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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNI 

AT    LOS  ANGELES 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 
AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 


LONDON  :  GEORGE  BELL  AND  SONS 
PORTUGAL  ST.  LINCOLN'S  INN,  W.C. 
CAMBRIDGE  :  DEIGHTON,  BELL  &  CO. 
NEW  YORK  :  THE  MACMILLAN  CO. 
BOMBAY:     A.     H.     WHEELER     &     CO. 


THE   LAST  ABBOT  OF 
GLASTONBURY 

AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 


BY 

FRANCIS  AIDAN  GASOUET,  D.D. 

ABBOT  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BENEDICTINES 


*  •    . 


LONDON 
GEORGE  BELL  AND  SONS 
1908 


■  ■ 


.  *   >  1 


■ 


CHISWICK   PRESS:   CHARLES  WHITTINGHAM   AND   CO. 
TOOKS  COURT,  CHANCERY  LANE,  LONDON. 


i 

.    1 

• 
• 

* 

< 

TO  THE  READER 

A  FEW  words  only  seem  necessary  to  introduce  this 
volume  of  Essays  to  the  public.  The  papers  con- 
tained in  a  former  volume  of  Essays  were  gathered  to- 
gether and  published  some  ten  years  ago;  and  this 
edition  having  been  now  for  some  time  out  of  print,  I 
was  urged  to  issue  it  in  a  cheaper  form.  Whilst  this 
matter  was  under  consideration,  it  was  further  suggested 
to  me  that  while  republishing  the  first  series,  I  might  add 
a  second  volume  of  collected  papers,  articles,  etc.,  which 
have  appeared  since  the  publication  of  the  first  volume. 

In  regard  to  the  Essays  here  presented  in  this  second 
collection,  it  may  be  well  to  make  the  following  remarks. 
The  first  item:  The  Last  Abbot  of  Glastonbury,  was  pub- 
lished in  1895  as  a  small  book  for  a  special  occasion. 
It  gathers  together  memorials  of  the  destruction  of  the 
great  Benedictine  abbeys  of  Glastonbury,  Reading,  and 
Colchester,  and  gives  a  brief  sketch  of  the  tragic 
deaths  of  the  last  abbots  of  those  houses  in  the  reign  of 
o  Henry  VIII.  This  volume  has  been  for  some  years  out 
of  print;  and  as  it  is  not  too  long  to  reprint  as  an  essay, 
I  have  thought  it  better  to  include  it  in  this  present 
volume  than  to  re-issue  it  separately. 

Of  the  other  papers,  that  on  St.  Gregory  and  England 
was  written  on  the  occasion  of  the  thirteenth  centenary  of 
the  death  of  that  Pope  some  four  years  ago.  It  contains 
a  sketch  of  what  England  owes  to  a  Pope  whom  our 

V 


o 


vi  TO  THE  READER 

forefathers  loved  to  call  the  Apostle  of  our  race.  The 
paper  on  English  Biblical  Criticism  in  the  Thirteenth 
Century,  written  ten  years  ago,  seems  to-day  curiously 
to  foreshadow  the  necessary  work  of  preparing  for  a 
critical  edition  of  the  Vulgate  which  has  been  recently 
initiated  by  the  present  Pope,  Pius  X. 

To  some,  no  doubt,  one  or  two  of  the  papers  in  this 
present  volume  may  appear  too  unimportant  and  slight 
to  deserve  preserving  in  a  more  permanent  form  than 
they  enjoyed  in  the  magazines  in  which  they  have 
already  appeared.  Such  as  they  are,  however,  I  have 
been  advised  to  let  them  find  a  place  in  this  collection, 
and  therefore  give  them  for  what  they  are  worth. 

My  thanks  are  in  this  instance  due  to  Dom  H.  N. 
Birt  in  a  very  special  manner.  The  whole  work  of  pre- 
paring these  papers  for  the  press,  correcting  the  proofs, 
and  making  the  Index,  has  been  undertaken  by  him. 

Francis  Aidan  Gasquet. 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  Last  Abbot  of  Glastonbury 

Chap.  I.  Glastonbury     ..... 
II.  Richard  Whiting      .... 

III.  Richard  Whiting  Elected  Abbot 

IV.  Troubles  in  Church  and  State  . 

V.  Richard    Whiting  as  Abbot    of  Glaston 
bury     ...... 

VI.  The  Beginning  of  the  End 
VII.  The  Martyrdom       .... 

VIII.  Abbot  Hugh  Cook  of  Reading 
IX.  The  Last  Abbot  of  Colchester 
Appendix  I     . 
Appendix  II  . 

II.  English    Biblical    Criticism    in    the   Thir 
teenth  Century    

III.  English    Scholarship    in    the    Thirteenth 

Century         

IV.  Two    Dinners   at   Wells    in    the   Fifteenth 

Century         

V.  Some   Troubles   of   a    Catholic    Family    in 

Penal  Times 

VI.  Abbot  Feckenham  and  Bath    . 
VII.  Christian  Family  Life  in   Pre-Reformation 

Days 

VIII.  Christian    Democracy    in    Pre-Reformation 

Times 

IX.  The  Layman  in  the  Pre-Reformation  Parish 
X.  St.  Gregory  the  Great  and  England 

Index  


vn 


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3U 


I 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

View  of  Glastonbury  and  the  Tor  (From  Hollar's 
Print) To  face  p. 

Interior  View  of  St.  Mary's  Chapel         .    ,,       ,,  6 

Norman  Doorway  of  St.  Mary's  Chapel    .     ,,        „  12 

Exterior  of  St.  Mary's  Chapel  .         .         .    „       „  12 

Ruins  of  the  Choir  of  Glastonbury  Abbey 

Church „       »  20 

The  Pegged  Grace-Cup   of  Glastonbury 

Abbey „       „  54 

Facsimile  of  Part  of  Crumwell's  "  Remem- 
brances " On  p.       59 

General  View  of  Glastonbury  Tor    .         .  To  face  p.       64 

Summit  of  Tor  Hill „       ,,         68 

A  Glastonbury  Chair,  probably  made  by 

Dom  John  Thorne        ....,,,,  70 

Facsimile  of  Abbot  Whiting's  Signature  .         On  p.     112 


Vlll 


3 


I 


£ 
Z 


z     - 


I 

THE    LAST    ABBOT    OF 
GLASTONBURY 

CHAPTER    I 

GLASTONBURY 

THE  prospect  from  the  Roman  camp  of  Masbury, 
on  the  Mendip  hills  of  Somerset,  is  one  to  be 
remembered.  The  country  presents  itself  to  the  view  as 
in  a  map.  In  front  a  vast  plain  stretches  out  into  the 
dim  blue  horizon  across  Dorsetshire  to  the  shores  of  the 
English  Channel.  To  the  east  the  hills  fall  and  rise  like 
the  swell  of  the  sea  in  a  series  of  vales  and  heights  till 
they  are  lost  in  the  distance.  Westward  the  landscape 
is  more  varied,  the  ground,  which  at  the  spectator's  feet 
had  attained  well-nigh  to  the  dignity  of  a  mountain, 
sinks  away  in  a  succession  of  terraces  to  the  level  country 
lying  between  it  and  the  waters  of  the  Severn  sea. 
From  the  midst  of  this  plain  there  rises  clear  and  sharp 
against  the  sky,  like  a  pyramid,  a  hill  crowned  with  a 
tower,  which  forms  from  all  points  the  most  marked 
feature  of  the  scene.  Neither  the  glancing  of  the  sun- 
light from  the  surface  of  the  sea  some  fifteen  miles  away, 
nor  the  glimpse  that  is  caught  between  the  trees  of  the 

B 


2  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

grey  towers  and  gables  of  the  great  cathedral  church  of 
Well  5,  nor  ye:  the  sight  of  the  spire  of  Doulting,  calling 
up  as  it  does  memories  of  Saint  Aldhelm,  can  long 
restrain  the  eye  from  turning  once  again  to  gaze  on  the 
conical  hill  with  its  tower  which  stands  out  in  the  land- 
scape. Remarkable  alike  in  its  contour  and  in  its  situa- 
tion, these  do  not  constitute  its  chief  attraction,  for  it 
speaks  not  only  to  the  eye  but  to  the  mind  also;  it  is 
Nature's  monument  marking  a  spot  of  more  than  ordin- 
ary interest.  The  shadows  of  tradition  seem  still  to 
hover  over  the  hill  and  recall  a  past  which  is  lost  in  the 
dimness  of  legend.  More  than  all,  however,  the  last 
record  which  marks  the  place  in  the  pages  of  history 
brings  to  mind  a  deed  of  desecration  and  of  blood  per- 
petrated in  the  evil  days  which  brought  ruin  to  the  most 
famous  sanctuary  on  English  soil,  for  here  suffered  for 
conscience  sake  Richard  Whiting,  last  abbot  of  the  far- 
famed  abbey  of  Glastonbury  which  nestled  at  its  foot, 
thus  making  a  worthy  close  to  a  history  without  parallel 
in  the  annals  of  our  country. 

The  history  of  Glastonbury  is  the  history  of  its  abbey; 
without  its  abbey  Glastonbury  were  nothing.1  Even  among 
those  great  ecclesiastical  institutions,  the  Benedictine 
abbeys  of  mediaeval  England,  the  history  of  Glastonbury 
has  a  character  all  its  own.  I  will  not  insult  its  venerable 
age,  says  a  recent  historian,  by  so  much  as  contrasting 
it  with  the  foundations  of  yesterday,  which  arose  under 
the  influence  of  the  Cistercian  movement,  for  they  play 
but  a  small  part  indeed  in  the  history  of  this  church  and 
realm.  Glastonbury  is  something  more  than  Netley  and 
Tintern,  Rievaulx  and  Fountains.  It  is  something  more 
again  than  the  Benedictine  houses  which  arose  at  the 

1  The  following  is  adapted  from  the  late  Professor  Freeman. 


GLASTONBURY  3 

bidding  of  the  Norman  Conqueror,  of  his  race  and  of 
his    companions;    more   than    Selby   and    Battle,    and 
Shrewsbury  and  Reading.    It  is  in  its  own  special  aspect 
something    more   even    than    the    royal  minster  of  St. 
Peter,  the    crowning  place  of  Harold  and  of  William, 
which  came  to  supplant  Glastonbury  as  the  burial  place 
of  kings.    Nay,  it  stands  out  distinct  even  among  the 
great  and  venerable  foundations  of  English  birth  which 
were  already  great  and  venerable  when  this  country  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Norman.    There  is  something-  in 
Glastonbury  which  one  looks  for  in  vain  at  Peterborough 
and    Crowland    and   Evesham,   or  even  at   Winchester 
and  Canterbury;  all  these  are  the  works  of  our  own,  our 
English  people;  they  go  back  to  the  days  of  our  ancient 
kingship,    they  go   back — some  of  them — even   to  the 
days  when  Augustine  preached,  and  Theodore  fixed  the 
organisation  of  the  growing  English  Church;  but  they 
go  back  no  further.    We  know  their  beginnings,  we  know 
their  founders;  their  history,  nay,  their  very  legends  do 
not  dare  to  trace  up  their  foundations  beyond  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  Saxon  and  Angle  into  this  island.    At 
Glastonbury,  and  at  Glastonbury  alone,  we  instinctively 
feel  that  the  name  of  England  is  not  all,  for  here,  and 
here  alone,  we  walk  with  easy  steps,  with  no  thought  of 
any  impassable  barrier,  from   the  realm  of  Saxon  Ina 
back  to  that  of  Arthur,  the  hero  king  of  the  British  race. 
Alongside  of  the  memory  and  the  tombs  of  the  West- 
Saxon  princes,  who  broke  the  power  of  the  Northmen, 
there  still  abides  the  memory  of  the  British  prince  who 
checked  for  a  generation  the  advance  of  the  Saxon. 

But  at  Glastonbury  even  this  is  a  small  matter.  The 
legends  of  the  spot  go  back  to  the  very  days  of  the 
Apostles.    Here,  and  here  alone  on  English  soil,  we  are 


4  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

linked,  not  only  to  the  beginnings  of  English  Christi- 
anity, but  to  the  beginnings  of  Christianity  itself.  We 
are  met  at  the  outset  by  the  tradition  that  the  spot 
was  made  sacred  as  the  dwelling  of  a  multitude  of  the 
just,  and  its  soil  hallowed  by  the  bodies  of  numerous 
saints,  "  whose  souls  now  rejoice,"  says  an  ancient  writer, 
"  in  the  possession  of  God  in  heaven."  For  here  were 
believed  to  have  found  a  resting  place  the  twelve  dis- 
ciples of  Philip  the  Apostle,  sent  by  him  to  Britain, 
under  the  leadership  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  had 
buried  our  Lord.  "  We  know  not,"  continues  our  author 
in  his  simple  style,  "  whether  they  really  repose  here, 
although  we  have  read  that  they  sojourned  in  the  place 
for  nine  years;  but  here  dwelt  assuredly  many  of  their 
disciples,  ever  twelve  in  number,  who  in  imitation  of 
them  led  a  hermit's  life  until  unto  them  came  St.  Patrick, 
the  great  Apostle  of  the  Irish  and  first  abbot  of  the 
hallowed  spot.  Here,  too,  rests  St.  Benen,  the  disciple  of 
St.  Patrick;  here  St.  Gildas,  the  historian  of  the  British; 
here  St.  David,  bishop  of  Menevia,  and  here  the  holy 
hermit  Indractus  with  his  seven  companions,  all  sprung 
from  the  royal  race.  Here  rest  the  relics  of  a  band  of 
holy  Irish  pilgrims,  who,  returning  from  a  visit  to  the 
shrines  of  Rome,  turned  aside  to  Glastonbury  out  of 
love  to  St.  Patrick's  memory  and  were  martyred  in  a 
village  named  Shapwick.  Hither,  not  long  after,  their 
remains  were  brought  by  Ina,  our  glorious  king." 

Such  stories  of  the  mediaeval  scribe,  however  little 
worthy  of  credit  in  point  of  detail,  represent,  there  can 
be  little  doubt,  a  substantial  truth.  For  as  in  later  cen- 
turies there  were  brought  hither  even  from  far  distant 
Northumbria  the  relics  of  Paulinus,  and  Aidan  and 
Ceolfrid,  of  Boisil,  of  Benet  Biscop  and  of  others  for 


GLASTONBURY  5 

security  on  the  advance  of  the  Danes,  so  too  in  earlier 
dangers  there  were  carried  to  Glastonbury,  to  save  them 
from  the  blind  fury  of  the  pagan  Saxon,  all  that  was 
most  sacred  and  venerated  in  the  churches  of  Christian 
Britain. 

"  No  fiction,  no  dream  could  have  dared,"  writes  the 
historian,  "  to  set  down  the  names  of  so  many  worthies 
of  the  earlier  races  of  the  British  Islands  in  the  Liber 
Vitce  of  Durham  or  of  Peterborough.  Now  I  do  not 
ask  you  to  believe  these  legends;  I  do  ask  you  to  be- 
lieve that  there  was  some  special  cause  why  legends  of 
this  kind  should  grow  in  such  a  shape,  and  in  such 
abundance  round  Glastonbury  alone  of  all  the  great 
monastic  churches  of  Britain." 

Though  these  Glastonbury  legends  need  not  be  be- 
lieved as  the  record  of  facts,  still  it  has  been  well  said 
that  "  the  very  existence  of  those  legends  is  a  very  great 
fact."  The  simple  truth  is  that  the  remoteness  and 
isolation  of  Glastonbury  preserved  it  from  attack,  until 
Christianity  had  won  its  way  among  the  West  Saxons. 
So  that  when  at  last  the  Teutonic  conqueror  came  to 
Avalon,  he  had  already  bowed  his  head  to  the  cross  and 
been  washed  in  the  waters  of  Christian  baptism.  His 
coming  was  thus  not  to  destroy,  but  to  give  renewed 
life  to  the  already  ancient  monastic  sanctuary.  The 
sacred  precincts,  hitherto  held  by  Britons  only,  now 
received  monks  of  English  race  some  time  before  King 
Ina,  its  new  founder,  following  the  example  of  his  father, 
Caedwalla,  after  a  reign  of  seven  and  thirty  years,  re- 
signed his  crown  to  journey  to  Rome,  desiring  to  end  his 
pilgrimage  on  earth  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  holy 
places,  so  that  he  might  the  more  readily  be  received  by 
the  saints  themselves  into  the  celestial  kingdom. 


6  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

And  when  later  the  Danes  overwhelmed  the  land,  it 
was  this  hallowed  spot  that  was  destined  to  be  the 
centre  from  which  not  merely  a  vigorous  monastic  re- 
vival spread  throughout  England,  but  whence  the  king- 
dom itself  was  raised  by  a  great  reformer  to  a  new 
pitch  of  secular  greatness;  for  it  was  here  that  Dun- 
stan  as  a  boy,  brought  by  his  father  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  churches  of  St.  Mary  and  St.  Peter  the  Apostle, 
"  built  of  olden  time,"  passed  the  night  in  prayer.  Over- 
come by  sleep  the  boy  saw  in  a  dream  an  aged  man, 
clothed  in  snowy  vesture,  leading  him,  not  through  the 
simple  chapels  and  half-ruined  buildings  which  then 
occupied  the  site,  but  through  the  fair  alleys  of  a  spacious 
church  and  comely  claustral  buildings,  whilst  he  told 
him  that  thus  was  Glastonbury  to  be  rebuilt  by  him,  and 
that  he  was  to  be  its  future  head.  This,  though  but  a 
dream,  was  yet  a  dream  which  must  have  been  related 
by  Dunstan  himself  in  after  years.  The  young  day- 
dreams of  a  strong  nature  have  a  tendency  to  realise 
themselves  in  later  life,  and  this  boyish  vision  of  a  re- 
novated Glastonbury,  the  outward  sign  of  a  new  monas- 
tic spirit,  manifests  the  workings  of  a  mind  influenced, 
but  prepared  to  be  influenced,  by  the  past  memories  and 
the  present  decay  of  the  holy  place.  Nor  did  these  early 
images  pass  away  in  view  of  the  brilliant  prospects  that 
opened  out  before  the  young  cleric,  who  had  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  personal  capacity  and  powerful  connections, 
and  so  he  betook  himself  to  remote  and  solitary  Glaston- 
bury, to  work  out  the  realisation  of  his  monastic  ideals. 
Dunstan  built  up  its  walls  with  the  essentially  practical 
end  of  securing  the  primary  requirements  of  monastic 
enclosure,  and  the  buildings  were  just  like  those  he 
dreamed  of  in  his  boyhood.   He  threw  on  his  brother 


INTERIOR  VIEW  OF  ST.   MARYS  CHAPEL,  SHOWING   THE 

RUINS  OF  THE  CHOIR  THROUGH  THE  WEST 

DOOR  OF  THE  ABBEY  CHURCH 


[To  face  p.  6 


GLASTONBURY  7 

Wulfric  the  entire  temporal  business  and  management 
of  the  estates,  so  that  he,  freed  from  the  encumbrance 
of  all  external  affairs,  might  build  up  the  souls  of  those 
who  had  committed  themselves  to  his  direction.  It  was 
here  at  Glastonbury,  under  the  care  of  St.  Dunstan, 
that  St.  Ethelwold  was  formed  and  fashioned  to  be  the 
chief  instrument  in  carrying  out  his  monastic  policy. 
Here,  too,  St.  Elphege  the  martyr,  and  a  successor  of 
Dunstan  on  the  throne  of  Canterbury  lived  his  monas- 
tic life.  And  from  Avalon,  too,  about  the  same  time, 
went  forth  the  monk  Sigfrid,  as  the  evangelist  of  pagan 
Norway. 

With  such  a  history,  such  legends  of  the  past,  and 
such  a  renewal  as  the  firm  and  lofty  spirit  of  Dunstan 
effected  in  its  refoundation,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  re- 
pute of  Glastonbury  drew  to  it  a  crowd  of  fervent  monks 
and  the  ample  benefactions  of  devout  and  faithful  friends, 
so  that  from  henceforward  there  was  no  monastic  house 
in  England  which  for  splendour  or  wealth  could  compare 
with  this  ancient  sanctuary.  Through  the  later  Middle 
Ages,  to  the  people  of  England  Glastonbury  was  a 
Roma  secunda.  Strangers  came  from  afar  to  visit  the 
holy  ground,  and  pilgrim  rests  marked  the  roads  which 
led  to  it.  Foreigners  coming  in  ships  which  brought 
their  freight  to  the  great  port  of  Bristol,  hardly  ever 
failed  to  turn  aside  to  visit  this  home  of  the  saints,  whilst 
memorials  of  the  sanctuary  were  carried  by  the  Bristol 
merchants  into  foreign  lands. 

Even  now,  as  it  lies  in  ruin,  the  imagination  can  con- 
ceive the  wonder  with  which  a  stranger,  on  reaching  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  still  known  as  the  Pilgrim's  Way, 
saw  spread  out  before  him  Glastonbury  Abbey  in  all  its 
vast  extent,  with  its  towers  and  chapels,  its  broad  courts 


8       THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

and  cloisters,  crowned  with  the  mighty  church,  the  fitting 
shrine  of  the  sacred  relics  and  holy  memories  which  had 
brought  him  thither. 


CHAPTER  II 

RICHARD  WHITING 

Never,  perhaps,  was  Glastonbury  in  greater  glory  than 
at  the  moment  when  Richard  Whiting  was  elected  to 
rule  the  house  as  abbot. 

Richard  Whiting  was  born  probably  in  the  early  years 
of  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  civil  war 
between  the  Houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  was  then  at 
its  height,  and  his  boyhood  must  have  been  passed  amid 
the  popular  excitement  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  and  the 
varied  fortunes  of  King  Edward  IV.  It  is  not  unimport- 
ant to  bear  this  in  mind,  since  the  personal  experience, 
in  his  youth,  of  the  troubles  and  dangers  of  civil  strife 
can  hardly  have  failed  to  impress  their  obvious  lesson 
strongly  upon  his  mind,  and  to  influence  him  when  the 
wilfulness  of  Henry  brought  the  country  to  the  very 
verge  of  civil  war,  with  its  attendant  miseries  and 
horrors. 

The  abbot's  family  was  west-country  in  its  origin  and 
was  connected  distantly  with  that  of  Bishop  Stapeldon, 
of  Exeter,  the  generous  founder  of  Exeter  College,  Ox- 
ford. Its  principal  member  was  possessed  of  consider- 
able estates  in  Devon  and  Somerset,  but  Richard  Whiting 
came  of  a  younger  branch  of  the  family,  numbered 
among  the  tenant  holders  of  Glastonbury  possessions  in 


RICHARD  WHITING  9 

the  fertile  valley  of  Wrington.  The  name  is  found  in  the 
annals  of  other  religious  houses.  About  the  time  of 
Richard  Whiting's  birth,  for  example,  another  Richard, 
probably  an  uncle,  was  camerarius,  or  chamberlain,  in  the 
monastery  of  Bath,1  an  office  which  in  after  years,  at  the 
time  of  his  election  as  abbot,  the  second  Richard  held  in 
the  Abbey  of  Glastonbury.  Many  years  later,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  troubles  which  involved  the  religious 
houses  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  a  Jane  Whiting, 
daughter  of  John,  probably  a  near  relative  of  the  Abbot 
of  Glastonbury  "  was  shorn  and  had  taken  the  habit  as  a 
nun  in  the  convent  of  Wilton ;  " 2  whilst  later  still,  when 
new  foundations  of  English  religious  life  were  being  laid 
in  foreign  countries,  two  of  Abbot  Whiting's  nieces  be- 
came postulants  for  the  veil  in  the  English  Franciscan 
house  at  Bruges.3 

Nothing  is  known  for  certain  about  the  childhood  and 
youth  of  Richard  Whiting;  but  it  may  be  safely  con- 
jectured that  he  received  his  early  education  and  train- 
ing within  the  walls  of  his  future  monastic  home.  The 
antiquary  Hearne  says  that  "  the  monks  of  Glastonbury 
kept  a  free  school,  where  poor  men's  sons  were  bred  up, 
as  well  as  gentlemen's,  and  were  fitted  for  the  univer- 
sities." '  And  some  curious  legal  proceedings,  which  in- 
volved an  inquiry  as  to  the  Carthusian  martyr,  blessed 
Richard  Bere,  reveal  the  fact  that,  as  a  boy,  he  had  been 

1  Reg.  Beckington,  f.  311. 

2  R.  O.  Chanc,  Inq.  post  mortem. 

3  Oliver,  Collections  illustrating  the  History  of  the  Catholic 
Religion,  p.  135.  This  house  returned  to  England  on  the  French 
Revolution,  and  the  high  esteem  with  which  it  was  regarded  by 
English  Catholics,  persecuted  at  home  or  exiles  abroad,  still  attends 
this  venerable  community,  now  established  at  Taunton. 

1  History  of  Glastonbury,  preface. 


io  THE  LAST  ARBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

"  brought  up  at  the  charges  of  his  uncle,"  Abbot  Bere, 
in  the  Glastonbury  school.  The  pleadings  show  that 
Richard  Bere  was  probably  the  son  of  one  of  the  tenants 
of  the  abbey  lands,  and  among  those  who  testify  to  the 
fact  of  his  having  been  a  boy  in  the  school  were 
"  Nicholas  Roe,  of  Glastonbury,  gent,"  and  "John  Fox, 
of  Glastonbury,  yeoman,"  both  of  whom  had  been  his 
fellow  scholars  "  in  the  said  abbey  together," '  and 
Thomas  Penny,  formerly  Abbot  Bere's  servant,  who 
spoke  to  the  nephew  Richard  as  having  been  in  the 
school  at  the  monastery,  whence,  as  he  remembered,  he 
afterwards  proceeded  to  Oxford.  What  is  thus  known, 
almost  by  accident,  about  the  early  education  of  the 
martyred  Carthusian,  may  with  fair  certainty  be  inferred 
in  the  case  of  Richard  Whiting.  The  boy's  training  in 
the  claustral  school  was  succeeded  by  the  discipline  of 
the  monastic  novitiate:  and  it  was  doubtless  in  early 
youth,  as  was  then  the  custom,  that  he  joined  the  com- 
munity of  the  great  Benedictine  monastery  of  the  west 
country. 

Glastonbury,  with  its  long,  unbroken  history,  had  had 
its  days  of  prosperity  and  its  days  of  trouble,  its  periods 
of  laxity  and  days  of  recovery,  and  when  Whiting  first 
took  the  monastic  habit  report  did  not  speak  too  well  of 
the  state  of  the  establishment.  John  Selwood,  the  abbot, 
had  held  the  office  since  1457,  and  under  his  rule,  owing, 
probably  in  some  measure  at  least,  to  the  demoralising 
influence  of  the  constant  civil  commotions,  discipline 
grew  slack  and  the  good  name  of  the  abbey  had  suf- 
fered. But  it  would  seem  that,  as  is  so  often  the  case, 
rumour  with  its  many  tongues  had  exaggerated  the  dis- 
orders, since  after  a  careful  examination  carried  out 
1  Downside  Review,  vol.  ix  (1890),  p.  162. 


RICHARD  WHITING  it 

under  Bishop  Stillington's  orders  by  four  ecclesiastics 
unconnected  with  the  diocese,  no  stringent  injunctions 
were  apparently  imposed,  and  Abbot  Selwood  continued 
to  rule  the  house  for  another  twenty  years. 

From  Glastonbury  Whiting  was  sent  to  Cambridge,1 
to  complete  his  education,  and  his  name  appears  amongst 
those  who  took  their  M.A.  degree  in  1483.2  About  the 
same  time  the  register  of  the  university  records  the  well- 
known  names  of  Richard  Reynolds,  the  Bridgettine 
priest  of  Syon,  of  John  Houghton  and  William  Exmew, 
both  Carthusians,  and  all  three  afterwards  noble  martyrs 
in  the  cause  of  Catholic  unity,  for  which  Whiting  was 
also  later  called  upon  to  sacrifice  his  life.  The  blessed 
John  Fisher  also,  although  no  longer  a  student,  still  re- 
mained in  close  connection  with  the  university,  when 
Richard  Whiting  came  up  from  Glastonbury  to  Cam- 
bridge. 

After  taking  his  degree  the  young  Benedictine  monk- 
returned  to  his  monastery,  and  there  probably  would 
have  been  occupied  in  teaching.  For  this  work  his  pre- 
vious training  and  his  stay  at  the  university  in  prepara- 
tion for  his  degree  in  Arts,  would  have  specially  qualified 
him,  and  in  all  probability  he  was  thus  engaged  till  his 

1  Probably  to  "  Monks'  College."  Speed,  speaking  of  Magdalen 
College,  Cambridge,  says  it  "was  first  an  hall  inhabited  by  monks 
of  divers  monasteries,  and  therefore  heretofore  called  Monks' 
College,  sent  hither  from  their  abbies  to  the  universitie  to  studye. 
Edward  Stafford,  last  Duke  of  Buckingham,  &c,  bestowed  much 
cost  in  the  repair  of  it,  and  in  15 19  .  ...  new  built  the  hall,  where- 
upon for  a  time  it  was  called  Buckingham  College ;  but  the  Duke 
being  shortly  after  attainted,  the  buildings  were  left  imperfect,  con- 
tinuing a  place  for  monks  to  study  in,  until  the  general  suppression 
of  monasteries  by  King  Henry  VIII." — Speed,  History  of  Great 
Britain,  1632,  p.  1053. 

