Erasmus  represented  him, 
Lee   would    scarcely    have    singled    him    out    to 

♦  Epistola^  lib.  12. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      297 

assist  him.  Soon  after  Dom  Batmanson  was 
writing  against  the  errors  of  the  more  formidable 
German  reformer.  The  king  had  begun  to  com- 
pose his  book  in  support  of  the  Pope  in  a.d. 
1 5 18;  Luther's  treatise  De  Captivitate  Baby- 
lonica  reaching  England  in  April  a.d.  1521,  had 
caused  him  to  hasten  the  completion  of  his  work, 
that  appeared  a  few  months  later.  Luther's 
virulent  answer,  though  calling  forth  no  reply 
from  Henry,  who  preferred  to  maintain  a  digni- 
fied silence,  was  not  allowed  to  pass  by  some 
of  his  subjects.  His  vituperations  against  the 
English  sovereign  and  those  of  the  latter's  then 
opinions  challenged  loyalty  to  the  monarch  and 
fidelity  to  Catholicism  alike.  Sir  Thomas  More 
stooped  to  enter  the  lists  against  him,  employing 
language  unhappily  as  coarse  and  violent  as  his 
own.  Whether  Father  Batmanson  followed  in 
More's  steps,  or  whether  his  book  **  Against 
certain  Writings  of  Martin  Luther  "  was  a  refuta- 
tion of  his  errors  generally  rather  than  a  personal 
attack  on  his  opponent,  is  not  discoverable  from 
the  title,  which  is  all  that  is  left  of  it.  In  a.d. 
1523  Hinton  Charterhouse  received  a  new  Prior  '^ 

*  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


298     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

in  this  literary  inmate  of  its  walls,  and  was  ruled 
by  him  for  about  seven  years  ;  during  that  time, 
or  at  any  rate  during  that  period  of  his  life  spent 
with  his  Somerset  brethren,  he  also  wrote  the 
treatises  or  books  entitled,  On  the  Song  of  Songs, 
On  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  On  the  Words  of 
the  Gospel,  ''Missus  est  Angelus,''  On  the  Identity 
of  the  Magdalen  in  the  Gospels,  On  the  Child 
Jesus  amidst  the  Doctors  at  Jerusalem,  and  On 
Contempt  of  the  World.  Either  during  his  office, 
or  later  on  in  the  London  Charterhouse,  he  drew 
up  some  instructions  for  novices,  supposed  to  be 
contained  in  the  Cotton  MS.  Nero  A.  iii.  fol. 
139,  from  which  much  information  concerning  the 
Order  may  be  obtained.''* 

On  becoming  Prior  of  Hinton,  Dom  John 
Batmanson  also  became  Assistant- Visitor  of  the 
English  Province  of  Carthusians.  In  an  age  when 
monks  generally  had  lost  their  early  reputation 
for  learning,  he  may  have  been  esteemed,  at  least 
by  his  own  Order,  and  in  a.d.  1529,  he  was  re- 
moved to  rule  the  more  important  Charterhouse 
in  Smithfield.     Shortly  before  he  left  for  London, 

*   Vide  chap.  ii.  in  the  preceding  account  of  Witham  Charter- 
house. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      299 

the  Hinton  community  received  the  last  addition 
to  their  wealth  scarcely  ten  years  before  their 
dispersion.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  an 
Augustinian  Priory  of  Canons  had  been  founded 
in  Wiltshire,  at  Longleat,  on  the  site  of  which 
Sir  John  Thynne  built  the  magnificent  house  still 
occupied  by  his  descendant,  the  present  Marquis 
of  Bath.  This  Priory  of  St.  Radegund  of  Long- 
leat, or  Langelete  according  to  the  earlier  spelling, 
in  A.D.  1529  was  appropriated  to  Hinton  Charter- 
house ;  the  mortmain  licence  *  for  Lawrence, 
Cardinal  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  Peter  Stantour, 
Esquire,  "patron  or  founder  of  the  house  or 
priory,"  to  assign  it  with  all  its  lands,  tenements, 
churches,  advowsons,  rents,  reversions,  services, 
and  every  right  appertaining  to  John  the  Prior 
and  the  brethren  of  the  House,  the  Place  of  God, 
of  Hinton  of  the  Carthusian  Order,  is  dated  June 
loth  of  that  year.  The  reason  given  for  this 
appropriation  is  that  the  Priory,  through  the  sloth 
and  negligence  of  its  inmates  heretofore,  was 
"almost  destroyed,"  and  so  neglected  as  regards 
its  internal  affairs,  that  the  canons  had  dwindled 

♦  Rot.   Patent.,  21    Henry  VIII.,  pt.  m.  27,  given  in  Rymer's 
Fadera^  torn.  xiv.  pp.  297-298. 


300     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

to  a  number  too  small  for  the  performance  of 
divine  worship  after  the  ancient  institutions  of  the 
house.  As  for  the  amount  of  property  which  the 
Hinton  monks  were  thus  allowed  **to  appropriate, 
Incorporate,  consolidate,  annex  and  unite,"  this 
will  appear  in  the  valuation  made  by  the  King's 
orders  of  all  the  possessions  of  the  Charterhouse. 
The  only  other  mention  of  bequest  or  gift  to  the 
monastery  during  Dom  Batmanson's  rule  was  in 
A.D.  1528,  when  Sir  William  Compton  left  to  it 
and  to  the  Charterhouse  of  St.  Anne's  Coventry 
bequests  for  obits. "^^ 

Of  Prior  John's  government  of  his  brethren 
there  is  nothing  to  be  said,  except  that  he  exer- 
cised care  in  admitting  subjects,  and  was  not 
anxious  to  carry  out  the  principle  to  the  full  of 
killing  the  body  in  order  to  save  the  soul.  A 
few  months  before  he  left  Hinton,  a  religious  of 
the  London  Charterhouse,  **  Dan  Halnath  "  wrote 
from  Axholme  to  Dom  William  Tynbygh,  the 
then  Prior  of  the  Smithfield  monastery,  to  ask  to 
be  allowed  to  return  thither,  or  else  to  go  to 
Sheen,  in  which  house  he  had  offered  to  submit 
to  a  two  years'  probation  ;  he  thought  the  Prior  of 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  iv.  pt.  2,  No.  4442. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      301 

Sheen  would  have  taken  him,  but  was  prevented 
by  the  Priors  of  Axholme  and  Hinton  ;  but  he  did 
not  explain  the  objections  of  the  latter.  Father 
Batmanson  was  perhaps  then  at  Axholme  in  his 
capacity  as  Assistant- Visitor,  and  thus  naturally 
interfered ;  his  reasons  were  doubtless  good,  if,  as 
is  not  unlikely,  this  man  is  Dan  Hales,  whose 
Christian  name,  Alnett,  had  such  various  spellings, 
and  of  whom  we  have  given  an  account  else- 
where.'"' The  querulous  tone  of  the  letter  seems 
also  to  point  to  the  identity  of  the  monk,  and  it 
scarcely  seems  probable  that  in  one  house  there 
were  two  Carthusians  with  such  similar  names. 
If  he  might  not  go  to  Sheen,  he  added,  he  desired 
to  be  sent  to  Witham,  where  were  several  cells 
vacant,  or,  as  a  last  resource,  to  Bevall,  for  "I 
love  to  be  southward  and  I  hate  bondage," — a  state- 
ment, coming  from  one  of  his  Order,  showing 
traces  of  indiscipline  of  mind  quite  sufficient  to  pre- 
judice against  him  the  author  of  the  instructions 
to  novices. t     Batmanson  evidently  felt  that  those 

♦  Chapter  v.,  in  the  account  of  Witham  Charterhouse. 

t  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  iv.  pt.  3,  No.  5 191,  is  the 
abstract  of  this  letter.  The  Prior  of  Sheen  at  that  time  was  Doni 
John  Jonboume,  the  Provincial  Visitor  to  whom  Dom  Batmanson 
was  assistant. 


302     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

who  could  or  would  not  conform  to  the  harsh 
rule  had  best  put  off  the  habit.  While  he  was 
Prior  in  London,  a  member  of  that  community, 
Dan  John  Norton,  felt  the  solitary  silence  of  his 
cell  so  oppressive  that  he  almost  became  insane 
and  threatened  suicide.  Father  Batmanson  wisely 
discharged  him  from  the  Order,  after  which  he 
became  **a  canon  in  the  West  Country,  and  did 
very  well."^'  A  certain  Andrew  Bord,  a  monk 
in  priest's  orders,  also  belonging  to  the  same 
convent,  who  never  could  "  live  solitary "  and 
**  intrusyd "  in  a  close  air  could  never  have  his 
health,  if  not  discharged  had  a  dispensation  dur- 
ing his  priorate  to  quit  the  **  religion  "  along  with 
two  others  for  a  time  at  least.f 

Dom  John  Batmanson  ended  **the  angelic  life 
he  led  among  men "  t  in  the  London  Charter- 
house on  the  i6th  November  a.d.  1531.  Three 
years  before  him,  Dom  Thomas  Spenser,  a  monk 
of  Hinton,  and  likewise  an  author,  had  died  in 
that  Priory.  He  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of 
Leonard  Spenser  of  Norwich.     From  his  early 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  vol.  vi.  No.  1046. 

t  Ibid,  vol.  ix,  Nos.  1 1  ^nd  239. 

I  Pits,  Relationes  Historicce  de  Rebus  Anglicis. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     303 

years  being  addicted  to  learning,  and  especially 
to  piety,  he  became  a  Carthusian  at  Hinton, 
*'  whence  for  a  time  he  receded  to  Oxford  (as 
several  of  his  Order  did)  to  improve  himself  or 
to  pass  a  course  in  theology."  Upon  returning 
to  Hinton,  he  wrote  a  Commentary  on  the  Epistle 
of  St.  Paul  to  the  Galatians,  and  a  Trialogue 
between  Thomas  Bilney,  Hugh  Latim,er^  and 
William  Repps,  neither  of  which  works  are 
extant  in  print  or  manuscript  in  England.  The 
Trialogue,  no  doubt,  set  forth  the  arguments  on 
the  side  of  the  New  Learning,  as  represented  by 
Bilney  and  Latimer,  against  those  of  the  old 
school  of  Churchmen,  of  whom  Repps  (or  Rugge) 
was  a  close  adherent,  who,  at  that  time  a  monk, 
being  afterwards  promoted  to  the  See  of  Norwich, 
was  one  of  the  bishops  who  opposed  the  Acts 
of  Parliament  of  a.d.  i 547-1550,  allowing  com- 
munion in  both  kinds  to  the  laity  and  the  marri- 
age of  priests,  and  confirming  the  new  liturgy, 
and  enforcing  other  points  obnoxious  to  Roman 
Catholics.  As  for  Spenser  himself,  **  he  gave 
up  the  ghost,  after  he  had  spent  most  of  his 
time  in  the  severities  belonging  to  his  Order,"  in 
A.I).  1529,   and  was  buried  in  the  monastery  at 


304     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Hinton,    "leaving  behind  him  a  most  rare  ex- 
ample of  piety."  ''^ 

Prior  Batmanson  and  Dom  Spenser  had  written 
in  the  cause  of  the  Papacy  ;  the  very  year  of  the 
former's  death,  a.d.  1531,  the  king,  by  extorting 
the  acknowledgment  of  his  supremacy  from  the 
clergy,  began  those  series  of  acts — of  which  the 
suppresion  of  the  monasteries  was  not  the  least  im- 
portant— which  led  to  the  English  schism.  Soon 
enough  after  that  date,  Hinton  Charterhouse 
found  itself  fallen  upon  **  evil  days  and  evil 
tongues.'*  The  submission  of  the  clergy,  the 
passing  of  the  first  Act  of  Annates  and  of  the 
Act  of  Appeals,  and  the  marriage  with  Anne 
Boleyn,  following  in  so  swift  a  course,  might  well 
disquiet  the  minds  of  thinking  men.  How  these 
events  disturbed  the  peace  of  Edmund  Horde, 
then  Prior  of  Hinton,  has  been  related  already  in 
the  earlier  part  of  this  book,  and  how  also  one 
evil  tongue  among  the  Somersetshire  brethren 
seemed  to  be  doing  his  best  to  bring  the  heads  of 
the  two  houses  into  discomfort.      But  how  that 


*  Wood's  AthencB  Oxonienses,  edit,  by  Bliss,  vol.  i.  p.  54. 
Spenser  had  made  his  profession  in  the  Charterhouse  in  Vaucluse 
in  the  South  of  France. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      305 

same  Prior  yielded  his  trust  into  the  hands  of  the 
spoiler  remains  to  be  told. 

Before  we  close  this  chapter  we  subjoin  a  list 
of  the  Priors  of  Hinton  whose  names  have  sur- 
vived. As  in  the  list  of  those  of  Witham,  the  date 
prefixed  is  not  that  of  the  commencement  of  their 
rule,  but  that  at  which  they  were  known  to  be 
presiding  over  the  community. 

THE   PRIORS   OF   HINTON. 

A.D. 

1246-49.  Dom  Robert. 

1272-75.  Dom  Peter. 

Before  1370.  Dom  John  Luscote. 

1403.   Dom  Thomas  Wyne  or  Wynne. 

1440.   Dom  Richard. 

1445.  Dom  William  Marchall. 

1 46 1.  Dom  William  Hatherlee. 

About  1477.   Dom  Edmund  Storan  or  Storer. 

1482.  Dom  Thomas  Torburigenaci  (?),  died. 

1513-21.   Dom  John. 

1 52 1.  Dom  Henry. 

1523-29.  Dom  John  Batmanson. 

1529.  Dom  Edmund  Horde,  probably  succeeded. 

The  following  list  of  monks,  with  the  dates  of 

their  deaths,  is  taken  from  Additional  MSS.  Nos. 

17092  and  17085,  mentioned  in  the  first  part  of 

this  book  : — 

u 


3o6     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

A.D. 

1472.  Dom  John  Gierke,  a  professed  monk  of  Hinton. 

1473.  I^om  Richard  Dixtan,  a  professed  monk  of  Hinton. 
1473.  Dom  William   Marschell,  made  his  profession  in  the 

House  of  Bethlehem  at  Sheen,  and  became  Prior  of 
the  House  of  the  Place  of  God,  after  he  had  been 
Vicar  at  Sheen. 

1480.  Dom  John  Spaldick,  Vicar  of  the  Place  of  God,  priest. 

1482.  Dom  Thomas  Torburigenaci,  late  Prior  of  Hinton. 

1482.  Dom  John  de  Nicca,  Vicar  of  the  Place  of  God,  priest. 

1483.  Dom  Thomas  de  Gatton,   a  professed   monk   of  the 

Place  of  God,  Hinton,  priest. 

1484.  Dom  Kicze,  a  professed  monk  of  Hinton,  priest. 
Before  1500.  B.  Stephen. 

1529.  Dom  Thomas  Spenser,  a  professed  monk  of  the 
Charterhouse  of  Vaucluse,  in  the  province  of  Bur- 
gundy, before  he  went  to  Hinton. 

Two  or  three  of  the  surnames  are  difficult  to 
recognise  as  English,  especially  since  they  do  not 
appear  in  any  form  in  the  English  records  of  the 
House.     They  are  spelt  here  as  in  the  MSS. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     307 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  SCATTERING  OF  THE  SHEEP  OF  THE 

PASTURE 

**Now  they  break  down  all  the  carved  work  thereof  with  axes  and 
hammers  .  .  .  and  have  defiled  the  dwelling-place  of  Thy  Name,  even 
unto  the  ground."— Ps.  Ixxiv.  7-8. 

.DMUND  Horde  or  Hoorde  be- 
longed to  a  Shropshire  family  of 
j  that  name  ;  for  his  brother,  Alan 
Horde  of  the  Middle  Temple,  is 
without  doubt  the  ''Alan  Hoorde, 
gentleman,  of  London,"  who  in  a.d.  1541  was 
bound  in  a  recognisance  of  ;^  100  for  the  appear- 
ance before  the  Privy  Council  of  a  kinsman,  John 
Hoorde,  son  of  Richard  Hoorde,  esquire,  of 
Shropshire,  and  "late"  a  scholar  of  Eton,  who 
had  by  his  own  confession  been  concerned  in  a 
robbery   committed    there. "^^      Dom    Edmund    in 

*  Ac/s  of  the  Privy  Council^  vol.  vii.  ed.  by  Sir  Harris  Nicolas. 
Mr.  Archbold  in  a  note  to  p.  84  of  The  Somerset  Religious  Houses^ 
states  Alan  Horde  and  Edmund  to  have  been  half-brothers, 
referring  to  The  Genealogist^  New  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  46,  and  Misc. 