2  Cooper,  At  hence  Caniabrigienses,  p.  71. 


12  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

ordination  to  the  priesthood,  some  fifteen  years  later. 
During  this  period  one  or  two  events  of  importance  to 
the  monks  of  the  abbey  may  be  briefly  noted. 

In  1493,  John  Selwood,  who  had  been  abbot  for  thirty- 
six  years,  died.  The  monks  having  obtained  the  king's 
leave  to  proceed  with  the  election  of  a  successor,1  met 
for  the  purpose,  and  made  their  choice,  without  appar- 
ently having  previously  obtained  the  usual  approval  of 
the  bishop  of  the  diocese.  This  neglect  was  caused  pos- 
sibly by  their  ignorance  of  the  forms  of  procedure,  as  so 
long  a  time  had  intervened  since  the  last  election.  It 
may  be  also  that  in  the  long  continued  absence  of  the 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  from  his  See  they  overlooked 
this  form.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Bishop  Fox,  then  the 
occupant  of  the  See,  on  hearing  of  the  election  of  John 
Wasyn  without  his  approval,  applied  to  the  king  for  per- 
mission to  cancel  the  election.  This  having  been  granted, 
he  successfully  claimed  the  right  to  nominate  to  the 
office,  and  on  20th  January,  1494,  by  his  commissary, 
Dr.  Richard  Nicke,  Canon  of  Wells,  and  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Norwich,  he  installed  Richard  Bere  in  the 
abbatial  chair  of  Glastonbury.'2 

In  the  fourth  year  of  this  abbot's  rule,  Somerset  and 
the  neighbourhood  of  Glastonbury  were  disturbed  by  the 
passage  of  armed  men — insurgents  against  the  authority 
of  King  Henry  VII  and  the  royal  troops  sent  against 
them — which  must  have  sadly  broken  in  upon  the  quiet 
of  the  monastic  life.  In  the  early  summer  of  1497  the 
Cornish  rebels  who  had  risen  in  resistance  to  the  heavy 
taxation  of  Henry,  passed  through  Glastonbury  and 
Wells   on    their   way   to    London.     Their  number  was 

1  Pat.  Rot.,  8  Henry  VII,  p.  2,  m.  11. 

2  Reg.  Fox  Bath  et  Wellen,  f.  48.    Pat.  Rot.,  9  Henry  VII,  26. 


NORMAN  DOORWAY  OF  ST.   MARYS 
CHAPEL 


EXTERIOR  OF  ST.  MARY'S  CHAPEL  (COMMONLY  CALLED  ST.  JOSEPH'S) 
COVERING  THE  SITE  OF  THE  OLD  BRITISH  CHURCH  AND  FORM- 
ING THE  ATRIUM    OF  THE  MONASTIC  CHURCH 


[To  face  p.  12 


RICHARD  WHITING  13 

estimated  at  from  six  to  fifteen  thousand,  and  the 
country  for  miles  around  was  at  night  lighted  up  by 
their  camp  fires.  Their  poverty  was  dire,  their  need 
most  urgent,  and  although  it  is  recorded  that  no  act  of 
violence  or  pillage  was  perpetrated  by  this  undisciplined 
band,  still  their  support  was  a  burden  on  the  religious 
houses  and  the  people  of  the  districts  through  which  they 
passed. 

Hardly  had  this  rising  been  suppressed  than  Somerset 
was  again  involved  in  civil  commotions.  Early  in  the 
autumn  of  1497  Perkin  Warbeck  assembled  his  rabble 
forces — "  howbeit,  they  were  poor  and  naked  "  ' — round 
Taunton,  and  on  the  21st  September  the  advanced 
guard  of  the  king's  army  arrived  at  Glastonbury,  and 
was  sheltered  in  the  monastery  and  its  dependencies. 
The  same  night  the  adventurer  fled  to  sanctuary,  leaving 
his  8,000  followers  to  their  own  devices ;  and  on  the 
29th  of  this  same  month  Henry  himself  reached  Bath 
and  moved  forward  at  once  to  join  his  other  forces  at 
Wells  and  Glastonbury.  With  him  came  Bishop  Oliver 
King,  who,  although  he  had  held  the  See  of  Bath  and 
Wells  for  three  years,  had  never  yet  visited  his  cathedral 
city,  and  who  now  hurried  on  before  his  royal  master  to 
be  enthroned  as  bishop  a  few  hours  before  he  in  that 
capacity  took  part  in  the  reception  of  the  king.  Henry 
had  with  him  some  30,000  men,  when  on  St.  Jerome's 
day  he  entered  Wells,  and  took  up  his  lodgings  with 
Dr.  Cunthorpe  in  the  Deanery.2  The  following  day, 
Sunday,  October  1,  was  spent  at  Wells,  where  the  king 
attended  in  the  Cathedral  at  a  solemn  Te  Deum  in 
thanksgiving  for  his  bloodless  victory.     Early  on   the 

1  B.  Mus.  Cott.  MS.  Vit.  A.  xvi,  f.  166b. 
a  Historical  MSS.  Report,  i,  p.  107. 


14  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

Monday  he  passed  on  to  Glastonbury,  and  was  lodged 
by  Abbot  Bere  within  the  precincts  of  the  monastery. 

The  abbey  was  then  at  the  height  of  its  glory,  for 
Bere  was  in  every  way  fitted  for  the  position  to  which 
the  choice  of  Fox  had  elevated  him.  A  witness  in  the 
trial  spoken  of  above  describes  Abbot  Bere  as  "  a  grave, 
wise  and  discreet  man,  just  and  upright  in  all  his  ways, 
and  for  so  accounted  of  almost  all  sorts  of  people." 
Another  deposes  that  he  "  was  good,  honest,  virtuous, 
wise  and  discreet,  as  well  as  a  grave  man,  and  for  those 
virtues  esteemed  in  as  great  reputation  as  few  of  his  coat 
and  calling  in  England  at  that  time  were  better  ac- 
counted of."  '  On  the  interior  discipline  and  the  exterior 
administration  of  his  house  alike  he  bestowed  a  watchful 
care,  and  under  his  prudent  administration  the  monastic 
buildings  and  church  received  many  useful  and  costly 
additions.  At  great  expense  he  built  the  suite  of 
rooms  afterwards  known  as  "  the  King's  lodgings,"  and 
added  more  than  one  chapel  to  the  time-honoured 
sanctuary  of  Glastonbury.  At  the  west  end  of  the  town 
he  built  the  Church  of  St.  Benen,  now  commonly  known 
as  St.  Benedict's,  which  bears  in  every  portion  of  the 
structure  his  rebus.  His  care  for  the  poor  was  mani- 
fested by  the  almshouses  he  established,  and  the  thought 
he  bestowed  on  the  prudent  ordering  of  the  lowly  spital 
of  St.  Margaret's,  Taunton.  Beyond  this,  Bere  was  a 
learned  man,  as  well  as  a  careful  administrator,  and  even 
Erasmus  submitted  to  his  judgment.  In  a  letter  written 
a  few  years  after  this  abbot's  death  this  great  scholar 
records  how  he  had  long  known  the  reputation  of  the 
Abbot  of  Glastonbury.  His  bosom  friend,  Richard  Pace, 
the  well-known  ambassador  of  Wolsey  in  many  difficult 
1  Downside  Review ',  ut  sup.,  p.  160. 


RICHARD  WHITING  15 

negotiations,  had  told  him  how  to  Berc's  liberality  he 
owed  his  education,  and  his  success  in  life  to  the  abbot's 
judicious  guidance.  For  this  reason,  Erasmus,  who  had 
made  a  translation  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  from  the 
Greek,  which  he  thought  showed  a  "  more  polished 
style  "  than  St.  Jerome's  version,  submitted  his  work  to 
the  judgment  of  the  abbot.  Bere  opposed  the  publica- 
tion, and  Erasmus  bowed  to  the  abbot's  opinion,  which 
in  after  years  he  acknowledged  as  correct.1  Henry  the 
Seventh,  who  ever  delighted  in  the  company  of  learned 
men,  must  have  been  pleased  with  the  entertainment  he 
received  at  Glastonbury,  where  the  whole  cost  was  borne 
by  the  abbot.2  It  is  possible,  by  reason  of  the  knowledge 
the  king  then  derived  of  the  great  abilities  of  Bere,  that 
six  years  afterwards,  in  1503,  he  made  choice  of  him  to 
carry  the  congratulations  of  England  to  Cardinal  John 
Angelo  de  Medicis,  when  he  ascended  the  pontifical 
throne  as  Pius  IV. 

The  troubles  of  Somerset  did  not  end  with  the  retire- 
ment of  the  royal  troops.  Though  the  country  did  not 
rise  in  support  of  the  Cornish  movement,  it  appears  to 
have  somewhat  sympathised  with  it,  and  at  Wells  Lord 
Audley  joined  the  insurgents  as  their  leader.  For  this 
sympathy  Henry  made  them  pay;  and  the  rebels'  line  of 
march  can  be  traced  by  the  record  of  the  heavy  fines 
levied  upon  those  who  had  been  supposed  to  have 
"  aided  and  comforted  "  them.  Sir  Amyas  Paulet — the 
first  Paulet  of  Hinton  St.  George — was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners sent  to  exact  this  pecuniary  punishment,  and 

1  Ep.  lib.  xviii,  46;  Warner,  G/asfonfruty,  p.  213. 

2  The  Wardrobe  accounts  show  that  while  the  king  had  to  pay 
somewhat  heavily  for  his  stay  at  Wells,  his  entertainment  at  Glaston- 
bury cost  nothing. 


16  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

from  his  record  it  would  appear  that  nearly  all  in  Somer- 
set were  fined.  The  abbots  of  Ford  and  Cleeve,  of 
Muchelney  and  Athelney,  with  others,  had  extended 
their  charity  to  the  starving  insurgents,  and  Sir  Amyas 
made  them  pay  somewhat  smartly  for  their  pity.  Some- 
how Glastonbury  appears  to  have  escaped  the  general 
penalty;  probably  the  abbot's  entertainment  of  the  king 
saved  the  abbey,  although  some  of  the  townsfolk  did  not 
escape  the  fine.1  This  severe  treatment  must  have  had 
more  than  a  passing  effect.  The  generation  living  at  the 
time  of  the  suppression  of  the  abbey  could  well  remem- 
ber the  event.  They  knew  well  what  was  the  meaning 
of  the  heavy  hand  of  a  king,  and  had  felt  at  their  own 
hearths  what  were  the  ravages  of  an  army.  This  may  go 
far  to  explain  how  it  happened  that  in  Somersetshire 
there  was  no  Pilgrimage  of  Grace. 

Meantime  Richard  Whiting  had  witnessed  these 
troubles,  which  came  so  near  home,  from  the  seclusion  of 
the  monastic  enclosure  in  which  he  had  been  preparing 
for  the  reception  of  sacred  orders.  The  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  Oliver  King,  had  not  remained  in  his  diocese 
after  the  public  reception  of  Henry.  He  was  much  en- 
gaged in  the  secular  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  and  his 
episcopal  functions  were  relegated  to  the  care  of  a  suf- 
fragan, Thomas  Cornish,  titular  Bishop  of  Tinos,  also  at 
this  time  Vicar  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  Wells,  and  Chancellor 
of  the  Diocese.  From  the  hands  of  this  prelate  Dom 
Richard  Whiting  received  the  minor  order  of  acolyte  in 
the  month  of  September,  1498.  In  the  two  succeeding 
years  he  was  made  sub-deacon  and  deacon,  and  on  the 
6th  March,  1501,  he  was  elevated  to  the  sacred  order  of 

1  R.  O.  Chapter  House,  Misc.  Box,  152,  No.  24.  See  also  Somerset 
Archceological  Society,  1879,  P-  7°- 


RICHARD  WHITING  ELECTED  ABBOT  17 

the  priesthood.'  The  ordination  was  held  in  Wells  by 
Bishop  Cornish  in  the  chapel  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  by 
the  cathedral  cloisters — a  chapel  long  since  destroyed, 
and  the  foundations  of  which  have  in  recent  years  been 
discovered. 

For  the  next  five  and  twenty  years  we  know  very 
little  about  Richard  Whiting.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  his  life  was  passed  entirely  in  the  seclusion  of  the 
cloister  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  imposed  upon 
him  by  obedience,  In  1505,  the  register  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Cambridge  shows  that  he  returned  there,  and 
took  his  final  degree  as  Doctor  in  Theology.  In  his 
monastery  he  held  the  office  of  "  Camerarius,"  or  Cham- 
berlain, which  would  give  him  the  care  of  the  dormitory, 
lavatory,  and  wardrobe  of  the  community,  and  place  him 
over  the  numerous  officials  and  servants  necessary  to 
this  office  in  so  important  and  vast  an  establishment  as 
Glastonbury  then  was. 


CHAPTER  III 

RICHARD  WHITING  ELECTED  ABBOT 

In  the  month  of  February,  1525,  Abbot  Bere  died,  after 
worthily  presiding  over  the  monastery  for  more  than 
thirty  years.  A  few  days  after  his  death,  on  the  nth  of 
February,  the  monks  in  sacred  orders,  forty-seven  in 
number,  met  in  the  chapter  house  to  elect  a  successor. 
They  were  presided  over  by  their  Prior,  Dom  Henry 
Coliner,  and  on  his  proposition  it  was  agreed  that  five 

1  Reg.  O.  King,  Bath  et  Wellen  Ed. 
C 


18  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

days  were  to  be  left  for  consideration  and  discussion, 
and  the  final  vote  taken  on  the  16th.  On  that  day,  after 
a  solemn  mass  de  Spiritu  Sancto,  the  "  great  bell  "  of  the 
monastery  called  the  monks  into  chapter.  There  the 
proceedings  were  begun  by  the  singing  of  the  Veni 
Creator  with  its  versicle  and  prayer,  and  then  Dom 
Robert  Clerk,  the  sacrist,  read  aloud  the  form  of  cita- 
tion to  all  having  a  right  to  vote,  followed  by  a  roll  call 
of  the  names  of  the  monks.  The  book  of  the  Holy 
Gospels  was  then  carried  round,  and  each  in  succession 
laid  his  hand  on  the  sacred  page,  kissed  it,  and  swore  to 
make  choice  of  him  whom  in  conscience  he  thought 
most  worthy.  After  this,  one  Mr.  William  Benet,  acting 
as  the  canonical  adviser  of  the  community,  read  aloud 
the  constitution  of  the  general  council  Quia  propter,  and 
carefully  explained  the  various  methods  of  election  to 
the  brethren.  Then  the  religious  with  one  mind  deter- 
mined to  proceed  by  the  method  called  "  compromise  " 
{per  formam  compromissi),  which  placed  the  choice  in 
the  hands  of  some  individual  of  note,  and  unanimously 
named  Cardinal  Wolsey  to  make  choice  of  their  abbot. 

The  following  day  the  Prior  wrote  to  the  Cardinal  of 
York,  begging  him  to  accept  the  charge.  Having  ob- 
tained the  royal  permission,  and  after  having  allowed  a 
fortnight  to  go  by  for  inquiry  and  consideration,  he,  on 
March  3rd,1  in  his  chapel  at  York  Place,  declared 
Richard  Whiting  the  object  of  his  choice.  The  Cardinal's 
commission  to  acquaint  the  brethren  of  his  election  was 
handed  to  a  deputation  from  the  abbey  consisting  of 
Dom  John  of  Glastonbury,  the  cellarer,  and  Dom  John 
Benet,  the  sub-prior,  and  the  document  spoke  in  the 
highest  terms  of  Whiting.  He  was  described,  for  ex- 
1   Hearne,  Adam  de  Dovierham,  App.  xcvii. 


RICHARD  WHITING  ELECTED  ABBOT  19 

ample,  as  "  an  upright  and  religious  monk,  a  provident 
and  discreet  man,  and  a  priest  commendable  for  his  life, 
virtues  and  learning."  He  had  shown  himself,  it  declared, 
"  watchful  and  circumspect  "  in  both  spirituals  and  tem- 
porals, and  had  proved  that  he  possessed  ability  and 
determination  to  uphold  the  rights  of  his  monastery.1 
This  instrument,  drawn  up  by  a  notary  and  signed  by 
the  Cardinal  and  three  witnesses,  one  of  whom  was  the 
blessed  Thomas  More,  was  handed  to  the  two  Glaston- 
bury monks,  who  returned  at  once  to  their  abbey. 

They  arrived  there  on  the  8th  of  March,  and  met  the 
brethren  in  the  chapter  house,  where  they  declared  the 
result  of  the  Cardinal's  deliberations.  Then,  at  once, 
Dom  John  of  Taunton,  the  precentor,  intoned  the  Te 
Deum,  and  they  wended  their  way,  chanting  the  hymn 
from  the  chapter  to  the  church,  leading  the  newly  elect. 
Meantime  the  news  had  spread  throughout  the  town. 
The  people  thronged  into  the  church  to  hear  the  pro- 
clamation, and  as  the  procession  of  monks  with  Richard 
Whiting  came  from  the  cloisters  we  can  well  picture  the 
scene.  The  nave  of  the  mighty  church  was  occupied  by 
"  a  vast  multitude  "  eager  to  do  honour  to  him  who  was 
henceforth  to  be  their  temporal  and  spiritual  lord  and 
father.  The  glorious  sanctuary  of  Avalon,  enriched 
during  ten  centuries  by  the  generous  gifts  of  pious  bene- 
factors, had  received  new  and  costly  adornments  at  the 
hands  of  the  abbot  so  lately  gone  to  his  reward.  The 
vaulting  of  the  nave,  which  then  rang  with  the  voices  of 
the  monks  as  they  sang  the  hymn  of  praise,  was  one  of 
his  latest  works.  The  new-made  openings  in  the  wall 
marked  the  places  where  stood  King  Edgar's  Chapel, 
and  those  of  Our  Lady  of  Loretto,  and  the  Sepulchre, 
1  Hearne,  Adam  de  Domcrham,  App.  xcvii. 


2o  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

more  fitting  monuments  than  was  the  plain  marble  slab 
that  marked  his  grave,  of  his  love  and  veneration  for  the 
ancient  sanctuary  of  Glaston.  And  as  the  monks 
grouped  themselves  within  the  choir,  the  eye,  looking 
through  the  screen  which  ran  athwart  the  great  chancel 
arch — the  porta  cceli — would  have  seen  the  glitter  of  the 
antependium  of  solid  silver  gilt  studded  with  jewels, 
with  which  the  same  generous  hand  had  adorned  the 
high  altar. 

Into  this  noble  sanctuary  the  people  of  Glaston 
crowded  on  that  March  morning  in  the  year  1525  to 
hear  what  selection  the  great  Cardinal  had  made.  And 
as  the  voices  of  the  monks  died  away  with  the  last 
"  Amen "  to  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving  to  God  for 
mercies  to  their  House,  a  notary  public,  at  the  request 
of  the  Prior  and  his  brethren,  turned  to  the  people,  and 
from  off  the  steps  of  the  great  altar  proclaimed  in 
English  the  due  election  of  Brother  Richard  Whiting. 
Then,  as  the  people  streamed  forth  from  the  church 
bearing  the  news  abroad,  the  monks  returned  to  chapter 
for  the  completion  of  the  required  formalities.  And  first, 
the  free  consent  of  the  elect  himself  had  to  be  obtained, 
and  he  as  yet  remained  unwilling  to  take  up  the  burden 
of  so  high  an  office.  He  had  betaken  himself  to  the 
guest-house,  called  the  "  hostrye,"  and  thither  Dom 
William  Walter  and  Dom  John  Winchcombe  repaired, 
as  deputed  by  the  rest,  to  win  him  to  consent.  At  first 
he  determined  to  refuse,  and  then  demanded  time  for 
thought  and  prayer;  but  a  few  hours  after,  "being,"  as 
he  declared,  "  unwilling  any  longer  to  offer  resistance  to 
what  appeared  the  will  of  God,"  he  yielded  to  their 
solicitations  and  accepted  the  dignity  and  burden. 

Then  on  Richard  Whiting's  acceptance  being  notified 


RICHARD  WHITING  ELECTED  ABBOT  21 

to  the  Cardinal,  he  sent  two  commissioners  to  conduct 
the  required  canonical  investigations  into  the  fitness  of 
the  elect  for  the  office.  On  25th  March  these  officials 
arrived  at  the  monastery,  and  early  on  the  morning 
following,  the  Prior  and  monks  came  in  procession  to 
the  conventual  church ;  in  the  presence  of  the  Prior  and 
convent  they  made  a  general  summons  to  all  and  any  to 
communicate  to  them  any  facts  or  circumstances  which 
should  debar  Whiting  from  being  confirmed  as  abbot; 
after  this  the  like  obligation  was  laid  in  chapter  on  the 
monks.  Once  more,  at  noon,  the  decree  was  published 
to  a  "  great  multitude "  in  the  church,  and  afterwards 
fixed  against  the  great  doors. 

Three  days  later,  as  no  one  had  appeared  to  object  to 
the  election,  the  procurator  of  the  abbot,  Dom  John  of 
Glastonbury,  produced  his  witnesses  as  to  age  and 
character.  Amongst  them  was  Sir  Amyas  Paulet,  of 
Hinton  St.  George,  who  declared  that  he  had  known 
the  elect  for  eight-and-twenty  years,  which  was  just  the 
time  when  Henry  VII  had  visited  Glastonbury,  and  Sir 
Amyas  had  been  occupied  in  extracting  from  the  people 
of  Somerset  the  fines  levied  for  their  real  or  supposed 
sympathy  with  Perkin  Warbeck  and  his  Cornish  rebels. 
The  abbot's  witnesses  testified  that  he  had  always  borne 
the  highest  character,  not  only  in  Somerset,  but  else- 
where beyond  the  limits  of  the  diocese,  and  that  none 
had  ever  heard  anything  but  good  of  him.  One  who  so 
testified  was  Dom  Richard  Beneall,  who  had  been  a 
monk  at  Glastonbury  for  nineteen  years,  and  who  de- 
clared that  during  all  those  years  Richard  Whiting  had 
been  reputed  a  man  of  exemplary  piety. 

When  this  lengthy  and  strict  scrutiny  was  finished 
the  Cardinal's  commissioners  declared  the  confirmation 


22  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

of  the  elect.  Then,  after  the  usual  oath  of  obedience  to 
the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  had  been  taken  by  the  elect, 
he  received  the  solemn  blessing  in  his  own  great  abbey 
church  from  Dr.  William  Gilbert,  Abbot  of  Bruton  and 
Bishop  of  Mayo  in  Ireland,  at  that  time  acting  as 
suffragan  to  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.1 

In  the  pages  of  ecclesiastical  history  Wolsey's  name 
meets  with  scant  favour.    Writers  of  all  parties,  whether 
they  look  on  him  with  friendly  or  unfriendly  eye,  have 
little  to  say  of  his  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
Church.    Whatever  his  defects,  due  credit  has  not  been 
given  him  for  the  real  and  enlightened  care  which  he 
bestowed  on  the  true  welfare  of  the  religious  orders. 
For   the    Benedictines  and   Augustinians  he  designed, 
and  in   part  carried   out,  measures    of  renovation,  the 
fruits  of  which  were  already  visible  when   Henry  sup- 
pressed the  monastic  houses.    It  is  evident  that  he  was 
not  content  with    general    measures,    but   he   fully  ac- 
quainted  himself  with  details  and  with  persons.     The 
election  of  Abbot  Whiting  is  a  casein  point,  and  it  is  by 
no  means  improbable  that  the  keen  eye  of  the  eccle- 
siastical statesman  had  marked  him  out  at  the  general 
chapter  of  the  Benedictines  at  Westminster,  over  which 
the  great  Cardinal  had  himself  presided. 

Thus  was  inaugurated  the  rule  of  the  last  abbot  of 
Glastonbury,  amid  the  applause  and  goodwill  of  all  who 
knew  him.  Hitherto  his  life  had  been  passed,  as  the  life 
of  a  monk  should  be,  in  seclusion  and  unknown  to  the 
world  at  large.  He  had  clearly  not  been  one  to  seek  for 
power  or  expect  preferment,  and  his  election  to  the 
abbacy  of  Glastonbury,  though  causing  his   name  and 

The  account  here  given  is  from  the  official  document  in  the 
Register  of  Bishop  Clerke. 


RICHARD  WHITING  ELECTED  ABBOT  23 

fame  to  be  spread  wider,  would  after  all,  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  events,  have  given  him  in  the  main  a  local 
repute,  and  one  of  its  nature  destined,  after  life's  day- 
well  spent  in  the  peaceful  government  of  his  monastery, 
to  pass  into  oblivion.  Of  course  his  position  as  head  of 
one  of  the  greatest  of  the  parliamentary  abbeys  (if  the 
term  may  be  used)  obtained  for  him  a  place,  and  that  no 
undistinguished  one,  in  the  roll  of  peers  and  in  the 
House  of  Lords ;  and  thus  he  would  be  brought  naturally 
every  year  to  the  Court  and  the  great  deliberative 
assembly  of  the  realm.  But  this  was  not  a  sphere  which 
attracted  a  man  of  Whiting's  temper  and  simple-minded 
religious  spirit.  His  place  was  more  fittingly  found 
within  his  house,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  which  fell 
within  the  direct  range  of  his  special  and  highest  duties. 
Here,  then,  he  might  have  been  best  known  and  loved ; 
and  no  further.  But  another  lot  was  marked  out  for  him 
in  the  designs  of  God.  His  life  was  to  end  in  the  winning 
of  a  favour  greater  than  any  which  could  be  bestowed 
by  an  earthly  power,  for  the  crown  of  martyrdom  was 
to  be  the  reward  of  his  devotion  to  daily  duty.  His 
fidelity  to  his  state  and  trust  issued  in  a  final  act  of 
allegiance  to  Holy  Church  and  to  her  earthly  head 
which  causes  his  name  to  be  known  and  revered  through 
all  lands. 


24  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 


CHAPTER  IV 

TROUBLES  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE 

The  rule  of  Abbot  Whiting  over  the  vast  establishment 
of  .Glastonbury  had  to  be  exercised  in  difficult  times. 
Within  a  few  months  of  his  election  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn 
was  created  Viscount  Rochford,  and  this  marked  the 
first  step  in  the  king's  illicit  affection  for  the  new  peer's 
daughter,  Anne,  and  the  beginning  of  troubles  in  Church 
and  State.  For  years  of  wavering  counsels  on  the  great 
matter  of  Henry's  desired  divorce  from  Katherine  led  in 
1529  to  the  humiliation  and  fall  of  the  hitherto  all- 
powerful  Cardinal  of  York. 

Circumstances  combined  at  this  time  to  gather  to- 
gether in  the  social  atmosphere  elements  fraught  with 
grave  danger  to  the  Church  in  England.  The  long  and 
deadly  feud  between  the  two  "  Roses  "  had  swept  away 
the  pride  and  flower  of  the  old  families  of  England.  The 
stability  which  the  traditions  and  prudent  counsels  of  an 
ancient  nobility  give  the  ship  of  State,  was  gone  when 
it  was  most  needed  to  enable  it  to  weather  the  storm  of 
revolutionary  ideas.  Most  of  the  new  peers  created  in  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  to  take  the  place  of  the 
old  nobles  had  little  sympathy,  either  by  birth  or  in- 
clination, with  the  traditions  of  the  past.  Many  were 
mere  place-hunters,  political  adventurers,  ready  if  not 
eager  to  profit  by  any  disturbance  of  the  social  order. 
Self-interest  prompted  them  to  range  themselves  in  the 
restless  ranks  of  the  party  of  innovation.  Those  who 
have   nothing  to  lose  are    proverbially  on  the  side  of 


TROUBLES  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE  25 

disorder  and  change.  The  "  official,''  too,  the  special 
creation  of  the  Tudor  monarchs,  was  by  nature  unsettled 
and  discontented,  ever  on  the  look-out  for  some  lucky 
chance  of  supplementing  an  inadequate  pay.  Success 
in  life  depended,  for  men  of  this  kind,  on  their  attracting 
to  themselves  the  notice  of  their  royal  master,  which 
prompted  them  to  compete  one  with  the  other  in  ful- 
filling his  wishes  and  satisfying  his  whims.1 

At  the  head  of  all  was  Henry  VIII,  a  king  of  un- 
bridled desires,  and  one  whose  only  code  of  right  and 
wrong  was  founded,  at  least  in  the  second  half  of  his 
reign,  on  considerations  of  power  to  accomplish  what  he 
wished.  What  he  could  do  was  the  measure  of  what  he 
might  lawfully  attempt.  Sir  Thomas  More,  after  he  had 
himself  retired  from  office,  in  his  warning  to  the  rising 
Crumwell,  rightly  gauged  the  king's  character.  "  Mark, 
Crumwell,"  he  said,  "  you  are  now  entered  the  service  of 
a  most  noble,  wise,  and  liberal  prince;  if  you  will  follow 
my  poor  advice,  you  shall  in  your  counsel  given  to  His 
Grace,  ever  tell  him  what  he  ought  to  do,  but  not  what 
he  is  able  to  do.  For  if  a  lion  but  knew  his  own  strength, 
hard  were  it  for  any  man  to  rule  him." 

Nor,  unfortunately,  were  the  clergy  of  the  time  gener- 
ally fitted  to  cope  with  the  forces  of  revolution,  or  hold 
back  the  rising  tide  of  novelties.  In  the  days  when 
might  was  right,  and  the  force  of  arms  the  ruling 
power  of  the  world,  the  occupation  of  peace,  to  which 
the  clergy  were  bound,  excited  opposition  from  the 
party  who  saw  their  opportunity  in  a  disturbance  of  the 
existing  order.  The  bishops  were,  with  some  honourable 
exceptions,  chosen  by  royal  favour  rather  than  for  a 
spiritual  qualification.  However  personally  good  they 
1  See  Friedmann,  Anne  Boleyn,  i,  p.  27,  seqq. 


26  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

may  have  been,  they  were  not  ideal  pastors  of  their 
flocks.  Place-seeking,  too,  often  kept  many  of  the 
lords  spiritual  at  court,  that  they  might  gain  or  main- 
tain influence  sufficient  to  support  their  claims  to  further 
preferment. 

The  occupation  of  bishops  over-much  in  the  affairs  of 
the  nation,  besides  its  evident  effect  on  the  state  of 
clerical  discipline,  had  another  result.  It  created  in  the 
minds  of  the  new  nobility  a  jealous  opposition  to  eccle- 
siastics, and  a  readiness  to  humble  the  power  of  the 
Church  by  passing  measures  in  restraint  of  its  ancient 
liberties.  The  lay  lords  and  hungry  officials  not  un- 
naturally looked  upon  this  employment  of  clerics  in  the 
intrigues  of  party  politics,  and  in  the  wiles  and  crafty 
business  of  foreign  and  domestic  diplomacy,  as  trench- 
ing upon  their  domain,  and  as  thus  keeping  them  out 
of  coveted  preferment.  Consequently,  when  occasion 
offered,  no  great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  inducing 
them  to  turn  against  the  clergy  and  thus  enable  Henry 
to  carry  out  his  policy  of  coercive  legislation  in  their 
regard. 

Five  years  after  Abbot  Whiting's  election  to  rule  over 
Glastonbury  the  fall  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  opened  the  way 
for  the  advancement  of  Thomas  Crumwell,  who  may  be 
regarded  as  the  chief  political  contriver  of  the  change  of 
religion  in  England.  On  the  fall  of  the  old  order  he 
built  up  his  own  fortune.  For  ten  years  England  groaned 
beneath  his  rule — in  truth  it  was  a  reign  of  terror  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  the  country.  To  power  he 
mounted,  and  in  power  he  was  maintained  by  showing 
himself  subservient  to  every  whim  of  a  monarch,  the 
strength  of  whose  passions  was  only  equalled  by  the 
remorselessness  and  tenacity  with  which  he  pursued  his 


TROUBLES  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE  27 

aims.  Crumwell  fully  understood,  before  entering  on 
his  new  service,  what  its  conditions  were,  and  neither 
will  nor  ability  was  lacking  to  their  fulfilment.  Under 
his  management,  at  once  skilful  and  unscrupulous, 
Henry  mastered  the  Parliament  and  paralysed  the  action 
of  Convocation,  moulding  them  according  to  his  royal 
will  and  pleasure. 

Having  determined  that  the  great  matter  of  his 
divorce  from  Katherine  should  be  settled  in  his  own 
favour,  he  conceived  the  expedient  of  throwing  off  the 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  the  pope  over  the  nation  and 
constituting  himself  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Though  the  clergy  struggled  for  a  time 
against  the  royal  determination,  in  the  end  they  gave 
way;  and  on  November  3rd,  15  34, the"  Act  of  Supremacy" 
was  hurried  through  Parliament,  and  a  second  statute 
made  it  treason  to  deny  this  new  royal  prerogative. 

The  sequel  is  well  known.  The  clergy  caught  in  the 
cunningly-contrived  snare  of  premunire,  and  betrayed 
by  Cranmer,  who,  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had 
inherited  Warham's  office,  but  not  his  spirit,  were  at  the 
king's  mercy.  With  his  hands  upon  their  throats  Henry 
demanded  what,  in  the  quarrel  with  Rome,  was,  at  the 
time,  a  retaliation  upon  the  pope  for  his  refusal  to  accede 
to  the  royal  wishes,  the  acknowledgment  of  the  king  as 
supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England.  Few  among 
English  churchmen  were  found  bold  enough  to  resist 
this  direct  demand,  or  who  even,  perhaps,  recognised 
how  they  were  rejecting  papal  supremacy  in  matters 
spiritual.  As  a  rule,  the  required  oath  of  royal  supremacy 
was  apparently  taken  wherever  it  was  tendered,  and 
the  abbots  and  monks  of  Colchester,  of  Glastonbury, 
and  probably  also  of  Reading,  were  no  exception,  and 


28  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

on  September  19th,  1534,  Abbot  Whiting  and  his  com- 
munity, fifty-one  in  number,  attached  their  names  to  the 
required  declaration.1 

It  is  easy,  after  this  lapse  of  time,  and  in  the  light  of 
subsequent  events,  to  pass  censure  on  such  compliance; 
to  wonder  how  throughout  England  the  blessed  John 
Fisher  and  Thomas  More,  and  the  Observants,  almost 
alone,  should  have  been  found  from  the  beginning  neither 
to  hesitate  nor  to  waver.  It  is  easy  to  make  light  of  the 
shrinking  of  flesh  and  blood,  easy  to  extol  the  palm  of 
martyrdom.  But  it  is  not  difficult,  too,  to  see  how  reasons 
suggested  themselves  at  least  for  temporising.  To  most 
men  at  that  date  the  possibility  of  a  final  separation 
from  Rome  must  have  seemed  incredible.  They  remem- 
bered Henry  in  his  earlier  years,  when  he  was  never  so 
immersed  in  business  or  in  pleasure  that  he  did  not  hear 
three  or  even  five  masses  a  day ;  they  did  not  know  him 
as  Wolsey  or  Crumwell,  or  as  More  or  Fisher  knew  him; 
the  project  seemed  a  momentary  aberration,  under  the 
influence  of  evil  passion  or  evil  counsellors,  and  it  was 
on  the  king's  part  "  but  usurpation  desiderated  by  flat- 
tery and  adulation;"  these  counsellors  removed,  all 
would  be  well  again.  Henry  had  at  bottom  a  zeal  for 
the  Faith  and  would  return  by-and-by  to  a  better 
mind,  a  truer  self,  and  would  then  come  to  terms  with 
the  pope.  The  idea  of  the  headship  was  not  absolutely 
new:  it  had  in  a  measure  been  conceded  some  years 
before,  without,  so  far  as  appears,  exciting  remonstrance 
from  Rome.    Beyond  this,  to  many,  the  oath  of  royal 

1  Deputy  Keeper's  Report,  vii,  p.  287.  Mr.  Devon,  who  drew  up 
the  report,  says :  "  The  signatures,  in  my  opinion,  are  not  all  auto- 
graphs, but  frequently  in  the  same  handwriting;  and  my  impres- 
sion is,  that  the  writer  of  the  deed  often  added  many  names." 


TROUBLES  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE  29 

supremacy  over  the  Church  of  England  was  never  under- 
stood as  derogatory  to  the  See  of  Rome.  While  even  those 
who  had  taken  this  oath  were  in  many  instances  surprised 
that  it  should  be  construed  into  any  such  hostility.1 

However  strained  this  temper  of  mind  may  appear  to 
us  at  this  time,  it  undoubtedly  existed.  One  example 
may  be  here  cited.  Among  the  State  Papers  in  the 
Record  Office  for  the  year  1539  is  a  long  harangue  on 
the  execution  of  the  three  Benedictine  abbots,  in  which 
the  writer  refers  to  such  a  view: 

"  I  cannot  think  the  contrary,"  he  writes,  "  but  the  old 
bishop  of  London  [Stokesley],  when  he  was  on  live, 
used  the  pretty  medicine  that  his  fellow,  friar  Forest, 
was  wont  to  use,  and  to  work  with  an  inward  man  and 
an  outward  man ;  that  is  to  say,  to  speak  one  thing 
with  their  mouth  and  then  another  thing  with  their 
heart.  Surely  a  very  pretty  medicine  for  popish  hearts. 
But  it  worked  badly  for  some  of  their  parts.  Gentle 
Hugh  Cook  [the  abbot  of  Reading]  by  his  own  con- 
fession used  not  the  self-same  medicine  that  friar  Forest 
used,  but  another  much  like  unto  it,  which  was  this: 
what  time  as  the  spiritualty  were  sworn  to  take  the 
king's  grace  for  the  supreme  head,  immediately  next 
under  God  of  this  Church  of  England,  Hugh  Cook  re- 
ceiving the  same  oath  added  prettily  in  his  own  con- 
science these  words  following:  '  of  the  temporal  church,' 
saith  he,  '  but  not  of  the  spiritual  church.'  "  2 

1  Calendar,  viii,  Nos.  277,  3S7,  etc.,  are  instances  of  the  temper 
of  mind  described  above.  No.  387  especially  is  very  significant  as 
showing  the  gloss  men  put  on  the  supremacy  oath,  distinguishing 
tacitly  between  Church  of  England  and  Catholic  Church,  and  in 
temporalibus,  and  in  sftiritualibus. 


1 


R.  O.  State  Papers,  Uom.,  1539,  No.  207,  p.  2 


j- 


30  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

Nor  from  another  point  of  view  is  this  want  of  appre- 
ciation as  to  the  true  foundation  of  the  papal  primacy  a 
subject  for  unmixed  astonishment.  During  the  previous 
half-century  the  popes  had  reigned  in  a  court  of  un- 
exampled splendour,  but  a  splendour  essentially  mun- 
dane. It  was  a  dazzling  sight,  but  all  this  outward 
show  made  it  difficult  to  recognise  the  divinely  ordered 
spiritual  prerogatives  which  are  the  enduring  heritage  of 
the  successors  of  St.  Peter. 

The  words  of  Cardinal  Manning  on  this  point  may  be 
here  quoted: — "It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  at  this 
time  the  minds  of  men  had  been  so  distracted  by  the 
great  western  schism,  by  the  frequent  subtraction    of 
obedience,  by  the  doubtful  election  of  popes,  and  the 
simultaneous  existence  of  two  or  even  three  claimants 
to  the  Holy  See,  that  the  supreme  pontifical  authority 
had  become  a  matter  of  academical  discussion  hincinde. 
Nothing  but  such  preludes  could  have  instigated  even 
Gerson  to   write  on  the  thesis  de  auferabilitate  Papce. 
This  throws  much  light  on  the  singular  fact  attested  by 
Sir  Thomas  More  in  speaking  to  the  jury  and  the  judge 
by  whom  he  was  condemned,  when  the  verdict  of  death 
was  brought  in  against  him :  '  I  have,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  been  always  a  Catholic,  never  out  of  communion 
with  the   Roman   Pontiff;  but  I  have  heard  it  said  at 
times  that  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  was  cer- 
tainly lawful  and  to  be  respected,  but  still  an  authority 
derived   from   human    law,    and    not    standing   upo  n  a 
divine  prescription.    Then,  when  I  observed  that  public 
affairs  were  so  ordered  that  the  sources  of  the  power  of 
the   Roman   Pontiff  would  necessarily  be  examined,  I 
gave  myself  up  to  a  most  diligent  examination  of  that 
question  for  the  space  of  seven  years,  and  found  that  the 


TROUBLES  IN  CHURCH  AND  STATE  31 

authority  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  which  you  rashly — I 
will  not  use  stronger  language — have  set  aside,  is  not 
only  lawful,  to  be  respected,  and  necessary,  but  also 
grounded  on  the  divine  law  and  prescription.  That  is 
my  opinion;  that  is  the  belief  in  which  by  the  grace  of 
God,  I  shall  die.'  "  ' 

The  lofty  terms  expressive  of  papal  prerogatives 
might  pass  unquestioned  in  the  schools  and  in  common 
speech  in  the  world,  but  from  this  there  is  a  wide  step 
to  the  apprehension,  then  none  too  common,  of  the  living 
truths  they  express,  and  a  yet  further  step  to  that  in- 
tense personal  realisation  which  makes  those  truths 
dearer  to  a  man  than  life. 

To  some,  in  Whiting's  day,  that  realisation  came 
sooner,  to  some  later.  Some  men,  a  few,  seized  at  once 
the  point  at  issue  and  its  full  import,  and  were  ready 
with  their  answer  without  seeking  or  faltering.  Others 
answered  to  the  call  at  the  third,  or  even  the  eleventh 
hour;  the  cause  was  the  same,  and  so  were  the  fate  and 
the  reward,  though  to  the  late  comer  the  respite  may 
perhaps  have  been  only  a  prolongation  of  the  agony. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  here  to  attempt  even  a 
sketch  of  the  train  of  events  which  led  to  the  destruction 
of  Glastonbury  and  Abbot  Whiting's  martyrdom.  The 
suppression  of  the  monasteries  has  been  described  as 
simply  "  an  enormous  scheme  for  filling  the  royal  purse." a 
As  his  guilty  passion  for  Anne  Boleyn  is  the  key  to  half 

1  Dublin  Review,  January,  1888,  p.  245. 

2  Dixon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  i,  p.  456.  The  last 
Abbot  of  Colchester,  John  Beche  alias  Marshal,  is  reported  to 
Crumwell  as  saying:  "The  king  and  his  council  are  drawn  into 
such  an  inordinate  covetousness  that  if  all  the  water  in  the  Thames 
were  flowing  gold  and  silver,  it  were  not  able  to  slake  their  covetous- 
ness."  (R.  O.  State  Papers,  1539,  No.  207.) 


32  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

of  the  extraordinary  acts  of  the  succeeding  years  of 
Henry's  reign,  so  is  the  need  of  money  to  gratify  his 
other  appetites  the  key  to  the  rest.  From  the  seizure  of 
the  first  of  the  lesser  religious  houses  to  the  fall  of 
Glastonbury,  the  greatest  and  most  magnificent  of  them 
all,  gain  was  the  one  thought  of  the  king's  heart.  To 
this  end  every  engine  was  devised,  conscience  was  trod- 
den under  foot,  and  blood  was  spilled. 

With  the  evident  design  of  obtaining  a  pretext  for 
falling  on  the  religious  houses,  the  oath  of  supremacy 
in  an  amplified  form  was  tendered  to  their  inmates.1 
"  There  was  presented  to  them,"  writes  a  recent  his- 
torian, "  a  far  more  severe  and  explicit  form  of  oath  than 
that  which  More  and  Fisher  had  refused,  than  that 
which  the  Houses  of  Parliament  and  the  secular  clergy 
had  consented  to  take.  They  were  required  to  swear,  not 
only  that  the  chaste  and  holy  marriage  between  Henry 
and  Anne  was  just  and  legitimate,  and  the  succession 
good  in  their  offspring,"  but  "  also  that  they  would  ever 
hold  the  king  to  be  head  of  the  Church  of  England,  that 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  who  in  his  bulls  usurped  the  name 
of  Pope  and  arrogated  to  himself  the  primacy  of  the 
most  High  Pontiff,  had  no  more  authority  and  juris- 
diction than  other  bishops  of  England  or  elsewhere  in 
their  dioceses,  and  that  they  would  for  ever  renounce  the 
laws,  decrees  and  canons  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  if  any 
of  them  should  be  found  contrary  to  the  law  of  God  and 
Holy  Scripture." 2  This  scheme  failed,  "  for  the  oath  was 
taken  in  almost  every  chapter-house  where  it  was  ten- 
dered." 

1  Dixon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  i,  p.  213. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  21 1. 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  33 


CHAPTER  V 

RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

The  first  years  of  Abbot  Whiting's  rule  passed  smoothly 
so  far  as  the  acts  of  his  administration  and  his  life  at 
Glastonbury  were  concerned.  He  had  of  course  to  meet 
the  troubles  and  trials  incidental  to  a  position  such  as 
was  his.  Moreover,  for  one  who  by  his  high  office  was 
called  on  to  take  a  part,  in  some  measure  at  least,  in  the 
great  world  of  politics  and  public  life,  it  could  not  be 
but  that  his  soul  must  have  been  disturbed  by  anticipa- 
tions of  difficulties,  even  of  dangers,  in  the  not  very  dis- 
tant future.  Still,  his  own  home  was  so  far  removed  from 
the  turmoils  of  the  court  and  the  ominous  rumblings  of 
the  coming  storm  that  he  was  able  to  rule  it  in  peace. 
Discipline  well  maintained,  a  prudent  and  successful  ad- 
ministration of  temporals,  and  kindly  relations  with  his 
neighbours,  high  and  low,  were  certain  evidences  that 
the  government  of  Abbot  Richard  Whiting  was  happy 
and  prosperous.  Under  such  circumstances  the  position 
which  he  occupied  as  a  peer  of  Parliament  and  as  master 
of  great  estates  was  one  which,  as  the  world  might  say, 
even  from  its  point  of  view,  was  eminently  enviable. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  in  these  days  to  form  a  just 
and  adequate  idea  of  the  place  held  in  the  country  by 
one  who  filled  the  abbatial  chair  of  Glastonbury.  For 
wealth  and  consideration,  though  not  indeed  for  pre- 
cedence, it  may  not  unjustly  be  described  as  the  most 
desirable  ecclesiastical  preferment  in  England.  The  re- 
venues of  the  abbey  exceeded  those  of  the  archbishopric 

D 


34  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

of  Canterbury  itself,  whilst,  although  the  abbot  had  to 
maintain  a  large  community  and  a  great  household,  still 
he  was  exempt  from  the  vast  burdens  necessarily  en- 
tailed on  so  lofty  a  position  as  that  of  Primate  of  Eng- 
land, who  was  LegaUis  natus  of  the  Holy  See  and  often 
a  Cardinal.  The  annual  value  of  the  endowments  of 
Westminster  was,  it  is  true,  slightly  greater,  but  the 
ecclesiastical  position  of  an  abbot  of  that  royal  monas- 
tery was  singularly  diminished  by  the  presence  in  his 
near  neighbourhood  of  two  such  great  churchmen  as  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the  Bishop  of  London, 
whilst  in  its  worldly  aspect  Westminster  was  overshad- 
owed by  the  splendour  of  the  regal  court  at  its  doors. 
Glastonbury  in  the  sixteenth  century  had  no  rival  in  its 
own  district;  the  day  was  past  when  the  aspiring  Church 
of  Wells  could  raise  pretensions  on  that  score.  In  the 
west  country  there  was  neither  prince  nor  prelate,  cer- 
tainly since  the  fall  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  to 
compare  in  position,  all  considered,  with  the  Abbot  of 
Glastonbury. 

But  withal  there  existed  in  the  court  of  the  abbot,  for 
his  household  was  regulated  like  that  of  a  court,  a  sim- 
plicity befitting  the  monastic  profession.  His  own  house 
was  large,  its  rooms  were  stately,  but  it  did  not  pretend 
to  the  dimensions  of  a  palace.  He  had  a  body  of  gentry 
to  wait  upon  him  and  grace  the  hospitality  he  was  ready 
to  show  to  visitors  the  most  distinguished  and  to  the 
poorer  classes  who  thronged  the  monastic  guest-hall. 
I  o  the  great  gate  of  the  abbey,  every  Wednesday  and 
Friday,  the  poor  flocked  for  relief  in  their  necessities, 
and  as  many  as  five  hundred  persons  are  said  to  have 
been  entertained  at  times  at  the  abbot's  table.  Still,  a 
combined   simplicity   and   stateliness  characterised   the 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  35 

whole  rule  of  Abbot  Whiting,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that, 
as  we  are  told,  during  his  abbacy  some  three  or  four 
hundred  youths  of  gentle  birth  received  their  first  train- 
ing in  the  abbot's  quarters. 

It  may  be  asked  by  some  how  in  such  a  position  as 
this,  surrounded  by  all  the  world  most  ambitions,  Abbot 
Whiting  could  still  be  a  monk.  The  position  was  not  of 
his  making;  he  found  it.  But  that  he  should  ever  remain 
a  monk,  that,  as  abbot,  he  should  be  a  true  guardian  of 
the  souls  committed  to  him,  the  true  father  and  pattern 
of  his  spiritual  children,  that  was  by  God's  grace  still  in 
his  power.  That  he  was  all  this,  his  very  enemies  have 
testified,  and  the  explanation  is  simple.  Raised  to  rule 
and  command  at  an  age  when,  as  he  knew,  the  grave 
could  not  be  far  distant,  he  was  already  a  monk  trained, 
disciplined,  perfected  in  outward  habit  and  in  the  pos- 
session of  his  soul  by  his  long  course  of  obedience. 
Tradition,  which  is  often  so  true  in  matters  of  small 
moment,  more  than  a  century  and  a  half  after  his  death, 
still  pointed  out  among  the  ruins  of  his  house,  in  the 
abbot's  simple  chamber,  Abbot  Whiting's  bed.  It  was 
"  without  tester  or  post,  was  boarded  at  bottom,  and  had 
a  board  nailed  shelving  at  the  head."  This  bedstead, 
according  to  the  tradition  of  the  place,  was  the  same 
that  Abbot  Whiting  lay  on,  and  "  I  was  desired,"  writes 
the  visitor  who  describes  it,  "  to  observe  it  as  a  curiosity." 
The  existence  of  the  tradition  is  proof  at  least  of  an 
abiding  belief,  on  the  spot,  in  the  simplicity  of  life  of 
the  last  lord  of  that  glorious  pile,  the  vast  ruins  of 
which  were  evidence  of  the  greatness  of  the  monastery. 
It  was  possible  even  for  an  Abbot  of  Glastonbury  to 
preserve  the  true  spirit  of  poverty,  and  this  was  the 
secret  of  that  excellent  discipline  which  Dr.  Layton  to 


36  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

his  bitter  disappointment  found  to  exist  at  Glastonbury. 
The  abbot  practised  first  what,  as  his  duty  imposed,  he 
required  from  those  entrusted  to  his  care,  that  is,  from 
his  spiritual  children,  the  monks  of  his  house. 

It  was  during  these  comparatively  peaceful  and  happy 
times  that  Leland,  the  antiquary,  on  his  journey  through 
England  in  search  of  antiquities,  and  especially  manu- 
scripts, visited  the  abbey.  He  was  introduced  to  the 
library  by  Abbot  Whiting  in  person,  "  a  man  truly  up- 
right and  of  spotless  life  and  my  sincere  friend  "  as  he 
calls  him.1  He  was  filled  with  amazement  at  the  treasures 
contained  in  the  Glastonbury  library.  "  No  sooner  did 
I  pass  the  threshold,"  he  writes,  "  than  I  was  struck  with 
awe  and  astonishment  at  the  mere  sight  of  so  many 
remains  of  antiquity."  He  considered  that  the  library 
had  scarce  any  equal  in  all  England,  and  spent  some 
days  in  examining  the  shelves  and  the  many  wonderful 
manuscripts  he  found  there. 

With  the  conclusion  of  Henry's  divorce  case  came  the 
end  of  these  peaceful  years  of  Abbot  Whiting's  rule. 
Now  began  the  anxious  days  which  were  to  end  for 
him  in  the  death  of  the  traitor,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
king's  power  could  extend  in  death. 

Within  a  year  from  the  general  oath-taking  through- 
out England,  and  its  failure  to  bring  about  the  hoped- 

1  Hearne,  History  of  Glastonbury,  p.  67 ;  cf  Walcott's  English 
Minsters,  ii,  129.  Leland  spoke  of  Abbot  Whiting  as  "homo  sane 
candidissimus  et  amicus  meus  singularis,"  and  "  though,"  says 
Warner  {History  of  Glastonbury,  p.  219)  "  the  too  cautious  antiquary 
in  after  times  passed  his  pen  through  this  language  of  praise  and 
kindness,  lest  it  should  be  offensive  to  his  contemporaries,  yet 
happily  for  the  abbot's  fame  the  tribute  is  still  legible  and  will 
remain  for  ages  a  sufficient  evidence  of  the  sacrifice  of  a  guileless 
victim  to  the  tyranny  of  a  second  Ahab." 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  37 

for  result,  Crumwell,  ever  fertile  in  expedients,  had  or- 
ganised a  general  visitation  of  religious  houses.  The 
instruments  he  made  choice  of  to  conduct  this  scrutiny, 
and  the  methods  they  employed,  leave  no  doubt  that 
the  real  object  was  the  destruction  of  the  monasteries 
under  the  cloak  of  reformation.  The  injunctions  are 
minute  and  exacting;  in  detail  many  were  excellent; 
as  a  whole,  even  in  the  hands  of  persons  sincerely  de- 
sirous of  maintaining  discipline  and  observance,  they 
were  unworkable.  In  the  hands  of  Crumwell's  agents 
they  were,  as  they  were  designed  to  be,  intolerable.  It 
was  rightly  calculated  that  under  the  pretence  of  restor- 
ing discipline  they  strike  at  the  authority  of  religious 
superiors  by  the  encouragement  given  to  a  system  of 
tale-bearing.  By  other  provisions  the  monasteries  were, 
with  show  of  zeal  for  religion,  turned  into  prisons  and 
reduced,  if  it  were  possible,  to  such  abodes  of  misery 
and  unhappiness  as  the  uninformed  Protestant  imagina- 
tion pictures  them  to  be.1  The  moral  of  this  treatment 
is  summed  up  by  John  ap-Rice  and  Thomas  Legh,  two 
of  the  royal  visitors,  in  a  letter  to  Crumwell : 

"  By  this  ye  may  see  [they  write]  that  they  [the  re- 
ligious] shall  not  need  to  be  put  forth,  but  that  they  will 
make  instant  suit  themselves,  so  that  their  doing  shall 
be  imputed  to  themselves  and  no  other.  Although  I 
reckon  it  well  done  that  all  were  out,  yet  I  think  it  were 
best  that  at  their  own  suits  they  might  be  dismissed  to 
avoid  calumniation  and  envy,2  and  so  compelling  them  to 
obsei~ve  these  injunctions  ye  shall  have  them  all  to  do 
shortly,  and  the  people  shall  know  it  the  better  that  it 

1  He?iry  VIII  and  the  English  Monasteries,  i,  chapter  vii,  "  The 
Visitation  of  the  Monasteries  in  1535-6."    Dixon,  vol.  i,  p.  357. 
'■'  He  means  invidia,  i.e.,  public  odium. 

43       16 


38  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

cometh  upon  their  suit,  if  they  be  not  discharged  straight 
while  we  be  here,  for  then  the  people  would  say  that 
we  went  for  nothing  else,  even  though  the  truth  were 
contrary."  ' 

Armed  with  a  commission  to  visit  and  enforce  the 
injunctions,  Dr.  Richard  Layton,  the  most  foul-mouthed 
and  foul-minded  ribald  of  them  all,  as  his  own  letters 
testify,  came  to  Glastonbury  on  Saturday,  August  21st, 
1535.  From  St.  Augustine's,  Bristol,  whither  he  departed 
on  the  following  Monday,  he  wrote  to  Crumwell  a  letter 
showing  that  even  he,  chief  among  a  crew  who  "  could 
ask  unmoved  such  questions  as  no  other  human  being 
could  have  imagined  or  known  how  to  put,  who  could 
extract  guilt  from  a  stammer,  a  tremble  or  a  blush,  or 
even  from  indignant  silence  as  surely  as  from  open  con- 
fession " 2 — even  Layton  retired  baffled  from  Glaston- 
bury under  the  venerable  Abbot  Whiting's  rule,  though 
he  covered  his  defeat  with  impudence  unabashed.  "At 
Bruton  and  Glastonbury,"  he  explains,  "  there  is  nothing 
notable;  the  brethren  be  so  straight  kept  that  they  can- 
not offend :  but  fain  they  would  if  they  might,  as  they 
confess,  and  so  the  fault  is  not  with  them." 

At  this  period  it  would  seem  that  Richard  Layton 

1  Gairdner,  Calendar  of  Papers  Foreign  and  Domestic,  ix,  No.  708. 
See  also  Hetiry  VIII  and  the  English  Monasteries,  i,  p.  257. 

2  Dixon,  i,  p.  357. 

3  Wright,  The  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  p.  59.  Godwin, 
the  Protestant  Bishop  of  Hereford,  says  that  the  monks,  "  following 
the  example  of  the  ancient  fathers,  lived  apart  from  the  world 
religiously  and  in  peace,  eschewing  worldly  employments,  and 
wholly  given  to  study  and  contemplation  ; "  and  the  editor  of  Sander, 
writing  when  the  memory  of  the  life  led  at  Glastonbury  was  still 
fresh  in  men's  minds,  says  that  the  religious  were  noted  for  their 
maintenance  of  common  life,  choral  observance,  and  enclosure. 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  39 

also  spoke  to  the  king  in  praise  of  Abbot  Whiting.  For 
this  error  of  judgment,  when  some  time  later  Crumwell 
had  assured  himself  of  the  abbot's  temper,  he  was  forced 
to  sue  for  pardon  from  both  king  and  minister.  "I  must 
therefore,"  he  writes,  "  now  in  this  my  necessity  most 
humbly  beseech  your  lordship  to  pardon  me  for  that 
my  folly  then  committed,  as  ye  have  done  many  times 
before,  and  of  your  goodness  to  instigate  the  king's 
highness  majesty,  in  the  premises."  1 

Hardly  had  the  royal  inquisitor  departed  than  it  was 
found  at  Glastonbury,  as  elsewhere,  that  the  injunctions 
were  not  merely  impracticable,  but  subversive  of  the 
first  principles  of  religious  discipline.  Abbot  Whiting, 
like  so  many  religious  superiors  at  this  time,  petitioned 
for  some  mitigation.  Nicholas  Fitzjames,2  a  neighbour, 
dispatched  an  earnest  letter  to  Crumwell  in  support  of 
the  abbot's  petition. 