3o8     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

A.D.  1528  was  the  Procurator  (or  Proctor)  of  the 
London  Charterhouse  ;  as  we  hear  of  no  inter- 
vening Prior,  he  must  have  succeeded  Father 
Batmanson  at  Hinton  in  the  next  year.  He  too 
was  esteemed  for  his  learning  and  virtue  among 
his  brethren.  At  the  last,  he  surrendered  his 
Priory  at  the  unjust  demand  of  his  temporal 
master  ;  nevertheless,  as  regards  the  last  quality 
attributed  to  him,  the  opinion  of  his  fellows  was 
hardly  wrong.  He  ruled  the  House  of  God's 
Place  in  such  a  "  day  of  trouble,  of  perplexity 
from  the  Lord  of  Hosts  in  the  valley  of  vision 
and  of  breaking  down  of  walls,"  as  no  monks  had 
seen  since  heathendom  had  given  place  to  Chris- 
tendom, but  he  strove  to  rule  it  as  one  knowing 
fully  the  sacred  trust  committed  to  him.  From 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  priorate,  he  tried 
conscientiously  to  serve  God  and  honour  the 
king,  a  task  most  difficult  when  the  king  was 
breaking  with  the  holy  traditions  of  the  past,  and 

Geneal.  et  Herald.^  New  Series,  vol.  iv.  p.  138.  Both  these  refer- 
ences supply  only  the  descent  of  the  Hordes  from  Alan  the 
Bencher  of  the  Middle  Temple  ;  in  the  first,  the  monk  Edmund  is 
not  mentioned  at  all,  and  in  the  second  named  work,  p.  140,  only 
incidentally  in  the  quotation  of  Alan's  will,  where  he  is  distinctly 
spoken  of  as  "my  brother  Dr.  Horde." 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      309 

when  the  mighty  King  of  kings  Himself  was 
permitting  this  prince  of  the  earth  to  guide  the 
English  Church  out  of  the  grasp  of  Rome  by 
such  strangely  evil  ways. 

Henry's  attitude  as  regards  the  Pope  did  not 
meet  with  Prior  Horde's  disapproval  so  much  as 
those  of  his  acts  that  were  illegal  both  on  the  side 
of  religion  and  on  the  side  of  justice.  His  dream, 
that  the  blabbing  Dan  Peter  of  Witham  divulged 
to  Lord  Stourton,  was  characteristic  of  him  ;  he 
sees  the  nobles  of  the  realm  drawing  **the  queen's 
grace  that  now  is,"  Anne  Boleyn,  up  to  *'a  stage 
royal ; "  wishing  to  obey  the  king,  he  puts  out  his 
hand  to  help  her  up  ;  his  conscience  suddenly 
pricks  him  that  this  is  '*in  prejudice  to  the  law  of 
God  and  Holy  Church."  Does  not  the  place  upon 
the  royal  stage  belong  of  right  to  the  broken- 
hearted Katherine,  who  has  been  put  away  with- 
out a  cause  .-^  ''God  defend  that  ever  I  should 
consent  to  so  unjust  and  unlawful  a  deed ! "  he 
exclaims.  So  in  actual  life  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  he  condemned  the  injustice  of  the  divorce, 
while  at  the  same  time,  after  that  step  was  irre- 
vocable, he  was  quite  as  willing  to  swear  to  the 
Act  of  Succession  as  other  upright  men  of  the 


310     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

kingdom.  Unlike  some  of  the  best  and  noblest 
of  his  fellow-subjects,  the  Oath  to  the  Act  did  not 
present  apparently  any  difficulty  to  him  on  ac- 
count of  the  disavowal  extracted  especially  from 
the  clergy  and  monks  of  the  authority  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  in  England.  Probably  the 
Prior's  influence  weighed  sufficiently  with  the 
monks  of  Hinton  to  cause  them  to  subscribe  to 
the  Oath  without  much  coercion  on  the  part  of 
the  royal  commissioners,  for  the  correspondence 
of  the  latter  record  no  complaints  against  them. 
The  "certeyn  profession  in  wrytyng,"  mentioned 
in  his  own  letter  of  September  a.d.  1534  to  the 
king,  can  hardly  mean  any  other  document  than 
the  subscription  of  the  convent  to  the  Act. 

The  Prior  of  Hinton  Charterhouse  to  Henry  VI H. 

**  Please  it  yowr  maiestie  to  vnderstende  that  I 
have  ben  enstructyd  by  master  Layton  of  yowr 
gracis  pleasure  concernyng  the  subscrybyng  and 
sealyng  of  a  certeyn  profession  in  wrytyng,  whych 
I  have  sent  vnto  yowr  grace  wyth  as  trew  and 
feythfuU  hart  and  mynd  as  any  yowr  gracis  sub- 
iect  lyuyng,  most  humbly  besechyng  yowr  grace 
appon  my  knees  to  accept  the  same.     And  thus 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     311 

have  I  don  frely  and  frankly  of  very  zele  and 
feythfull  harte,  whych  I  ow  yowr  graciouse  mai- 
estie  and  the  trueth,  whych  duryng  my  lyfe  I 
,  woll  sett  forth  fortifie  and  defend  agaynst  almen 
accordyng  to  my  bounden  duetie,  and  also  dayly 
pray  for  yowr  prosperus  estate,  from  yowr  poore 
howse  the  charterhowse  at  Henton  the  fyrst  day 
of  Septembre. 

**  By  yowr  humble  subiect  and  Bedesman 
the  Prior  then" 

[Add.]  : — To  the  Kynges  ?naiestt€. 
[Endorsed]  : — The  Priour  of  Henton  to  the  kyng* 

All  due  allowance  being  made  for  the  exces- 
sively humble  language  in  which  men  of  the 
lower  ranks  under  the  Tudors  were  accustomed 
to  address  those  of  more  exalted  position  than 
themselves,  there  is  an  honest  ring  in  the  tone  of 
Dom  Horde's  correspondence.  Evidently  he  did 
not  hide  his  opinions,  yet  he  managed  to  retain 
the  respect  of  the  Order  in  England,  and  even  of 
those  members  of  it  that  were  still  surviving  in 
the   London   Charterhouse,  which   was  the  very 

♦  State  Papers  of  Henry  VUL,  vol.  vii.  No.  1127. 


312     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

hot-bed  of  Romanism.  As  there  was  so  much 
difficulty  in  shaking  the  fidelity  of  that  community 
to  the  Pope,  Cromwell  sent  John  Whalley  to  take 
from  them  such  books  as  those  containing  the 
statutes  of  Bruno  and  **  suche  lyke  doctors."  The 
agent,  according  to  orders,  perused  the  books  in 
every  cell,  and  reported  to  his  chief  the  state  of 
the  inmates'  minds.  Three  or  four  monks  refused 
to  forsake  their  opinions,  and  the  rest  trusted  much 
in  the  Prior  of  Hinton,  **  Dr.  Howrde,"  for  whom 
it  would  be  necessary  to  send.  "  Somone  of  thiese 
olde  preachers,"  he  added,  "might  preache  unto 
them  every  weke,  and  I  thinke  they  wille  sone  be 
at  appoynt."  A  little  more  than  a  month  later, 
on  July  9th,  A.D.  1535,  Archbishop  Lee  wrote, 
amongst  other  matters,  to  suggest  to  Cromwell  to 
employ  Horde  in  a  similar  way.  "As  there  are 
in  every  house  some  weak  simple  men  of  small 
learning  and  little  discretion,"  the  Prior  of  Mount- 
grace  advised  him  "that  Dr.  Horde,  a  Prior  of 
their  religion,  whom  all  the  religious  esteem  for 
virtue  and  learning,  should  be  sent  to  all  the 
houses  in  the  realm.  They  will  give  him  more 
credence  and  rather  apply  their  conscience  to 
his  judgment   than   to    any   other,    although    of 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      313 

greater  learning,  especially  if  some  other  good 
father  be  joined  with  him."  In  August,  Lee 
wrote  again,  stating  that  the  Prior  of  Mount- 
grace  requested  that  Dr.  Horde  might  be  sent 
there  to  ** allure"  some  of  his  simple  brethren, 
for,  because  of  their  confidence  in  him,  this 
would  do  more  good  than  any  learning  or 
authority.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that 
Cromwell  thought  it  worth  while  to  call  for  the 
services  of  the  Prior  of  Hinton,  of  whom  indeed 
it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  he  would  consent 
to  the  performance  of  so  unfair  a  work  as  the 
coercion  of  the  consciences  of  his  brethren,  for 
that  was  what  that  business  of  ** alluring"  them 
would  probably  amount  to.'" 

Meanwhile,  the  Act  of  Annates  having  been 
passed  and  ratified  by  the  king,  the  royal  com- 
missioners some  time  during  the  earlier  part  of 
this  same  year  had  been  to  Hinton  to  survey 
the  property  of  the  Charterhouse.  In  spite  of 
their  poverty  of  less  than  a  century  ago,  the 
following    particulars    from    the    Valuation  t   will 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  viii.  No.  778,  and  No.  loii,  and 
vol.  ix-  No.  49. 

f  Valor  EccUstasticus,  vol.  i.  p.  1 56  et  seq.  The  place  names,  as 
in  the  Witham  valuation,  have  been  left  in  the  spelling  of  the  original. 


314     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

show  that  the  monks,  what  with  their  profits 
from  the  alnage  and  their  rents  from  the  Long- 
leate  Priorial  estates,  by  this  time  were  drawing  a 
by  no  means  inconsiderable  income,  and  some- 
what indeed  above  that  of  the  other  Somerset 
Carthusians. 

ARCHDEACONRY   OF  WELLS 
DEANERY  OF  FROME 

The  Priory  or  Charterhouse  of  Henton 

Declaration  of  the  extent  and  yearly  value  as  well  of  all  pos- 
sessions. Temporal  as  Spiritual,  to  the  same  Priory  house  and 
its  other  Benefices  belonging  within  the  Deanery  in  that  place 
....  by  the  reverend  Father  in  Christ  and  lord  John  the 
Bishop  and  the  other  Commissioners  of  the  Lord  King  in  the 
time  of  Edmund  Horde,  Prior  of  the  same  place. 

Henton 

Value  in  rents  from  the  tenants  free  and  cus- 
tomary, from  the  demesne  land  after  xxijs. 
vjd.  deducted  for  the  fee  of  John  Boneham, 
Esquire,  the  steward  there. 

Perquisites  of  the  court  and  other  casualties 
there  with  the  sale  of  wood  and  fines  of  land 
there ^ 

MUDFORD 

Value  of  rents  of  all  tenants  there  ...      —     cxv 

Le  Frary 
Value  of  rents  there  yearly     ....      —    Ixiij 


£    s.     d. 

Ixxij    xvij      ii 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     315 


I  FORD 

Value  of  assized  rents  yearly  besides  the  de-'j  jQ  s.  d. 
duction  of  xxxvjs.  a  certain  yearly  payment  V  —  Ixxj  vij 
to  the  Prior  of  St.  Swithun's,  Winchester     J 


Norton 

Value  of  rents  of  free  and  customary  tenants' 
from  the  demense  land  after  xxs.  deducted 
for  the  fee  of  the  bailiff  Morgan  Philips. 

Perquisites  of  the  court  and  other  casualties 
there  with  Ixs.  profit  from  the  fair,  and  fines 
of  land  there      ...... 


lij    xix    iiij 


Fresford 
Value  of  assized  rents  yearly  there . 

WODEWIK 

Value  of  assized  rents  yearly  there  . 

Lutecom'ys  Myll 
Value  of  rents  or  farm  of  the  mill  , 

Peggelege 

Value  of  assized  rents  of  all  the  tenants  of"^ 
Sheweston  and  of  the  farm  of  the  manor 
or  demesne  land  and  .... 

Perquisites  of  the  court  and  other  casualties 
there  yearly  and  fines  of  land  there 


nij    xiij    iiij 


—      Ixx  viii 


Ixx    — 


-  XXXV      XIX       11  j 


Whittockysmede  and  Ettewyke 

Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly .  .         .        iiij      xj    iiij 

Hopp' 

Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly .  .         .       —       xl    — 


xiij      vj   viij 


316     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Lem'eslond  ^ 

£       s.      d. 

Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly .         .         .      —       vi    — 

Oldeford 

Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly ...      —      xiij    iiij 

Greneworth  with  Whitnell 

Value  of  rents  of  demesne  land  there  remain- 
ing in  the  hands  of  the  Prior  to  the  use  of 
the  House,  as  shown  by  four  lawful  and 
honest  men         ..... 

Com'  Wiltes 

Returns   from   the   ulnage   of  woollen  cloths^ 

after  xls.  deducted  in  fee  to  Ambrose  Dancy,  v  xxxj      vj   viii 
bailiff  or  collector  of  the  same     .         .         .J 

Westwode 
Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly .         .         .      —  xxxvij  viij 

Rewleigh  juxta  Far  leg  h 
Value  of  assized  rents  there  yearly .         .  .      —    xiiij    — 

LUNGLEATE   WITH    LULLYNGTON    AND    BeKYNGTON 

Value  of  rents  of  free  and  customary  tenants,^ 

there  yearly,  and  of  the  farm  of  the  demesne 

lands  after  the  deduction  of  iiis.  iiiid.  annual 

payment  to  the  Abbot  of  Glastonbury  for 

certain  land  of  his  there,  xxvjs.  viiid.  for  the 

fee  of  Walter  Hunger  ford,  knight,  steward 

there,  and  xxs.  fee  of  Thomas  Tucker,  bailiff 

there  ....... 

Perquisites  of  the  court  and  other  casualties 

there,  and  fines  of  land  there 


.    xxj     xvj  vnj 


s. 

d. 

xj 

viij 

iij 

iiij 

ii 

vi 

liij 

iiij 

xl 

vi 

XX 

xviii 

ij 

cxiii 

iiii 

HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      317 

The  sum  of  the  whole  value  of  the  posses- 
sions was  ;^262.  I2S.,  but  out  of  this  amount 
there  were  certain  pensions  to  be  paid  yearly. 

To  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Wells  .  .  — 
To  the  Archdeacon  of  Wells  for  the  Church"^    

at  Norton J 

To  the  same  for  the  Church  at  Hinton  .  .  — 
To  the  Vicar  of  Norton  ....  — 
To  the  Prior  of  Sheen,  Rector  of  Chewton  .  — 
To  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Salisbury  .  .  — 
To  the  Marquis  of  Dorset  for  land  in  Grene-^    

worth  and  Whitnell         .         .         .         ./ 
To  a    certain    chaplain    for    celebrating    the" 

divine  services  at  Longleate  . 

And  thus  after  all  deductions  there  remained  clearly  ;^248. 
19s.  2d. 

The  commissioners  for  taking  the  ecclesiastical 
survey  had  been  appointed  in  January  ;  on  the 
31st  of  that  month,  Cromwell  also  had  his  com- 
mission from  Henry,  as  supreme  head  of  the 
Church,  for  a  general  visitation  of  the  monasteries. 
Early  in  the  year.  Prior  Horde  incurred  the 
powerful  secretary's  displeasure,  possibly  in  con- 
nection with  either  or  both  of  these  two  matters  ; 
the  tone  of  the  letter  written  on  March  17th  sug- 
gests, however,  another  cause  of  the  unfriendly 
attitude  of  the  vicegerent.      In  his  latter  capacity 


3i8      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

being  charged  to  reform  the  Church,  Cromwell 
ordered  the  clergy  everywhere  to  preach  the  new 
doctrine  of  the  royal  supremacy,  and  perhaps 
enjoined  the  Prior  of  Hinton  to  do  so  especially, 
as  he  was  considered  as  a  man  of  authority  by 
the  Order ;  to  this  the  worthy  monk  was  likely 
to  show  **  vntowardness "  sufficient  to  call  for 
strong  remonstrances,  if  not  more,  from  the  king's 
vicar-general.  Upon  reflection,  after  a  certain 
interview  with  the  latter  at  Sir  Walter  Hunger- 
ford's  house,  Dr.  Horde  appears  to  have  thought 
it  wiser  to  have  an  explanation.  Of  their  corre- 
spondence on  the  subject  the  following  letter  is 
still  extant  in  the  Public  Record  Office  : — 

Prior  Horde  to  Cromwell* 

'*  After  moste  humble  recommendatyons  with 
dwe  reverence  to  yowr  honour,  this  is  to  gife 
moste  meke  thankes  to  yowr  maistershippe  for 
yowr  goodnes  toward  me,  whiche  I  perceive  by 
yowr  gentle  letters  sende  to  me  bi  the  wourship- 
full  fader  of  Shene,  whiche  wer  to  my  excellent 
comforte,  for  bi  them  I  did  perceyve  evidentlie 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII.^  vol.  viii.  No.  402. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     319 

that  thinge,  whiche  I  ever  supposid  and  trustid 
yn,  that  is  that  the  olde  benignlte  whiche  I  have 
fownde  in  yow  towarde  me  in  tymes  paste  is  not 
vttreHe  extincte,  but  that  alle  suche  wordes  as  hit 
pleasid  yowr  maistershippe  to  speke  to  me  at  Sir 
Water  Hungerforthe  is  place  rose  vpon  my  vn- 
towardnes  in  certaine  thinges  whiche  ye  willed 
me  to  do  concerning  the  kynges  maiestie.  And 
that  in  other  maters  I  may  yet  have  sum  truste  of 
sum  sparke  of  yowr  favowr,  which  is  more  to  my 
comforte  then  I  kan  expresse  bi  writynge,  for  the 
whiche  comforte  if  there  were  in  me  any  qualites 
or  hability  to  do  you  seruice  I  wolde  be  glad  to 
do  hit  to  the  vttermoste  of  my  little  powr  soo 
ferforth  as  shuld  beseme  a  poore  Religious 
preste  to  do  to  a  man  of  yowr  honour  with  myn 
assured  dallle  praier  to  the  blessid  trinite  longe 
to  preserve  yowr  maistreshlppe  in  grace  and 
honour,  ffrom  the  Charterhowse  of  Henton  the 
xviith  daie  of  Marche 

"  By  yowr  assuryd  bedsman  the  Prior  then** 

[Add.]  : — To  the  Right  ho?iorabie  his  especyall  good  master 
the  hinges  secretarie. 

[Endorsed]  : — The  Prio?-  of  Henton, 


320     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

This  letter,  however,  besides  giving  no  pro- 
mise to  perform  those  *'  certain  things  concerning 
the  king's  majesty,"  expresses  a  very  cautiously 
worded  desire  to  serve  the  king's  secretary,  so 
that  Cromwell  may  well  have  doubted  as  to 
whether  he  could  employ  the  Prior's  influence, 
and  whether  indeed  it  would  not  be  best  to 
keep  his  eye  on  him  as  an  obstacle  to  his 
proceedings.  At  any  rate,  Andrew  Boorde, 
the  London  Carthusian,  of  whom  there  was  a 
mention  in  the  last  chapter,  in  writing  to  him  in 
the  following  June  from  abroad  to  give  notice  of 
certain  **  synystrall "  matters  against  Henry,  adds 
a  postscript  begging  him  "to  be  good  friend  to 
the  Prior  of  the  Charterhouse  (in  Smithfield)  and 
to  Dr.  Horde,  the  Prior  of  Hinton,"  of  which  the 
meaning  must  be  that  Cromwell  was  still  inclined 
to  frown  on  "the  poor  religious  priest."'"*  Be- 
tween the  sober  conscientious  Dom  Edmund 
Horde  and  the  restless  rather  light-hearted  monk 
Andrew,  who,  according  to  some  accounts,  was 
the  original  "  Merry- Andrew,"  there  evidently 
existed  a  warm  friendship,  formed  no  doubt  while 
the    Prior   of   Hinton    was    the    Proctor   of   the 

*  Caletidar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  viii.  No.  901. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      321 

House  of  the  Salutation  in  London.  The  follow- 
ing confused  but  characteristic  letter  to  the  latter 
is  without  date  of  any  kind  ;  but  if  it  does  not 
belong  to  the  period  of  his  life  when  he  was 
hoping  to  be  *'  dispensed  with  the  religion "  by- 
Prior  Batmanson,  must  belong  to  a.d.  1535  when 
Boorde  ceased  to  be  a  monk  altogether. 

Andrew  Boorde  to  the  Prior  of  Hinton. 

'*  Venerable  father,  perardyally  I  commend  me 
vnto  yow  with  thanks,  &c.  I  desyre  yow  to 
pray  for  me  and  to  pray  all  your  conuent  to  pray 
for  me,  for  much  confydence  I  have  in  your 
prayers,  an  yff  I  wyst  that  master  prior  of  Lon- 
don wold  be  good  to  me  I  wold  se  yow  more 
soner.  pray  yow  be  ware  off  I  am  nott  able  to 
byd  the  rugorosyte  off  your  relygyon,  yff  I  myth 
besufferyd  to  do  what  I  myth  with  outt  interrup- 
cyon  I  can  tell  wat  I  had  to  do,  for  my  hart  is 
euer  to  your  relygyon  and  I  love  ytt  and  all  the 
persons  ther  as  Jesus  knowth  who  euer  kepp  yow. 

"  youres  for  euer  A.  Bord." 

[Add.]  : — To  the  ryght  venerable  father  prior  of  Hynton 
be  this  by  11  deliueryd* 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VII I. ,  vol.  vii.  No.  730. 

X 


322      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Only  a  few  months  after  Boorde's  commendation 
of  him  to  Cromwell,  Prior  Horde  and  his  convent 
must  have  been  interrupted  by  the  agents  for  the 
monastic  visitations,  for  they  were  in  that  part 
of  Somerset  in  August.''^  Among  the  *'  Remem- 
brances" of  Cromwell  this  year,  the  words  "Of 
the  Charterhouse  of  Henton"  occur,  without  any 
explanation  ;  the  correspondence  of  Layton  and 
the  other  visitors  do  not  mention  it ;  but  it  is 
quite  possible  that,  though  they  found  nothing 
to  report  against  it,  he  was  already  planning 
the  downfall  of  the  Priory.t  But  whatever  the 
meaning  of  Cromwell's  note,  although  Horde  said 
he  yet  had  **  some  trust  of  some  spark "  of  his 
favour,  it  is  clear  that  the  *'  benignity "  of  the 
Vicar-General  towards  himself  was  not  sufficient 
to  cause  him  to  be  employed  in  the  king's  con- 
cerns ;  for  an  agent  in  Yorkshire,  on  the  1 3th 
July  A.D.  1536,  writing  from  Mountgrace  Charter- 
house, wrote :  "  If  a  commission  were  issued  to 
Dr.  Horde,  one  of  their  religion" — he  had  just 
mentioned  the  Prior  and  convent  of  Mountgrace — 

♦  Witham  was  visited  in  August. 

t  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  ix.  No.  498  ;  cf.  Father  Gasquet, 
Henry  VI I L  and  the  English  Monasteries^  vol.  ii.  p.  301. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      323 

''and  one  joined  with  him,   there  would  be  no 
stop,  and  all  of  that  Order  in  the  north  parts  will 
be  inclinable.    Your  mastership  cannot  do  a  more 
charitable  deed    than  to  win  such  a  simple  sort 
with   mercy." ^      We   find    no   such    commission 
issued,  though  it  is  possible  that  it  was  not  Crom- 
well's fault,  but  owing  to  the  Prior's  own  scruples. 
Some  weeks  after  the  penning  of  this  letter  from 
Yorkshire  there  was  the  rising  in  Lincolnshire, 
followed  by  the  more  important  rebellion  known 
as  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  which  led  to  the  dis- 
solution by  attainder  of  many  of  the  monasteries. 
By   this   time    Henry  and    Cromwell   were  well 
versed  in  all  sorts  of  artifices  by  which  they  could 
conform  the  minds  of  both  the  religious  and  the 
secular  to  their  will.     To  enable  the  king  to  grasp 
all  the  booty  to  be  derived  from  the  possessions 
of  the  former,  there  remained  only  the  business 
of  forcing  the  monks  to  surrender  their  houses. 
The  watch    set    by  the  royal  commissioners  for 
the  suppression  to  deter  any  anticipation  of  their 
fate    has    been    touched    upon    elsewhere.       At 
Hinton,   as  at   Witham    during  this  period,   the 
Prior  was  forced  to  accept  a  steward  of  his  estates 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  xi.  No.  75. 


324      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

at  Cromweirs  nomination  ;  in  both  cases  Sir 
Walter,  afterwards  Lord,  Hungerford  by  his  own 
desire  was  appointed  ;^  he,  or  another  member  of 
his  family  of  the  same  name,  was  holding  the  same 
kind  of  office  for  the  property  of  the  Hinton  Car- 
thusians at  Longleat,  Lullington,  and  Beckington 
when  the  valuation  of  a.d.  1535  was  taken.  Not 
much  later,  either  just  before  and  in  contemplation 
of  the  speedy  suppresion  of  the  Charterhouse,  or 
just  after  the  event,  Cromwell  received  a  similar 
application  from  a  certain  Sir  Henry  Longe,  who 
had  been  at  one  time  Sheriff  of  Wiltshire,  *'to  be 
his  grace's  farmer  to  the  house  of  Henton  within 
the  county  of  Somerset."  "The  king's  visitors 
be  in  these  parts  now,"  he  writes,  "to  suppress 
divers  houses.  I  had  never  nothing  of  his  grace, 
and  I  am  much  more  charged  now  than  ever  I 
was;  unless  the  king's  grace  be  good  and  gracious 
unto  me,  I  shall  be  fain  to  give  over  mine  house 
and  to  get  me  into  some  corner,  "f 

The   "  king's   visitors "   were   Tregonwell    and 
Petre.     In  January  a.d.  1539,  after  dissolving  the 


*  Calendar  of  State  Papers^  vol.  xiii.  pt.  2,  App.  4. 
t  R.  O.  Crojnwell  Corre5po?tdence^  xxiv.  5,  quoted  in  The  Somer 
set  Religious  Houses^  by  Mr.  W.  A.  J.  Archbold. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      325 

monastery  at  Keynsham,  they  went  to  HInton, 
because  it  **lay  best"  in  their  way,  as  they  wrote 
to  Cromwell  on  the  26th.  Immediately  on  their 
arrival  they  told  the  Prior  the  cause  of  their 
coming,  and  used  such  means  and  persuasions 
as  they  thought  most  meet  to  make  him  sur- 
render. Horde's  answer,  they  reported,  in  effect 
was,  ''that  if  the  king's  majesty  would  take  his 
house,  so  it  proceeded  not  of  his  voluntary  sur- 
render, he  was  contented  to  obey,  but  otherwise 
his  conscience  would  not  suffer  him  willingly  to 
give  over  the  same."  But  after  further  talk  he 
desired  to  delay  until  the  morning  his  final 
answer.  The  next  day,  however,  although  they 
used  "the  like  diligence  in  persuading  him  "as 
they  did  before,  "  he  declared  himself  to  be  of  the 
same  mind  he  was  yesternight,  or  rather  more 
stiff  in  the  same."  "In  communication  with  the 
convent,"  the  visitors  continued,  *'we  perceived 
them  to  be  of  the  same  mind  the  Prior  was,  and 
had  much  like  answers  of  them  as  we  had  of  the 
Prior  (three  excepted  which  were  conformable). 
And  amongst  the  rest  one  Nicholas  Baland, 
monk  there,  being  incidentally  examined  of  the 
kings    highness's  title    of  supremacy,  expressly 


326     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

denied  the  same,  affirming  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to 
be  the  vicar  of  Christ,  and  that  he  is  and  ought 
to  be  taken  for  supreme  head  of  the  Church." 
The  Prior,  no  doubt  alarmed  at  the  consequences 
of  this  declaration  both  to  Baland  himself  and 
to  the  rest  of  the  community,  excused  the  monk 
by  showing  them  that  he  **hath  been  in  times 
past  and  yet  many  times  is  lunatick."  For  once 
Cromwell's  agents,  perhaps  really  giving  credit 
to  the  apology,  restrained  their  usual  severity, 
and  **  (not  putting  him  in  any  fear)  ...  let  him 
remain "  until  their  master's  further  pleasure 
should  be  known  therein.  Petre  and  Tregonwell 
had  other  business  to  dispatch,  and  as  they 
would  be  back  in  the  neighbourhood  later,  they 
determined  to  defer  working  further  on  the 
sturdy  consciences  of  the  community,  lest,  as  they 
added,  ''the  other  Charterhouse,  taking  example 
by  this,  will  not  conform  themself."  ^ 

Prior  Horde's  brother,  Alan,  the  Bencher  in 
the  Middle  Temple,  also,  either  upon  his  own 
motion,  or  because  called  upon  to  do  so  by  the 
king  or  Cromwell,   counselled    submission,   with 

*  R,    O.    Crofnwell   Correspondence^   xliii.   74,   quoted    in    The 
Somerset  Religious  Houses  in  full  and  with  the  original  spelling. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      327 

the  result  that  Dom  Edmund  sent  him  the  fol- 
lowing answer : — 

Prior  Horde  of  Hinton  to  his  Brother  Alan. 

Jhus. 

**  In  Owr  Lord  Jhesu  shall  be  yowr  Salutation. 
And  where  ye  marvelle  that  I  and  my  brotherne 
do  nott  freely  and  voluntarilie  geve  and  surren- 
dure  upe  owr  Howse  at  the  mocyone  of  the 
Kyns  Commissionars,  but  stonde  styffle  (and  as 
ye  thynke)  obstenatelye  in  owr  opynion,  trulye 
Brothere,  I  marvelle  gretly  that  ye  thynk  soo ; 
but,  rather  that  ye  wolde  have  thought  us  lyghte 
and  hastye  in  gevyn  upe  that  thynge  which  is 
not  owrs  to  geve,  but  dedicate  to  Allmyghte 
Gode  for  service  to  be  done  to  hys  honoure 
contynuallye,  with  other  many  good  dedds  off 
charite  whiche  daylye  be  done  in  thys  Howse 
to  owr  Christen  neybors.  And  consyderyng 
ther  is  no  cause  gevyn  by  us  why  the  Howse 
shall  be  putt  downe,  but  that  the  service  off 
Gode,  religious  conversacion  of  the  bretherne, 
hospitalite,  almes  deddis,  with  all  other  owr 
duties  be  as  well  observyde  in  thys  poore  Howse 


328      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

as    in  eny  relygious  Howse  in  thys   Realme  or 

in   Fraunce ;  whiche  we  have  trustyde  that  the 

Kynges  Grace  wolde    considere.     But  by  cause 

that    ye  wrytte   off  the    Kyngs    hye   displeasure 

and  my  Lorde  Prevy  Sealis,  who  ever  hath  byn 

my  especialle   goode   Lorde,    and    I    truste  yett 

wyll   be,    I   wyll    endevere   my  selffe,   as    muche 

as     I    maye,    to    perswade   my    brotherne    to   a 

conformyte  in  thys  matere;  soo  that  the  Kyng 

Hynes  nor  my  sayd  good  Lorde  shall  have  eny 

cause   to  be   displeside  with   us ;    trustyng   that 

my  poor  brotherne  (which  know  not  where  to 

have   them    lyvynge)    shall   be    charitable   looke 

uppon.     Thus  owr  Lord  Jhesu  preserve  you  in 

grace.     Hent'  x  die  ffebruarii. 

''E.   HORD. 
"  To  hys  brother  Alen  Horde  in 
Medylle  Tempulle,  dd"  * 

Ten  days  later  the  commissioners  wrote  from 
Exeter  still  asking  Cromwell  what  they  should 
do  about  Hinton,  but  the  conclusion  of  the 
Prior's  letter  to  his  brother  shows  that,  perceiv- 

*  Cott.    MS.    Cleop.  E.   iv.   f.  270,  printed  in  Ellis's   Original 
Letters^  2nd  Series,  vol.  ii.  p.  130. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      329 

ing  there  was  nothing  to  be  got  by  resistance 
except  the  royal  anger,  leading  probably  to 
imprisonment  or  worse,  he  had  resolved  to  '*  con- 
form "  himself  and  his  brethren,  as  the  best  and 
wisest  course  for  all  alike,  though  sorely  against 
his  conscience.  On  the  31st  of  March,  accord- 
i^g^y>  i^  Ae  presence  of  Tregonwell,  he  and 
the  convent  signed  the  deed  of  surrender  in 
their  chapter-house.  The  wording  of  the  deed 
is  exactly  the  same  as  that  of  Witham.  The 
seal  attached  is  rather  broken  ;  it  is  in  brown 
wax,  and  represents  the  Transfiguration  of  our 
Lord.  Christ  Himself  is  standing.  His  whole 
figure  surrounded  with  glory,  which  behind  His 
head  is  concentrated  into  the  form  of  a  cross ; 
above  Him  is  the  dove,  and  the  prophets  kneel 
on  either  side,  and  below  them  are  the  three 
disciples  in  an  attitude  of  adoration.  The  very 
badly  impressed  legend  round  the  broken 
margin,     according     to    the     Monasticon/^    was 

SIGILLUM  .  DOMUS  .  LOCI  .  DEI  .  DE      HINTON  .  ORDIS  . 

CARTUSIESIS. 

*  Vol.  vi.  pt.  I,  p.  4.  Dugdale  there  says  that  the  subject  of 
the  seal  was  "the  intention  of  the  foundress,  who  dedicated  the 
Priory  to  the  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  St.  John  the 
Baptist,  and  All  Saints." 


330     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 
The  signatures  are  in  the  margin  : — 

per  me  Edmund  per  me  Robertu  Nelynge 

hord',  priorem  per  me  Robertu  Sauage 
per  me  Robertum  Frey  Harry  Gurnay 

/  me      Wilhelmu  Coke  Nycholes  balland 

p  me      Thoma  Fletcher  /  Robert'  Skameden 

p  me      Wylhelmu  Reynolds  p  me      Thoma  Helyer 

per  me  Wilhelmu  Burforde  per  me  Jacobu  Marble 

per  me  Henricu  Bowma  per  me  Hugone  Lakoq 

per  me  Jollem  Bagecross  per  me  Johes  Chableyn 

That  the  name  of  the  reputed  crazy  monk 
Nicholas  Balland — as  he  spelt  it  himself — should 
appear  along  with  those  of  the  other  subscri- 
bers to  the  deed  is  not  surprising,  considering 
the  terror  under  which  the  religious  throughout 
England  were  then  labouring.  He  had  not 
changed  his  opinion  concerning  the  Pope's  supre- 
macy during  the  weeks  that  had  elapsed  since 
the  king's  visitors  were  last  at  Hinton,  but  to 
refuse  his  signature  meant  the  loss  of  his  pension, 
and  could  go  no  way  towards  saving  the  Priory. 
A  few  months  later,  when  the  profane  axes  and 
hammers  were  already  raised  against  the  walls  of 
his  monastery,  we  have  a  glimpse  of  him  haunting 
its  neighbourhood  like  the  ghost  of  its  vanished 
holiness.     '*  On  the  iiijth  day  of  June  last  past," 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     331 

writes  Sir  Walter  Hungerford  to  Cromwell,  '*  came 
before  me  one  John  Clerke  of  Henton  in  the 
county  of  Somerset,  weaver,  and  Roger  Pry gge, 
a  Wiltshire  fuller,"  who  **  showed  me  as  they  both 
were  drinking  in  the  house  of  one  John  Elyott  in 
the  town  of  Henton  aforesaid,  came  into  them 
one  Sir  Nicholas  Balland,  priest,  late  monk  of 
Henton,  and  then  he  began,  among  other  com- 
munications, to  reason  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome's 
authority,  and  said  in  hearing  of  them  and  others 
openly,  in  the  house  aforesaid,  that  he  would  not 
take  the  king's  highness  to  be  supreme  head 
under  God  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  only 
the  Pope  of  Rome,  which  should  be  taken  and 
noted  in  his  heart  during  his  life,  and  so  would  he 
die  in  that  opinion."  The  witnesses  brought  the 
monk  to  Hungerford,  who  kept  him  in  his  house 
until  he  should  hear  from  Cromwell  how  to  dis- 
pose of  him  otherwise  ;  the  said  priest,  he  added, 
"hath  byn  dystracte  out  of  hys  mynd,  and  as  yet  is 
not  much  better."  *  Whether,  upon  this  plea  or 
net,  Dom  Balland  received  no  extra  ill-treatment 
on  account  of  his  utterances  on  the  supremacy, 
he  was  granted  a  pension  with   the  rest  of  the 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VI  11.^  vol.  xiv.  pt.  I,  No.  1 154. 