"  I  have  spoken,"  he  writes,  "  with  my  Lord  Abbot  of 
Glastonbury  concerning  such  injunctions  as  were  given 
him  and  his  convent  by  your  deputy  at  the  last  visita- 
tion there.  .  .  .  To  inform  your  mastership  of  the  truth 
there  be  certain  officers — brothers  of  the  house — who 
have  always  been  attendant  on  the  abbot,  as  his  chap- 
lain, steward,  cellarer,  and  one  or  two  officers  more, 
[who]  if  they  should  be  bound  to  the  first  two  articles, 
it  should  much  disappoint  the  order  of  the  house,  which 
hath  long  been  full  honourable.  Wherefore,  if  it  may 
please  your  said  good  mastership  to  license  the  abbot 
to  dispense  with  the  first  two  articles,  in  my  mind  you 

1  R.  O.  Crumwell  Correspondence,  vol.  xx,  No.  14. 

■  Probably  a  relative  of  Chief  Justice  Fitzjames,  and  grandfather 
of  the  first  monk  afterwards  professed  in  the  English  Benedictine 
monastery  of  St.  Gregory's,  Douay  (now  at  Downside). 


40  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

will  do  a  very  good  deed,  and  I  dare  be  surety  he  will 
dispense  with  none  but  with  such  as  shall  be  necessary. 
.  .  .  Other  articles  there  are  which  they  think  very 
straight,  howbeit  they  will  sue  to  your  good  mastership 
for  that  at  more  leisure;  and  in  the  meantime  I  doubt 
not  they  will  keep  as  good  religion  as  any  house  of  that 
Order  within  this  realm."  l 

A  month  after  this  letter  of  Nicholas  Fitzjames, 
Abbot  Whiting  himself  ventured  to  present  a  grievance 
of  another  kind,  affecting  others  than  his  community. 
The  recent  suspension  by  royal  authority  of  the  juris- 
diction exercised  by  the  abbey  over  the  town  of  Glas- 
tonbury and  its  dependencies,  had  caused  the  gravest 
inconveniences.  There  are  many  "  poor  people,"  he 
writes,  "  who  are  waiting  to  have  their  causes  tried," 
and  he  adds  that  he  cannot  believe  that  the  king's 
pleasure  has  been  rightly  stated  in  Doctor  Layion's 
orders.2  What  the  result  of  this  application  may  have 
been  does  not  appear,  but  it  was  clearly  the  royal  pur- 
pose to  let  inconveniences  be  felt,  not  to  remove  them. 

The  proceedings  taken  in  1536  in  regard  to  the  sup- 
pression of  the  lesser  monasteries  must  have  filled  the 
minds  of  men  of  Whiting's  stamp  with  deep  anxiety,  as 
revealing  more  and  more  clearly  the  settled  purpose  of 
the  king.  "  All  the  wealth  of  the  world  would  not  be 
enough  to  satisfy  and  content  his  ambition,"  writes 
Marillac,  the  French  ambassador,  to  his  master,  Francis  I. 
To  enrich  himself  he  would  not  hesitate  to  ruin  all  his 
subjects.3    The  State  papers  of  the  period  bear  ample 

1  Wright,  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  p.  64. 

2  R.  O.  Cnanwell  Corr.,  xiii.  f.  58. 

'■'■  Inventaire  atialytique.    Correspondance  politique  de  MM.  Cas- 
tillion  el  Marillac,  1537- 1542.    Ed.  J.  Kaulek.    No.  242. 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  41 

witness  to  the  justice  of  this  sweeping  statement.1  The 
monasteries  which  were  yet  allowed  to  stand  were  drained 
of  their  resources  by  ever-increasing  demands  on  the 
part  of  Henry  and  his  creatures.  Farm  after  farm,  manor 
after  manor  was  yielded  up  in  compliance  with  requests 
that  were  in  reality  demands.  Pensions  in  ever-increas- 
ing numbers  were  charged  on  monastic  lands  at  the  ask- 
ing of  those  whom  it  was  impossible  to  refuse. 

Abbot  Whiting  was  allowed  no  immunity  from  this 
species  of  tyrannical  oppression.  The  abbey,  for  instance, 
had  of  its  own  free  will  granted  to  blessed  Sir  Thomas 
More  a  corrody  or  annuity.  On  his  disgrace  Crumwell 
urged  the  king's  "  pleasure  and  commandment "  that 
this  annuity  should  be  transferred  to  himself  under  the 
convent  seal.  For  a  friend  Crumwell  asks  (and  for  the 
king's  vicegerent  to  ask  was  to  receive)  "  the  advocation 
of  our  parish  church  of  Monketon,  albeit  that  it  was  the 
first  time  that  ever  such  a  grant  was  made."  A  further 
request,  for  the  living  of  Batcombe,  Whiting  was  unable 
to  comply  with,  since  another  of  the  king's  creatures 
had  been  beforehand  and  secured  the  prize.  In  one 
instance  an  office  which  Crumwell  had  already  asked 
for  and  obtained  from  the  abbot,  he  a  few  months  after 
demands  for  his  friend  "  Mr.  Maurice  Berkeley  ; "  and 
because  the  place  was  already  gone,  he  requests  that  the 
abbot  will  in  lieu  thereof  give  the  rents  of  "his  farm  at 
Northwood  Park."  Abbot  Whiting  took  an  accurate 
view  of  the  situation  :  "  If  you  request  it,  I  must  grant 
it,"  he  says;  and  adds,  "I  trust  your  servant  will  be 
content  with  the  park  itself,  and  ask  no  more." 

The  extant  letters  of  Abbot  Whiting,  for  the  most 

1  The  volumes  of  CrumwelPs  correspondence  in  the  Record 
Office  contain  abundant  evidence. 


42  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

part  answers  to  such  like  applications  for  offices  or 
benefices  in  his  gift,  are  marked  by  a  courteous  considera- 
tion and  a  readiness  to  comply  up  to  the  utmost  limits 
of  the  possible.  It  is,  moreover,  evident  that  he  had  an 
intimate  concern  in  all  the  details  of  the  complex  ad- 
ministration of  a  monastery  of  such  extent  and  import- 
ance with  its  thousand  interests,  no  less  than  a  determin- 
ing personal  influence  on  the  religious  character  of  his 
community;  and  that  public  calls  were  never  allowed  to 
come  between  him  and  the  primary  and  immediate  duties 
of  the  abbot.  He  is  most  at  home  in  his  own  coun- 
try, among  his  Somersetshire  neighbours,  and  in  the 
"straight"  charge  of  his  spiritual  children.  Confident 
too  in  the  affection  with  which  he  was  regarded  by  the 
population,  he  had  no  scruples,  whatever  may  have  been 
his  mind  in  subscribing  to  the  Supremacy  declaration  of 
1534,  in  securing  for  his  monks  and  his  townsfolk  in 
his  own  abbey  church  the  preaching  of  a  doctrine  by  no 
means  in  accord  with  the  royal  theories  and  wishes  on 
the  subject.  Thus  on  a  Sunday  in  the  middle  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1536,  a  friar  called  John  Brynstan,  preaching  in 
the  abbatial  church  at  Glastonbury  to  the  people  of  the 
neighbourhood,  said  "he  would  be  one  of  them  that 
should  convert  the  new  fangles  and  new  men,  otherwise 
he  would  die  in  the  quarrel."  x 

By  chance  a  glimpse  is  afforded  of  the  popular  feeling 
in  the  district  by  a  letter  addressed  to  Crumwell  by  one 
of  his  agents,  always  ready  to  spy  upon  their  neighbours 
and  report  them  to  their  master,  in  the  hopes  of  gaining 
thereby  the  good  graces  of  the  all-powerful  minister. 
Thomas  Clarke  writes  that  one  John  Tutton  of  Mere, 
next  Glaston, — now  by  the  way  safely  lodged  in  gaol — 

1   Calendar,  x,  318. 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  43 

had  used  seditious  words  against  the  king  and  had  spoken 
great  slander  against  Crumwell  himself.  The  depositions 
forwarded  with  this  letter  explain  how  Tutton  had  called 
one  Poole  a  heretic  for  working  on  St.  Mark's  day. 
Poole  had  replied  that  so  the  king  had  ordered,  and  upon 
this  Tutton  declared  that  they  could  not  be  bound  to 
keep  the  king's  command  "  if  it  was  nought,  as  this  was," 
and  he  added  that  "  Lord  Crumwell  was  a  stark  heretic." 
Nor  did  he  stop  here,  for  he  continued  in  this  strain ; 
"  Marry,  many  things  be  done  by  the  king's  Council 
which  I  reckon  he  knoweth  little  of,  but  that  by  such 
means  he  hath  gathered  great  treasure  together  I  wot 
well ;  there  is  a  sort  that  ruleth  the  king  of  whom  I  trust 
to  see  a  day  when  they  shall  have  less  authority  than 
they  have."  l 

Knowing  doubtless  what  would  be  the  nature  of  its 
business,  Abbot  Whiting,  excusing  himself  on  the  plea 
of  age  and  ill-health,  did  not  attend  the  Parliament  of 
1 539,  which,  so  far  as  it  could  do,  sealed  the  fate  of  the 
monasteries  as  yet  unsuppressed.  He  awaited  the  end 
on  his  own  ground  and  in  the  midst  of  his  own  people. 
He  was  still  as  solicitous  about  the  smallest  details  of 
his  care  as  if  the  glorious  abbey  were  to  last  in  aevum. 
Thus  an  interesting  account  of  Abbot  Whiting  at  Glaston- 
bury is  given  in  an  official  examination  regarding  some 
debt,  held  a  few  years  after  the  abbot's  martyrdom.  John 
Watts,  "  late  monk  and  chaplain  to  the  abbot,"  said  that 
John  Lyte,  the  supposed  debtor,  had  paid  the  money 
"  in  manner  and  form  following.  That  is  to  say,  he  paid 
£10  of  the  said  £40  to  the  said  abbot  in  the  little  parlour 
upon  the  right  hand  within  the  great  hall,  the  Friday 
after  New  Year's  Day  before  the  said  abbot  was  attainted. 
1  Gairdner,  Calendar,  xi,  No.  567. 


44  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

The  said  payment  was  made  in  gold  "  in  presence  of  the 
witness  and  only  one  other:  "for  it  was  immediately 
after  the  said  abbot  had  dined,  so  that  the  abbot's  gentle- 
men and  other  servants  were  in  the  hall  at  dinner."  Also 
"  upon  St.  Peter's  day  at  midsummer,  being  a  Sunday, 
in  the  garden  of  the  said  abbot  at  Glastonbury,  whilst 
high  Mass  was  singing,"  the  debtor  "  made  payment "  of 
the  rest.  "  And  at  that  time  the  abbot  asked  of  the  said 
Master  Lyte  whether  he  would  set  up  the  said  abbot's 
arms  in  his  new  buildings  that  he  had  made.  And  the 
said  Master  Lyte  answered  the  said  abbot  that  he  would; 
and  so  at  that  time  the  said  abbot  gave  unto  the  said 
Mr.  Lyte  eight  angels  nobles.  And  at  the  payment  of 
the  £30  there  was  in  the  garden  at  that  time  the  Lord 
Stourton.  I  suppose,"  continues  the  witness,  "  that  the 
said  Lord  Stourton  saw  not  the  payment  made  to  the 
abbot,  for  the  abbot  got  him  into  an  arbour  of  bay  in  the 
said  garden  and  there  received  his  money.  And  very 
glad  he  was  at  that  time  that  it  was  paid  in  gold  for  the 
short  telling,  as  also  he  would  not,  by  his  will,  have  it 
seen  at  that  time."  1  Thus  too  almost  the  last  glimpse 
afforded  of  the  last  Abbot  of  Glastonbury  in  his  time- 
honoured  home  shows  him  in  friendly  converse  with  his 
near  neighbour,  Lord  Stourton,  who  was  the  head  of  an 
ancient  race  which  popular  tradition  had  justly  linked 
for  centuries  with  the  Benedictine  order,  and  which  even 
in  the  darkest  days  of  modern  English  Catholicity  proved 
itself  a  firm  and  hereditary  friend. 

1  R.  O.  Exch.  Augt.  Off.  Misc.  Bk.,  xxii,  Nos.  13-18.  In  view  of 
the  circumstances  of  the  time  it  seems  likely  that  the  witness  was 
anxious  to  ward  off  any  possibility  of  Lord  Stourton  being  mixed 
up  in  the  affair.  This  anxiety  to  save  friends  from  embarrassing 
examinations  is  a  very  common  feature  in  documents  of  this  date. 


RICHARD  WHITING  AS  ABBOT  45 

Before  passing  on  to  the  closing  acts  of  the  venerable 
abbot's  life  and  to  his  martyrdom,  it  is  necessary  to 
premise  a  few  words  on  suppression  in  its  legal  aspect. 
There  seems  to  be  abroad  an  impression  that  the  mon- 
asteries were  all,  in  fact,  dissolved  by  order  of  Parliament, 
and  accordingly  that  a  refusal  of  surrender  to  the  king, 
such  as  is  found  at  Glastonbury,  was  an  act  which,  how- 
ever morally  justifiable  as  a  refusal  to  betray  a  trust,  and 
even  heroic  when  resistance  entailed  the  last  penalty, 
was  yet  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  the  land.  And,  to  take 
this  particular  case  of  Glastonbury,  it  is  often  stated,  that 
when  insisting  on  its  surrender  the  king  was  only  re- 
quiring that  to  be  given  up  into  his  hands  which  Parlia- 
ment had  already  conferred  on  him.  However  common 
the  impression,  it  is  false.  What  the  Act  (27  Hen.  VIII., 
cap.  28)  of  February,  1536,  did  was  to  give  to  the  king 
and  his  heirs  such  monasteries  only  as  were  under  the 
yearly  value  of  £200,  or  such  as  should  within  a  "year 
next  after  the  making  of"  the  Act  "  be  given  or  granted 
to  his  majesty  by  any  abbot,"  etc.  So  far,  therefore,  from 
handing  over  to  the  king  the  property  of  all  the  monas- 
teries, Parliament  distinctly  recognised,  at  least  in  the 
case  of  all  save  the  lesser  religious  houses,  the  rights  of 
their  then  owners,  and  contemplated  their  passing  to  the 
king's  hands  only  by  the  voluntary  cession  of  the  actual 
possessors.  How  any  surrender  was  to  be  brought  about 
was  left  to  the  king  and  Crumwell,  and  the  minions  on 
whose  devices  there  is  no  need  to  dwell.  Before  a  recal- 
citrant superior,  who  would  yield  neither  to  blandish- 
ments, bribery  nor  threats,  the  king,  so  far  as  the  Act 
would  help  him,  was  powerless. 

For  this  case,  however,  provision  was  made,  though 
but  indirectly,  in  the  Act  of  April,  1539  (31  Hen.  VIII., 


46  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

cap.  1 3).  This  Act,  which  included  a  retrospective  clause 
covering  the  illegal  suppression  of  the  greater  monas- 
teries which  had  already  passed  into  the  king's  hands, 
granted  to  Henry  all  monasteries,  etc.,  which  shall  here- 
after happen  to  be  dissolved,  suppressed,  renounced,  re- 
linquished, forfeited,  given  up  or  come  unto  the  king's 
highness.  These  terms  seem  wide  enough,  but  there  is  also 
an  ominous  parenthesis  referring  to  such  other  religious 
houses  as  "  shall  happen  to  come  to  the  king's  highness 
by  attainder  or  attainders  of  treason^  The  clause  did 
not  find  its  way  into  the  Act  unawares.  It  will  be  seen 
that  it  was  Crumwell's  care  how  and  in  whose  case  the 
clause  should  become  operative.  And  with  just  so  much 
of  countenance  as  is  thus  given  him  by  the  Act,  with  the 
king  to  back  him,  the  monasteries  of  Glastonbury,  Read- 
ing and  Colchester,  from  which  no  surrender  could  be 
obtained,  "  were,  against  every  principle  of  received  law, 
held  to  fall  by  the  attainder  of  their  abbots  for  high 
treason."  ' 

The  very  existence  of  the  clause  is,  moreover,  evidence 
that  by  this  time  Crumwell  knew  that  among  the  supe- 
riors of  the  few  monasteries  yet  standing,  there  were 
men  with  whom,  if  the  king  was  not  to  be  baulked  of  his 
intent,  the  last  conclusions  would  have  to  be  tried.  To 
him  the  necessity  would  have  been  paramount,  by  every 
means  in  his  power,  to  sweep  away  what  he  rightly  re- 
garded  as  the  strongholds  of  the  papal   power  in  the 

1  Hallam,  Constitutional  Hist.,  i,  72.  Harpsfield,  Pretended 
Divorce,  ed.  Pocock  (Camden  Society),  p.  300,  says:  "Such  as 
would  voluntarily  give  over  were  rewarded  with  large  annual  pen- 
sions, and  with  other  pleasures.  Against  some  other  there  were 
found  quarrels,  as  against  Hugh  Farindon,  Abbot  of  Reading  .  .  . 
against  Richard  Whiting,  Abbot  of  Glaston,  etc." 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  47 

country,  and  to  get  rid  of  these  "  spies  of  the  pope."  ' 
Such  unnatural  enemies  of  their  prince  and  gracious  lord 
would  fittingly  be  first  singled  out,  that  their  fate  might 
serve  as  a  warning  to  other  intending  evil-doers.  Per- 
haps, too,  Whiting's  repute  for  blamelessness  of  life,  the 
discipline  which  he  was  known  to  maintain  in  his  mon- 
astery and  his  great  territorial  influence  may  all  have 
conduced  to  point  him  out  as  an  eminently  proper  sub- 
ject to  proceed  against,  as  tending  to  show  the  nation 
that  where  the  crime  of  resistance  to  the  king's  will  was 
concerned  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  an  extenu- 
ating circumstance,  no  consideration  which  would  avail 
to  mitigate  the  penalty. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END 

In  the  story  of  what  follows  we  are  continually  ham- 
pered by  the  singularly  defective  nature  of  the  various 
records  relating  to  the  closing  years  of  Crumwell's  ad- 
ministration. We  are  therefore  frequently  left  to  supply 
links  by  conjectures,  but  conjectures  in  which,  from  the 
known  facts  and  such  documentary  evidence  as  remains, 
there  is  sufficient  assurance  of  being  in  the  main  correct. 
Already,  in  1538,  rumour  had  spoken  of  the  coming 
dissolution;  and  the  fact  that  all  over  the  country  even 
the  greatest  houses  of  religion,  one  after  another,  were 
falling  into  the  king's  hands  by  surrender,  voluntary  or 
enforced,  tended  to  give  colour  to   the    current   tales. 

1  R.  O.,  Crumwell  Correspondence^  xv,  No.  7. 


48  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

Henry's  agents,  it  is  true,  had  endeavoured  to  dissemble 
any  royal  intention  of  a  general  suppression  of  the 
monastic  body.  They  not  only  denied  boldly  and  un- 
blushingly  that  the  king  had  any  such  design,  but  urged 
upon  Crumwell  the  advisability  of  putting  a  stop  to  the 
persistent  reports  on  this  subject.  The  far-seeing  minis- 
ter, fully  alive  to  the  danger,  drafted  a  letter  to  reassure 
the  religious  superiors,  and  dispatched  it  probably  in  the 
first  instance  to  Glastonbury.1 

"  Albeit,"  this  letter  runs,  "  I  doubt  not  but  (having 
not  long  since  received  the  King's  highness's  letters 
wherein  his  majesty  signified  to  you  that  using  your- 
selves like  his  good  and  faithful  subjects,  his  grace  would 
not  in  any  wise  interrupt  you  in  your  state  and  kind  of 
living;  and  that  his  pleasure  therefore  was  that  in  case 
any  man  should  declare  anything  to  the  contrary  you 
should  cause  him  to  be  apprehended  and  kept  in  sure 
custody  till  further  knowledge  of  his  grace's  pleasure), 
you  would  so  firmly  repose  yourself  in  the  tenour  of  the 
said  letters  as  no  man's  words,  nor  any  voluntary  sur- 
render made  by  any  governor  or  company  of  any  reli- 
gious house  since  that  time,  shall  put  you  in  any  doubt 
or  fear  of  suppression  or  change  of  your  kind  of  life  and 
policy."  The  king,  however,  feels  that  there  are  people 
who  "  upon  any  voluntary  and  frank  surrender,  would 
persuade  and  blow  abroad  a  general  and  violent  sup- 
pression ; "  and,  because  some  houses  have  lately  been 

1  The  previous  letter  in  the  Cotton  MS.  Cleopatra  E.  iv.  is 
endorsed:  "The  mynute  of  a  letter  drawn  by  Mr.  Moryson  to 
th'Abbot  of  Glastonbury."  This  endorsement  is  certainly  wrong ; 
but  Mr.  Gairdner  {Calendar,  xiii,  No.  573  note)  thinks  the  letters 
may  possibly  have  always  been  together  and  the  endorsement  refers 
to  the  second. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  49 

surrendered,  the  king  commands  me  to  say  "  that  unless 
there  had  been  overtures  made  by  the  said  houses  that 
have  resigned,  his  grace  would  never  have  received  the 
same,  and   his  majesty  intendeth   not   in   any  wise   to 
trouble  you  or  to  desire  for  the  suppression  of  any  house 
that  standeth,  except  they  shall  either  desire  of  them- 
selves with  one  whole  consent  to  resign  and  forsake  the 
same,  or  else  misuse  themselves  contrary  to  their  alle- 
giance."   In  this  last  case,  the  document  concludes,  they 
shall  lose  "  more  than  their  houses  and  possessions,  that 
is,  the  loss  also  of  their  lives."   Wherefore  take  care  of 
your  houses  and  beware  of  spoiling  them,  like  some  have 
done  "  who  imagined  they  were  going  to  be  dissolved."  ' 
This  letter  could  scarcely  have  done  much  to  reassure 
Abbot  Whiting  as  to  the  king's  real  intentions,  in  view 
of  the  obvious  facts  which  each  day  made  them  clearer. 
By  the  beginning  of  1539,  Glastonbury  was  the  only  re- 
ligious house  left  standing  in  the  whole  county  of  Som- 
erset.   Rumours  must  have  reached  the  abbey  of  the  fall 
of  Bath  and  Keynsham,  shortly  after  the  Christmas  of 
the  previous  year,  and  of  strange  methods    to  which 
Crumwell's  agents  had  resorted  in  order  to  gain  posses- 
sion of  Hinton  Charterhouse  and  Benedictine  Athelney. 
At  the  former,  the  determination  of  the  monks  to  hold 
to  their  house  was  apparently  in  the  end  broken  down 
by  a  resort  to  a  rigid  examination  of  the  religious  on 
the  dangerous  royal-supremacy  question,  which  resulted 
in  one  of  their  number  being  put  in  prison  for  "  affirming 
the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  be  Vicar  of  Christ,  and  that  he 
ought  to  be  taken  for  head  of  the  Church."    This  of  itself 
must  have  prepared  the  mind  of  Abbot  Whiting  for  the 
final  issue  which  would  have  to  be  faced. 

1   B.  Mus.  Cotl.  MS.  Cleop.  E.  iv,  f.  68. 
E 


5o  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

The  short  respite  granted  before  conclusions  were 
tried  with  him,  could  have  been  to  all  at  Glastonbury 
little  less  than  a  long-drawn  suspense,  during  which  the 
abbot  possessed  his  soul  in  peace,  attending  cheerfully 
to  the  daily  calls  of  duty.  They  were  left  in  no  doubt 
as  to  the  real  meaning  of  a  dissolution  and  had  witnessed 
the  immediate  results  which  followed  upon  it.  The  rude 
dismantling  of  churches  and  cloisters,  the  rapid  sales  of 
vestments  and  other  effects,  the  pulling  down  of  the 
lead  from  roofs  and  gutters,  and  the  breaking  up  of  bells 
had  gone  on  all  around  them ;  whilst  homeless  monks 
and  the  poor  who  had  from  time  immemorial  found  re- 
lief in  their  necessities  at  religious  houses  now  swept 
away  must  have  all  crowded  to  Glastonbury  during  the 
last  few  months  of  its  existence.  For  eleven  weeks  the 
royal  wreckers,  like  a  swarm  of  locusts,  wandered  over 
Somerset,  "  defacing,  destroying,  and  prostrating  the 
churches,  cloisters,  belfreys,  and  other  buildings  of  the 
late  monasteries ; "  and  the  roads  were  worn  with  carts 
carrying  away  the  lead  melted  from  the  roofs,  barrels  of 
broken  bell-metal,  and  other  plunder. 

It  was  not  till  the  autumn  of  the  year  1539,  that  any 
final  steps  began  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  Glastonbury 
and  its  venerable  abbot.  Among  Crumwell's  "  remem- 
brances," still  extant  in  his  own  handwriting,  of  things 
to  do,  or  matters  to  speak  about  to  the  king,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  September  this  year  occurs  the  following: 
"  Item,  for  proceeding  against  the  abbots  of  Reading, 
Glaston  and  the  other,  in  their  own  countries." '  From 
this  it  is  clear  that  some  time  between  the  passing  of  the 
Act  giving  to  the  Crown  the  possession  of  all  dissolved 
or  surrendered  monasteries,  which  came  into  force  in 
1  B.  Mus.  Cott.  MS.  Titus,  B.  i,  f.  446a. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  51 

April,  1 539,  and  the  September  of  this  year,  these  abbots 
must  have  been  sounded,  and  it  had  been  found  that 
compliance  in  regard  of  a  surrender  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected.1 By  the  sixteenth  of  the  latter  month  Crumwell's 
design  had  been  communicated  to  his  familiar  Layton, 
and  had  elicited  from  him  a  reply  in  which  he  abjectly 
asks  pardon  for  having  praised  the  abbot  at  the  time  of 
the  visitation.  "  The  Abbot  of  Glastonbury,"  he  adds, 
"  appeareth  neither  then  nor  now  to  have  known  God, 
nor  his  prince,  nor  any  part  of  a  good  Christian  man's 
religion."  a 

Three  days  later,  on  Friday,  September  19th,  the  royal 
commissioners,  Layton,  Pollard  and  Moyle,  suddenly 
arrived  at  Glastonbury  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  abbot  had  not  been  warned  of  their  intended  visit, 
and  was  then  at  his  grange  of  Sharpham,  about  a  mile 
from  the  monastery.  Thither  they  hurried  "  without  de- 
lay," and  after  telling  him  their  purpose  examined  him 
at  once  "  upon  certain  articles,  and  for  that  his  answer 

1  In  the  spring  of  the  year,  Glastonbury,  in  common  with  other 
churches  in  England,  was  relieved  of  what  it  pleased  the  king  to 
consider  its  "  superfluous  plate."  Pollard,  Tregonwell  and  Petre  on 
May  2nd,  1539,  handed  to  Sir  John  Williams,  the  keeper  of  the 
royal  treasure-house,  493  ounces  of  gold,  16,000  ounces  of  gilt  plate 
and  28,700  ounces  of  parcel  gilt  and  silver  plate  taken  from  the 
monasteries  in  the  west  of  England.  In  this  amount  was  included 
the  superfluous  plate  of  Glastonbury.  Besides  this  weight  of  gold 
and  silver  there  were  placed  in  the  treasury  "two  collets  of  gold 
wherein  standeth  two  coarse  emeralds ;  a  cross  of  silver  gilt,  garn- 
ished with  a  great  coarse  emerald,  two  '  balaces '  and  two  sapphires, 
lacking  a  knob  at  one  of  the  ends  of  the  same  cross ;  a  superaltar 
garnished  with  silver  gilt  and  part  gold,  called  the  great  sapphire 
of  Glastonbury  ;  a  great  piece  of  unicorn's  horn,  a  piece  of  mother 
of  pearl  like  a  shell,  eight  branches  of  coral "  (Monastic  Treasures, 
Abbotsford  Club,  p.  24). 

2  Ellis,  Original  Letters,  3rd  Series,  iii,  p.  247. 


52  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

was  not  then  to  our  purpose,"  they  say,  "  we  advised  him 
to  call  to  his  remembrance  that  which  he  had  forgotten, 
and  so  declare  the  truth." '  Then  they  at  once  took  him 
back  to  the  abbey,  and  when  night  came  on  proceeded 
to  search  the  abbot's  papers  and  ransack  his  apartments 
"  for  letters  and  books ;  and  found  in  his  study,  secretly 
laid,  as  well  a  written  book  of  arguments  against  the 
divorce  of  the  king's  majesty  and  the  lady  dowager, 
which  we  take  to  be  a  great  matter,  as  also  divers  par- 
dons, copies  of  bulls,  and  the  counterfeit  life  of  Thomas 
Becket  in  print;  but  we  could  not,"  they  write,  "find 
any  letter  that  was  material." 

Furnished,  however,  with  these  pieces  of  evidence  as 
to  the  tendency  of  Whiting's  mind,  the  inquisitors  pro- 
ceeded further  to  examine  him  concerning  the  "  articles 
received  from  your  lordship "  (Crumwell).  In  his  an- 
swers appeared,  they  considered  "  his  cankered  and 
traitorous  mind  against  the  king's  majesty  and  his  suc- 
cession." To  these  replies  he  signed  his  name,  "  and  so 
with  as  fair  words  as  "  they  could,  "  being  but  a  very 
weak  man  and  sickly,"  they  forthwith  sent  him  up  to 
London  to  the  Tower,  that  Crumwell  might  examine 
him  for  himself. 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  significant  for  the  eventual 
purpose  they  knew  their  master  would  regard  as  of 
primary  importance: 

"  As  yet  we  have  neither  discharged  servant  nor 
monk;  but  now,  the  abbot  being  gone,  we  will,  with  as 
much  celerity  as  we  may,  proceed  to  the  dispatching  of 
them.  We  have  in  money  ^300  and  above;  but  the 
certainty  of  plate  and  other  stuff  there  as  yet  we  know 

1  The  whole  of  this  account  is  from  the  letter  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  Crumwell,  in  Wright,  p.  255. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  53 

not,  for  we  have  not  had  opportunity  for  the  same; 
whereof  we  shall  ascertain  your  lordship  so  shortly  as 
we  may.  This  is  also  to  advertise  your  lordship  that  we 
have  found  a  fair  chalice  of  gold,  and  divers  other  parcels 
of  plate,  which  the  abbot  had  hid  secretly  from  all  such 
commissioners  as  have  been  there  in  times  past;  and  as 
yet  he  knoweth  not  that  we  have  found  the  same; 
whereby  we  think  that  he  thought  to  make  his  hand  by 
his  untruth  to  his  king's  majesty." 

A  week  later,  on  September  28th,1  they  again  write 
to  Crumwell  that  they  "  have  daily  found  and  tried  out 
both  money  and  plate,"  hidden  in  secret  places  in  the 
abbey,  and  conveyed  for  safety  to  the  country.  They 
could  not  tell  him  how  much  they  had  so  far  discovered, 
but  it  was  sufficient,  they  thought,  to  have  "  begun  a 
new  abbey,"  and  they  concluded  by  asking  what  the 
king  wished  to  have  done  in  respect  of  the  two  monks 
who  were  the  treasurers  of  the  church,  and  the  two  lay 
clerks  of  the  sacristy,  who  were  chiefly  to  be  held  re- 
sponsible in  the  matter. 

On  the  2nd  October  the  inquisitors  write  again  to 
their  master  to  say  that  they  have  come  to  the  know- 
ledge of  "  divers  and  sundry  treasons  "  committed  by 
Abbot  Whiting,  "  the  certainty  whereof  shall  appear 
unto  your  lordship  in  a  book  herein  enclosed,  with  the 
accusers'  names  put  to  the  same,  which  we  think  to  be 
very  high  and  rank  treasons."  The  original  letter,  pre- 
served in  the  Record  Office,  clearly  shows  by  the  creases 
in  the  soiled  yellow  paper  that  some  small  book  or 
folded  papers  have  been  enclosed.  Whatever  it  was,  it 
is  no  longer  forthcoming.  Just  at  the  critical  moment 
we  are  again  deprived,  therefore,  of  a  most  interesting 

1  Wright,  p.  257. 


54  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

and  important  source  of  information.  In  view,  however, 
of  the  common  sufferings  of  these  abbots,  who  were 
dealt  with  together,  the  common  fate  which  befell  them, 
and  the  common  cause  assigned  by  contemporary 
writers  for  their  death, — viz.,  their  attainder  "  of  high 
treason  for  denying  the  king  to  be  supreme  head  of  the 
Church,"  as  Hall,  the  contemporary  London  lawyer 
(who  reports  what  must  have  been  current  in  the 
capital)  phrases  it — there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these 
depositions  were  much  of  the  same  nature  as  those 
made  against  Thomas  Marshall,  Abbot  of  Colchester,  to 
which  subsequent  reference  will  be  made.  It  is  certain 
that  with  Abbot  Whiting  in  the  Tower  and  Crumwell's 
commissioners  engaged  in  "  dispatching "  the  monks 
"  with  as  much  celerity  "  as  possible,  Glastonbury  was 
already  regarded  as  part  of  the  royal  possessions.  Even 
before  any  condemnation  the  matter  is  taken  as  settled, 
and  on  October  24th,  1539,  Pollard  handed  over  to 
the  royal  treasurer  the  riches  still  left  at  the  abbey 
as  among  the  possessions  of  "  attainted  persons  and 
places."  l 

Whilst  Layton  and  his  fellows  were  rummaging  at 
Glastonbury,  Abbot  Whiting  was  safely  lodged  in  the 
Tower  of  London.  There  he  was  subjected  to  searching 
examinations.  A  note  in  Crumwell's  own  hand,  entered 
in  his  "remembrances,"  says: 

"  Item.  Certain  persons  to  be  sent  to  the  Tower  for 
the  further  examination  of  the  Abbot  of  Glaston."  2 

At  this  time  it  was  supposed  that  Parliament,  which 

1  Monastic  Treasures  (Abbotsford  Club),  p.  38.  These  consisted 
of  71  oz.  of  gold  with  stones,  7,214  oz.  of  gilt  plate,  and  6,387  oz. 
of  silver. 

2  B.  Mus.  Cott.,  MS.  Titus,  B.  i,  f.  441a. 


THE  PEGGED  GRACE-CUP  OF  GLASTONBURY 

ABBEY,  NOW  IN  THE  POSSESSION  OF 

LORD  ARUXDELL  OF  WARDOUR 


[To  face  p.  54 


THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  55 

ought  to  have  met  on  November  1st  of  this  year,  would 
be  called  upon  to  consider  the  charges  against  the  abbot. 
At  least  Marillac,  the  French  ambassador,  who  shows 
that  he  was  always  well   informed   on  public    matters, 
writes  to  his  master  that  this  is  to  be  done.    Even  when 
the  assembly  was  delayed  till  the  arrival  of  the  king's 
new  wife,  Ann  of  Cleves,  the  ambassador  repeats  that 
the  decision  of  Whiting's  case  will  now  be  put  off.    He 
adds  that  "  they  have  found  a  manuscript  in  favour  of 
queen    Catherine,    and  against  the  marriage  of  queen 
Anne,  who  was  afterwards  beheaded,"  which  is  objected 
against  the  abbot.1    Poor  Catherine  had  been  at  rest  in 
her  grave  for  four  years,  and  her  rival  in  the  affections  of 
Henry  had  died  on  the  scaffold  nearly  as  many  years, 
before    Layton    and    his    fellow    inquisitors    found    the 
written    book    of  arguments    in    Whiting's   study,  and 
"  took  it  to  be  a  great  matter  "  against  him.    It  is  hardly 
likely  that,  even  if  more  loyal   to  Catherine's  memory 
than  there  is  any  possible  reason  to  suppose,  Whiting 
would  stick  at  a  point  where  More  and   Fisher  could 
yield,  and   would  not  have  given  his  adhesion  to  the 
succession  as  settled   by  Parliament.     But  as  in   their 
case,  it  was  the  thorny  questions  which  surrounded  the 
divorce,  the    subject   all   perilous    of  "  treason,"  which 
brought  him  at  last,  as  it  brought  them   first,  to  the 
scaffold. 

It  is  more  than  strange  that  the  ordinary  procedure 
was  not  carried  out  in  this  case.  According  to  all  law, 
Abbot  Whiting  and  the  Abbots  of  Reading  and  Col- 
chester should  have  been  arraigned  before  Parliament, 
as  they  were  members  of  the  House  of  Peers,  but  no 
such  bill  of  attainder  was  ever  presented,  and  in  fact 
1  Kaulek,  Inventaire  Analytiquc,  ut  sup,  No.  161. 


56  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

the  execution   had  taken   place  before  the  Parliament 
came  together.1 

The  truth  is,  that  Abbot  Whiting  and  the  others  were 
condemned  to  death  as  the  result  of  secret  inquisitions 
in  the  Tower.  Crumwell,  acting  as  "  prosecutor,  judge 
and  jury," 2  had  really  arranged  for  their  execution 
before  they  left  their  prison.  What  happened  in  the 
case  of  Abbot  Whiting  at  Wells,  and  in  that  of  Abbot 
Cook  at  Reading,  was  but  a  ghastly  mockery  of  justice, 
enacted  merely  to  cover  the  illegal  and  iniquitous  pro- 
ceedings which  had  condemned  them  untried.  This 
Crumwell  has  written  down  with  his  own  hand.  He 
notes  in  his  "remembrances":3  "Item.  Councillors  to 
give  evidence  against  the  abbot  of  Glaston,  Richard 
Pollard,  Lewis  Forstell  and  Thomas  Moyle.  Item.  To 
see  that  the  evidence  be  well  sorted  and  the  indictments 
well  drawn  against  the  said  abbots  and  their  accom- 
plices. Item.  How  the  King's  learned  counsel  shall  be 
with  me  all  this  day,  for  the  full  conclusion  of  the 
indictments." 

1  According  to  Wriothesley's  Chronicle  they  were  arraigned  in 
the  "  Counter."  "  Also  in  this  month  [November]  the  abbates  of 
Glastonburie,  Reding  and  Colchester  were  arrayned  in  the  Counter." 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  whilst  all  trace  or  record  of  a  trial  has 
disappeared,  the  legal  records  are  explicit  as  to  a  point  of  fact.  Of 
course  the  king  could  only  obtain  the  possessions  of  the  monastery 
by  the  attainder  of  the  abbot  for  high  treason,  and  accordingly  the 
official  documents  all  speak  of  the  attainder  for  high  treason.  For 
instance  L.  T.  R.  Memoranda  Roll,  32  Henry  VIII,  m.  2,  has: 
"Omnes  libertates  &c.  dicti  nuper  abbatis  Glaston  sunt  in  manu 
dicti  Regis  nunc  ratione  attincturae  praefati  abbatis  qui  nuper  de 
alta  prodicione  attinctus  fuit."  These  presentments  in  the  Counter 
or  at  Wells  were  evidently  empty  shows,  intended  to  impress  the 
populace. 

-  Froude,  Hist.,  iii,  p.  432. 

1  B.  Mus.,  Cott.  MS.,  Titus,  B.  i,  iT.  441  a  and  b. 


THE  BEGINNING  OK  THE  END  57 

And  then,  to  sum  up  all:  "Item.  The  Abbot  of 
Glaston  to  be  tried  at  Glaston,  and  also  executed  there."  ' 

As  Crumwell  was  so  solicitous  about  the  fate  of  the 
abbots  as  to  devote  the  whole  of  one  of  his  precious 
days  to  the  final  settlement  of  their  case,  in  later  times 
no  less  great  was  the  solicitude  of  his  panegyrist,  Burnet, 
to  "  discover  the  impudence  of  Sander  "  in  saying  they 
suffered  for  denying  the  king's  supremacy,  and  to  prove 
that  they  did  not.  Even  at  a  time  when  records  were 
not  so  accessible  as  they  now  are,  Collier,  Burnet's  con- 
temporary, could  see  clearly  enough  where  lay  the  truth. 
"  What  the  particulars  were  (of  the  abbots'  attainder) 
our  learned  church  historian  (Burnet)  confesses  'he 
can't  tell ;  for  the  record  of  their  attainders  is  lost.'  But, 
as  he  goes  on,  '  some  of  our  own  writers  (Hall,  Grafton) 
deserve  a  severe  censure,  who  write  it  was  for  denying, 
&c,  the  king's  supremacy.  Whereas,  if  they  had  not 
undertaken  to  write  the  history  without  any  information 
at  all,  they  must  have  seen  that  the  whole  clergy,  and 
especially  the  abbots,  had  over  and  over  again  acknow- 
ledged the  king's  supremacy.'  But  how  does  it  appear 
our  historians  are  mistaken?  Has  this  gentleman  seen 
the  Abbot  of  Colchester's  indictment  or  perused  his 
record  of  attainder?    He  confesses  no.    How  then  is  his 

1  The  following  is  a  transcript  of  the  passages  contained  in  the 
facsimile  given  on  p.  59.  "  Item  certayn  persons  to  be  sent  to  the 
Towre  for  the  further  examenacyon  of  the  abbot  of  Glaston.  Item 
letters  to  be  sent  with  the  copye  of  the  judgement  ageynst  Sir  John 
Sayntlow's  men  for  the  rape  and  burgalrye  don  in  Somersetshyre 
unto  lorde  presedent  Russell  with  a  streyt  commandement  to  pro- 
cede  to  justyce.  Item  the  abbot  Redyng  to  be  sent  down  to  be 
tryed  and  executyd  at  Reding  with  his  complycys.  Item  the  abbot 
of  Glaston  to  [be]  tryed  at  Glaston  and  also  executyd  there  with 
his  complycys." 


58  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

censure  made  good?  He  offers  no  argument  beyond 
conjecture.  He  concludes  the  Abbot  of  Colchester  had 
formerly  acknowledged  the  king's  supremacy,  and  from 
thence  infers  he  could  not  suffer  now  for  denying  it. 
But  do  not  people's  opinions  alter  sometimes,  and  con- 
science and  courage  improve?  Did  not  Bishop  Fisher 
and  Cardinal  Pool,  at  least  as  this  author  represents 
them,  acknowledge  the  king's  supremacy  at  first?  And 
yet  it  is  certain  they  afterwards  showed  themselves  of 
another  mind  to  a  very  remarkable  degree.  .  .  .  Farther, 
does  not  himself  tell  us  that  many  of  the  Carthusians 
were  executed  for  their  open  denying  the  king's 
supremacy,  and  why  then  might  not  some  of  the  abbots 
have  the  same  belief  and  fortitude  with  others  of  their 
fraternity? "  '  The  real  way  of  reaching  them  was 
through  conscience,  a  way  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
just  before  been  tried  in  the  case  of  the  Abbot  Whiting's 
near  neighbours,  the  Carthusians  of  Hinton.  "  To  reach 
the  abbots,  therefore,"  continues  Collier,  "  that  other 
way,  the  oath  of  supremacy,  was  offered  them,  and  upon 
their  refusal  they  were  condemned  for  high  treason."  2 

But  amidst  these  cares  Crumwell  never  forgot  the 
king's  business,  the  "  great  matter,"  the  end  which  this 
iniquity  was  to  compass.  With  the  prize  now  fairly 
within  his  grasp,  he  notes:  "  The  plate  of  Glastonbury, 
1 1, ooo  ounces  and  over,  besides  golden.  The  furniture 
of  the  house  of  Glaston.  In  ready  money  from  Glaston, 
.£1,100  and  over.  The  rich  copes  from  Glaston.  The 
whole  year's  revenue  of  Glaston.  The  debts  of  Glaston, 
,£2,000  and  above.3 

1  Eccl.  Hist.,  ii,  173.  2  Ibid.,  p.  164. 

'  B.  Mus.,  Cott.  MS.,  Titus  B.  i,  f.  446  a.  The  debts  named  here 
were  evidently  due  to  Glastonbury. 


Facsimile  of  part  of  Crumwell's  "Remembrances," 

Cotton  MS.,  Titus  B.  i,  f.  441a. 


60  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

Layton  has  borne  witness  to  the  state  of  spirituals  in 
Glastonbury;  Crumwell  gives  final  testimony  to  the 
abbot's  good  administration  of  temporals.  The  house  by 
this  time  had,  according  to  CrumweH's  construction,  come 
to  the  king's  highness  by  attainder  of  treason.  It  re- 
mained now  to  inaugurate  the  line  of  policy  on  which 
Elizabeth  improved  later,  and  after,  in  the  secret 
tribunal  of  the  Tower,  condemning  the  abbot  without 
trial  for  cause  of  conscience  in  a  sentence  that  involved 
forfeiture  of  life  and  goods,  to  put  him  to  death,  so  Lord 
Russell  says,  as  if  for  common  felony,  for  the  "  robbing 
of  Glastonbury  Church." 

And  now  it  only  remains  to  follow  the  venerable  man 
on  his  pilgrimage  to  the  scene  of  his  martyrdom.1 

As  we  have  seen  under  Crumwell's  hand,  Abbot 
Whiting's  fate  was  already  settled  before  he  left  the 
Tower.    In  the  interrogatories,  preliminary  but  decisive, 

1  The  original  edition  of  Sander  simply  says  that  the  three  abbots 
and  the  two  priests,  Rugg  and  Onion,  "  ob  negatam  Henrici  pon- 
tificiam  potestatem  martyrii  coronam  adepti  sunt."  In  the  second 
and  later  editions  this  is  cut  out,  another  reason  is  assigned  for 
their  death,  and  an  obviously  legendary  narrative  about  Whiting  is 
inserted  in  the  text.  It  is  impossible  to  credit  many  of  these  oft- 
repeated  statements.  They  seem  to  embody  the  gossip  of  half  a 
century  later;  in  some  points  running  near  enough  to  the  truth,  in 
others  partaking  of  legend  ;  such  as  the  sensational  scene,  wanting 
alike  in  sense  and  probability,  in  the  hall  of  the  palace  on  the 
abbot's  arrival  at  Wells ;  the  assembly  prepared  to  receive  him,  his 
proceeding  to  take  the  place  of  honour  among  the  first,  the  un- 
expected summons  to  stand  down  and  answer  to  the  charge  of 
treason,  the  old  man's  wondering  inquiry  what  this  meant,  the 
whispered  assurance  that  it  was  all  a  matter  of  form  to  strike  terror 
— into  whom  or  wherefore  the  story  does  not  tell.  These  and  later 
details  are  here  entirely  thrown  aside,  since  they  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  official  documents  of  the  time  and  private  letters  of 
the  persons  engaged  in  the  act  itself. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END  61 

which  he  had  there  undergone,  the  abbot  had  come  face 
to  face  with  the  inevitable  issue.  He  knew  to  what  end 
the  way  through  the  Tower  had,  from  the  time  of  More 
and  Fisher  to  his  own  hour,  led  those  who  had  no  other 
satisfaction  to  give  the  king  than  that  which  he  himself 
could  offer. 

It  is  not  impossible,  however,  that  hopes  may  have 
been  held  out  to  him  that  in  his  extreme  old  age  and 
weakness  of  body  he  might  be  spared  extremities;  this 
supposition  seems  to  receive  some  countenance  from  the 
narrative  given  below.  But  Henry  and  Crumwell  had 
determined  that  Abbot  Whiting  should  suffer  before  all 
the  world  the  last  indignity.  And  they  designed  for  him 
the  horrible  death  of  a  traitor  in  the  sight  of  his  own 
subjects  who  had  known  and  loved  him  for  many  years, 
and  on  the  scene  of  his  own  former  greatness. 

The  following  extract  from  an  unknown  but  contem- 
porary writer,  in  giving  the  only  details  of  the  journey 
homeward  that  are  known  to  exist,  manifests  the  abbot's 
characteristic  simplicity  and  perfect  possession  of  soul 
in  patience,  together  with  a  real  sense  of  what  the  end 
would  certainly  be: 

"  Going  homewards  to  Glastonbury,  the  abbot  had  one 
Pollard  appointed  to  wait  upon  him,  who  was  an  especial 
favourer  of  Crumwell,  whom  the  abbot  neither  desired 
to  accompany  him,  neither  yet  dared  to  refuse  him.  At 
the  next  bait,  when  the  abbot  went  to  wash,  he  desired 
Mr.  Pollard  to  tome  wash  with  him,  who  by  no  means 
would  be  entreated  thereunto.  The  abbot  seeing  such 
civility,  mistrusted  so  much  the  more  such  courtesy  was 
not  void  of  some  subtility,  and  said  unto  him:  "Mr. 
Pollard,  if  you  be  to  me  a  companion,  I  pray  you  wash 
with  me  and  sit  down ;  but  if  you  be  my  keeper  and  1 


62  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

your  prisoner,  tell  me  plainly,  that  I  may  prepare  my 
mind  to  go  to  another  room  better  fitting  my  fortunes. 
And  if  you  be  neither,  I  shall  be  content  to  ride  without 
your  company.'  Whereupon  Pollard  protested  that  he 
did  forbear  to  do  what  the  abbot  desired  him  only  in 
respect  of  the  reverence  he  bore  his  age  and  virtues,  and 
that  he  was  appointed  by  those  in  authority  to  bear  him 
company  of  worship's  sake,  and  therefore  might  not  for- 
sake him  till  he  did  see  him  safe  at  Glastonbury. 

"  Notwithstanding  all  this  the  abbot  doubted  some- 
what, and  told  one  (Thomas)  Home,  whom  he  had 
brought  up  from  a  child,  that  he  misdoubted  (him) 
somewhat,  Judas  having  betrayed  his  master.  And  yet 
though  (Home)  were  both  privy  and  plotter  of  his 
master's  fall,  yet  did  he  sweare  most  intolerably  he  knew 
of  no  harm  towards  him,  neither  should  any  be  done  to 
him  as  long  as  he  was  in  his  company;  wishing  besides 
that  the  devil  might  have  him  if  he  were  otherwise  than 
he  told  him.  But  before  he  came  to  Glastonbury,  Home 
forsook,  and  joined  himself  unto  his  enemies."  1 

1  B.  Mus.  Sloane  MS.  2495.  The  passage  in  the  text  is  taken 
from  an  early  seventeenth-century  life  of  Henry  VIII.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  free  translation  of  Arundel  MS.,  151,  No.  62,  which  is  a 
hitherto  unnoticed  account  of  the  divorce,  written  somewhere  about 
the  year  1557,  and  dedicated  to  Philip  and  Mary.  Some  of  the 
details  agree  with  those  given  about  Whiting  by  Le  Grand  (Defense, 
iii,  p.  210),  who  may  have  drawn  them  from  the  same  source. 


THE  MARTYRDOM  63 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   MARTYRDOM 

The  venerable  abbot  thus  journeyed  home  in  the  com- 
pany of  Pollard.  It  was  this  Pollard  who  had  been 
Crumwell's  agent  in  sending  him  to  the  Tower,  who  had 
weeks  ago  turned  the  monks  out  of  the  monastery  and 
had  begun  the  wrecking  of  Glastonbury  Abbey,  a  house, 
which  on  his  first  arrival  there  he  had  described  to  his 
employer  as  "great,  goodly,  and  so  princely  that  we 
have  not  seen  the  like;  "  and  in  another  letter  he  repeats 
the  same  assurance,  adding  that  "  it  is  a  house  meet  for 
the  king's  majesty,  and  for  no  one  else." ' 

Measures  had  already  been  taken  to  have  all  secure  at 
Wells,  although  Abbot  Whiting  had  evidently  been  left 
in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  there  was  now  no  Glaston- 
bury Abbey  for  him  to  return  to.  Crumwell's  captive 
reached  Wells  on  Friday,  November  14th,  and  once  safely 
brought  back  into  his  own  country  there  was  neither 
delay  nor  dissembling.  The  plan  devised  was  rushed 
through  without  giving  a  soul  among  the  unhappy  actors 
in  the  scene  time  to  reflect  upon  what  they  were  doing 
— time  to  recover  their  better  selves — time  to  avert  the 
guilt  which  in  some  measure  must  fall  upon  them.  In 
accordance  with  the  wicked  policy  so  often  pursued  in 
Tudor  times,  a  jury — the  people  themselves — were  made 
active  agents  in  accomplishing  the  royal  vengeance,  the 
execution  of  which  had  been  already  irrevocably  settled 
in  London.    John,  Lord  Russell,  had  for  some  time  past 

1  Wright,  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  pp.  256,  258. 


64  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

been  superintending  the  necessary  arrangements  in  the 
county  of  Somerset  itself.  His  business  had  been  to  get 
together  a  jury  which  he  could  trust  to  do,  or  perhaps  in 
this  case  tacitly  countenance,  the  king's  will,  and  it  was 
one  part  of  his  care,  when  all  was  over,  to  send  to  Crum- 
well  their  names  with  a  view,  doubtless,  of  securing  their 
due  reward.  Unfortunately,  although  Russell's  letter  is 
preserved,  the  list  enclosed  has  perished.  But  a  letter 
from  Pollard  to  Crumwell  gives  the  names  of  some  who 
distinguished  themselves  by  their  zeal,  and  who  had 
been  "  very  diligent  to  serve  the  king  at  this  time." 
Among  these,  first  of  all  is  "  my  brother  Paulet,"  for 
whom  is  bespoken  "  the  surveyorship  of  Glaston,"  with 
the  promise  to  Crumwell  that  "  his  lordship's  goodness," 
showed  in  this  matter,  Paulet  when  he  takes  the  prize 
"  shall  recompense  to  his  little  power."  Other  diligent 
persons  whom  Pollard  specially  names  are  John  Syden- 
ham and  Thomas  Horner,  and  finally  Nicholas  Fitzjames, 
the  same  who,  but  a  year  or  two  before,  had  written  to 
Crumwell  in  Abbot  Whiting's  behalf. 

As  is  well  known  from  the  history  of  the  Pilgrimage 
of  Grace,  jury-making  had  at  this  time  been  raised  to  an 
art, — an  art  so  exquisitely  refined  that  it  aimed  at 
making  friends,  kinsfolk,  even  brothers  the  accomplices 
by  word  of  mouth  in  the  legal  or  illegal  murders  which 
disgraced  this  reign.  The  minds  of  the  men  selected  in 
this  case  to  register  the  decrees  of  the  kingly  omnipotence, 
escape  our  means  of  inquiry,  but  Lord  Russell  has  re- 
corded "that  they  formed  as  worshipful  a  jury  as  were 
found  here  these  many  years,"  and  of  this  fact  he 
''  ensured  "  his  "  good  lord  "  Crumwell. 

Russell's  care,  moreover,  had   been   diligently  exer- 
cised, not  merely  in  assembling  the  jury,  but  in  getting 


r- 


o 


Z 

o 


c 


THE  MARTYRDOM  65 

together  an  audience  for  the  occasion.  His  efforts  were 
successful,  for  he  gathered  at  Wells  such  a  concourse  of 
people,  that  he  was  able  to  declare  "there  was  never 
seen  in  these  parts  so  great  appearance  as  were  here  at 
this  present  time."  He  adds  the  assurance  so  tediously 
common  in  documents  of  that  pre-eminently  courtly 
age,  that  none  had  ever  been  seen  "better  willing  to 
serve  the  king."  l 

This  was  the  scene  which  met  Abbot  Whiting's  eyes 
in  Pollard's  company  as  he  entered  the  city  of  Wells, 
where  so  often  before  he  had  been  received  as  a  venerated 
and  honoured  guest.  Unfortunately  we  have  no  direct 
and  continuous  narrative  of  all  that  took  place.  If  it  was 
dangerous  to  speak  it  was  still  more  dangerous  to  write 
in  those  days,  except  of  course  in  one  sense, — that  which 
was  pleasing  to  the  court.  Fortunately  two  letters  sur- 
vive, written  by  the  chief  managers  of  the  business, 
John,  Lord  Russell,  and  Richard  Pollard,  one  of  the 
"counsel"  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  Tower  with 
Crumwell,  for  the  careful  drawing  of  the  indictment 
against  the  abbot.  Both  were  written  on  the  Sunday, 
the  day  following  the  execution.  An  earlier  letter  by 
Pollard,  written  on  the  day  itself  and  evidently  giving 
more  details,  is  wanting  in  the  vast  mass  of  Crumwell's 
papers.  This,  the  earliest  news  of  the  accomplishment 
of  the  king's  will,  was  not  improbably  taken  by  the  ready 
minister  to  the  king  himself  and  left  with  his  majesty. 
Fragmentary  though  the  records  that  exist  are,  and  only 
giving-  here  a  hint,  there  a  mere  outline  of  what  took 
place,  without  order  and  without  sequence,  they  in  this 
form  have  a  freshness  and  truthfulness  which  still  enable 
us  to  realise  what  actually  took  place. 

1  Wright,  Suppression  of  the  Monasteries,  p.  260. 

F 


66  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

On  the  abbot's  arrival  in  the  city  of  Wells,  the  busi- 
ness was  begun  without  waiting  to  give  the  condemned 
man  time  for  rest  or  for  thought.  Pollard  was  in  charge 
of  the  indictment,  over  which  Crumwell  had  spent  his 
day,  in  the  drafting  of  which  so  many  counsel  learned  in 
the  law  had  exercised  their  ingenuity,  and  which  was 
the  outcome  of  the  secret  examinations  conducted  dur- 
ing the  abbot's  two  months'  imprisonment  in  the  Tower. 
But  it  was  by  no  means  intended  that  a  drop  of  bitter- 
ness in  the  cup  should  be  spared  him;  every  successive 
stage  of  indignity  was  to  be  offered  the  venerable  man 
till  his  last  breath,  and  then  to  his  lifeless  body.  He  was 
to  be  struck  in  the  house  of  his  friends,  and  by  his  own 
dependents.  From  out  the  crowd  there  came  forward 
new  accusers,  "his  tenants  and  others,"  putting  up  "many 
accusations  for  wrongs  and  injuries  he  had  done  them:" 
not  of  course  that  it  was  in  the  least  intended  that  there 
should  be  time  for  enquiry  into  their  truth;  the  mere 
accusations  were  enough,  and  they  were  part  of  the 
drama  that  had  been  elaborated  with  such  care. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  business  of  the  day.  The 
venerable  man  was  to  be  associated  and  numbered  with 
a  rabble  of  common  felons,  and  to  stand  in  the  same 
rank  with  them.  Together  with  the  abbot  of  the  great 
monastery  of  Glastonbury  there  were  a  number  of  people 
of  the  lowest  class — how  many  we  know  not — who 
were  accused  of  "  rape  and  burglary."  "  They  were  all 
condemned,"  says  Russell,  and  four  of  them  "  the  next 
day,  if  not  the  same  day,  put  to  execution  at  the  place 
of  the  act  done,  which  is  called  the  Mere,  and  there 
adjudged  to  hang  still  in  chains  to  the  example  of 
others." 