332       SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

community,  which  he  was  still  taking  when 
Cardinal  Pole  drew  up  his  list.  When  the 
opportunity  offered,  he  returned  to  the  old  con- 
ventual life,  and  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth 
followed  Prior  Maurice  Chauncy  to  the  Con- 
tinent. 

The  following  list  of  monks,  including  the  lay- 
brethren,  with  the  annuity  and  gratuity  of  each, 
is  taken  from  the  patents  in  the  Augmentation 
Office,  Miscellaneous  Book,  No.  233,  f.  242. 


Annuity. 

Gratuiti 

f. 

Prior  Edmund  Horde. 

•     ;£"44 

0 

0 

^11       0 

0 

Robert  Frie 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

William  Cooke    . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Thomas  Fletcher 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

William  Reynolds 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

William  Burford . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Henry  Bowman  . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

John  Bachecroste 

8 

0 

0 

0  40 

0 

Robert  Nelynge  . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Robert  Savage     . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Henry  Corney  [or  Gurnay]  . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Nicholas  Baland 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Robert  Scamanden 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Thomas  Helyer  . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Jacobus  Marble  . 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Hugh  Laycocke  . 

8 

0 

0 

0  40 

0 

John  Chambleyne 

6 

13 

4 

0  33 

4 

Robert  Russell    . 

0 

40 

0 

0   10 

0 

Robert  Legge 

0 

40 

0 

0   10 

0 

HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      333 


Robert  Lightfote 

^0  40 

0 

£0  10     0 

William  Robynson 

0  40 

0 

0  10     0 

William  Howe     . 

0  40 

0 

0  10     0 

John  Calert  [or  Skalerd] 

0  26 

8 

068 

The  patents  for  the  Hinton  and  WItham  monks 
were  drawn  up  in  the  same  form.  Stevens  In 
his  Supplement  to  the  Mofiasticon  ^'  has  translated 
that  for  the  Prior  thus  : — 

*' Henry  the  VIII.,  by  the  Grace  of  God, 
King  of  England  and  France,  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  Lord  of  Ireland  and  Supreme  Head  of 
the  Church  of  England  upon  Earth ;  To  all 
to  whom  these  presents  shall  come  Greeting. 
Whereas  the  late  Monastery  of  Carthusians 
of  Hinton  is  now  dissolved,  whereof  Edmund 
Horde  was  Prior  at  the  Time  of  the  Dissolu- 
tion, and  long  before.  We  being  willing  that 
a  reasonable  yearly  pension  or  suitable  pro- 
motion should  be  provided  for  the  same  Edward, 
for  his  better  Exhibition,  maintenance  and  sup- 
port. Be  it  therefore  known  to  you  that  We, 
in  consideration  of  the  premises,  of  our  special 
grace,  and  of  our  certain  knowledge,  and  mere 
proper    motion,    by  the   advice   and    consent    of 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  245. 


334     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the    Chancellor    and    Council    of    the    Court    of 
Augmentations,   of  the  revenues  of  our   crown, 
have  given  and  granted,  and  by  these  presents, 
do    give    and   grant,    to   the    same    Edmund    a 
certain  annuity,  or   yearly  pension   of  forty-four 
pounds  sterling,  to  be  had,  enjoyed,  and  yearly 
received,    the    same    forty-four    pounds    by   the 
said    Edmund   and    his   assigns  from  the  Feast 
of  the  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 
last   past,    to    and    for    the    term    of    the    said 
Edmund's   life,    or   till    such   time   as    the    said 
Edmund    shall   by   us    be   preferred   to    one    or 
more   ecclesiastical   benefices,   or   other   suitable 
promotion  of  the  full  value  of  forty-four  pounds, 
or    better,    as    by   the    hands    of  the    Treasurer 
of  the  Revenues  of  the  Augmentations    of  our 
Crown,  for  the  time  being,  out  of  our  Treasure, 
which   shall  chance    to  be    in    his  hands  of  the 
said  Revenues ;  as  by  the  hands  of  the  Receivers 
of  the   Profits   and    Revenues   of  the    said  late 
Monastery,  for  the  time  being  out  of  the  same 
profits  and  revenues,  at  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael 
the   Archangel,    and    the    Annunciation    of    the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  by  equal  portions.     And 
further,  of  our  more  ample  grace,  we  have  given, 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      335 

and  for  the  aforesaid  consideration,  do  grant 
to  the  aforesaid  Edmund  Horde  eleven  pounds 
sterling,  to  be  had  by  the  same  EdmuncI  of  our 
gift,  to  be  paid  by  the  hands  of  our  Treasurer 
aforesaid,  out  of  the  Treasure  aforesaid,  or  by 
the  hands  of  the  said  Receiver  out  of  the  profits 
and  revenues  of  the  manors,  lands,  and  tenements 
of  the  said  late  Monastery.  There  being  no 
express  mention  made  in  these  presents  of  the 
true  yearly  value,  or  of  the  certainty  of  the 
premises,  or  of  any  one  of  them,  or  of  other 
gifts  or  grants  by  us  made  to  the  said  Edmund 
before  these  fimes  ;  or  any  statute,  act,  ordinance, 
proviso  or  restriction  to  the  contrary  had,  made, 
ordained,  or  provided,  or  any  other  thing,  cause, 
or  matter  whatsoever,  in  any  wise  notwith- 
standing. In  testimony  whereof,  we  have  caused 
these  our  Letters  Patents  to  be  made.  Witness, 
Richard  Riche,  Knight,  at  Westminster,  the 
twenty-seventh  day  of  April,  in  the  thirty-first 
year  of  our  Reign. 

''Duke  

"By  the  Chancellor  and  Council  of  the  Court  of  Augmenta- 
tions of  the  Revenues  of  the  King's  Crown^  by  virtue 
of  the  Kin^s  Warrant:' 


336      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

But  besides  the  pensions  to  the  monks,  there 
were  certain  other  annual  payments  that  Henry 
Vni.  disbursed  in  connection  with  the  late 
priories  of  Hinton  and  Witham.  Thus  we  find 
recorded  26s.  8d.  paid  to  Thomas  Brownynge, 
Vicar  of  Norton  St.  Philip,  being  part  of  the 
yearly  sum  of  53s.  4.6..  which  the  Prior  and 
convent  of  Hinton  had  agreed  that  he  should 
receive  ;  and  io6s.  8d.  due  to  Richard  Drynk- 
water,  chaplain  of  Longleat,  as  the  annual  stipend 
granted  to  him  by  letters  patents  under  the 
convent  seal  on  the  loth  May  a.d.  1529;  also 
53s.  3d.  and  36s.  8d.  to  William  Horde  and  to 
Richard  Pynnock  respectively,  both  pensioners 
of  Hinton  Priory.  To  the  chaplain,  Richard 
of  Cheddar,  was  paid  £y.  los.,  out  of  his  salary 
of  ;i^io,  as  agreed  on  in  a.d.  1382  by  the  Prior 
and  convent  of  Witham  at  that  date ;  and  to 
Elisha,  chaplain  of  Witham,  70s.  towards  the 
jCy  due  to  him  annually  from  the  Prior  and 
convent  there.  These  payments  were  made  the 
first  year  after  the  suppression.^''  The  name  of 
William     Horde    occurs    amonof     the    disburse- 

♦  Augmentation  Office,  Ministers'  Accounts,  30-31  Henry  VIII., 
No.  224. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      337 

ments  of  the  Augmentation  Office  now  and 
then  in  subsequent  years,  as  does  that  of  a 
certain  William  Davies,  but  of  the  others  we 
lose  sight.  At  the  beginning  of  Mary's  reign, 
according  to  Pole's  pension-book,  there  were 
only  three  of  the  religious  of  Witham  draw- 
ing their  pensions  ;  but  from  the  other  Somer- 
set Charterhouse  the  monks  Henry  Bowman, 
Nicholas  Ballande,  Thomas  Hellier,  Robert 
Savage,  Robert  Frye,  Robert  Nelling,  Thomas 
Howe,  John  Bachecroste  were  all  receiving 
theirs.*  Under  the  head  of  *'  Henton  late 
Monastery,"  the  same  book  records  annuities 
to— 


Richard  Pynnocke 
Morgan  Phillipes 
Richard  Pope  . 
Thomas  Stanter 
William  Davies 
Hugh  Shorte   . 
William  Horde  of  London 
William  Davyes 


As  for  the  fate  of  the  monks,  as  usual,  we  can 
find  little  or  nothing  about  them  after  the  Sup- 
pression.     Dom  Balland  went  abroad  and  died  in 


s. 

d. 

36 

8 

36 

8 

30 

0 

36 

8 

40 

0 

20 

0 

53 

4 

26 

8 

*  TAe  Somerset  Religious  Houses ^  pp.  135-140,  and  p.  153. 


338     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

A.D.  1578.  Prior  Edmund  Horde  may  have  found 
shelter  among  his  own  kindred  ;  there  is  a  men- 
tion of  him  in  the  will  ^  of  his  brother,  Alan 
Horde,  then  living  at  Ewall,  in  Surrey  ;  the  latter 
died  on  the  25th  January  a.d.  1553.  Among  the 
items  in  his  testament  is  the  bequest  of,  besides 
more  substantial  property,  ''plate  which  my 
brother  Dr.  Horde  gave "  him,  to  Edmund,  his 
second  son,  and  perhaps  the  monk's  godson. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  this 
plate  had  belonged  to  Hinton  Charterhouse,  and 
whether  the  Prior  had  managed  to  secrete  it,  as 
other  religious  were  accused  of  doing.  Of  the 
other  monks  not  mentioned  in  the  pension-book, 
those  who  had  not  died  were  perhaps  abroad. 
During  the  temporary  restoration  of  the  Carthu- 
sians at  Sheen  under  Queen  Mary,  a  certain 
Dom  Fletcher  joined  Chauncy's  community,  but 
it  is  unknown  whether  he  was  Father  Thomas 
of  Hinton  or  Father  Robert  of  Mountgrace,  as 
his  Christian  name  is  not  mentioned  in  the  narra- 
tives referring  to  that  period  ;  he  died  before  the 
second  dispersion  of  his  brethren,  but  his  memory 

*  Miscellanea  Genealogica  et  Heraldica^  New  Series,  vol.  iv. 
p.  140. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     339 

lived  on  in  the  place  long  after  their  departure. 
In  A.D.  1 57 1,  Sir  Francis  Englefield,  who  hap- 
pened to  be  dining  with  Prior  Chauncy  while 
he  and  his  monks  were  dwelling  in  St.  Clare's 
Street,  Bruges,  related  ''that  his  tenants  in  Eng- 
land had  written  unto  him  that  they  dwelling 
near  Sheen  heard  for  nine  nights  together  the 
monks  that  Father  Chauncy  had  buried  in  Sheen 
to  have  sung  service  with  lights  in  the  church  ; 
and  when  they  did  of  purpose  set  ladders  to  the 
church  walls  to  see  them  in  the  church,  suddenly 
they  ceased.  And  they  heard  Father  Fletcher's 
voice,  which  every  one  knew,  above  them  all.""^ 

This  ghostly  reminiscence  of  the  English 
monks  singing  the  old  service  in  their  own  land, 
where  the  new  order  of  things  had  brought  and 
was  bringing  so  many  changes  in  ritual  as  well 
as  in  doctrine,  is  a  fitting  close  to  the  history  of 
the  Carthusians  of  the  Priory  of  God's  Place. 

As  for  the  Charterhouse  itself,  barely  two 
months  passed  before  destruction  came  upon  it 
on  its  being  surrendered  into  the  king's  hands. 
Tregonwell,  who  took  the  surrender,  sold  a  part 
of  the  monastery  almost  at  once  to  Sir  Walter 

*   The  London  Charterhouse^  by  Dom  Hendriks. 


340     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

Hungerford  ;  but  while  the  latter  was  absent  for 
some  reason  or  other  in  London,  Sir  Thomas 
Arundel,  coming  to  survey  the  property,  "  sold 
and  despoiled,  and  quite  carried  away  a  great 
part  of  the  church  and  other  superfluous  build- 
ings," which  he  had  bought  ;  not  through  ill- 
will  apparently,  but  through  a  misunderstanding. 
Hungerford  persuaded  Cromwell  to  dispatch  a 
letter  to  stay  such  proceedings  any  further.  But 
when  Sir  Walter  visited  the  Priory,  he  found  it 
**  so  defaced  and  spoiled,"  he  wrote  again  to 
Cromwell,  **  that  it  is  and  will  be  to  my  great 
loss,  if  you  be  not  my  good  master  to  direct 
your  letters  unto  him  [Arundel]  to  make  me 
recompense  for  the  same."  **  He  hath  surveyed 
the  demesnes  of  the  monastery  after  such  sorts 
and  rates  as  no  man  will  take  them ;  as  for  me, 
I  am  not  able  to  pay  the  rent,  but  if  I  shall  pay 
it  of  my  own  lands."  The  king's  liking  for 
plunder  was  shared  by  his  subjects.  This  same 
letter  supplies  information  which  may  partly 
account  for  the  scarcity  of  documents  belonging 
to  Hinton.  *'The  last  Prior's  back-door  of  his 
cell  has  been  broken  up  by  one  Harry  Champ- 
neys  of  Orchardleigh,  in  Somerset,   and  others. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      341 

In  the  cell  the  king's  grace's  evidence  lay,  and 
what  they  have  taken  away  of  the  evidence  it 
is  to  me  unknown.  When  I  went  to  see  after 
I  reached  home,  the  door  of  the  evidence  was 
broken  and  the  evidences  ruffled,  and  among 
them  a  confirmation  and  grant  under  one  of 
the  king's  grace's  noble  progenitor's  great  seal, 
which  seal  was  half  broken  off."  Sir  Walter 
ended  by  requesting  Cromwell  '*  to  be  a  mean  " 
for  him  to  the  king  for  the  fee-farm  for  himself 
and  his  heirs  of  ''the  manors  of  Hinton  and 
Philips  Norton,  with  the  appurtenances  and  the 
demesnes  of  the  house  of  Hinton  itself,  Long- 
leat,  Buttonsmlll,  Greeneworth,  and  Iford,  for  as 
I  perceive  my  old  friend  Sir  Harry  Long  doth 
make  friends  to  have  it  from  me.  My  good 
Lord,  all  the  said  lands  lyeth  within  a  mile  of 
my  poor  house  of  Farleigh,  saving  Greeneworth 
and  Longleat,  wherefore  I  beseech  you  to  be 
good  Lord  unto  me."''^ 

Ultimately,  however.   Sir  Walter   Hungerford 
did  not  receive  any  more  of  the  property  of  the 

*  State  Papers  of  Henry  VIII. ^  vol.  xiv.  pt.  i,  No.  1154.  But- 
tonsmill  is  presumably  that  which  in  the  Valor  as  printed  appears 
by  the  name  of  "  Lutecom'ys  Mill." 


342     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

late  monastery,  though  part  of  it  came  into  his 
family  some  years  later.  The  value  of  the  estates 
of  the  Priory  according  to  the  Ministers  of  the 
Augmentation  Office  was  as  follows  : — 

County  of  Somerset.  £     s.      d. 

Henton  and  Midford — Rents   of  certain 

lands  and  tenements,  &c.  .         .1718       o 

Frayre — Assized  rents      .         .         .         .318 
Charterhouse     Henton  —  Farm     of    the 

Grange,  &c.     .         .         .         .         .5186 

Henton  Priory — In  the  same  place  .         .       711       8 
Iford,  Westwod,  and  Rawleigh,  near  Far- 

leigh — Assized  rents         .         .         .       7     17       8  J 
Norton  St.  Philips — Assized  rents    .         .2712       8 
Norton  St.  Philips — Farm  of  the  house  or 

Grange    .         .         .         .         .         .     22       4       4 

Fresheford  and  Woodurke — Assized  rents       910       o 
Ladcombe — Farm  .         .         .         .         .       3     10       o 

Puglege  with  Shewiscombe — Assized  rents       831 
Whittokesmede — Assized  rents        .         .       411       2 
Puglege — Farm  of  the  manor  .         .         .     26     13       4 
Puglege — Perquisites  of  the  court    .         .       o       i      1 1 
Hope — Assized  rents       .         .         .         .200 

Lemondslonde — Rent  of  one  tenement    .060 
Buckelande — Rents,  &c.  .         .         .040 

Grenewerit  with  Whitnell — Farm  of  the 

manor     .         .         .         .         .         .     10       o       o 

Wiltes  and  Somerset, 

Returns  from  the  alnage  .         .         .     33       6       8 

Lullyngton,   Bekyngton,   and  Longlete — 

Rents  of  the  free  tenants  .         .         ,046 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      343 

£     s.      d. 

Lullyngton,  &c. — Assized  rents  .  .  7  710 
Bekyngton  and  elsewhere — Assized  rents  713  o 
Lullyngton — Farm  of  the  manor  .  .  2  13  4 
Lullyngton — Farm  of  the  rectory     .         .100 

County  of  Wilts. 