Of  any  verdict  or  of  any  condemnation  of  the  abbot 


THE  MARTYRDOM  67 

and  of  his  two  monks   nothing  is  said  by  Russell  or 
Pollard,  but  they  proceed  at  once  to  the  execution.1 

It  is  not  impossible,  seeing  the  rapid  way  in  which 
the  whole  business  was  carried  through,  that  had  the 
scene  of  the  so-called  trial  been  Glastonbury  in  place  of 
Wells,  the  abbot  would  have  met  his  fate  and  gained  his 
crown  that  very  day.  But  the  king  and  his  faithful 
minister,  Crumwell,  had  devised  in  the  town  of  Glaston- 
bury a  scene  which  was  to  be  more  impressive  than  that 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  neighbouring  city,  more 
calculated  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  old  man's 
friends  and  followers. 

After  being  pestered  by  Pollard  with  "  divers  articles 
and  interrogatories,"  the  result  of  which  was  that  he 
would  accuse  no  man  but  himself,  nor  "  confess  no  more 
gold  nor  silver,  nor  anything  more  than  he  did  before 
you  [Crumwell]  in  the  Tower,"  the  next  morning,  Satur- 
day, November  15th,2  the  venerable  abbot  with  his  two 
monks,  John  Thorne  and  Roger  James,  were  delivered 
over  to  the  servants  of  Pollard  for  the  performance  of 
what  more  had  to  be  done.  Under  this  escort  they  were 
carried  from  Wells  to  Glastonbury.  Arrived  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  town  the  abbot  was  made  to  dismount. 

1  After  a  careful  consideration  of  the  evidence,  my  belief  is  that 
there  was  no  trial  of  the  abbot  and  his  two  companions  at  Wells. 
The  sentence  passed  on  them  in  London  was  probably  published 
to  the  jury  there,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  it  was  asked  to 
find  any  verdict. 

2  It  is  generally  stated  that  the  martyrdom  took  place  on  Nov- 
ember 14th.  The  authority  for  this  is  a  statement  in  the  original 
edition  of  Sander,  that  the  three  abbots  obtained  the  crown  of 
martyrdom  "ad  decimum  octavum  kalendas  Decembris."  Mr. 
David  Lewis  in  his  translation  has  not  noticed  the  error.  It  is  cer- 
tain from  the  original  letters  of  Pollard  and  Russell  that  the  true 
date  is  Saturday,  November  15th. 


68  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

And  now  all  the  brutal  indignities  and  cruel  sufferings 
attending  the  death  of  a  traitor  condemned  for  treason 
were  inflicted  upon  him.  And  in  truth,  like  many  a  true 
and  noble  Englishman  of  that  day,  Richard  Whiting 
was,  in  the  sense  of  Crumwell  and  Henry,  a  traitor  to 
his  king.  The  case  from  their  point  of  view  is  well  ex- 
pressed by  one  of  the  truculent  preachers  patronised  by 
the  sovereign  as  his  most  fitting  apologists. 

"  For  had  not  Richard  '  Whiting,  that  was  Abbot  of 
Glastonbury,  trow  ye,  great  cause,  all  things  considered, 
to  play  so  traitorous  a  part  as  he  hath  played,  whom 
the  king's  highness  made  of  a  vile,  beggarly,  monkish 
merchant,  governor  and  ruler  of  seven  thousand  marks 
by  the  year?  Trow  ye  this  was  not  a  good  pot  of  wine? 
Was  not  this  a  fair  almose  at  one  man's  door?  Such  a 
gift  had  been  worth  grammercy  to  many  a  man.  But 
Richard  Whiting  having  always  a  more  desirous  eye  to 
treason  than  to  truth,  careless,  laid  apart  both  God's 
goodness  and  the  king's,  and  stuck  hard  by  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  and  the  Abbot  of  Reading  in  the  quarrel  of 
the  Romish  Church.  Alas!  what  a  stony  heart  had 
(Richard)  Whiting,  to  be  so  unkind  to  so  loving  and 
beneficent  a  prince,  and  so  false  a  traitor  to  Henry  VIII, 
king  of  his  native  country,  and  so  true,  I  say,  to  that 
cormorant  of  Rome." 

In  this  new  meaning  of  treason,  Abbot  Whiting  was 
adjudged  the  traitor's  death.  At  the  outskirts  of  his  own 
town  his  venerable  limbs  were  extended  on  a  hurdle,  to 
which  a  horse  was  attached.  In  this  way  he  was  dragged 
on  that  bleak  November  morning  along  the  rough  hard 
ground  through  the  streets  of  Glastonbury,  of  which  he 
and  his  predecessors  had  so  long  been  the  loved  and 

1  The  name  in  the  MS.  is  John,  but  it  is  evidently  a  mistake. 


SUMMIT  OF  TOR  HILL 


[To  face  p.  68 


THE  MARTYRDOM  69 

honoured  lords  and  masters.  It  was  thus  among  his 
own  people  that,  now  at  the  age  of  well  nigh  fourscore 
years,  Abbot  Whiting  made  his  last  pilgrimage  through 
England's  "Roma  Secunda."  As  a  traitor  for  conscience' 
sake  he  was  drawn  past  the  glorious  monastery,  now 
desolate  and  deserted,  past  the  great  church,  that  home 
of  the  saints  and  whilom  sanctuary  of  this  country's 
greatness,  now  devastated  and  desecrated,  its  relics  of 
God's  holy  ones  dispersed,  its  tombs  of  kings  dishon- 
oured, on  further  still  to  the  summit  of  that  hill  which 
rises  yet  in  the  landscape  in  solitary  and  majestic  great- 
ness, the  perpetual  memorial  of  the  deed  now  to  be 
enacted.1  For,  thanks  to  the  tenacity  with  which  the 
memory  of  "  good  Abbot  Whiting  "  has  been  treasured 
by  generations  of  the  townsfolk,  the  very  hill  to-day  is 
Abbot  Whiting's  monument. 

His  last  act  was  simple.    Now  about  to  appear  before 

1  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  place  of  Abbot  Whiting's  mar- 
tyrdom was  not  the  Tor,  but  a  smaller  hill  nearer  the  town,  called 
Chalice  Hill.  The  ground  of  this  supposition  is  that  the  site  of  the 
abbey  is  not  visible  from  the  Tor,  whilst  it  is  from  the  latter  hill.  The 
steps  by  which  the  conclusion  was  arrived  at  that  this  consequently 
was  the  place  of  martyrdom,  would  appear  to  be  that  while  the 
letters  of  Russell  and  Pollard  state  that  the  abbot  was  executed  on 
the  Tor  hill,  the  Roman  editor  of  Sander  uses  only  a  general  ex- 
pression, perfectly  reasonable  when  writing  for  persons  who  were 
not  acquainted  with  Glastonbury.  The  execution  took  place,  he 
says,  ad  montis  editi  cacumen  qui  monasterio  imminet,  i.e.,  over- 
hangs, that  is,  rises  above  the  monastery.  This  has  been  taken  in 
the  sense  of  overlooking,  and  next  "  overlook  "  in  its  strictest  sense, 
as  implying  that  the  abbey  was  visible  from  the  place  of  execution. 
It  is  only  necessary,  in  order  to  refute  a  theory  having  no  better 
basis  than  inaccuracy  and  misunderstanding,  to  refer  to  the  simple 
assertion  of  the  persons  engaged  in  the  execution  of  Abbot  Whiting, 
who  wrote  at  the  very  time  it  was  taking  place,  and  who  knew  per- 
fectly well  what  Tor  hill  was. 


70  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

a  tribunal  that  was  searching,  just  and  merciful,  he  asks 
forgiveness,  first  of  God,  and  then  of  man,  even  of  those 
who  had  most  offended  against  justice  in  his  person  and 
had  not  rested  until  they  had  brought  him  to  the  gallows 
amidst  every  incident  that  could  add  to  such  a  death — 
ignominy  and  shame.  The  venerable  abbot  remains  to 
the  last  the  same  as  he  always  appears  throughout  his 
career;  suffering  in  self-possession  and  patience  the 
worst  that  man  could  inflict  upon  his  mortal  body,  in 
the  firm  assurance  that  in  all  this  he  was  but  follow- 
ing in  the  footsteps  of  that  Lord  and  Master  in  whose 
service  from  his  youth  upwards  he  had  spent  his  life. 

In  this  supreme  moment,  his  two  monks,  John  Thorne  l 
and  Roger  James,2  the  one  a  man  of  mature  age  and 
experience,  the  other  not  long  professed,  showed  them- 
selves worthy  sons  of  so  good  a  father.  They,  too,  begged 
forgiveness  of  all  and  "  took  their  death  also  very 
patiently."   Even  Pollard  seems  moved  for  the  moment, 

1  A  comparison  of  the  lists  of  monks  qualified  to  take  part  in  the 
election  of  Abbot  Whiting  in  1523  and  the  list  appended  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  supremacy  in  1 534  seems  to  show  that  John 
Arthur,  treasurer  in  1523,  is  identical  with  John  Thorne,  treasurer 
in  1 539,  martyred  with  Abbot  Whiting.  This  comparison  also  shows 
that  the  maker  of  the  chair  here  illustrated,  can  be  no  other  than 
John  Thome,  the  martyr.  The  lists  of  monks  give  only  the  Christian 
name  and  the  name  in  religion  (in  this  case  Arthur).  In  the  legal 
proceedings,  for  the  religious  name  the  family  name,  Thorne,  is 
substituted. 

The  lists  of  1523  and  1534  are  noteworthy  as  showing  how  keen 
was  the  interest  taken  by  the  Glastonbury  monks  in  the  past  of  their 
house.  Amongst  the  religious  names  occur:  Abaramathea,  Joseph, 
Arthur,  Derivian,  Gildas,  Benen,  Aidan,  Ceolfrid,  Indractus,  Aid- 
helm,  Dunstan,  Ethelwold,  Edgar,  and  other  saints  connected  with 
Glastonbury. 

2  Roger  James  is  evidently  identical  with  Roger  Wilfrid,  who  in 
the  list  of  1534  was  the  youngest  monk  of  the  house. 


A  GLASTONBURY  CHAIR,   DATING  FROM  THE  TIME  OF 

ABBOT    WHITING,    AND    PROBABLY    MADE    BY 

HIS   FELLOW  MARTYR,  JOHN  THORNE 

(From  the  Engraving  in  Warner) 


[To  face  p.  70 


THE  MARTYRDOM  71 

for  he  adds  with  an  unwonted  touch  of  tenderness, 
"  whose  souls  God  pardon." 

There  is  here  no  need  to  dwell  on  the  butchery  which 
followed,  and  to  tell  how  the  hardly  lifeless  body  was 
cut  down,  divided  into  four  parts  and  the  head  struck 
off.  One  quarter  was  despatched  to  Wells,  another  to 
Bath,  a  third  to  Ilchester,  and  the  fourth  to  Bridgewater, 
whilst  the  venerable  head  was  fixed  over  the  great  gate- 
way of  the  abbey,  a  ghastly  warning  of  the  retribution 
which  might  and  would  fall  on  all,  even  the  most  power- 
ful or  the  most  holy,  if  they  ventured  to  stand  between 
the  king  and  the  accomplishment  of  his  royal  will. 

All  this  might  indeed  strike  terror  into  the  people  of 
the  whole  country,  but  not  even  the  will  of  a  Tudor 
monarch  could  prevent  the  people  from  forming  their 
own  judgment  on  the  deed  that  had  been  done,  and 
preserving,  although  robbed  of  the  Catholic  faith,  the 
memory  of  the  "good  Abbot  Whiting."  It  is  easy  to 
understand  how,  so  soon  after  the  event  as  Mary's  reign, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  neighbourhood,  with  a 
vivid  recollection  of  the  past,  were  ready  and  even  eager 
to  make  personal  sacrifices  for  the  restoration  of  the 
abbey.  But  even  a  hundred  years  later,  and  indeed  even 
down  to  the  present  day,  the  name  of  Abbot  Whiting 
has  been  preserved  as  a  household  word  at  Glastonbury 
and  in  its  neighbourhood.  There  are  those  living  who, 
when  conversing  with  aged  poor  people,  were  touched 
to  find  the  affectionate  reverence  with  which  his  name 
was  still  treasured  on  the  spot,  though  why  he  died  and 
what  it  was  all  about  they  could  not  tell.  That  he  was 
a  good,  a  kind,  a  holy  man  they  knew,  for  they  had  been 
told  so  in  the  days  of  their  youth  by  those  who  had  gone 
before. 


72  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING 

The  abbeys  of  Reading  and  Colchester,  although  of  the 
first  rank,  seeing  that  their  abbots  were  peers  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  Reading  certainly  among  the  most  distin- 
guished houses  of  the  country,  had  no  such  position  as 
that  of  Glastonbury.  They  were  both  Norman  creations ; 
Reading  being  founded  by  King  Henry  II  and  chosen 
by  him  as  his  burial  place.  By  favour  of  its  royal 
founder  the  commonalty  of  Reading  recognised  the 
abbot  as  their  lord ;  the  mayor  of  the  city  "  being  the 
abbot's  mayor,  &c,"  as  the  diocesan,  Bishop  Shaxton, 
writes  to  Crumwell. 

The  history  of  the  fall  of  Reading  Abbey  and  of  the 
execution  of  Hugh  Cook,  or  Faringdon,  the  abbot,  would 
be  in  its  main  features  but  a  repetition  of  the  story  of 
Glastonbury  and  Abbot  Whiting.  The  chief  source  of 
information  about  the  Abbot  of  Reading  is  a  paper, 
already  referred  to,  which  is  still  to  be  found  among 
the  public  records,  although  it  has  remained  unnoticed 
till  a  few  years  ago.1  It  was  so  decayed  with  age  as 
to  be  almost  dropping  to  pieces,  but  now  encased  in 
tissue  paper  it  is  fortunately  legible  almost  in  its  entirety. 
The  document  in  question  is  a  virulent  and  brutal  in- 
vective, evidently  a  sermon,  drawn  up  for  the  approval 
of  Crumwell,  to  be  delivered  in  justification  of  the  king's 
action  in  putting  to  death  the  three  Benedictine  abbots 
and  their  companions.     It  is  unlikely  that  this  proposed 

1   R.  O.  State  Papers,  1539,  No.  251. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  73 

sermon  was  ever  delivered,  for  the  deed  was  done,  the 
abbots  were  dead,  their  property  was  now  all  in  the 
king's  hands,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  authors 
the  less  said  about  the  matter  the  better.  The  draft  was 
accordingly  thrown  by  Crumwell  into  the  vast  mass  of 
papers  of  all  sorts  accumulating  on  his  hands,  which  on 
his  attainder  was  seized  by  the  king  and  transferred,  as 
it  stood,  to  the  royal  archives. 

It  seems  not  improbable  that  the  author  of  the  paper 
in  question  was  Latimer.  The  harangue  is  brutal ;  it 
shows  all  his  power  of  effective  alliteration,  and  it  is 
written  quite  in  the  spirit  of  the  man  who  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  preach  at  the  martyrdom  of  Blessed  John 
Forrest,  and  to  be  placed  near  him  that  he  might  with 
better  effect  insult  him  in  his  death  agonies.  It  is  certainly 
written  by  a  person  fully  acquainted  with  all  the  circum- 
stances, and  throws  light  on  many  matters  which  would 
be  unintelligible  without  it.  The  paper  is  so  far  of  the 
highest  value;  but  in  dealing  with  its  statements  it  is  to 
be  remembered  that  the  one  object  of  the  writer  is  to 
blacken  the  memory  of  the  martyred  abbots,  to  degrade 
them  and  to  bring  them  by  every  means  into  contempt. 

From  the  account  of  Abbot  Cook's  origin  given  by 
this  writer,  it  would  be  gathered  that  he  was  born  in 
humble  circumstances.  He  thus  apostrophises  the  abbot 
after  his  death:  "Ah,  Hugh  Cook,  Hugh  Cook!  nay, 
Hugh  Scullion  rather  I  may  him  call  that  would  be  so 
unthankful  to  so  merciful  a  prince,  so  unkind  to  so  loving 
a  king,  and  so  traitorous  to  so  true  an  emperor.  The 
king's  highness  of  his  charity  took  Hugh  Cook  out  his 
cankerous  cloister  and  made  him,  being  at  that  time  the 
most  vilest,  the  most  untowardest  and  the  most  miser- 
ablest  monk  that  was  in  the  monastery  of  Reading,  born 


74  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

to  nought  else  but  to  an  old  pair  of  beggarly  boots,  and 
made  him,  I  say,  ruler  and  governor  of  three  thousand 
marks  by  the  year."  But  the  testimony  of  the  writer  on 
a  point  of  fact  such  as  this  cannot  be  rated  high. 

It  is  probable  that  Abbot  Cook  belonged  to  that  class 
from  which  the  English  monastic  houses  had  been  so 
largely  recruited,  "  the  devouter  and  younger  children  of 
our  nobility  and  gentry  who  here  had  their  education 
and  livelihood."  '  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  he 
belonged  to  a  Kentish  family  known  to  the  heralds.2  His 
election  to  the  office  of  abbot  took  place  in  1520.  Grafton 
and  Hall  in  their  chronicles,  in  accordance  with  the 
practice  common  at  the  time,  to  depreciate  falsely  by 
any  and  every  means,  those  who  had  fallen  into  the  dis- 
favour of  the  reigning  tyrant,  give  him  the  character  of 
an    illiterate   person.    "  The   contrary,"    writes    Browne 

1  Bodleian  MS.  Wood,  B.  vi.  Woodhope's  Book  of  Obits. 

-  It  has  been  considered  doubtful  whether  the  name  of  the  last 
abbot  of  Reading  was  Cook  or  Faringdon.  He  is  sometimes  called 
by  one,  sometimes  by  the  other  name.  In  the  entry  of  his  convic- 
tion for  treason  upon  the  Controlment  Roll,  usually  very  exact,  he 
is  called  only  by  the  name  of  "  Cooke."  As  to  the  arms  borne  by 
the  abbot,  Cole,  the  antiquary,  writes  as  follows : — "  In  a  curious 
MS.  Book  of  Heraldry,  on  vellum  and  painted,  supposed  to  [be] 
written  about  1520,  contayning  all  ye  arms  of  Persons  who  had  a 
chevron  in  the  same,  is  this  entered  :  Hugh  Faringdon,  alias  Cooke, 
Abbat  of  Reading.  Gules  a  chevron  lozenge  sable  and  argent  inter 
3  Bezants  each  charged  with  a  cinquefoil  gules,  on  a  chief  argent  a 
Dove  inter  2  flowers  azure.  This  book  belongs  to  my  Friend  Mr. 
Blomfield  of  Norwich. — W.  C.  1748."  (Note  in  Cole's  copy  of 
Browne  Willis,  Mitred  Abbeys,  i,  p.  161,  now  in  possession  of  the 
Earl  of  Gainsborough.)  These  arms,  impaled  with  those  of  Reading 
Abbey,  are  also  given  in  Coates'  Reading,  plate  vii,  engraved  with 
a  portrait  of  the  abbot,  from  a  piece  of  stained  glass,  formerly  in 
Sir  John  Davis'  chapel  at  Bere  Court  near  Pangbourne.  These  are 
the  arms  of  the  family  of  Cook. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  75 

Willis,  "  will  appear  to  such  as  will  consult  his  Epistles 
to  the  University  of  Oxford,  remaining  in  the  register  of 
that  university,  or  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  perusing 
a  book  entitled  The  art  or  craft  of  Rhetorick,  written  by 
Leonard  Cox,  schoolmaster  of  Reading.  'Twas  printed 
in  the  year  1524,  and  is  dedicated  by  the  author  to  this 
abbot.  He  speaks  very  worthily  and  honourably  of 
Faringdon  on  account  of  his  learning."  ' 

A  letter  written  by  Cook  to  the  University  in  Oxford 
in  1530  is  evidence  of  the  abbot's  intelligent  zeal  for  the 
Catholic  religion,  which  at  that  time  was  being  attacked 
by  the  new  heresies  springing  up  on  all  sides.  Among 
the  monks  of  Reading  Abbey  was  one  Dom  John  Holy- 
man,  "  a  most  stout  champion  in  his  preachings  and 
writings  against  the  Lutherans,"  who,  "  desirous  of  a 
stricter  life  had  resigned  his  fellowship  at  New  College, 
Oxford,  and  taken  the  cowl  at  Reading  Abbey."  When 
Holyman  was  to  receive  the  doctorate,  Abbot  Cook 
asked  that  he  might  be  excused  from  lecturing  before 

1  Browne  Willis,  Mitred  Abbeys,  i,  p.  161.  For  Leonard  Cox  con- 
sult Diet,  of  National  Biography,  xii,  p.  136.  Cox's  preface,  referred 
to,  is  printed  in  Coates'  Reading.  The  whole  is  interesting,  but  it  is 
too  long  to  quote  here.  It  may  be  gathered  that  Cox  had  been  a 
protege  of  the  abbot,  who  bestowed  much  care  in  advancing  the 
interest  of  promising  youths,  and  that  Greek  was  taught  as  well  as 
Latin  in  "  your  grammar  schole,  founded  by  your  antecessours  in 
this  your  towne  of  Redynge."  It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention 
here  that  in  the  years  1499  and  1500  a  Greek,  one  John  Serbo- 
poulos,  of  Constantinople,  was  copying  Greek  MSS.  in  Reading. 
Two  of  these  thick  folios  written  on  vellum  now  form  MSS.  23  and 
24  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford.  They  were 
among  Grocyn's  books,  and  came  to  the  college  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  John  Claymond,  who  was  known  and  patronised 
by  Abbot  Bere,  of  Glastonbury.  Grocyn  himself  was  taught  Greek 
by  William  Sellyng,  Prior  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury  (see 
Downside  Review,  December,  1894). 


76  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

the  University,  as  the  custom  was,  so  that  he  might  preach 
in  London,  where  there  was  greater  need  of  such  a  man, 
seeing  that  the  city  was  already  infected  with  Lutheran- 
ism,  and  where  the  great  popularity  which  Holyman 
already  enjoyed  brought  crowds  to  him  whenever  he 
appeared  in  the  pulpit  at  St.  Paul's. 

On  the  visitation  of  Reading  Abbey  by  Doctor  London 
in  1535,  the  report  was  favourable  as  to  the  state  of 
discipline.  "  They  have,"  writes  the  Doctor,  "  a  good 
lecture  in  Scripture  daily  read  in  their  chapter-house 
both  in  English  and  Latin,  to  which  is  good  resort,  and 
the  abbot  is  at  it  himself."1  It  is  possible  that  at  this 
time,  in  the  Visitors'  injunctions  as  in  their  report, 
Reading  was  lightly  treated.  It  must  have  been  known 
to  them,  as  it  evidently  was  to  Crumwell,  that  the  abbot 
was  in  high  favour  with  the  king. 

At  any  rate  this  circumstance  will  explain  the  sharp- 
ness of  a  correspondence  which  took  place  at  this  time 
between  Shaxton,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  in  which  diocese 
Reading  was  situated,  and  Crumwell.  The  latter  takes 
up  the  very  unusual  position  as  defender  of  an  abbot, 
and  administers  a  sharp  reproof  to  the  bishop  for  his 
meddlesome  interference  in  matters  in  which,  as  Crum- 
well tells  him  plainly,  he  has  no  concern  beyond  a  desire 
to  obtain  preferment  for  an  unworthy  dependent  of 
his  own. 

It  appears  that  the  lecturer  in  Scripture  at  the  abbey 
was  one  Dom  Roger  London,  a  monk  of  the  house.  In 
the  usual  encouragement  given  to  tale-bearing  at  this 
time,  some  discontented  religious  had  delated  their 
teacher  to  Bishop  Shaxton  as  guilty  of  heresy.  "  The 
matters  were  no  trifles,"  says  Shaxton,  himself  at  that 

'   Wright,  p.  226. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  77 

time  a  strong  supporter  of  Lutheranism ;  and  the  four 
points  of  suggested  heresy  certainly  run  counter  to  the 
teaching  of  the  German  doctor.  Shaxton  examined  him 
personally,  "  as  favourably  as  I  could  do,"  he  writes, 
"  and  found  him  a  man  of  very  small  knowledge  and  of 
worse  judgment."  In  the  discussion  which  followed,  the 
bishop  failed  to  bring  the  monk  to  his  mind,  and  this 
determined  him  to  procure  the  appointment  of  a  man 
after  his  own  heart,  one  Richard  Cobbes,  who  had  been 
a  priest  and  canon,  but  who  was  then  "a  married  man 
and  degraded."  Shaxton  applied  to  Crumwell  for  the 
appointment  of  Cobbes  as  lecturer  to  the  monks  in  Dom 
Roger  London's  place,  "  with  stipend  and  commons  "  at 
the  expense  of  the  monastery.1 

Crumwell,  on  receipt  of  the  bishop's  letter,  wrote  to 
the  abbot  complaining  that  "  the  divinity  lecture  had  not 
been  read  in  the  abbey  as  it  ought  to  have  been,"  and 
recommending  Cobbes  for  the  post  of  lecturer.  Abbot 
Cook  replied  that  he  had  already  a  fully  qualified  teacher, 
"  a  bachelor  of  divinity  and  brother  of  the  house,  who, 
by  the  judgment  of  others  "  better  able  to  judge  than 
himself,  was  "very  learned  in  both  divinity  and  human- 
ities, profiting  the  brethren  both  in  the  Latin  tongue 
and  in  Holy  Scripture."  He  concludes  by  pointing  out 
that  this  teacher  read  his  lecture  at  far  less  charge  than 
a  stranger  would  do,  and  offers  him  to  be  examined  by 
any  whom  Crumwell  might  appoint.  As  to  the  bishop's 
nominee,  the  abbot  points  out  the  condition  of  the  man, 
and  naturally  declares  him  to  be  "  a  most  dangerous 
man  "  to  hold  such  a  position  in  the  monastery.  Under 
these  circumstances  Abbot  Cook  refused  to  admit  Cobbes 

1  Gairdner,  Calendar,  xiii,  i,  No.  143  (Jan.  26th,  the  Abbot  of 
Reading  to  Crumwell). 


78  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

into  his   house,  and  continued  his  monk,  Dom  Roger 
London  in  the  lectureship. 

Finding  that  he  had  not  got  his  way,  Shaxton  at  once 
proceeded  to  inhibit  the  monk  from  reading  at  Reading, 
and  put  a  stop  to  the  lectures  altogether.  The  bishop 
had  evidently  expected  that  Crumwell  would  out  of 
hand  have  appointed  Cobbes  to  the  post  on  his  first  re- 
presentation; "the  which  thing,  if  it  had  come  to  pass, 
so  should  I  not  have  needed  to  have  inhibited  the  said 
monk  his  reading;  but  I  bare  with  him,"  he  writes,  "to 
say  his  creed,  so  long  as  there  was  hope  to  have  another 
reader  there.  But  when  my  expectation  was  frustrated 
in  that  behalf,  then  was  I  driven  to  do  that  which  I  was 
loathe  to  do  and  which,  nevertheless,  I  was  bound  to  do." 

No  one  could  have  been  more  in  sympathy  with 
Shaxton's  views  on  this  matter  than  Crumwell.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  Worcester — that  is,  Cranmer,  and  Latimer — 
no  one  was  more  according  to  the  minister's  mind  in 
religious  matters  than  Bishop  Shaxton ;  for  all  of  them 
were  true  Lutherans  at  heart.  Two  of  these  prelates,  in- 
deed, continued  honest  in  the  year  1539  when  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  king's  "  Six  Articles,"  which  ex- 
tinguished the  immediate  hopes  of  the  Lutherans  in 
England.  They  resigned  their  Sees,  whilst  Cranmer,  in 
accordance  with  his  guiding  principle,  sacrificed  his  con- 
victions and  held  to  his  archiepiscopal  office. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Reading  lectureship  Shaxton  had 
counted  that  his  ground  was  safe;  and  so  indeed  it  was, 
up  to  the  one  point  of  that  personal  caprice  which, 
throughout  his  reign,  Henry  maintained  as  the  most 
cherished  point  of  his  royal  prerogative.  Whatever  be 
the  cause  or  explanation  of  the  bishop's  failure  in  this 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  79 

matter,  one  thing  is  clear:  Henry  had  a  real  affection 
for  the  Abbot  of  Reading,  so  far  as  his  affection  could 
go,  and  used,  as  the  contemporary  libeller  reports,  to  call 
him  familiarly  "  his  own  abbot." 