Longlete — Farm  of  the  demese  lands       .       2     19       o"^ 

The  site  of  the  Charterhouse  was  granted  in 
A.D.  1546  to  John  Bartlett,  alias  Sancock,  and 
Robert  Bartlett,  and  the  other  estates  from  the 
31st  to  the  38th  year  of  Henry  VIII.  to  various 
other  persons.  The  monastic  buildings,  as  at 
Witham,  had  small  chance  of  a  long  existence. 
The  first  attack  on  them  by  Sir  Thomas  Arundel 
was  followed  by  the  stripping  of  the  lead  from 
the  roofs  of  the  church,  cloisters,  bell-tower, 
and  other  erections  of  the  late  Priory.  Richard 
Walker,  the  plumber,  received  40s.  for  melting 
down  the  whole  amount  of  33  pigs  of  lead 
procured  thus  at  Hinton,  weighing  16  fodders, 
the  rate  being  2s.  6d.  the  fodder,  t  The  same 
roll  of  accounts  of  the  Ministers  of  the  Aug- 
mentation   Office    that    gives    this    information 

♦  Dugdale,  Man.  Angelic.^  vol.  vi.  pt.  i,  p.  5.     Abstract  of  Roll, 
31  Henry  VIII,,  in  the  Augmentation  Office. 

t  A.  O.  Minister's  Accounts,  30-31  Henry  VIII.,  No.  224. 


344     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

makes  no  mention  of  the  sale  of  bells  or  other 
materials  at  Hinton,  though  it  records  the  profits 
arising  in  this  way  from  Witham  and  the  other 
Somerset  monasteries,  which  seems  to  be  from 
some  oversight. 

The  destruction  of  the  roof  would  soon  bring 
about  the  decay  of  the  whole  fabric,  but  rough 
hands  were  early  laid  on  it.  The  Bartletts  sold 
it  to  Matthew  Colthurst,  whose  heir  in  Eliza- 
beth's reign  in  his  turn  alienated  it  to  a  member 
of  the  Hungerford  family ;  and  in  later  times  it 
passed  to  owners  of  yet  another  name.  One  of 
the  first  masters  of  the  place  used  the  monastic 
buildings  as  a  quarry  to  erect  a  fine  house  for 
himself  in  the  handsome  style  of  the  last  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century ;  it  is  still  standing,  a 
conspicuous  gabled  dwelling  on  the  road  from 
Frome  to  Bath,  and  bears  a  reminiscence  of  its 
origin  in  its  erroneous  name  of  Hinton  Abbey, 
The  ground  about  the  house  is  uneven  with 
stones  and  traces  of  the  old  buildings  under  the 
grass,  and  indeed  has  been  known  to  give  way 
with  the  crumbling  of  the  ruins  buried  beneath 
it.  So  early  as  the  date  of  Leland's  Itinerary, 
to  judge  by  his  language,  the  greater  part  of  the 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     345 

former  Priory  was  non-extant.  **  From  Farley," 
he  wrote,  "  I  ridde  a  mile  of  by  woddy  ground 
to  a  graung  great  and  well  builded,  that  longed 
to  Henton  Priory  of  Chartusians.  This  Priory 
stondith  not  far  of  from  this  graung  on  the 
brow  of  an  hille  abouth  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  farther  Ripe  of  Frome,  and  not  far  from  this 
place  Frome  goith  ynto  Avon.  I  rodde  by  the 
space  of  a  mile  or  more  by  woddes  and  moun- 
taine  grounde  to  a  place  where  I  saw  a  rude 
stone  waulle  hard  on  the  right  bond  by  a  great 
lengthe  as  it  had  beene  a  park  waulle.  One  sins 
told  me  that  Henton  Priory  first  stode  there ; 
if  it  be  so,  it  is  the  lordship  of  Hethorpe  that 
was  given  to  them  for  their  first  habitation."  ''^ 
This  "graung"  was  presumably  the  granary,  that 
was  still  in  existence  in  a.d.  1791,  according  to 
Collinson,  as  well  as  what  he  calls  **the  chapel 
and  ante-chapel  and  the  charnel-house."  t  A 
charnel-house  had  no  place  in  a  Carthusian 
establishment,  and  there  is  nothing  now  among 

♦  J-.eland,  Itinerary^  vol.  ii.  p.  34. 

t  History  oj  Somerset^  vol.  iii.  p.  366.  The  ante-chapel  is  the 
part  of  a  chapel  that  lies  between  the  western  wall  and  the  choir- 
screen,  corresponding  in  a  cruciform  church  to  the  transept.  Vide 
Parker's  Glossary  of  Architecture. 


346     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

the  remains  which  could  suggest  such  a  building. 
His  chapel  and  ante-chapel  are  what  tradition, 
without  doubt  correctly,  calls  the  chapter-house. 
The  latter  occupies  the  ground-floor  of  a  large 
tower  adjoining  the  site  of  the  Church,"^'"  that  of 
the  monks,  to  judge  by  the  length  of  the  south 
wall,  of  which  the  direction  eastwards  may  still 
be  traced  in  the  grass  that  grows  less  richly 
in  the  thinner  soil  that  hides  the  stones  of  its 
foundation.  Entrance  to  the  chapter-house  was 
on  the  west  by  a  door  now  reached  from  the 
open,  but  originally  reached  probably  from  a 
cloister  or  another  part  of  the  Church,  as  there 
are  marks  of  some  contiguous  building  on  the 
wall  above  it.  On  the  right  of  this  door  there 
is  an  entrance  to  this  covered  space  in  front  of 
it,  from  presumably  the  south  cloister,  the  signs 
of  this  again  being  visible  on  the  outside  of  the 
south  wall  of  the  tower.  The  chapter  -  house, 
or    more    properly    in    this    case    chapter  -  room, 

*  Hinton  Charterhouse  was  founded  years  after  that  of  Witham, 
and  it  may  be  that  here  the  earHer  rule  of  an  entirely  separate 
church  for  the  lay-brethren  was  discontinued,  and,  as  in  the 
London  Charterhouse,  they  may  have  had  merely  a  portion  of  the 
one  church  especially  devoted  to  them.  The  modem  Carthusian 
church  is  thus  divided  into  the  monks'  choir  and  the  lay-brothers' 
choir,  which  are  partitioned  off  from  one  another. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      347 

is  a  chamber  stone-vaulted  much  like  Witham 
Church,  being  a  short  oblong  in  shape  ;  the  light 
was  admitted  through  a  fair-sized  window  of 
three  lights  on  the  east,  and  by  two  other  longer 
and  narrower  windows  of  single  lights  on  the 
north  and  south.  The  place  of  the  altar  is  even 
now  discernible  by  the  marks  in  the  wall  left  on 
the  removal  of  its  reredos.  As  in  Witham  Church, 
there  is  a  double  piscina,  with  the  shelf,  accord- 
ing to  some  authorities,  used  as  a  credence-table  ; 
but  this  is  much  the  handsomer  of  the  two. 
Opposite  in  the  north  wall  there  is  a  recess,  pro- 
bably an  ambry,  the  places  for  the  hinges  and 
fastenings  being  visible  in  the  stone.  Close  to  the 
entrance  a  door  on  the  left  led  from  the  chap- 
ter-house into  a  passage,  entering  which,  imme- 
diately on  the  left  again  was  a  wider  door  to 
the  Church,  now  partially  blocked,  as  may  be 
seen   in   the    creneral   view  of  the    ruins    of  the 

o 

Priory  given  in  this  book.  The  only  relics  of 
the  interior  of  the  Church  are  a  great  vaulting 
shaft  that  helped  to  support  the  roof,  and  a 
recess,  perhaps  another  ambry  or  a  sedllia,  in 
its  south  wall.  The  passage  just  mentioned  now 
ends   in  an  outer  doorway  ;    close  to   it  are  the 


348     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

stairs  of  the  tower.  On  the  first  floor  is  a 
room  also  vaulted  with  stone,  lighted  by  three 
windows  once  fitted  with  glass ;  in  the  recess 
of  each  is  a  seat  or  a  shelf;  the  flooring  has 
disappeared  and  one  treads  on  the  uncovered 
vaulting  of  the  chapter-house  underneath  ;  pos- 
sibly this,  as  is  said,  was  the  monastic  library, 
though  its  position  makes  that  doubtful.  Beyond 
it,  exactly  over  the  east  end  of  the  chapter-house, 
is  a  loft  fitted  for  a  dove  or  pigeon  house  There 
is  also  on  this  floor  a  smaller  room  lighted  by 
two  little  windows  that  have  been  merely  glazed. 
The  highest  storey  consists  of  a  rather  ruinous 
landing  and  a  spacious  loft,  also  arranged  for 
doves. 

The  only  other  extant  building  is  some  yards 
to  the  west  of  the  tower :  it  is  partially  shut  off 
from  the  Church  by  a  substantial  wall  entered  by 
an  arched  gateway ;  it  consists  of  a  ground-floor 
and  upper  storey.  The  chamber  below  is  the 
reputed  refectory,  but  it  is  ill-lighted,  and  the 
stone-vaulted  roof  is  supported  in  the  centre  by 
a  row  of  three  columns,  which  would  leave  little 
clear  space  for  a  table  and  the  requisites  of 
a  dining-room.     At  one  end  of  it  there  is  an 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      349 

entrance  to  a  smaller  room  with  a  large  fireplace ; 
from  this  there  was  egress  to  a  covered  way, 
which,  no  longer  existing,  used  to  lead  to  the 
Church,  says  the  tradition,  and  which  may  have 
been  part  of  one  of  the  cloisters.  From  the 
ground-floor  of  this  building  an  outside  flight  of 
steps  led  to  the  upper  room,  guessed  to  have 
been  originally  a  dormitory. 

It  was  a  fitting  imagination  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Hinton  Abbey  that  led  them  to  hear  the 
singing  voices  of  the  departed  monks  about  the 
house  as  if  their  spirits  had  followed  the  conse- 
crated stones  of  their  church  when  these  were 
carried  away  to  build  it.  The  site  of  their  own 
house,  where  they  offered  up  so  continually  their 
praise  and  prayer,  is  covered  with  grass,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field  trample  over  the  once  holy 
ground.  The  neighbouring  chapter-house — and 
among  the  Carthusians  this  is  a  chapel — though 
yet  almost  intact,  went  through  a  desecration 
as  bad  or  worse.  When  the  Blessed  Lord  emp- 
tied Himself  of  His  glory  and  first  appeared 
before  the  eyes  of  those  whom  He  came  to 
redeem,  it  pleased  Him  to  be  born  in  a  stable. 
After  the   storm  of  the   Reformation  men  grew 


350     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

forgetful  of  what  was  due  to  that  glory,  which 
He  assumed  again  on  His  Ascension,  and  of 
what  was  owing  to  that  Divine  humility,  and 
the  place  once  dedicated  to  His  honour  was 
turned  into  a  stable.  Though  still  occupying 
it  for  secular  purposes,  the  present  owner  is 
more  reverent  in  his  use  of  it,  and,  except  for 
the  pitched  and  drained  floor,  the  signs  of  the 
older  abuse  have  been  removed.  Little  light 
falls  through  the  perforated  zinc  with  which  the 
spaces  of  the  windows  have  been  stopped  ;  after 
the  bright  daylight  without,  the  eye,  attracted 
by  the  groined  vaulting  and  the  carved  piscina, 
is  impatient  of  the  gloom  to  which  it  must  be- 
come accustomed  before  it  can  follow  the  details 
of  the  architecture ;  but  the  gaze  soon  takes  in 
the  secular  objects  there,  and  the  floor  that  horses 
or  cattle  trod,  and  the  darkness  only  seems  in 
keeping  within  the  walls  of  the  last  remnant  of 
the  Place  of  God,  where  the  light  and  warmth 
of  religious  devotion  have  long  since  been  extin- 
guished. 


I'liJCINA    IN    HINTON    CHAl'TKK-lKJUSK. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      3  5 1 


CHAPTER  V 


A  PLEA  FOR  THE  CARTHUSIANS 


*'  Sxculi  sordes  fugit  et  prophanat 
Et  suam  vitam,  nihil  ista  curat, 
Dulce  nil  Christo  sine,  nil  amoenam 

Cartusiano. 
Veste  procedit  cito  nuptuali, 
Obviam  sponso  manibus  intentes, 
Lampades  gestans,  oleo  decoras, 
Cartusianus."  * 

HE  history  of  the  Charterhouses 
of  Witham  and  of  Hinton  is 
typical  of  that  of  all  the  English 
monasteries  of  the  Order.  The 
establishment  of  the  convent,  at- 
tended by  more  or  less  interesting  incidents,  is  in 
every  case  followed  by  the  same  gradual  increase 

*  From  a  poem  in  praise  of  the  Carthusian  Order  by  Sebastian 
Brant  of  Strasbourg.  It  is  printed  in  the  Chronicle  of  the  Sacred 
Carthusian  Order  by  Peter  Dorlandus.  For  the  sake  of  some  of 
our  readers  we  give  the  following  free  translation  of  these  two  verses: 

"  He  flees  the  impurities  of  the  secular  world,  and  does  violence 
to  his  own  life  :  he  takes  no  care  for  this  ;  nothing  is  sweet  without 
Christ,  nothing  pleasant  to  the  Carthusian. 

"  In  the  wedding-garment  the  Carthusian  quickly  goes  forth  to 
meet  the  liridcgroom,  with  outstretched  hands  bearing  the  lamps 
properly  fed  v/ith  oil," 


352     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  property,  the  same  uneventful  life  down  to  the 
end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  same  lack  among 
the  monks  of  men  eminent  for  their  learning  or 
writings  or  as  theologians,  or  for  extraordinary 
sanctity  (though  for  individuals  to  be  in  advance 
of  the  rest  in  saintliness,  which  was  almost  an 
inherent  quality  of  the  Order,  it  might  be  diffi- 
cult) ;  then  at  last  come  the  days  of  persecution 
and  destruction,  which,  as  regards  the  Carthu- 
sians, was  but  the  sweeping  away  of  special 
bodies  of  **  bedesmen."  This  being  so,  it  may 
not  unnaturally  be  asked,  of  what  use  were  these 
monks  ?  That  question,  put  in  the  present  prac- 
tical and  material  times,  means,  what  tangible 
visible  good  did  they  work  for  their  fellow-men  ? 
how  did  they  benefit  either  their  contemporaries 
or  posterity?  Granted  that  they  contributed 
almost  nothing  to  the  intellectual  improvement 
of  their  countrymen,  at  least  they  did  contribute 
somewhat  to  the  bodily  welfare  of  the  latter.  The 
statutes  of  the  Order  commanded  them  to  give 
their  superfluous  goods  to  the  poor,  and  Witham 
and  some  other  Charterhouses  that  were  well  off 
could  easily  have  afforded  to  do  "many  good 
dedds  off  charite"  to  their  **  Christen  neybors," 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE       353 

which  Prior  Horde  of  Hinton  considered  among 
the  duties  of  the  Carthusians.  Monasteries,  it 
has  been  often  said,  and  even  reproached  against 
them,  as  if  it  were  their  only  benefit  to  mankind, 
were  the  asylums  and  harbours  of  refuge  to  the 
broken-hearted  and  those  who  had  felt  too  much 
the  world's  buffetings.  But  the  Charterhouses 
could  very  rarely  have  been  put  to  such  a  use  ; 
life  within  their  walls  was  too  stern  to  be  a 
very  consolatory  form  of  religion.  To  one  sorely 
smitten  with  sorrow,  the  solitariness  of  the  cell, 
if  endurable  at  all,  afforded  such  ample  oppor- 
tunity for  brooding  over  his  griefs,  that  it  could 
not  be  long  in  making  him  literally  a  prey  to 
them.  To  live  the  Rule  perfectly,  as  St.  Hugh 
was  reminded  before  he  entered  La  Grande 
Chartreuse,  the  Carthusians  must  be  as  hard  as 
the  rocks  in  their  first  solitude.  By  this  it  was  not 
meant  that  he  should  become  inhuman.  The  good 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  manifested  in  his  own  person 
how  it  was  possible  morally  to  kill  self,  and  yet  to 
attain  to  an  almost  perfect  standard  of  Chris- 
tian charity  to  others.  He  who  would  follow  St. 
Bruno  must  be  able  to  use  his  full  energies  ;  not 
only  his  physical,  but  his  mental  powers  would  be 


354     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

more  or  less  severely  tried  by  the  continuous 
efforts  at  prayer,  and,  to  use  the  language  of  the 
monks,  by  the  spiritual  warfare  against  the  flesh  ; 
and  **  grief  is  proud  and  makes  his  owner  stoop," 
by  incapacitating  him  in  mind  as  well  as  weaken- 
ing him  in  body  sometimes,  and  taking  from  him, 
for  a  time  at  least,  the  capability  of  application  to 
any  work.  But  to  men  of  another  stamp  these 
monasteries  might  be  salutary  asylums.  When 
our  ancestors  felt  keenly  on  any  topic,  they  some- 
times expressed  their  feelings  in  strong  actions, 
and  if  their  deference  to  the  Church  did  not  often 
allow  their  religious  emotions  to  appear  in  such 
extravagant  forms  as  after  the  upheaval  of  old 
ideas  by  the  New  Learning,  yet  they  did  occasion- 
ally get  into  trouble  with  ecclesiastical  authorities. 
To  those  possessed  with  a  flagrant  desire  of  show- 
ing their  unbounded  zeal  in  extraordinary  ways, 
the  Carthusian  manner  of  devotion  would  be  a 
safety-valve  for  their  fervour  which  might  lead 
them  to  unwise  courses,  and  in  such,  the  difficult 
novitiate  would  soon  prove  how  much  was  true 
religion  and  how  much  was  short-lived  excite- 
ment. 

But  to  understand  the  true  w^ork  of  the  Order 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE       355 

depends  upon  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer  and 
worship.  St.  Bruno  and  his  spiritual  descen- 
dants did  but  literally  carry  out  the  command 
''Watch  and  pray."  And  faithful  watchmen  they 
were  to  the  last  in  England  ;  not  even  the  evil 
pens  of  Cromwell's  infamous  agents  of  destruc- 
tion could  write  a  single  bad  word  against  their 
character,  though  many  indeed  were  the  com- 
plaints against  their  conscientious  steadfastness. 
Sebastian  Brant ""  said  what  was  as  true  of  the 
English  as  of  the  foreign  Charterhouses  : 

"  Degener  nunquam  fuit  ordo  visus 
Cartusianus  " 

(**  The  Carthusian  Order  was  never  seen  de- 
generate").  Now  and  then,  indeed,  they  would 
tend  to  grow  somewhat  lax  in  some  details  of 
rule,  but  the  system  of  supervision  was  so  excel- 
lent that  these  faults  would  soon  be  espied  and 
rectified ;  for  the  strict  obedience  demanded  of 
the  Carthusian  not  only  of  necessity  maintained 
him  in  the  difficult  path  to  perfection  that  he 
had  chosen,  but  also  if  he  fell,  almost  forced  him 

♦  See  note  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  With  this  quotation 
may  be  compared  the  well-known  saying  in  reference  to  the  Order, 
that  it  was  never  reformed  because  never  corrupt  :  ^''Cartusia  nun- 
quam reformata  quia  nunquam  deformata^^ 


356      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

on  his  feet  again.  Obedience  was  the  life  of  the 
Order,  and  herein  lay  its  strength  and  its  power  of 
reforming  itself  and  of  retaining  the  form  that  St. 
Bruno  gave  to  it.  And  so  in  England  at  least, 
from  the  first  day  of  their  inauguration  at  Witham, 
where  Henry  H.,  stained  with  Becket's  blood,  set 
them  to  watch  and  pray  for  him  and  the  country, 
until  the  last  day  of  their  silent  existence  here, 
when  Henry  VIII.,  stained  more  deeply  with  sin, 
turned  them  adrift,  they  were  regarded  as  the 
faithful  orators  of  the  nation.  The  Carthusian 
holiness  was  scarcely  attainable,  the  stern  loneli- 
ness of  the  Carthusian  rule  hardly  endurable,  by 
ordinary  Englishmen,  but  from  king  and  subject 
the  Order  met  with  reverence.  But  it  may  be 
asked,  what  was  there  in  the  Carthusians  to 
cause  Edward  I.,  the  chief  feature  in  whose 
character  was  not  religious  devotion,  as  well  as 
Henry  II.,  to  appeal  to  their  prayers,  especially 
when  engaging  in  an  arduous  venture  ?  '^''  Other 
monks  could  pray,  and  at  that  date,  moreover, 
some  other  monks  were  still  obedient  followers 
of  the  various  rules  of  their   Orders.     Giraldus 


*  The  reference  is  to  his  demand  for  the  prayers  of  the  monks 
of  Witham  and  Hinton. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      357 

Cambrensis,  the  contemporary  of  St.  Hugh,  in 
his  Speculum  Ecclesics,  or  Mirror  of  the  Churchy 
contrasts  them  most  favourably  with  the  Cister- 
cians. This  passage,  amounting  almost  to  a 
panegyric,  though  short,  and  now  defective, 
owing  to  the  original  manuscript  having  been 
damaged  by  fire,  affords  a  good  idea  of  St. 
Bruno's  system. 

A  large  part  of  the  Speculum  Ecclesice  has  for 
subject  the  degeneracy  of  the  Cistercian  Order, 
once  not  the  least  holy,  and  certainly  among  the 
most  popular,  in  England,  which  in  part  was  the 
very  reason  of  their  growing  worldliness,  which 
the  historian  so  much  laments.  **  Would,"  said 
he,  ''that  they  strove  less  eagerly  to  collect  and 
accumulate  vain  sums  of  money  and  transitory 
possessions,  and  cease  to  join  fields  to  fields,  and 
granges  to  granges."  Their  wealth,  indeed,  they 
spent,  he  added,  in  works  of  charity  and  in  *'the 
obsequiousness  of  hospitality ; "  but  how  much 
better  it  would  have  been,  and  more  wholesome, 
to  control  their  expenditure  and  outlays  in  the 
manner  of  the  Carthusians,  rather  than  endlessly 
to  extend  their  communities  and  congregations, 
and  their  lands  and  possessions,  in  consequence 


358      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

of  which  they  had  so  many  cares  as  to  how  to 
feed  their  large  establishments,  and  how  to  keep 
up  hospitality,  and  so  many  anxieties  arising 
from  lawsuits  and  their  own  insatiable  cupidity, 
that  they  were  hardly  able  to  look  after  the 
salvation  of  their  own  souls.  **  Since  the  pur- 
pose moulds  every  action,  since  it  is  the  will 
and  resolution  that  marks  a  service,  it  is  not 
the  habit  of  any  monks,  but  their  mind  that 
saves  them ;  for  not  in  a  deep  tonsure  or  a 
round,  not  in  the  crown  covered  with  hair,  not 
in  a  loose  cowl  is  safety,  but  rather  in  the  inner- 
most heart,  in  sincere  devotion  and  true  intention, 
not  in  outward  appearance,  but  in  the  inward 
life."  "  The  way  and  fashion  once  was  for  the 
monk  and  any  religious  man  to  give  himself  up 
to  die  to  the  world  and  to  live  to  God  ;  but  in 
modern  days,  love  growing  too  cold  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  world,  the  custom  and  fashion  through 
a  perverse  change  is,  as  we  say  lamenting,  to 
live  in  the  world,  and,  indeed,  to  live  to  the 
world  and  to  die  to  God."  After  thus  inveigh- 
ing against  the  lack  of  real  devotion  among  the 
Cistercians,  the  author  described  how  the  Car- 
thusians,  on   the    other   hand,   took  care  to  cut 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     359 

off  everything  superfluous  and  unbecoming  their 
religious  state  **  with  the  pious  sickle  of  control ;  " 
how  they  limited  their  communities  to  a  certain 
number  of  monks  as  well  as  of  lay- brethren  ; 
how  they  prescribed  certain  measurements  for 
their  lands,  and  held  all  their  other  possessions 
in  moderation  and  temperance  ;  how,  happily 
resolving  to  choose  the  better  part,  they  had 
enough  to  do  in  giving  their  labour  and  energy 
to  sacred  meditation  and  contemplation.  Then, 
after  relating  the  history  of  St.  Bruno's  founda- 
tion of  the  Grande  Chartreuse,  fifteen  years  before 
that  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  he  detailed  some  of 
the  Carthusian  peculiarities,  as,  for  instance,  their 
rejection  of  linen  and  dressing  in  coarse  clothing 
made  from  skins,  the  prohibition  to  eat  flesh  or 
things  cooked  in  fat,  which  was  not  allowed  even 
in  cases  of  illness.  **  In  their  cells  they  eat  upon 
bare  tables,  that  is,  without  napery,  but  on  feast- 
days,  when  they  eat  in  the  refectory,  tablecloths 
are  spread.  Both  the  monks  and  the  brethren 
wear  the  hair-shirt,  except  when  devoting  them- 
selves to  labour.  They  may  not  drink  except 
at  meal-times,  unless  by  the  Prior's  grace  and  dis- 
pensation.    Each  monk  has  his  own  little  gate 


360      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

opposite  the  cloister  leading  towards  the  meadow, 
from  which  he  may  not  go  forth,  but  only  use  to 
look  from  ;  for  one  foot,  not  two  at  once,  may 
any  one  extend  beyond  his  little  gate."  **  They 
never  use  candles  nor  lamps  in  their  cells,  but 
every  one  has  his  own  little  fire  on  his  hearth." 
The  whole  monastery  is  surrounded  by  a  wide 
and  deep  moat  and  a  good  wall,  including  the 
church  also.  Their  estates,  about  seven  miles 
in  circuit,  are  enclosed  by  ditches  or  open 
boundaries.  As  for  their  hospitality,  accord- 
ing to  their  moderate  resources  they  receive 
guests  and  feed  the  poor,  but  they  would  far 
rather  take  in  a  number  of  the  poor  than  of 
the  rich.  They  place  before  their  guests  most 
liberally  in  the  way  of  food  whatever  they  eat 
themselves,  but  they  supply  the  needs  of  neither 
horses  nor  grooms.  Moreover,  they  do  not 
attract  a  crowd  of  paupers  to  their  gates  ;  thither 
ribald  folk  running  about  from  place  to  place, 
mere  idle  livers,  are  not  wont  shamelessly  to  bring 
themselves  as  if  they  were  veritably  penniless. 
**As  may  be  read  in  the  book  of  their  Institu- 
tions, not  far  from  their  houses  are  towns  in 
which  there  are  many  poor — true  paupers,  and 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     361 

not  pretended — who  lead  a  miserable  life  in  the 
depth  of  penury  ;  of  whom  some  have  fallen  from 
plenty  to  the  last  stage  of  want  and  beggary,  but 
some  are  invalids,  unable  by  force  of  long  disease 
to  move  from  their  beds  and  chambers ;  to  them 
for  their  sustenance  they  (the  Carthusians)  cause 
to  be  brought  whatever  remains  from  their  own 
poverty."  ^  Nor  is  it  surprising  that  the  Car- 
thusians are  not  hindered  by  such  throngs  of 
guests  in  their  hall,  or  such  crowds  of  poor 
at  their  gates,  as  their  Cistercian  brethren,  con- 
sidering that  they  retire  into  arid  and  wretched 
places,  bare  and  uncultivated  solitudes  and  rough 
ground,  purposely  to  serve  God  only  and  to  save 
souls,  and  not  to  hunt  the  favour  of  men.  "  It 
is  to  be  added  also,  for  the  increase  of  perfect 
religion,  and  to  augment  the  praise  of  the  Car- 
thusians, that  if  any  of  their  estates  or  possessions 
are  taken  away  from  them,  the  loss  is  so  bearable 
that  they  endure  it  with  equanimity.  But  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  their  very  house  itself  suffers  a 
too  unusual   detriment,  they  show  the   damage 

♦  Giraldus  refers  here  to  the  scanty  income  that  the  Charter- 
houses allowed  themselves,  and  probably  to  the  earlier  name  of 
the  monks,  "  the  Poor  of  Christ." 


362      SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

and  injury  received  to  the  patron  or  founder  of 
their  house,  or  to  the  bishops  of  the  diocese,  if 
the  former  perchance  fails,  so  that  through  either 
of  them  it  may  be  rectified,  and  what  has  been 
taken  from  the  house  restored  without  labour  of 
their  own,  or  without  causing  them  to  dispute  with 
any  one  else."^  **Oh!  how  much  more  satisfac- 
tory and  more  salutary  for  those  who  have  wholly 
renounced  secular  cares  and  deeds,  according  to 
the  religious  example  of  these  men,  in  fleeing 
and  retiring  afar  off  to  quit  betimes  the  unquiet 
and  insignificant  possessions  of  a  moment,  rather 
than,  by  seeking  one's  own  shamelessly  and  in- 
sisting on  it  with  strifes,  to  incur  publicly,  and 
in  the  presence  of  worldlings,  the  spots  and 
black  blemishes  of  mundane  solicitude  and  secular 
ambition."  t 

Centuries  later  than  Giraldus  the  Order's 
former  prestige  had  not  died  not.  In  a.d.  1534 
the  Vice-Chamberlain,  Sir  John  Gage,  perceiving 

*  One  of  the  rules  was  that  the  Carthusians  might  not  appear  in 
person  in  lawsuits,  because  this  would  have  involved  them  in 
secular  affairs. 

t  speculum  EcclesicB^  Distinctio  iii.  caps,  xix.,  xx.  This  book  is 
vol.  iv.  of  the  Works  of  Giraldus  Cambrensis  in  the  Rolls  edition. 
In  this  passage  the  sentences  directly  translated  only  are  set 
between  inverted  commas. 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE     363 

the  growing  profligacy  of  the  king  and  court, 
expressed  his  intention  of  joining  the  Carthusians, 
provided  that  his  wife  would  consent,  as  their 
mode  of  existence  still  seemed  the  best  way  to 
perfect  holiness.  Sir  Thomas  More,  also,  a  man 
of  practical  Christianity  as  he  was,  aspired  to  an 
ascetic  life  in  a  Charterhouse. 

But  why  this  continuous  respect  ?  once  again 
we  hear  it  asked.  The  answer  lies  in  the  fre- 
quently quoted  sentence  of  St.  Bernard,  **  Otiosum 
non  est  vacare  Deo,  sed  negotiwn  negotiorum 
omnium  "  (to  be  occupied  with  God  is  not  idle- 
ness, but  the  business  of  all  businesses) ;  for  no 
other  monks  so  fully  carried  out  the  sentiment 
therein  expressed.  The  slightest  acquaintance 
with  mediaeval  literature  suffices  to  make  mani- 
fest the  extremely  personal  worship  of  those 
times.  The  Blessed  Trinity  was  indeed  a  living 
reality  to  men  then  ;  the  language  of  their  devo- 
tional writings,  deeply  reverential  as  was  the 
spirit  that  animated  it,  was  as  familiar  as  if  ad- 
dressed to  a  well-beloved  friend,  whom,  separated 
from  them  by  some  ordinary  circumstance,  they 
would  see  again.  In  those  days  there  was  an 
extraordinary  earnestness  in  all  that  men  thought 


364     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

and  did,  so  that  they  could  easily  appreciate 
and  reverence  the  ardent  devotion  of  the  Car- 
thusian, who  spent  himself  in  an  exclusive  service 
to  that  adored  and  Divine  Friend.  The  Car- 
thusian life  had  nothing,  humanly  speaking,  to 
show  for  it ;  but  to  the  believer  in  prayer  it  was 
not  waste  of  time,  being  indeed  one  long  form 
of  prayer.  Nor  was  it  selfish.  Some,  it  is  true, 
and  the  founder  himself  is  an  example,  betook 
themselves  to  their  solitude  as  a  shelter  from 
secular  temptations  and  difficulties,  and  as  afford- 
ing exceptional  opportunities  for  the  sole  occupa- 
tion of  working  out  their  own  salvation.  But 
in  many  cases  the  adoption  of  St.  Bruno's  habit 
was  an  act  of  love.  It  was  more ;  it  was  a 
supreme  act  of  love,  fulfilling  an  ideal  of  self- 
surrender  so  awful  that  it  is  little  wonder  if  the 
Order,  though  winning  an  acknowledgment  of 
its  holiness,  could  win  no  place  in  the  heart  of 
the  nation.  The  saints  while  on  earth  may  be 
beloved ;  the  saints  in  heaven  are  only  ap- 
proached through  the  awe  and  mystery  of  heaven, 
and  these  monks,  it  would  seem,  were  already 
half-way  to  the  far-off  country.  Martyrdom  is 
a  high  sacrifice;  but  it  is  a  question  whether  to 


HINTON  CHARTERHOUSE      365 

give  up  all  that  makes  life  worth  having  be  not 
a  higher,  for  it  is  a  sacrifice  of  longer  agony, 
a  living  death.  In  common  with  the  monks  of 
other  Rules,  the  Carthusian,  in  taking  the  irre- 
vocable vows,  literally  left  house,  and  brethren 
and  sisters,  and  father  and  mother  (and  even,  it 
is  to  be  feared,  wife  and  children  occasionally), 
and  lands  for  Christ's  sake.  Yet  he  gave  more 
than  they,  for  to  them  the  chance  was  still  open 
to  distinguish  themselves  as  preachers,  and  as 
teachers  through  the  medium  of  books,  and  to 
gain  through  the  medium  of  their  intellectual 
gifts  a  power  in  the  world  of  letters  at  least ; 
but  even  this  privilege  and  solace  of  the  ascetic 
life  he  laid  down  on  the  altar  of  his  solitude  ; 
preaching  was  forbidden  to  the  son  of  St.  Bruno, 
and  learning  must  be  for  him  strictly  a  means 
to  the  spiritual  perfection  of  himself  and  his 
brother  recluses. 

It  was  in  the  spirit  of  the  Magdalene,  who 
poured  out  the  precious  ointment  on  the  person 
of  her  Lord  instead  of  spending  the  price  of  it 
on  the  poor,  that  the  Carthusians  made,  without 
regard  to  the  possible  good  they  might  do  for 
their  fellow-men,  a  free-will  offering  of  themselves 


366     SOMERSET  CARTHUSIANS 

for  the  service  of  God,  the  supremely  Beloved 
alone.  The  purpose  that  they  fulfilled  was  to 
inculcate  a  lesson  on  the  world ;  their  mode  of 
teaching  it  contained  exaggerations ;  but  since 
man  ever  perceives  most  clearly  what  is  pre- 
sented to  him  in  an  exaggerated  light,  exaggera- 
tion may  have  been  useful,  especially  when  the 
tumults  of  much  war  and  the  perpetual  din  of 
arms  in  the  strife  of  might  against  right  so  often 
led  him  to  forget  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  righteous- 
ness. The  lesson  that  they  set  forth  was  that  God 
has  the  first  claim  above  all  human  beings  to  the 
highest  love,  and  that  to  give  that  love  rightly 
must  entail  sacrifice — no  new  lesson  indeed,  but 
that  which  beyond  all  other  Orders  they  realised. 