Shaxton  was  intent  on  doing  his  duty  as  a  good 
pastor  of  sound  Lutheran  principles.  But  Crumwell  had 
that  all-determining  and  all-varying  factor  to  consider, 
the  king's  fancy.  He  accordingly  wrote  to  the  abbot  to 
tell  him  that  he  need  not  pay  any  attention  to  the 
Bishop  of  Salisbury's  inhibition.  "  I,"  writes  Shaxton  on 
hearing  of  this,  "  could  not  obtain  so  much  of  you  by 
word  or  writing  to  have  your  pleasure,  and  the  Abbot  of 
Reading  could  out  of  hand  get  and  obtain  your  letters  to 
hinder  me  in  my  right  proceeding  towards  his  just  cor- 
rection." Beyond  this,  not  merely  was  the  bishop's 
action  set  aside,  but  he  had  to  submit  to  such  a  lecture 
from  the  king's  vicar-general  as  may  have  decided  him 
to  resign  his  office  when  a  few  months  later  the  "  Six 
Articles "  came  to  be  imposed  by  the  king  and  it  was 
seen  that  the  day  for  Lutheranism  in  England  had  not 
yet  dawned. 

It  will  be  sufficient  here  to  quote  the  conclusion  of 
Crumwell's  letter,  which  dealt  expressly  with  the  matter 
in  hand.  "  As  for  the  Abbot  of  Reading  and  his  monk," 
he  writes,  "  if  I  find  them  as  ye  say  they  are,  I  will  order 
them  as  I  think  good.1  Ye  shall  do  well  to  do  your 
duty;  if  you  do  so  ye  shall  have  no  cause  to  mistrust  my 
.  friendship.    If  ye  do  not,  I  can  tell  that  [to]  you,  and 

1  Ultimately  Roger  London,  the  reader  complained  of  by  Shaxton, 
found  his  way  into  the  Tower.  His  name  appears  in  a  list  of 
prisoners  there  "on  the  20th  day  of  November,"  1539,  as  "  Roger 
London,  monk  of  Reading"  (B.  Mus.  Cott.  MS.,  Titus  B.  i.,  f.  133). 
His  fate  is  uncertain. 


80  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

that  somewhat  after  the  plainest  sort.  To  take  a  con- 
troversy out  of  your  hands  into  mine  I  do  but  mine 
office.  You  meddle  further  than  your  office  will  bear 
you,  thus  roughly  to  handle  me  for  using  of  mine.  If  ye 
do  so  no  more  I  let  pass  all  that  is  past." 

Whatever  advantage  the  Abbot  of  Reading  derived 
temporarily,  at  different  conjunctures,  from  the  king's 
partiality  for  him,  it  was  by  this  time  clear  that  such 
favour  could  be  continued  to  a  man  of  Abbot  Cook's 
character  only  by  the  sacrifice  of  principles  and  convic- 
tions. According  to  the  writer  of  the  sermon  already 
quoted,  the  abbot  "  could  not  abide "  the  preachers  of 
the  new-fangled  doctrines  then  in  vogue,  and  "  called 
them  heretics  and  knaves  of  the  New  Learning."  He 
was  also  "  ever  a  great  student  and  setter  forth  of  St. 
Benet's,  St.  Francis',  St.  Dominic's  and  St.  Augustine's 
rules,  and  said  they  were  rules  right  holy  and  of  great 
perfectness."  It  was,  moreover,  recognised  that  disci- 
pline was  well  maintained  at  Reading  and  Colchester  no 
less  than  at  Glastonbury;  "  these  doughty  deacons,"  as 
the  writer  calls  the  abbots  and  their  monks,  "  thought  it 
both  heresy  and  treason  to  God  to  leave  Matins  unsaid, 
to  speak  loud  in  the  cloisters,  and  to  eat  eggs  on  the 
Friday."  '  It  would  appear  probable  that  Abbot  Cook 
did  not  refuse  to  take  the  oath  of  royal  supremacy,  al- 
though there  can  be  little  doubt  that  in  so  doing  he  did 
not  intend  to  separate  himself  from  the  traditional 
teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church  on  the  question  of 
papal  authority.  "  He  thought  to  shoot  at  the  king's 
supremacy,"  as  the  contemporary  witness  has  put  it,  and 
he  was  apparently  charged  with  saying  "  that  he  would 
pray  for  the  pope's  holiness  as  long  as  he  lived  and 
1  R.  O   State  Papers,  Domestic,  1539,  251. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  81 

would  once  a  week  say  Mass  for  him,  trusting  that  by 
such  good  prayers  the  pope  should  rise  again  and  have 
the  king's  highness  with  all  the  whole  realm  in  subjec- 
tion as  he  hath  had  in  time  past.  And  upon  a  ton  voyage 
would  call  him  pope  as  long  as  he  lived." 

After  a  page  of  abuse,  the  writer  continues:  "  1  can- 
not tell  how  this  prayer  will  be  allowed  among  St. 
Benet's  rules,  but  this  I  am  certain  and  sure  of,  that  it 
standeth  flatly  against  our  Master  Christ's  rule.  .  .  . 
What  other  thing  should  the  abbat  pray  for  here  (as 
methinketh)  but  even  first  and  foremost  for  the  high 
dishonouring  of  Almighty  God,  for  the  confusion  of  our 
most  dread  sovereign  lord,  king  Henry  VIII,  with  his 
royal  successors,  and  also  for  the  utter  destruction  of 
this  most  noble  realm  of  England.  Well,  I  say  no  more, 
but  I  pray  God  heartily  that  the  Mass  be  not  abused  in 
the  like  sort  of  a  great  many  more  in  England  which 
bear  as  fair  faces  under  their  black  cowls  and  bald 
crowns  as  ever  did  the  abbat  of  Reading,  or  any  of  the 
other  traitors.  I  wiss  neither  the  abbat  of  Reading,  the 
abbat  of  Glassenbury,  nor  the  prior  [sic]  of  Colchester, 
Dr.  Holyman,  nor  Roger  London,  John  Rugg,  nor 
Bachelor  Giles,  blind  Moore,  nor  Master  Manchester, 
the  warden  of  the  friars;  no,  nor  yet  John  Oynyon,  the 
abbat's  chief  councillor,  was  able  to  prove  with  all  their 
sophistical  arguments  that  the  Mass  was  ordained  for 
any  such  intent  or  purpose  as  the  abbat  of  Reading 
used  it." 

"  I  fear  me,  Hugh  Cook  was  master  cook  to  a  great 
many  of  that  black  guard  (I  mean  black  monks),  and 
taught  them  to  dress  such  gross  dishes  as  he  was  always 
wont  to  dress,  that  is  to  say,  treason ;  but  let  them  all 
take  heed." 

G 


82  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

At  the  time  of  the  great  northern  rising,  the  Abbey  of 
Reading,  together  with  those  of  Glastonbury  and  Col- 
chester, is  found  on  the  list  of  contributors  to  the  king's 
expenses  in  defeating  the  rebel  forces.  Reading  itself 
appears  to  have  had  some  communication  with  Robert 
Aske,  for  copies  of  a  letter  written  by  him,  and  appar- 
ently also  his  proclamation,  were  circulated  in  the  town. 
Amongst  others  who  were  supposed  to  be  privy  to  the 
intentions  of  the  insurgent  chief  was  John  Eynon,  a 
priest  of  the  church  of  St.  Giles,  Reading,  and  a  special 
friend  of  Abbot  Cook.  Three  years  later  this  priest  was 
executed  with  the  abbot ;  but  it  is  clear  that  at  the  time 
there  was  not  even  a  suggestion  of  any  complicity  in  the 
insurrection  on  the  part  of  the  abbot,  as  he  presided  at 
the  examinations  held  in  December,  1536,  as  to  this 
matter.1 

The  first  sign  of  any  serious  trouble  appears  about 
the  close  of  1537.  The  king's  proceedings,  which  were 
distasteful  to  the  nation  at  large,  naturally  gave  rise  to 
much  criticism  and  murmuring.  Every  overt  expression 
of  disapprobation  was  eagerly  watched  for  and  diligently 
enquired  into  by  the  royal  officials.  The  numerous  re- 
cords of  examinations  as  to  words  spoken  in  conversa- 
tion or  in  sermons,  evidence  the  extreme  care  taken  by 
the  Government  to  crush  out  the  first  sparks  of  popular 
discontent.  Rumours  as  to  the  king's  bad  health,  or,  still 
more,  reports  as  to  his  death,  were  construed  into  in- 
dications of  a  treasonable  disposition.  In  December, 
1537,  a  rumour  of  this  kind  that  Henry  was  dead  reached 
Reading,  and  Abbot  Cook  wrote  to  some  of  his  neigh- 
bours to  tell  them  what  was  reported.  This  act  was  laid 
to  his  charge,  and  Henry  acquired  a  cheap  reputation 

1  Calendar,  xi,  1231. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  83 

for  magnanimity  and  clemency  by  pardoning  "  his  own 
abbot "  for  what  was,  at  the  very  worst,  but  a  trifling  act 
of  indiscretion. 

The  libeller  thus  treats  the  incident: — "  For  think  ye 
that  the  Abbat  of  Reading  deserved  any  less  than  to  be 
hanged,  what  time  as  he  wrote  letters  of  the  king's  death 
unto  divers  gentlemen  in  Berkshire,  considering  in  what 
a  queasy  case  the  realm  stood  in  at  that  same  season? 
For  the  insurrection  that  was  in  the  north  country  was 
scarcely  yet  thoroughly  quieted  ;  thus  began  he  to  stir 
the  coals  a  novo  and  to  make  a  fresh  roasting  fire,  and 
did  enough,  if  God  had  not  stretched  forth  His  helping 
hand,  to  set  the  realm  in  as  great  an  uproar  as  ever  it 
was,  and  yet  the  king's  majesty,  of  his  royal  clemency, 
forgave  him.  This  had  been  enough  to  have  made  this 
traitor  a  true  man  if  there  had  been  any  grace  in  him." 

Circumstances  had  brought  Abbot  Cook  into  com- 
munication with  both  the  other  abbots,  whose  fate  was 
subsequently  linked  with  his  own.  In  the  triennial 
general  chapters  of  the  Benedictines,  in  Parliament,  in 
Convocation,  they  had  frequently  met;  and  when  the 
more  active  measures  of  persecution  devised  by  Crum- 
well  made  personal  intercourse  impossible,  a  trusty 
agent  was  found  in  the  person  of  a  blind  harper  named 
Moore,  whose  affliction  and  musical  skill  had  brought 
him  under  the  kindly  notice  of  the  king.  This  staunch 
friend  of  the  papal  party,  whose  blindness  rendered  his 
mission  unsuspected,  travelled  about  from  one  abbey  to 
another,  encouraging  the  imprisoned  monks,  bearing 
letters  from  house  to  house,  and,  doubtless,  finding  a 
safe  way  of  sending  off  to  Rome  the  letters  which  they 
had  written  to  the  pope  and  cardinals. 

"  But  now  amongst  them  all  let  us  talk  a  word  or  two 


S4  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

of  William  Moor,  the  blind  harper.  Who  would  have 
thought  that  he  would  have  consented  or  concealed  any 
treason  against  the  king's  majesty?  or  who  could  have 
thought  that  he  had  had  any  power  thereto?  Who  can 
muse  or  marvel  enough  to  see  a  blind  man  for  lack  of 
sight  to  grope  after  treason?  Oh!  Moor,  Moor,  hast 
thou  so  great  a  delight  and  desire  to  play  the  traitor? 
Is  this  the  mark  that  blind  men  trust  to  hit  perchance? 
Hast  thou  not  heard  how  the  blind  eateth  many  a  fly? 
Couldst  not  thou  beware  and  have  kept  thy  mouth  close 
together  for  fear  of  gnats?  Hath  God  endued  thee  with 
the  excellency  of  harping  and  with  other  good  qualities, 
to  put  unto  such  a  vile  use?  Couldst  thou  have  passed 
the  time  with  none  other  song  but  with  the  harping 
upon  the  string  of  treason?  Couldst  thou  not  have  con- 
sidered that  the  king's  grace  called  thee  from  the  wallet 
and  the  staff  to  the  state  of  a  gentleman?  Wast  thou 
also  learned,  and  couldst  thou  not  consider  that  the 
end  of  treason  is  eternal  damnation?  Couldst  thou  not 
be  contented  truly  to  serve  thy  sovereign  lord  king 
Henry  VIII,  whom  thou  before  a  great  many  oughtest 
and  wast  most  bound  truly  to  serve  ?  Couldst  not  thou 
at  least  for  all  the  benefits  received  at  his  grace's  hand, 
bear  towards  him  thy  good  will?  Hadst  thou  nought 
else  to  do  but  to  become  a  traitorous  messenger  be- 
tween abbat  and  abbat?  Had  not  the  traitorous  abbats 
picked  out  a  pretty  mad  messenger  of  such  a  blind 
buzzard  as  thou  art?  Could  I  blazon  thine  arms  suffi- 
ciently although  I  would  say  more  than  I  have  said? 
Could  a  man  paint  thee  out  in  thy  colours  any  other- 
wise than  traitors  ought  to  be  painted?  Shall  I  call 
thee  William  Moor,  the  blind  harper?  Nay,  verily,  thou 
shalt  be  called  William  Moor,  the  blind  traitor.    Now, 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  85 

surely,  in  my  judgment,  God  did  a  gracious  deed  what 
time  He  put  out  both  thine  eyes,  for  what  a  traitor  by 
all  likelihood  wouldst  thou  have  been  if  God  had  lent 
thee  thy  sight,  seeing  thou  wast  so  willing  to  grope 
blindfolded  after  treason!  When  thou  becamest  a 
traitorous  messenger  between  the  traitorous  abbats,  and 
when  thou  tookest  in  hand  to  lead  traitors  in  the  trade 
of  treason,  then  was  verified  the  sentence  of  our  Master 
Christ,  which  sayeth,  When  the  blind  lead  the  blind 
both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch.  Thou  wast  blind  in  thine 
eyes,  and  they  were  blind  in  their  consciences.  Where- 
fore ye  be  all  fallen  into  the  ditch,  that  is  to  say,  into 
the  high  displeasure  of  God  and  the  king.  I  wiss, 
Moor,  thou  wrestest  thine  harpstrings  clean  out  of  tune, 
and  settest  thine  harp  a  note  too  high  when  thou 
thoughtest  to  set  the  bawdy  bishop  of  Rome  above  the 
king's  majesty."  l 

It  is  evident  that  in  the  Benedictine  monasteries  of 
the  district,  as  years  went  on,  there  were  many  who,  as 
they  came  to  realise  the  true  meaning  of  this  new  royal 
supremacy,  made  no  attempt  to  dissemble  their  real 
opinions  on  the  matter.  The  writer  so  frequently  re- 
ferred to  thus  expresses  his  conviction  as  to  the  attitude 
of  the  monks:  "  But  like  as  of  late  by  God's  purveyance 
a  great  part  of  their  religious  hoods  be  already  meetly 
well  ripped  from  their  crafty  coats,  even  so  I  hope  the 
residue  of  the  like  religion  shall  in  like  sort  not  long 
remain  unripped;  for  truly  so  long  as  they  be  let  run  at 

1  State  Papers,  1539,  No.  251,  p.  25.  "William  Moor"  appears 
in  a  list  of  prisoners  in  the  Tower,  20th  November,  1539  (B.  Mus. 
Cott.  MS.,  Titus  B.,  i,  f.  133).  Perhaps  Moor  is  the  same  person 
mentioned  by  Stowe  (ed.  1614,  p.  582):  "The  1  of  July  (1540)  a 
Welchman,  a  minstrel,  was  hanged  and  quartered  for  singing  of 
songs  which  were  interpreted  to  be  prophecying  against  the  king." 


86  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

riot  thus  still  in  religion,  they  think  verily  that  they  may 
play  the  traitors  by  authority.  But  now  his  grace  seeth 
well  enough  that  all  was  not  gold  that  glittered,  neither 
all  his  true  subjects  that  called  him  lord  and  master, 
namely,  of  Balaam's  asses  with  the  bald  crowns.  But  I 
would  now  heartily  wish,"  he  adds,  writing  after  the 
execution  of  the  Abbots  of  Glastonbury,  Colchester  and 
Reading,  "  that  as  many  as  be  of  that  traitorous  religion 
[i.e.,  Order]  that  those  abbots  were  of,  at  the  next 
[assizes]  may  have  their  bald  crowns  as  well  shaven  as 
theirs  were." 

On  such  suspicions  as  these  the  Abbot  of  Abingdon 
was  called  up  to  London  and  examined  by  Crumwell 
himself,  whilst  one  of  his  monks  was  removed  from  the 
abbey  to  Bishop  Shaxton's  prison,  evidently  for  his 
opinions  on  religious  questions  of  the  day,  since  he  is 
designated  by  the  Bishop  as  "  the  popish  monk."  Again 
one  of  Crumwell's  spies  reported  his  grave  doubts  as  to 
Sir  Thomas  Eliot.  It  appears  that  Eliot  had  given  out 
that  he  had  himself  told  Crumwell  that  "the  Imperator 
of  Almayn  never  spoke  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  but  he 
raised  his  bonnet,"  and  that  he  consorted  in  the  country 
with  "  the  vain-glorious  Abbot  of  Eynesham,"  and  with 
Dr.  Holyman,  evidently  a  relative  of  Dom  John  Holy- 
man,  the  monk  of  Reading,  and  incumbent  of  "  Han- 
borough,  a  mile  of  Eynesham,"  who  is  noted  as  "  a  base 
priest  and  privy  fautor  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome."  More- 
over, "  he  was  marvellous  familiar,"  so  said  the  spy, 
"  with  the  Abbot  of  Reading  and  Doctor  London, 
Warden  of  New  College,  Oxon,"  a  man,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, in  every  way  of  different  mind  from  his  name- 
sake, Dr.  London,  the  royal  Visitor. 

A  letter  from   Eliot   to   Crumwell,  in   which  he  ex- 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  87 

presses  his  willingness  to  give  up  his  popish  books  and 
strives  to  remove  from  the  mind  of  the  all-powerful 
vicar-general  of  the  king  the  suspicion  that  he  was  "  an 
advancer  of  the  pompous  authority  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,"  gives  some  insight  into  the  nature  of  his  com- 
munications with  the  suspected  abbots.  There  "  hath 
happened,"  he  says,  "  no  little  contention  betwixt  me 
and  such  persons  as  ye  have  thought  that  I  especially 
favoured,  even  as  ye  also  did,1  for  some  laudable  qualities 
which  we  supposed  to  be  in  them ;  but  neither  they 
could  persuade  me  to  approve  that  which  both  my  faith 
and  reason  condemned,  nor  I  could  not  dissuade  them 
from  the  excusing  of  that  which  all  the  world  abhorred. 
This  obstinacy  of  both  parts  relented  the  great  affection 
betwixt  us  and  withdrew  our  familiarity."2 

In  view  of  the  prize  to  be  won,  that  is,  the  broad  acres 
and  other  possessions  of  the  great  monastic  houses,  any 
very  definite  enquiry  as  to  the  opinions  of  the  inmates 
was  not  at  once  pressed  home.  Crumwell  played  a  wait- 
ing game.  The  situation  at  Reading  Abbey  is  well 
described  by  Dr.  London,  the  Visitor  and  royal  agent  in 
dissolving  the  religious  houses,  in  a  letter  written  to 
Crumwell  whilst  occupied  in  suppressing  the  Grey 
Friars'  house  in  the  town.  "  My  lord,"  he  writes  of  the 
abbot,  "  doubteth  my  being  here  very  sore,  yet  I  have 
not  seen  him  since  I  came,  nor  been  at  his  house,  except 
yesterday  to  hear  Mass.  The  last  time  I  was  here  he 
said,  as  they  all  do,  that  he  was  at  the  king's  command, 
but  loathe  be  they  to  come  to  any  free  surrender."  3 

The  writer  here  evidently  refers  to  the  Abbot  of  Reading  in 
particular. 
•  Strype,  Ecclesiastical  Memorials,  ii,  ii,  p.  229. 
!  Gairdner,  Calendar,  xiii,  ii,  No.  5. 


88  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

Still  Crumwell  evidently  hesitated  to  try  conclusions, 
and  so  matters  remained  for  another  year  until  he  had 
obtained  his  Act  of  Parliament  which  provided  for  the 
case  of  a  house  "  happening  to  come  to  the  king's  high- 
ness by  attainder  or  attainders  of  treason."  By  the 
autumn  of  the  year  1539  he  was  prepared  for  the  final 
issue  in  the  case  of  Reading.  We  have  no  records  giving 
the  details  of  Abbot  Cook's  arrest  and  his  conveyance 
to  the  Tower.  There  is  only  the  ominous  entry  in  Crum- 
well's  Remembrances  early  in  September:  "  For  proceed- 
ing against  the  abbots  of  Glaston,  Reading  and  other  in 
their  countries."  The  Abbot  of  Reading  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  to  be  arrested,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  all  remained  for  near  two  months  in  the  Tower 
and  were  all  subjected  to  the  same  enquiries.  There  is 
evidence  to  show  that  at  Reading  many  arrests  were 
made  when  the  abbot  was  taken.  A  list  of  the  prisoners 
in  the  Tower  on  November  20th,  1539,  includes  the  fol- 
lowing, all  connected  with  the  abbey  and  town:  Roger 
London,  monk  of  Reading,  Peter  Lawrence,  Warden  of 
the  Grey  Friars  at  Reading,  Giles  Coventry,  who  was  a 
friar  of  the  same  house,  George  Constantine,  Richard 
Manchester  and  William  Moor,  "the  blind  harper;"1  and 
in  one  of  Crumwell's  Remembrances  at  this  time  there  is 
noted:  "Item  to  proceed  against  the  Abbots  of  Read- 
ing, Glaston,  Rugg,  Bachyler,  London,  the  Grey  Friars 
and  Heron." 

Abbot  Cook,  like  the  Abbot  of  Glastonbury,  under- 
went examination  and  practical  condemnation  in  the 
Tower  before  being  sent  down  to  his  "  country  to  be 
tried  and  executed."    What  was  the  head  and  chief  of 

1    B.  Mus.,  Cott.  MS.,  Titus  B,  i,  f.  133. 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  89 

his  offence  we  may  take  from  the  testimony  of  the  hostile 
witness  so  freely  used. 

"  It  will  make  many  beware  to  put  their  fingers  in  the 
fire  any  more,"  he  says,  "  either  for  the  honour  of  Peter 
and  Paul  or  for  the  right  of  the  Roman  Church.  No,  not 
for  the  pardon  of  the  pope  himself,  though  he  would 
grant  more  pardon  than  all  the  popes  that  ever  were 
have  granted.  I  think,  verily,  our  mother  holy  Church 
of  Rome  hath  not  so  great  a  jewel  of  her  own  darling 
Reynold  Poole  as  she  should  have  had  of  these  abbats 
if  they  could  have  conveyed  all  things  cleanly.  Could 
not  our  English  abbats  be  contented  with  English  forked 
caps  but  must  look  after  Romish  cardinal  hats  also? 
Could  they  not  be  contented  with  the  plain  fashion  of 
England  but  must  counterfeit  the  crafty  cardinality  of 
Reynold  Poole?  Surely  they  should  have  worn  their 
cardinal  hats  with  as  much  shame  as  that  papistical 
traitor,  Reynold  Poole.  .  .  .  Could  not  our  popish  abbats 
beware  of  Reynold  Poole,  of  that  bottomless  whirlpool, 
I  say,  which  is  never  satiate  of  treason?  " 

Carried  down  to  Reading  for  the  mockery  of  justice, 
called  a  trial,  the  abbot  and  his  companions  could  not 
swerve  from  their  belief  and  their  Faith,  but  they  main- 
tained that  this  was  not  treason  against  the  king. 
"  When  these  traitors,"  says  the  libeller,  "  were  arraigned 
at  the  bar,  although  they  had  confessed  before  and 
written  it  with  their  own  hands  that  they  had  committed 
high  treason  against  the  king's  majesty,  yet  they  found 
all  the  means  they  could  to  go  about  to  try  themselves 
true  men,  which  was  impossible  to  bring  to  pass." 

The  writer's  object  was  not  to  state  the  facts,  but 
to  cover  the  memory  of  the  dead  men  with  obloquy. 
Taking  the  document,  however,  as  a  whole,  and  bearing 


90  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

in  mind  the  interpretation  placed  on  the  word  treason 
at  that  time,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  penetrating  into  his 
meaning. 

On  November  15th,  the  same  day  upon  which  Abbot 
Whiting  suffered  at  Glastonbury,  the  Abbot  of  Reading 
and  two  priests,  John  Eynon  and  John  Rugg,  were 
brought  out  to  suffer  the  death  of  traitors.  Here  the 
same  ghastly  scene  was  enacted  as  at  Glastonbury;  the 
stretching  on  the  hurdle,  the  dragging  through  the  streets 
of  the  town.  Abbot  Cook,  standing  in  the  space  before 
the  gateway  of  his  abbey,  spoke  to  the  people  who  in 
great  numbers  had  gathered  to  witness  the  strange 
spectacle  of  the  execution  of  a  lord  abbot  of  the  great 
and  powerful  monastery  of  Reading.  He  told  them  of 
the  cause  for  which  he  and  his  companions  were  to  die, 
not  fearing  openly  to  profess  that  which  Henry's  laws 
made  it  treason  to  hold — fidelity  to  the  See  of  Rome, 
which  he  went  on  to  point  out  was  but  the  common 
faith  of  those  who  had  the  best  right  to  declare  the  true 
teaching  of  the  English  Church.  "  The  Abbot  of  Read- 
ing, at  the  day  of  his  death  lamenting  the  miserable  end 
that  he  was  come  unto,"  says  our  authority,  perverting 
words  and  deeds  to  the  greater  glory  of  the  king,  "  con- 
fessed before  a  great  sight  of  people,  and  said  that  he 
might  thank  these  four  privy  traitors  before  named  of 
his  sore  fall,  as  who  should  say  that  those  three  bishops 
and  the  vicar  of  Croydon  had  committed  no  less  treason 
than  he  had  done.  Now,  good  Lord  for  his  Passion,  who 
would  have  thought  that  these  four  holy  men  would 
have  wrought  in  their  lifetime  such  detestable  treason?" 
And  later  on,  speaking  of  the  three  abbots:  "God 
caused,  I  say,  not  only  their  treason  to  be  disclosed  and 
come  abroad  in  such  a  wonderful  sort  as  never  was  heard 


ABBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  91 

of,  which  were  too  long  to  recite  at  this  time,  but  also 
dead  men's  treason  that  long  lay  hidden  under  the 
ground;  that  is  to  say,  the  treason  of  the  old  bishop  of 
Canterbury  [Warham],  the  treason  of  the  old  bishop  of 
St.  Asaph  [Standish],  the  treason  of  the  old  vicar  of 
Croydon,  and  the  treason  of  the  old  bishop  of  London 
[Stokesley],  which  four  traitors  had  concealed  as  much 
treason  by  their  lives'  time  as  any  of  these  traitors  that 
were  put  to  death.'  There  was  never  a  barrel  better 
herring  to  choose  [among]  them  all,  as  it  right  well 
appeared  by  the  Abbat  of  Reading's  confession  made  at 
the  day  of  [execution],  who  I  daresay  accused  none  of 
them  for  malice  nor  hatred.  For  the  abbat  as  heartily 
loved  those  holy  fathers  as  ever  he  loved  any  men  in 
his  life." 

Thus,  from  the  scaffold  with  the  rope  round  his  neck, 
and  on  the  verge  of  eternity,  the  venerable  abbot  gave  a 
witness  to  the  veneration  traditional  in  these  islands 
from  the  earliest  ages  for  the  See  of  Rome,  "  in  which 
the  Apostles  daily  sit,  and  their  blood  shows  forth  with- 
out intermission  the  glory  of  God."  2 

When  the  abbot  had  finished,  John  Eynon,3  the  abbot's 

1  This  reference  to  Warham,  Stokesley,  etc.,  shows  that  what 
was  in  question  throughout  the  proceedings  was  the  papal  versus 
the  royal  authority. 

-  In  these  terms  the  first  council  of  Aries,  in  314,  addressed  Pope 
St.  Silvester.  This  is  the  first  known  official  act  proceeding  from 
bishops  of  the  British  Church. 

3  The  usual  spelling  of  this  name  has  been  Onyon  or  Oynyon, 
but  it  really  was  Eynon.  It  is  so  spelt  in  the  document  already  re- 
ferred to  (Calendar,  xi,  No.  1231),  and  also  in  the  accurate  entry  of 
the  conviction,  to  be  found  on  the  Controlment  Roll,  31  Hen.  VIII, 
m.  28  d.  "  Recordum  attinctionis,  &c,  Hugonis  abbatis  monasterii 
de  Redyng  in  diet.  com.  Berks,  alias  dicti  Hugonis  Cooke,  nuper 
de  Redyng  in  eodem  com.  Berks,  clerici ;  Johannis  Eynon  nupe 


92  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

"chief  counsellor,"  also  spoke,  evidently  in  the  same 
sense,  and  begged  the  prayers  of  the  bystanders  for  his 
soul,  and  the  king's  forgiveness  if  in  aught  he  had 
offended.' 