INDEX 


Abel,  Father  Robert,  of  Mount- 
grace,  1 88 

Abergavenny,  George,  Lord,  292 

Adam,  Brother,  St.  Hugh's  bio- 
grapher, 78,  81 

Adam,  Master,  the  Scot,  71-75  5 
becomes  a  Carthusian  at  Wilham, 
71  ;  his  writings,  72-74 

Ainard,  a  lay-brother  of  Witham,  21 

Albert,  Prior  of  Witham,  71,  77 

Alexander  III.  changes  the  form  of 
penance  for  Becket's  murder,  6 

Alexander  v.,  106 

Alnage  of  cloths  in  Wilts,  grant 
out  of,  to  the  Hinton  monks, 
264-266,  316,  342 

Ambresbury  [Amesburj'J,  206 

Prioress  of,  264 

Animals,  St.  Hugh's  fondness  for 
them,  52 

Annates,  Act  of,  138,  304,  313 

Antwerp,  the  Carthusian  Prior  of, 
appointed  to  visit  the  English 
province,  no 

Appeals,  Act  of,  304 

Appleby,  Lincolnshire,  206 

Ap  Rice,  153 

Arundel,  .Sir  Thomas,  340,  343 

Asteiey,  Thomas,  99 


Aston,  manor  of,  in  Berks,  103-104, 

114,  140,  144,  192 
Atte  Water,  John,  261 
Augustine's,  St.,  Bristol,  Abbot  of, 

141 
Aumare,  Robert  de,  89 
Avalon,  vide  St.  Hugh  and  William 

of 
Avon  river,  222,  345 

Bailiffs  of  Witham  Charterhouse, 
140-145  ;  of  Hinton,  314-317 

Bakster,  Dom  William,  of  the 
London  Charterhouse,  121 

Balland  [Baland],  Dom  Nicholas,  a 
Hinton  Carthusian,  325-326, 330- 

332,  337 

Barker,  Dom  Thomas,  of  Mount- 
grace  Charterhouse,  123,  124,  126 

Bartlett,  John,  alias  Sancock,  343 

Robert,  343 

Barton,  Elizabeth,  148-149,  275 

Basileus,  Prior  of  La  Grande 
Chartreuse,  50 

Basle,  295 

Basset,  Henricus,  224 

Bath,  77,  233,  344 

Bathe,  Thomas,  102 

Batmanson,  Dom  John,   293,  299, 


367 


368 


INDEX 


300 ;  his  secular  life,  293-295  ; 
his  literary  works,  295-298  ; 
enters  Hinton  Charterhouse,  295  ; 
becomes  Prior  there,  297  ;  be- 
comes Prior  of  London  Charter- 
house, 298 ;  his  government  of 
his  monks,  300-302  ;  his  death, 
302  ;  mention  of,  304 

Beauflour,  Geoffrey,  98 

Becket,  St.  Thomas,  6,  653 

Beckford,  William,  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  196 

Beckington,  Somerset,  316,  324,  342 

Bishop    of   Bath    and   Wells, 

112,  113,  199 

Bedford,  230 

Bekynton,  John  of,  97 

Bellomont,  Robert  de,  Earl  of 
Mellent  and  Leicester,  102 

Benedict  XIIL,  106 

Bernard,  St.,  quoted,  18,  363 

Bible,  a,  taken  from  Winchester  by 
Henry  11.  for  the  Witham  monks, 
restored  by  St.  Hugh,  59-60 

Billerica,  a  grange,  143,  195 

Bilney,  Thomas,  the  reformer,  303 

Black  Death,  94,  246,  24S 

Bocking,  Father,  148 

Boleyn,  Anne,   133,   137,  154,  304, 

309 
Boneham,  John,  Esquire,  steward, 

314 
Bord  [Boorde],  Andrew,  a  London 

Carthusian,     302,     320 ;      letter 

from,  321 
Bordele  [Bordsley]  Abbey,  230 
Boucher,  John,  262 
Bouvines,  battle  of,  209 
Bovo,  Prior  of  Witham,  10,  71 


Bracton,  Henry  de,  85 

Braddeley  [West  Bradley  ?],  141 

Brant,  Sebastian,  quoted,  351,  355 

Brewham,  6 

Bristol,  loi,  141,  193,  259;  grants 
to  Witham  and  Hinton  Charter- 
houses of  tenements  there,  97- 
100,  256 

Brownynge,  Thomas,  Vicar  of 
Norton  St.  Philip,  336 

Bruges,  the  Charterhouse  of,  184, 
188  ;  the  English  Carthusians 
settle  in  the  town,  189 

Bruno,  St.,  founds  La  Grande 
Chartreuse,  4-6 ;  his  rule,  32  et  seq. 

Bruton,  83 

Buchelande,  342 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  275  ;  his 
intercourse  with  the  Hinton 
monks,  276-292  ;  his  execution, 
292 

Bugett,  Robert,  145 

Burges,  Henry,  142 

Burton,  Dom  William,  a  Witham 
Carthusian,  122 

Bury,  John,  parson  of  Whatley,  99, 
100,  254,  259 

Byrche,  Helie  [Elisha],  the  chap- 
lain of  Witham  Friary,  145,  336 

Cajetan,  Cardinal,  190 

Calais,  290 

Calne,  Wilts,  265 

Camden,  his  Britannia  on  Witham, 

7-8 
Campville,  Richard  de,  218 
Caneford,  salt  from  the  manor  of,  105 
Canynges,  Agnes,  98 
John,  98 


INDEX 


369 


Canynges,  William,  98,  99 

Carthusian  Order  founded,  4  ;  intro- 
duced into  England,  6  ;  its  rules, 
31-44;  the  vow,  42;  constitutions 
of  the  General  Chapter  of,  107- 
iio;  the  English  Houses  consti- 
tuted into  a  separate  province, 
249  ;  sanctity  and  purpose  of  the 
Order,  351-356 

Cemetery  at  Witham,  113-114 

Champneys,  Sir  Harry,  340 

Chantries  at  Witham  and  Hinton, 
98,  241-242,  256 

Chapelle,  the  Prior  of  the  Charter- 
house of,  III 

Chapter -house  of  Hinton,  263,  346- 
348 

Charterhouse,  a,  described,  15-18; 
the  word  explained,  54,  118 

Charterhouses — 
Axholme,  Isle  of,  124,  300, 301 
Beauvale,  127-129,  301 
Coventry  (St.  Anne's),  126,  185, 

300 
Hinton.     See  under  Hinton 
Mountgrace,  123,  124,  125,  312- 

313.  322,  338 
Sheen,  121,  148,  150,  186,   300, 

338,  339 

Smithfield,  London,  120,  121, 
123,  124,  126,  132,  150,  165, 
177,  247-250,  268,  296,  298, 
300,  302,  308,  311,  320,  346 

Witham.     See  under  Witham 
Charterhouse-on-Mendip,  82 
Charterhouse  -  Witham    [Witham  - 

Friary,  or  Witham],  3,  142,  143, 

145,  192,  193,  194 ;  the  church 

there,  3,  19,  198- 2CX) 


Chartreuse,  La  Grande,  5,  7,  9,  12, 
34,  41,  42,  48,  49,  109,  184,  264, 

353,  359 

Chauncy  Dom  Maurice,  158,  184; 
Prior  of  the  restored  Carthusians, 
186 ;  goes  abroad  with  some  of 
them,  and  establishes  the  Sheen 
Anglorum,  187-189  ;  dies,  190  ; 
mentioned,  332,  338,  339 

Cheddar  [Cedderford],  27,  87,  88 

or  Cheddre,  Robert,  97,  98,  99 

William,  98,  99 

Chel worth,  219,  224 

Cheseman,  Thomas  le,  240 

Chester,  Earl  of,  212 

Chewton  [Chyweton,  &c.],  230,  240, 

317 

Chilthome  -  Domer  [Chelterne  - 
Dummer,  &c.],  lOO,  142,  193 

Cistercian  monks,  357-362 

Gierke,  John,  331 

Cliffe,  Dom  John,  a  Witham  Car- 
thusian, 187 

Clifford,  Ludovic  de,  103 

Rosamund,  204 

Clink  [Clynck],  in  Somerset,  141, 
192 

Colthurst,  Matthew,  344 

Compton,  Sir  William,  300 

Constable,  Sir  Marmaduke,  294 

Cook,  Richard,  256 

Copinger,   the    confessor  of    Sion, 

158,  159 
Corcelle,  Roger  de,  6 
Coumbe  [Combe],  William  of,  97, 

99 
Cromwell,  Thomas,  130,  133,  134, 
138,  150,  151,  153,  155,  157,  159, 
162,  165,  166,  167,  169,  178,  179, 
2  A 


370 


INDEX 


312,  313,  3i7»  318,  320,  322,  323, 
324,  326,  328,  331,  340,  341 
Cumpton,  Roger  de,  241 

Damietta,  capture  of,  211 
Dancy,  Ambrose,  316 
Dantesy,  Richard  de,  237,  238 
Dedications  of  Witham  and  Hinton 

Charterhouses,  23,  222 
Delacourt,  John,  chaplain  of  Buck- 
ingham, 282,  287,  288,  290 
De  la  Mare,  Sir  John,  254,  258 
De  Montfort,  Henry  de,  236,  237 
Derby,  John,  97 

Walter,  100 

Devizes,  Richard  of,  77;  his  Chronicle 

dedicated  to  Fitz  Henry,  a  monk 

at  Witham,  78 
De  Vitre,  Eleanor,  206 
D'Evreux,  Walter,  Count  of  Rosmar, 

206 
Doreau,  Father,  his  description  of  a 

Charterhouse,  15-18 
Dorlandus,    Petrus,    269 ;    quoted, 

270-274 
Dorset,  Marquis  of,  317 
Dover,  208,  210 
Draper,  Thomas,  140 
Dreux,  Robert,  Count  of,  209 
Drury,  Sir  Robert,  294 
Dry  burgh  Abbey,  71 
Drynkwater,   Richard,  chaplain  of 

Longleat,  336 
Dune,  Agatha  de  la,  230 
Robert  de  la,  231 

East-Wick  [Ettewick,  &c.],  258,3 1 5 
Edith,  wife  of  John  the  Fisher,  92-94 
Edmund,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  89 


Edward  I.,  356 ;  his  grants  to 
Witham  and  Hinton  Charter- 
houses, 87-89,  240,  243 ;  his 
letter  to  them,  89-91,  239 

Edward  H.,  grants  of,  to  Witham 
and  Hinton  monks,  243,  244 

Edward  III.,  grants  of,  to  Witham 
and  Hinton  monks,  94-100,  244- 
247,  254,  259 

Edward  IV.,  payments  to,  for  con- 
firmation of  grants,  115,  266 

Einard,  a  Carthusian  lay-brother, 
some  time  of  Witham,  39-41 

Ela  d'Evreux,  Countess  of  Salisbury, 
foundress  of  Hinton  Charterhouse, 
205,  206-208,  213,  217-219 

Elizabeth,  Princess  and  Queen,  137, 
187 

Ely,  Isle  of,  210 

Elyott,  John,  331 

Englefield,  Sir  Francis,  338 

Erasmus,  295-296 

Erlestoke,  Thomas,  parson  of  Fisher- 
ton,  100 

Erpingham,  Sir  Thomas,  103-104 

Eton,  307 

Ewall,  Surrey,  338 

Exeter,  328 

Eynsham,  Council  of,  50 

Fairs  and  markets,  granted  to  the 

Hinton  monks,  231-234 
Farlegh,  Agnes  of,  257 

William  of,  257 

Farleigh,  341,  342,  344 
Feltham,  Somerset,  192 
Ferrand  of  Flanders,  208-209 
Fisher,  Bishop  John,  151,  177 
Fisher,  John  the,  92-94 


INDEX 


371 


Fisher  ton,  100 

Fitz  Alan,  William,  229 

Fitz  Henry,  Robert,  some  time  Prior 
of  St.  Swithun's,  Winchester,  a 
Carthusian  at  Witham,  77-81 

Fitz  James,  Nicholas,  144 

Fitz  Jocelin,  Reginald,  Bishop  of 
Bath,  10 

Fitz  Rolf,  Turstin,  6 

Fletcher,  Father,  of  Mountgrace 
or  of  Hinton,  188,  338-339 

Font  in  the  chapel  at  Witham,  20, 
113-114 

Fontel-Gyfford,  Wilts,  141,  192 

Fortescue,  Isabella,  262-263 

John,  262-263 

Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  296 

Fox,  John,  a  London  Carthusian, 
158,  184,  185 

Francis,  a  protege  of  Hinton  Charter- 
house and  of  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, 279-281 

Freeman,  John,  the  royal  goldsmith, 
197 

Freshford,  257,  261,  315 

Frome,  85,  97,  140,  344 

river,  222,  345 

Fry,  William,  141 

Fulkes  de  Breaute,  209,  210,  212 

Gage,  Sir  John,  362 

Ganard,  John,  241 

Gernefeld  [Yarn  field,  &c.,  Somerset], 

85,86 
GifTard,  John,  194 
Gilbert,   chaplain   of  Buckingham, 

288 
Gilbert  de  Sarum,  Rector  of  Hinton 

parish  church,  250-253 


Giles,  parson  of  Norton  St.  Philip, 

257,  259 
Giraldus    Cambrensis,    iii,    356; 

quoted,  357-362 
Girard,  a  Witham  lay-brother,  21-22 
Glastonbury,  Abbot  of,  316 
Grace,  Pilgrimage  of,  156,  323 
Gregory  XHI.,  106 
Greneworth,  316,  317,  341,  342 
Grenoble,  45 
Grey,  Lord  Leonard,  283 
Guigo  I.,  fifth  Prior  of  La  Grande 

Chartreuse,  Customs  of,  34,  35 

Hacston,  John,  97 

Hales  [Halys],  Dom  Alnett,  of  the 
London  Charterhouse  and  of 
Witham,  120,  123,  124,  126,  301 

Hampton,  manor  of,  255,  261 

Harrys,  David,  142 

Hatherlee,  Prior  William,  266 

Heatherop  [Hethrop]>  in  Gloucester- 
shire, 217,  345 

Henry,  Prior  of  Hinton,  284,  293  ; 
letter  from,  284-286 

Henry  H.,  12-14,  21,  54-56,  59,  62, 
67,  81,  89,  204,  206,  264,  356 

Henry  111.,  210,  213,  221  ;  grants 
of,  to  the  Witham  and  Hinton 
monks,  82-89,  222,  231,  235 

Henry  IV.,  260 

Henry  V.,  grants  of,  101-104 

Henry  VI.,  grants  of,  to  the  Witham 
and  Hinton  monks,  105,  114,  262, 
264-266 

Henry  VIII.,  supreme  headship 
ceded  to  him  by  the  clergy,  119  ; 
marriage  with  Anne  Bolcyn,  133, 
134  ;  dissolves  lesser  monasteries, 


372 


INDEX 


156;  mentions  of,  139,  148,  165- 
197,  276-291,  293,  297,  309,  317, 
320,  323,  333.  336,  356;  letter 
to  him,  310 

Herbert,  Lord,  293  ;  quoted,  29 1 - 
292 

Herdeburgh,  Thomas,  99 

Hert,  Walter,  261 

Heyles,  John,  103 

Hidon  [Hydon],  a  grange,  I42,  I93, 

195 

Hinton  Abbey,  344,  349 

Hinton  [Charterhouse-Hinton],  the 
church  of,  221,  233,  250-253, 
317;  land  in,  231,  237,  238, 
240  ;  manor  of,  221,  225-227,  232, 
233»  235,  236,  240,  314,  341,  342 

Hinton  [Henton]  Charterhouse,  31, 
90-91,  115,  134,  135,  169 ;  called 
Locus  Dei,  or  the  Place  of  God, 
216 ;  the  Carthusians  removed 
from  Hethrop  to  Hinton,  217  ; 
bequests  from  William  Longespee, 
220 ;  situation  of  the  monastery, 
222 ;  foundation  charter,  224- 
227 ;  privileges  of  the  monks, 
235-236 ;  the  priory  church,  237, 
460,  340,  347 ;  the  Prior  sum- 
moned to  the  muster  at  Carlisle, 
239  ;  a  legacy  to  the  monks,  243  ; 
the  monks  troubled  by  royal 
ministers  and  the  Black  Death, 
243-247  ;  growth  of  their  pro- 
perty, 230-267 ;  their  poverty 
remedied  by  a  grant  out  of  the 
alnage,  264  ;  their  relations  with 
Buckingham,  276,  283-286  ;  their 
new  conduit  paid  for  by  the  Duke, 
288,  289,  292  ;  Priory  of  Long- 


leat  appropriated  to  them,  299- 
300  ;  they  surrender  their  monas- 
tery, 329  ;  the  conventual  seal, 
329  ;  list  of  monks'  signatures, 
330 ;  the  destruction  and  sale  of 
the  site  and  of  the  property,  339- 
344  ;  the  ruins,  344-35° 

Hopkyns,  Dom  Nicholas,  Vicar  of 
Hinton  Charterhouse,  and  con- 
fessor of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
275-280,  282,  283,  284,  285,  289, 
290-293  ;  his  letter  to  the  Duke, 
278-280 

Hopp  [Hope,  Le  Hope],  260,  315, 

342 
Hopton,  family  of,  8 

Dorothy,  195 

Ralph,    grantee    of    Witham 

Priory,  193,  195,  196,  198 
Sir  Ralph,  196 


Horde,  Alan,  307,  326-328,  338 
Edmund,  Proctor  of  the  Lon- 
don Charterhouse,  Prior  of  Hin- 
ton, 134-136,  175.  307-314,317- 
323.  325-328,  332,  333-335,  338, 
353 ;  letters  from  him,  310,  318, 

327 

Edmund,  son  of  Alan,  338 

John,  307 

Richard,  307 

William,  336,  337 


Houghton,  Prior  John,  of  the  Lon- 
don Charterhouse,  150,  176,  1 86 
Hoveden,  Roger  of,  204 
Hoxton,  a  servant  of  Hinton  Charter- 
house, 276 
Hubert,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  85 
Hubert  de  Burgh,  210,  212,  213 
Hugh  of  Avalon,  St.,   9 ;   departs 


INDEX 


373 


from  France  and  arrives  in  Eng- 
land, 10-12;  re-establishes  the 
monks  and  builds  the  monastery 
at  Witham,  12-23  ;  date  of  his 
death,  31  ;  his  earlier  monastic 
life,  49-54;  his  influence  over 
Henry  II.,  55;  his  rule  at  Witham, 
55-60 ;  elected  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
and  his  fitness  for  the  office,  60- 
66 ;  his  visits  to  Witham,  66-68, 
74 ;  his  opinion  of  Rosamund 
Clifford  and  of  the  dignity  of 
womanhood,  203-205  ;  mentions 
of  him,  146,  147,  353,  356 
Hugh,  Bishop  of  Grenoble,  4,  10,  li 

of  Southampton,  Agnes,  243 

John,  242-243 

Hungerford,  family  of,  344 

Sir  Walter,  afterwards  Lord, 

167,  168,  265,  316,  318,  319,  324, 

33i»  339.  341 
Huse,  Prior  John,  of  Witham,  130, 

132  ;  letter  from,  130 
Hychemans,   Tristram,   Proctor  of 

Witham,  167,  179,  187,  188 
Hyde  Monastery,  75 

Iford  [Ifford],  land  in,  237,  238, 

315.341 

Cecilia  of,  241 

John  of,  241 

Master  Nicholas  of,  257 

Margery  of,  242 

William  of,  242 

Ilchester  [Ivelcestre],  230,  252 
Innocent  IV.,  grant  of,  223 

James  IV.  of  Scotland,  287,  291, 
294 


Jamys,  John,  262 

Margery,  262-263 

Jews  mourn  at  St.  Hugh's  funeral,  66 

Joceline,  Bishop  of  Bath,  226 ; 
settles  disputes  between  the 
Charterhouse  and  Rector  of 
Hinton,  250-251 

John,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 

254,  255 

Don,  of  Austria,  189 

Prince  and  King,  9,  30,  65, 

208,  209,  210 
Prior  of  Witham,  88 


John's,  St,  Prior  of,  London,  141 

Oxford,  281 

Jonbourne,   Dom    John,    Prior    of 

Sheen     and    provincial     visitor, 

121-127 
Joseph  II.,  Emperor,  191 

Katherine  of  Arragon,  137,  309 
Kayner,  Robert,  parson  of  LuUing- 

ton,  255,  259 
Kees,  Agnes,  261 

William,  261 

Keynsham,  monastery  at,  325 
Kingsley,  Charles,  quoted,  269 
Kington  [Kyngton],  Warwickshire, 

140 
Knyvet,  surveyor  of  the  Duke   of 

Buckingham,  282,  289 

Lacock  Abbey,  207,  216,  217,  218 

Lacy,  Margaret  de,  237,  238 

Ladcombe,  342 

Latimer,  Hugh,  303 

Layton,  Richard,   151,  159;   letter 

from   him,   164 ;  letters  to  him, 

159,  160,  163 


374 


INDEX 


Lee,  Edward,  295-296,  312,  313 
Leland,    the  antiquary,  quoted,  7, 

344-345 
Lemondeslonde,  316,  342 
Lincoln  Cathedral,  18,  62 
Lincoln,  Henry  de  Lacy,  Earl  of, 

23s.  237,  238,  241 
Little   Malvern   Court,   Worcester, 

191 
Littleton,    Master    William,     252, 

253»  254 
Livery,  grant  of  a,  by  the  Prior  of 

Witham,  92-94 
London,  209,  248,  283,  289 
Long,  John,  Rector  of  Norton,  263 
Longe,  Sir  Henry,  324,  341 
Longespee,  William,  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury, founder  of  Hinton  Charter- 
house,  204  ;  account  of  his  life, 
206-217;   his  son  William,  218, 
220 
Longleat  [Langelete],  299,  316,  317, 

324*  336,  341,  342,  343  ;  Priory 

of  St.  Radegund  of,  299 
Louis,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  210, 

212,  213 
Louvain,  189 
Lovell,  Sir  Thomas,  290 
Lullington,  255,  257,  316,  324,  342, 

343 
Luscote,  Dom  John,  of  Hinton,  first 

Priorof  the  London  Charterhouse, 

247,  249,  250 
Lutecom'ys  myll,  315,  341 
Luther,  Martin,  119,  297 

Maiden-Bradley,  102,  141,  192 

leper  hospital  there,  84 

the  Canons  of,  85-87 


Maiden-Bradley,  the  Prior  of,  141 

Malet,  Ralph,  13 

Man,  Prior  Henry,  of  Witham,  120, 
140,  146-150,  157,  158,  159 

Manny,  Sir  Walter,  248 

Marchall,  Prior  William,  of  Hinton, 
265 

Marlborough  [Marleburgam],  30, 
213 

Marshall,  Father  Robert,  of  Mount- 
grace,  188 

Marston,  Somerset,  141,  145,  192 

Mary,  Queen,  183, 184,  186,  187,338 

Maurienne,  Count  of,  9 

Maximus,  St.,  cell  of,  47,  48 

Mechlin,  190 

Mendip  Hills,  7,  82,  ipi,  195 

Mershton,  John  of,  97 

Middylton,  Christopher,  295 

Milbourne,  85 

Mileham  [Meleham],  Norfolk,  229 

Milford,  242 

Milton,  manor  of,  260 

Monks  of  Witham  and  Hinton,  117- 
118,    306;    pensioned,    178-179, 

332-333.  337 

Monkshan  [Monkisham],  an  en- 
closure, 89,  143,  192 

Montalembert,  Marquis  de,  quoted, 

43 
More,  Sir  Thomas,   149,  151,  177, 

275.  297.  363 
Moreland,  Somerset,  142 
Morian,  Richard,  198 
Morvell,  William,  194 
Mudford,  314,  342 
Mulleward,  Walter,  99 
Mychell,   Prior  John,  of  Witham, 

158,  159.  174.  179.  187 


INDEX 


375 


Neel,  Robert,  102 

Nevers,  Count  William  of,  6 

Newbury  [Nueburye],  in  Berkshire, 
142,  144,  192 

Nicholas,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
261 

Nieuport,  190 

Northairy,  13 

Norton,  St.  Philip  [Norton-Comitis 
or  Earl's  Norton],  the  church  of, 
221,  234,  254-256,  257,  259,  263; 
land  in,  230,  231,  237,  238,  240, 
257,  259,  262  ;  the  manor  of,  221, 
225,  231,  234-236,  240,  242,  257, 
315,  341,  342  ;  the  Vicar  of,  317, 

336 

Norton,  Dom  John,  a  London  Car- 
thusian, 302 

Norton,  Mary  of,  229 

Robert  of,  229,  230 

Nottingham,  Thomas,  98 

Nunney  [Nonney  de  la  Mare],  7, 
254,  258 

Nyer,  Johanna,  260 

William,  260 

Orchardleigh,  Somerset,  340 
Otto  IV.,  Emperor,  209 
Oxford,  124,  147,  229,  281,  303 
Earl  of,  195 

Pace,  the  royal  secretary,  283 

Pandulf,  the  Legate,  211 

Panes,  John,  of  Wyk,  254,  255, 
256,  259 

Paris,  190;  the  Prior  of  the  Char- 
treuse there,  106 

Paris,  Matthew,  211,  215 

Parker,  John  the,  238 


Parker,  Richard  the,  221,  225,  238 

William  the,  238 

Parkminster,  St.  Hugh's  Priory,  191 
Pascal  quoted,  38 
Patrick,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  206 
Peers  or  Perys,  Dom  Richard,  of 

Witham,  121,  127,   130;  letters 

from  him,  121,  127 
Pegelynch  [Peggelege,  &c.],  315, 342 
Pensions  for  the  Carthusians  and 

for  persons   connected  with  the 

two  Charterhouses,  333-337 
Peter,  St.,  Archbishop  of  Tarentaise, 

53-54 
Peter,  Prior  of  Hinton,  236-237 
Petre,  Doctor  (Sir  William),  157, 

169,  178,  324-326 
Philip,  Abbot  of  Bordsley,  230 
Philip   Augustus   of    France,    208, 

209,  210 
PhiUp  in.  of  Spain,  190 
Philippa,  Queen,  257,  260 
Philips,  Morgan,  315,  337 
Pisa,  Council  of,  106 
Pole,  Arthur,  283 

Cardinal,  185,  186,  332,  337 

Preaux,  Abbey  of,  102,  104 

Priors  of  Witham  and  Hinton,  lists 

of,  116,  305 
Privy  Council,  307  ;  order  of,  con- 
cerning monks'  pensions,  180-183 
Prygge,  Roger,  331 
Pynnock,  Richard,  336,  337 

Quarre,  a  grange,  143,  195 

Ralph,  the  sacrist  of  Winchester,  78 
Rasing,  Roger,  194 
Reading,  Abbot  of,  142 


376 


INDEX 


Reims,  4 

Rentals   of   Witham   and   Hinton 

Priories,  192,  342 
Repps  (or  Rugge),  William,  Bishop 

of  Norwich,  303 
Resumption,  Act  of,  by  Henry  VI., 
not   prejudicial  to  Witham   and 
Hinton,  114,  115 
Retclyffe  Church,  Bristol,  141 
Rewleigh  juxta  Farleigh,  316 
Rhe,  Isle  of,  213 
Richard  I.,  206,  207,  208 
Richard  II.,  grants  of,  loo-ioi 
Richard,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  212 
Richard  le  Poore,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, 214 
Richard,  Prior  of  Hinton,  lease  of, 

262-263 
Richards,   Dom,   a  Coventry   Car- 
thusian, 185 
Richmond,  Friars  Observant  of,  1 50 
Robert,  Prior  of  Axholme  Charter- 
house, 125 

Prior  of  Hinton,  230-231 

Prior  of  Witham,  81 

Prior  of  Wormley,  88 

Rochester,  Sir  Robert,  184,  185 
Rodden  [Radene],  Somerset,  97 
Rode,  Church  of,  259 
Rodeney  [or  De  Rodeney],  Walter, 

254,  258 
Runnymeade,  209 
Ryborg,  Richard,  106 

Sadler,  Thomas,  140 

St.  Swithun's,  Winchester,  59,  60, 

67,  261,  315 
Salisbury,  266 
Bishop  of,  219,  226 


Salisbury,  Castle  of,  214 

Cathedral,  211,  214,  219 

Dean  and  Chapter  of,  317 

Lawrence,    Cardinal     Bishop 

of,  299 
Sanchare,  John,  294 
Savoy  Palace  and  Chapel,  185 
Selwood,      Carthusians     in.       See 

Witham  Charterhouse 

Forest  of,  3,  83,  191,  195 

Sheen  Anglorum,  189-190 

Sheen,  Prior  of,  Rector  of  Chewton, 

317 

Sher bourn,  Prior  of,  136 

Sheweston,  315 

Shrewsbury,  Ralph,  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  251-252,  254 

Sixtus  v.,  190 

Smythe,  John,  178 

Sobbury,  John,  241 

Somerset,  Duke  of,  196 

Soundenham,  Agnes,  260 

John, 260 

Spectisbury,  manor  of,  in  Dorset, 
102,  114,  141,  144,  192 

Spencer,  Dom  Thomas,  a  Hinton 
Carthusian,  302-304 ;  his  literary 
works,  303 

Spenser,  Leonard,  of  Norwich,  302 

Stafford,  Lord,  292 

Standerwick  [Stanrewick],  257 

Stantour,  Peter,  299 

Statute  of  Labourers,  95,  247 

of  Westminster,  237 

Stephen,  a  Hinton  monk,  268, 
270-274,  275 

Storan  or  Storer,  Dom  Edmund, 
Prior  of  the  London  Charter- 
house and  of  Hinton,  268 


INDEX 


377 


Stourton,  John,  99 

——John  of,  100 

Lord,    134,    138,    309  ;     his 

letter,  135 
Stratford,  Ralph,  Bishop  of  London, 

248 
Succession,  Act  of,   137-138,  309- 

310 
Surrender  of  Witham  Charterhouse, 

deed  of,  170 
Surrey,  Earl  of,  295 
Survey  of  the  possessions  of  Witham 

and  Hinton  Charterhouses,  140- 

145.  313.  314-317 
Sutton,  Thomas,  142 
Swansco    [Swymestowe],    Brother 

John,  a  Witham  Carthusian,  187 

Talbot,  John,  256,  257 

William,  207 

Tanner,  Isabella,  102,  260 

Thomas,  102 

Tannery    at  Witham  and   Hinton 

Charterhouses,  101,  247 
Taylor,   Brother,   a    London    Car- 
thusian, 184 
Temple  Street,  London,  142 
Theodore,   a    layman,   becomes    a 

Carthusian  at  Witham,  71 
Thornbury,  Gloucestershire,  287 
Thurlby,  P'ather  Robert,  of  Sheen, 

188 
Thynne,  Sir  John,  299 
TiLshead,  Wilts,  85 
Toft  Monachorum,  or  Monk's  Toft, 

manor  of,  and  priory  there,  102, 

103 
TrafTord,    Prior    William,    of    the 

London  Charterhouse,  132 


Tregonwell,  John,  169,   178,  324- 

326,  329,  339 
Tucker,  Thomas,  316 
Tynbygh,    Prior  William,    of    the 

London  Charterhouse,  300 

Ulstrope,  Leicestershire,  192 
ViLLARBENOiT,  Priory  of,  45,  49,  51 

Waldecote,  Geoffrey,  99 
Walker,  Richard,  197,  343 
Walter,  Prior  of  Bath,  at  Witham, 

75-77 

Prior  of  Witham,  91 

Walton,  Alan  of,  85 
Warmington,  Leicestershire,  192 
manor  of,  Warwickshire,  102, 

114,  140,  144,  192 
Warwick,  Henry  Newburgh,   Earl 

of,  102 
Watt,  Dan  Peter,  a  monk  of  Witham, 

13s.  309 
Waz,  Stephen,  240 
Wells,  Archdeacon  of,  317 

Cathedral,  252,  260 

Wendover,  Roger  of,  208,  214 
Westbarne,  a  farm  or  grange  of  the 

Witham  monks,  143,  159,  162,  195 
Westbury,  254 
William   of,  parson  of  Rode, 

259 
Westwood,  Wilts,    257,    261,    316, 

342 
Whalley,  John,  312 
Whatley  Church,  99,  100,  254,  259 
Whcrwell,  Hants,  77 
White   Oxmead    [Whittokesmede], 

258,  315.  342 


378 


INDEX 


Whitnel  [Whytenhull],  near  Wells, 

230»  316,  317,  342 

Whoweford  [Oldford?],  257,  316 

Wilbye,  144 

"William  de  Avalon,  45,  47 

"Williams,  Prior,  last  English  Car- 
thusian, 191 

"Wilscote,  Leicestershire,  192 

"Wilson,  Dom  John,  of  Mountgrace, 
187 

"Winchester,  210 

"Witham  Charterhouse,  6-9  ;  the  re- 
establishment  under  St.  Hugh, 
12-15 ;  erection  of  conventual 
buildings  and  the  church,  18-23  > 
foundation  charter,  23-30 ;  the 
kitchen  burnt,  68  ;  effects  of  the 
Black  Death,  94-95  ;  growth  of 
the  property,  80-106;  dormitory 
built,  112  ;  the  Prior  and  convent 
licensed  to  erect  a  font  and  make 
a  cemetery,  113-114;  visited  by 
Dr.  Layton,  151  ;  correspondence 
between  the  monks  and  Cromwell 
and  Layton,  159-165;  appoint- 
ment of  a  steward,  the  house 
surrendered,  169  ;  the  conventual 
seal  and  list  of  signatures,  174  ; 


later  history  of  the  monks  of 
"Witham  and  the  other  Charter- 
houses, 1 79-191  ;  site  of  the 
Charterhouse  granted  to  Ralph 
Hopton,  193  ;  later  owners,  196  ; 
fate  of  the  remains,  196-200  ; 
mentioned,  301 

Wodeford,  John,  256 

"Woderove,  John,  99 

Wodewyk,  257  ;  manor  of,  255,  261, 
262,  315 

Wokey  [Wokes,  &c.],  lOi,  142,  193, 

254 
"Wolsey,  Cardinal,  119,  282 

"Woodbarrow  [Wodebarwe],  258 
"Worcester,  Earl  of,  284 
Wotton,  John  of,  97 
"Wykyng,  John,  102,  260 
"Wyndham,  Earl  of  Egremont,  196 
"Wynelscombe,  Henry,  99 

Yatwich,  or  Zatewick  [Shap- 
wick?],  in  Somerset,  242,  257 

Yerdele  [Yerdeley,  &c.],  lOl,  142, 
193 

ZOUCH,  or  La  Zouche,  "William  of, 
of  Totnes,  265 


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BIOGRAPHY    AND    HAGIOLOGY   icontinued)  ii 

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Cogitationes  Concionales.  Being  216  short  Sermon  Reflections  on 
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The  Life  of  St.  Jerome.  By  Fr.  Josephs  of  Siquenza.  Translated 
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Life  of  Edmund  Campion.     By  Richard  Simpson.     This  valuable 

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