This  over,  the  sentence  of  hanging  with  its  barbarous 
accessories  was  carried  out  upon  Abbot  Cook  and  the 
two  priests,  John  Eynon  and  John  Rugg.2 

de  Redyng  in  com.  pred.  clerici ;  Johannis  Rugge  nuper  de  Redyng 
in  com.  Berks,  clerici  alias  diet.  Johannis  Rugge  nuper  de  Redyng 
capellani,  pro  quibusdam  altis  proditionibus  unde  eorum  quilibet 
pro  se  indictus  fuit,  tractus  et  suspensus." 

'  It  would  seem  that  at  the  trial  some  attempt  was  made  to  im- 
plicate Eynon  in  the  Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  in  connection  with  which 
his  name  had  been  mentioned  in  1536;  and  this  is  doubtless  the 
"treason"  which  the  hostile  witness  declares  that  he  not  only 
denied,  "  but  also  stoutly  and  stubbornly  withstood  it  even  to  the 
utmost,  evermore  finding  great  fault  with  justice,  and  oftentimes 
casting  his  arms  abroad,  said:  'Alas,  is  this  justice  to  destroy  a 
man  guiltless?  I  take  it  between  God  and  my  soul  that  I  am  as 
clear  in  this  matter  as  the  child  that  was  this  night  born.'  Thus  he 
prated  and  made  a  work  as  though  he  had  not  known  what  the 
matter  had  meant,  thinking  to  have  faced  it  out  with  a  card  of  ten. 
And  in  this  sort  he  held  on  even  from  the  time  of  the  arraignment 
till  he  came  to  the  gallows.  Marry  then,  when  he  saw  none  other 
way  but  one,  his  heart  began  somewhat  to  relent.  Then  both  he  and 
his  companions,  with  their  ropes  about  their  necks,  confessed  before 
all  the  people  that  were  present  that  they  had  committed  high 
treason  against  the  king's  most  noble  person,  but  namely  Oynyon, 
for  he  said  that  he  had  offended  the  king's  grace  in  such  sort  of 
treason  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  tell  thereof.  Wherefore  he  be- 
sought the  people  not  only  to  pray  unto  God  for  him,  but  also 
desired  them,  or  some  of  them  at  the  least,  to  desire  the  king's  grace 
of  his  merciful  goodness  to  forgive  it  his  soul,  for  else  he  was  sure, 
as  he  said,  to  be  damned.  And  yet,  not  an  hour  before,  a  man  that 
had  heard  him  speak  would  have  thought  verily  that  he  had  been 
guiltless  of  treason." 

'  Eynon  was,  as  before  stated,  a  priest  attached  to  the  church  of 
St.  Giles,  Reading.  John  Rugg  had  formerly  held  a  prebend  at 
Chichester,  but  had  apparently  retired  to  Reading.     In  December 


ARBOT  HUGH  COOK  OF  READING  93 

The  attainder  of  the  abbot,  according  to  the  royal 
interpretation  of  the  law,  placed  the  Abbey  of  Reading 
and  its  lands  and  possessions  at  Henry's  disposal.  In 
fact,  as  in  the  case  of  Glastonbury,  on  the  removal  of 
the  abbot  to  the  Tower  in  September,  1539,  before  either 
trial  or  condemnation,  the  pillage  of  the  abbey  had  been 
commenced.  As  early  as  September  8th  Thomas  Moyle 
wrote  from  Reading  that  he,  "  master  Vachell  and  Mr. 
Dean  of  York "  (Layton)  had  "  been  through  the  in- 
ventory of  the  plate,  etc.,  at  the  residence"  there.  "In 
the  house,"  he  said,  "  is  a  chamber  hanged  with  three 
pieces  of  metely  good  tapestry.  It  will  serve  well  for 
hanging  a  mean  little  chamber  in  the  king's  majesty's 
house."  This  is  all  they  think  worth  keeping  for  the 
royal  use.  "  There  is  also,"  the  writer  adds,  "  a  chamber 
hung  with  six  pieces  of  verdure  with  fountains,  but  it  is 
old  and  at  the  ends  of  some  of  them  very  foul  and 
greasy."  He  notes  several  beds  with  silk  hangings,  and 
in  the  church  eight  pieces  of  tapestry,  "  very  goodly  " 
but  small,  and  concludes  by  saying  that  he  and  his 
fellows  think  that  the  sum  of  ,£200  a  year  "  will  serve 
for  pensions  for  the  monks."  ' 

1531  {Calendar,  v),  Rugg  writes  for  his  books  to  be  sent  to  Reading 
from  Chichester.  Another  letter,  dated  Feb.  3,  1532,  from  "your 
abbey-lover  Jo.  Rugg"  shows  that  the  writer  had  obtained  dispensa- 
tion for  non-residence  at  Chichester.  Coates  {Reading,  p.  261),  on 
the  authority  of  Croke,  says  that  John  Rugg  was  indicted  for  say- 
ing "the  king's  highness  cannot  be  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church 
of  England."  On  being  asked  "  Whafdid  you  for  saving  your  con- 
science when  you  were  sworn  to  take  the  king  for  Supreme  Head?" 
Rugg  replied,  "  I  added  this  condition  in  my  mind,  to  take  him  for 
Supreme  Head  in  temporal  things,  but  not  in  spiritual  things." 

1  R.  O.  Crnniwell  Correspondence,  xxix,  No.  76.  In  the  "Cor- 
poration diary,"  quoted  in  Coates'  Reading,  p.  261,  is  the  entry 
"before  which  said  nineteenth  of  September  (1539),  the  monastery 


94  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

On  September  15th  another  commissioner,  Richard 
Pollard,  wrote  from  Reading  that  he  had  dispatched 
certain  goods  according  to  CrumweH's  direction  "and 
part  of  the  stuff  reserved  for  the  king's  majesty's  use." 
"  The  whole  house  and  church  are,"  he  says,  '•  still  un- 
defaced,"  and  "  as  for  the  plate,1  vestments,  copes  and 
hangings,  which  we  have  reserved  "  to  the  king's  use, 
they  are  left  in  good  custody  and  are  to  be  at  once  con- 
veyed to  London.  "Thanks  be  to  God,"  he  adds, 
"everything  is  well  finished,  and  every  man  well  con- 
tented, and  giveth  humble  thanks  to  the  king's  grace."2 

is  suppressed  and  the  abbot  is  deprived,  and  after  this  suppression 
all  things  remain  in  the  king's  hands." 

1  In  Pollard's  account  of  the  plate  of  "attainted  persons  and 
places "  {Monastic  Treasures,  Abbotsford  Club,  p.  38)  Reading  is 
credited  with  19^-  ounces  of  gold,  $77  ounces  of  gilt  plate,  and 
2,660  ounces  of  silver.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  abbot  put  "to 
gage  to  Sir  W.  Luke  three  gilt  bowls  of  152  ounces  and  six  silver 
bowls  of  246  ounces." 

-  Wright,  220.  Mr.  Wright  thinks  this  letter  "  must  refer  to  the 
priory  and  not  to  the  abbey."  A  letter  from  William  Penison,  to 
whom  Pollard  says  he  committed  the  charge  "  by  indenture,"  says 
that  on  September  nth  he  "received  possession  of  the  Abbey  of 
Reading  and  all  the  domains  which  the  late  abbot  had  in  his  hands 
at  his  late  going  away"  (R.  O.  Crumwell  Correspondence, vol. xxxii, 
No.  36).  This  letter  shows  that,  to  William  Penison,  Abbot  Cook 
was  late  abbot — in  other  words,  had  ceased  to  hold  the  office  when 
he  was  taken  away  to  the  Tower  for  examination  early  in  Sep- 
tember. 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  95 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER 

The  Abbot  of  St.  John's,  Colchester,  Thomas  Marshall,1 
writes  Browne  Willis,  "  was  one  of  the  three  mitred  par- 
liamentary abbots  that  had  courage  enough  to  maintain 
his  conscience  and  run  the  last  extremity,  being  neither 
to  be  prevailed  upon  by  bribery,  terror  or  any  dishonour- 
able motives  to  come  into  a  surrender,  or  subscribe  to 
the  king's  supremacy;  on  which  account,  being  attainted 
of  high  treason,  he  suffered  death." 

Thomas  Marshall  succeeded  Abbot  Barton  in  June, 
1533,  and  entered  upon  the  cares  of  office  at  a  time 
when  religious  life  was  becoming  almost  impossible.  At 
the  outset  he  had  apparently  considerable  difficulty  in 
obtaining  possession  of  the  temporalities  of  his  abbey. 
"  I,  with  the  whole  consent  of  my  brethren,"  he  writes  to 
Crumwell,  "  have  sealed  four  several  obligations  for  the 

1  Thomas  Marshall  was  also  called  Beche.  It  may  be  worth 
while  here,  as  some  confusion  has  existed  as  to  the  last  Abbot  of 
Colchester,  to  give  the  evidence  of  the  Controlment  Roll,  31  Hen. 
VIII,  m.  36d,  which  leaves  no  room  for  doubt  that  Beche  and 
Marshall  are  aliases  for  the  same  person.  "  Recordum  attinctionis 
Thomas  Beche  nuper  de  West  Donylands,  in  com.  Essex,  clerici, 
alias  dicti  Thomas  Marshall  nuper  de  eisdem  villa  et  comit.,  clerici, 
alias  Thomas  Beche  nuper  abbatis  nuper  monasterii  S.  Johannis 
Bapt.  juxta  Colcestr.,  in  com.  pred.  jam  dissolut.  alias  dicti  Thomae 
Marshall  nuper  abb.  nuper  mon.  S.  Johis.  Colcestr.  in  com.  pred. 
pro  quibusdam  altis  proditionibus."  West  Donylands  was  a  manor 
belonging  to  the  abbot,  and  the  name  occurs  in  exchanges  made 
by  the  abbot  with  Chancellor  Audley  in  1536  (see  Calendar,  xi, 
Nos.  385,  519). 


96  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

payment  of  ^200  to  the  king's  use,  trusting  now  by  your 
especial  favour  to  have  restitution  of  my  temporalities 
with  all  other  things  pertaining  to  the  same.  Unless  I 
have  your  especial  favour  and  aid  in  recovering  such 
rents  and  dues  as  are  withdrawn  from  the  monastery  of 
late,  and  I  not  able  to  recover  them  by  the  law,  I  cannot 
tell  how  I  shall  live  in  the  world,  saving  my  truth  and 
promises."  1 

Of  the  earlier  career  of  Thomas  Marshall  little  is 
known  except  that  he,  like  the  majority  of  his  Order  in 
England  who  were  selected  by  their  superiors  for  a  uni- 
versity course,  was  sent  to  Oxford,  where  he  resided  for 
several  years,  and  passed  through  the  schools  with  credit 
to  himself  and  his  Order.  During  this  period  he  was 
probably  an  inmate  of  St.  Benedict's  or  Gloucester  Hall, 
the  largest  of  the  three  establishments  which  the  Bene- 
dictines possessed  in  Oxford,  and  to  which  the  younger 
religious  of  most  of  the  English  abbeys  were  sent  to 
pursue  their  higher  studies.2 

1  R.  O.  Crumwell  Correspondence,  vi,  f.  145.  The  temporalities 
were  restored  on  Jan.  23rd,  1534,  and  on  March  30th  of  this  same 
year  the  new  abbot  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords.  It  has 
been  thought  that  Marshall  is  the  same  Thomas  Marshall  who 
ruled  the  abbey  of  Chester  until  1 530,  and  is  counted  as  the  twenty- 
sixth  abbot  of  that  house  {Motiasticon,  iv).  Whether,  on  his  retire- 
ment from  Chester  in  favour  of  the  reinstated  abbot,  John  Birchen- 
shaw,  he  went  to  Colchester  is  uncertain.  If  he  had  been  long  at 
this  latter  monastery  it  is  somewhat  strange  that  the  witnesses 
against  him  in  1539  should  have  professed  to  be  unacquainted  with 
him  until  his  election. 

2  St.  Benedict's  is  now  represented  by  Worcester  College;  Can- 
terbury Hall,  destined  for  the  monks  of  the  metropolitan  church,  is 
now  merged  in  Christ  Church ;  and  Trinity  College  has  succeeded 
to  St.  Cuthbert's  Hall,  the  learned  home  of  the  monks  of  Durham. 
D.  Thomas  Marshall,  O.S.B.,  supplicated  for  B.D.  January  24, 
1508-9;  disputed  3rd  June,  1511;  admitted  to  oppose,  19th  Oct.; 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  97 

Very  shortly  after  Abbot  Marshall's  election  his 
troubles  commenced.  At  Colchester,  as  elsewhere  in  the 
country  at  this  period,  there  were  to  be  found  some  only 
too  anxious  to  win  favour  to  themselves  by  carrying  re- 
ports of  the  doings  and  sayings  of  their  brethren  to 
Crumwell  or  the  king.  In  April,  1534,  a  monk  of  St. 
John's  complained  of  the  "  slanderous  and  presumptu- 
ous "  sayings  of  the  sub-prior,  "  D.  John  Francis."  This 
latter  monk,  according  to  Crumwell's  informer,  had 
"  declared  our  sovereign  lord  the  king  and  his  most 
honourable  council,  on  the  occasion  of  a  new  book  of 
articles,  to  be  all  heretics,  whereas  before  he  said  they 
were  but  schismatics."  l  These  and  other  remarks  were 
quite  sufficient  to  have  brought  both  the  bold  monk 
himself  and  his  abbot  into  trouble,  at  a  time  when  the 
gossip  of  the  fratry  or  shaving-house  was  picked  up  by 
eavesdroppers  and  carried  to  court  to  regale  the  ears  of 
the  Lord  Privy  Seal.  In  this  case,  however,  the  report 
came  on  the  eve  of  the  administration  to  the  monks  of 
Colchester  of  what  was  to  be  henceforth  considered  the 
touchstone  of  loyalty,  the  oath  of  supremacy.  On  the 
7th  of  July,  1534,  the  oath  was  offered  to  the  monks  in 
the  chapter  house  of  St.  John's,  and  taken  by  Abbot 
Marshall  and  sixteen  monks,  including  Dom  John  Francis, 
the  sub-prior  complained  of  to  Crumwell. 

Very  little  indeed  is  known  about  Colchester  or  the 
doings  of  the  abbot  from  this  time  till  his  arrest  in  1539. 
At  the  time  of  the  northern  rising,  whilst  the  commis- 
sioners for  gaol-delivery  sat  at  Colchester,  they  were  in- 
received  the  degree  of  S.T.B.,  10th  Dec;  sued  for  D.D.  and  dis- 
puted 20th  April,  1 5 1 5.  Boase,  Register  of  the  University  of  Oxford, 
p.  63. 

1  Calendar,  1534,  Ap.  viii. 

H 


98  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

vited  to  dine  at  the  abbey  with  the  Abbot  of  St.  John's. 
When  they  were  at  dinner,  as  Crumwell's  informant 
writes  to  him,  one  Marmaduke  Nevill  and  others  came 
into  the  hall.  "  I  asked  him,"  says  the  writer,  " '  How  do 
the  traitors  in  the  north? '  '  No  traitors,  for  if  ye  call  us 
traitors  we  will  call  you  heretics.' "  Nevill  then  went  on 
to  say  that  the  king  had  pardoned  them,  or  they  had 
not  been  at  Colchester.  They  were,  he  declared,  30,000 
well-horsed,  and  "  I  am  sure,"  he  said,  "  my  lord  abbot 
will  make  me  good  cheer;"  and  asked  why,  said,  "  Marry, 
for  all  the  abbeys  in  England  be  beholden  to  us,  for  we 
have  set  up  all  the  abbeys  again  in  our  country,  and 
though  it  were  never  so  late  they  sang  Matins  the  same 
night."  He  added  that  in  the  north  they  were  "  plain 
fellows,"  and  southern  men,  though  they  "thought  as 
much,  durst  not  utter  it."  1 

Another  glimpse  of  the  life  led  by  the  Abbot  of 
Colchester  during  the  few  troubled  years  of  his  au- 
thority is  afforded  by  a  writer  of  a  slightly  subsequent 
period: 

"Those  who  can  call  to  mind  the  cruel  deeds  ot 
Henry  VIII,  the  confusion  of  things  sacred  and  profane, 
and  the  slaughterings  of  which  he  was  the  author,  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  recollecting  the  case  of  John  Beche, 
Abbat  of  Colchester.  Excelling  many  of  the  abbats  of 
his  day  in  devotion,  piety  and  learning,  the  sad  fate  of 
the  cardinal  (Fisher)  and  the  execution  of  Sir  Thomas 
More  oppressed  him  with  grief  and  bitterness.  For  he 
had  greatly  loved  them;  and  as  he  had  honoured  them 
when  living,  so  now  that  they  had  so  gladly  suffered 
death  for  the  Church's  unity,  he  began  to  reverence  and 
venerate  them,  and  often  and  much  did  he  utter  to  that 

1  Calendar,  xi,  13 19. 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  99 

effect,  and  made  his  friends  partakers  of  his  grief  which 
the  late  events  had  caused  him.  And  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  extolling  the  piety,  meekness,  and  innocence  of 
the  late  martyrs  to  those  guests  whom  he  invited  to  his 
table,  and  who  came  to  him  of  their  own  will,  some  of 
whom  assented  to  his  words,  while  others  listened  in 
silence.  There  came  at  length  a  traitorous  guest,  a 
violator  of  the  sacred  rights  of  hospitality,  who  by  his 
words  incited  the  abbat  to  talk  about  the  execution  of 
the  cardinal  and  More,  hoping  to  entrap  him  in  his 
speech.  Thereon  the  abbat,  who  could  not  be  silent  on 
such  a  theme,  spoke  indeed  in  their  praise  but  with 
moderation  and  sparingly,  adding  at  last  that  he  mar- 
velled what  cause  of  complaint  the  king  could  have 
found  in  men  so  virtuous  and  learned,  and  the  greatest 
ornaments  of  Church  and  State,  as  to  deem  them  un- 
worthy of  longer  life,  and  to  condemn  them  to  a  most 
cruel  death.  These  words  did  this  false  friend  carry 
away  in  his  traitorous  breast,  to  make  them  known  in 
due  season  to  the  advisers  of  the  king.  What  need  of 
more?  The  abbat  is  led  to  the  same  tribunal  which  had 
condemned  both  Fisher  and  More,  and  there  received 
the  like  sentence  of  death;  yea,  his  punishment  was  the 
more  cruel  than  theirs,  for  in  his  case  no  part  of  the 
sentence  was  remitted.  Thus  he  was  added  as  the  third 
to  the  company  of  the  two  former.  But  why  should  I 
call  him  the  third,  and  try  to  enumerate  the  English 
martyrs  of  that  time,  who  are  past  counting?  The 
writers  of  our  annals  mention  many  by  name,  but  there 
were  many  more  whose  names  they  could  not  ascertain, 
whose  number  is  known  to  God  alone,  for  whose  cause 
they  died.  Yet  I  hope  that  some  day  God  will  make 
known  their  names  and  the  resting-places  of  their  bodies, 


ioo  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

which   were  in   life    the   dwelling-places    of   His    Holy 
Spirit." ' 

About  the  time  of  the  arrest  of  the  Abbots  of  Reading 
and  Glastonbury,  in  September,  1539,  reports  were 
spread  as  to  the  approaching  dissolution  of  St.  John's, 
Colchester.  Sir  Thomas  Audley,  the  Chancellor,  endeav- 
oured to  avert  what  he  thought  would  be  an  evil  thing 
for  the  county.  He  had  heard  the  rumours  about  the 
destruction  of  the  two  abbeys  of  St.  John's,  Colchester, 
and  St.  Osyth's,  and,  writing  to  Crumwell,  he  begs  they 
may  continue,  "  not,  as  they  be,  religious ;  but  that  the 
king's  majesty  of  his  goodness  to  translate  them  into 
colleges.  For  the  which,  as  I  said  to  you  before,  his 
grace  may  have  of  either  of  them  £1,000,  that  is  for 
both  £2,000,  and  the  gift  of  the  deans  and  prebendaries 
at  his  own  pleasure.  The  cause  I  move  this  is,  first,  I 
consider  that  St.  John's  standeth  in  his  grace's  own 
town  at  Colchester,  wherein  dwell  many  poor  people 
who  have  daily  relief  of  the  house.  Another  cause, 
both  these  houses  be  in  the  end  of  the  shire  of  Essex, 
where  little  hospitality  will  be  kept  if  these  be  dissolved. 
For  as  for  St.  John's  it  lacketh  water,  and  St.  Osyth's 
standeth  in  the  marshes,  not  very  wholesome,  so  that 
few  of  reputation,  as  I  think,  will  keep  continual  houses 
in  any  of  them  unless  it  be  a  congregation  as  there  is 
now.  There  are  also  twenty  houses,  great  and  small, 
dissolved  in  the  shire  of  Essex  already."  Audley  then 
goes  on  to  protest  that  he  only  asks  for  the  common 
good,  and  can  get  no  advantage  himself  by  the  houses 
being  allowed  to  continue,  and  concludes  by  offering 
Crumwell  £200  for  himself  if  he  can  persuade  the  king 
to  grant  his  request.2 

1   B.  Mus.  Arundel  MS.,  152,  f.  235c!.        2  Wright,  p.  246. 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  101 

The  circumstances  attending  Abbot  Marshall's  arrest 
are  unknown,  but  by  the  beginning  of  November,  1539, 
he  was  certainly  in  the  Tower.  On  the  1st  of  that  month 
Edmund  Crowman,  who  had  been  his  servant  ever  since 
he  had  been  abbot,  was  under  examination.  All  that 
was  apparently  extracted  from  this  witness  was  that  a 
year  before  the  abbot  had  given  him  certain  plate  to 
take  care  of  and  "  £40  in  a  coser."  ' 

The  abbot's  chaplain  was  also  interrogated  as  to  any 
words  he  had  heard  the  abbot  speak  against  the  king  at 
any  time,  but  little  information  was  elicited  from  him. 
The  most  important  piece  of  evidence  is  a  document, 
which,  as  it  contains  declarations  as  to  Abbot  Marshall's 
opinions  upon  several  important  matters,  and  as  it  is 
almost  the  only  record  of  the  examinations  of  witnesses 
against  any  of  the  three  abbots;  and  gives  a  sample  of 
the  questions  on  which  all  these  examinations  in  the 
Tower  concerning  treason  must  i)ave:ftirned,'m<r/'r#re 
be  given  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  original  form. 

"  Interrogatories  ministered  unto  Robert  Rowse,  mer- 
cer, of  Colchester,  4t0  Novembris  anno  regni  Henrici 
octavi  tricesimo  primo  (1539).  Ad  primam,  the  said 
Rowse  sworne  upon  the  Evangel,  and  sayeth  that  he 
hath  known  the  Abbat  of  Colchester  the  space  of  six 
years  at  midsummer  last  past  or  thereabout,  about  which 

time  the  said was  elected  abbat.2    And  within  a 

sennight  after  or  thereabout  this  examinant  sent  unto 
the  said  abbat  a  dish  of  bass  (baces)  and  a  pottle  of  wine 
to  the  welcome.  Upon  the  which  present  the  said  abbat 
did  send  for  the  examinant  to  dine  with  him  upon  a 
Friday,  at  which  time  they  were  first  acquainted,  and 

1  R.  O.  Crumwell  Correspondence,  xxxviii,  No.  42. 

2  D.  Thomas  Marshall  or  Beche  was  elected  June  10th,  1533. 


io2  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

since  was  divers  times  in  his  company  and  familiar  with 
him  unto  a  fortnight  before  the  feast  of  All  Hallows  was 
two  years  past. — ROBERT  ROWSE. 

2.  Ad  secundam,  he  sayeth  that  the  principal  cause 
why  that  he  did  leave  the  company  of  the  said  abbat 
was  because  that  abbat  was  divers  times  communing 

and  respuing  against  the  king's  majesty's 

Supremacy.  ,  ,  ,. 

supremacy  and  such  ordinances  as  were 
passed  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  concerning  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  bishop  of  Rome's  usurped  authority, 
Th     ,   .  saying  that  the  whole  authority  was  given 

authority  by  Christ  unto  Peter  and  to  his  successors, 

committed  bishops  of  Rome,  to  bind  and  to  loose,  and 

to  grant  pardons  for  sin,  and  to  be  chief 
and  supreme  head  of  the  Church  throughout  all  Christian 
realms  immediate  and  next  unto  Christ,  and  that  it  was 
Against  the  against  God's  commandment  and  His  laws 
supremacy.  fiVtiZ  an  v  temporal  prince  should  be  head  of 
the  Church.  And  also  he  said  that  the  king's  highness 
had  evil  counsel  that  moved  him  to  take  on  hand  to  be 
chief  head  of  the  Church  of  England  and  to  pull  down 
these  houses  of  religion  which  were  founded  by  his 
grace's  progenitors  and  many  noble  men  for  the  service 
and  honour  of  God,  the  commonwealth,  and  relief  of  poor 
Against  man's  fo^K  anc*  that  the  same  was  both  against 
law  and  God's  God's  law  and  man's  law;  and  furthermore, 
law-  he  said  that  by  means  of  the  premises  the 

king  and  his  council  were  drawn  into  such  an  inordinate 
covetousness  that  if  all  the  water  in  the  Thames  were 

flowing  gold  and  silver  it  were  not  able  to 

slake  their  covetousness.and  said  a  vengeance 

A  vengeance. 

of  all  such  councillors. — ROBERT  ROWSE. 

3.  Ad  tertiam,  he  sayeth  that  he  is  not  well  remem- 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  103 

bered  of  the  year  nor  of  the  days  that  the  said  abbat  had 
the  foresaid  communications  because  he  spoke  at  divers 
times,  and  specially  at  such  times  as  he  heard  that  any 
such  matters  were  had  in  use,  and  furthermore  of  this 
he  is  well  remembered  of  that  at  such  time  as  the  monks 
of  Syon,  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  and  Sir  Thomas  More 
were  put  to  execution,  the  said  abbat  would  say  that  he 
marvelled  greatly  of  such  tyranny  as  was 

11  ■        <  •  1    1  •  -i  Tyranny. 

used  by  the  king  and  his   council  to  put 

such  holy  men  to  death,  and  further  the  abbat  said  that 

in  his  opinion  they  died  holy  martyrs  and 

in  the  right  of  Christ's  Church.— ROBERT 

ROWSE. 

4.  Ad  quartam,  he  sayeth  that  the  last  time  that  ever 
he  heard  the  said  abbat  have  any  communication  of 
such  matters  was,  immediately  after  that  he  heard  of  the 
insurrection  in  the  north  parts,  he  sent  for  this  examin- 
ant  to  come  to  sup  with  him,  and  in  the  mean  time  that 
supper  was  making  ready  the  abbat  and  the  examinant 
were  walking  between  the  hall  and  the  garden  in  a  little 
gallery  off  the  ground,  and  then  and  there  the  abbat 
asked  of  this  examinant  what  news  he  heard  of  the  coast? 
and  this  examinant  said  that  he  heard  none.  Then  the 
abbat  said :  "  Dost  you  not  hear  of  the  insurrection  in 
the  north?"  and  this  examinant  said  "no."  Northern 

"  The  northern  lads  be  up  and  they  begin  men- 

to  take  pip  in  the  webe  {sic)  and  say  plainly  that  they 
will  have  no  more  abbeys  suppressed  in  their  country;" 
and  he  said  to  this  examinant  that  the  northern  men 
were  as  true  subjects  unto  the  king  as  anywhere  within 
his  realm,  and  that  they  desired  nothing  of  the  king  but 
that  they  might  have  delivered  unto  their  hands  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the   Lord   Chancellor,  and 


io4  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

the  Lord  Privy  Seal ;  and  the  abbat  said  "  would  to 
God  that  the  northern  men  had  them,  for 
lord  '  ht  then  (he  said)  we  should  have  a  merry- 
be  delivered  world,  for  they  were  three  arch-heretics," 
to  the  northern    which    term    this  examinant  never   heard 


men. 


before;  and  so  then  they  went  to  supper, 

and    since   this   time,   which   was    as   this 

examinant  doth  remember  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks 

before  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  was  two  years. — ROBERT 

ROWSE.1 

The  evidence  of  Thomas  Nuthake,  a  "physition,"  of 
Colchester,  is  to  the  like  effect.  He  had  not,  he  said,  to 
his  knowledge  seen  or  known  Abbot  Thomas  before  his 
election,  although  he  had  divers  times  repaired  to  the 
abbey  before  that  time.  In  reply  to  the  third  question, 
this  doctor  "  sayeth  that  concerning  the  marriage  of 
queen  Anne  this  examinant  remembers  he  hath  heard  the 
said  abbat  say  that  the  reason  why  the  king's  highness 
did  forsake  the  bishop  of  Rome  was  to  the  intent  that 
his  majesty  might  be  divorced  from  the  lady  dowager 
and  wed  queen  Anne,  and  therefore  his  grace  refused  to 
take  the  bishop  of  Rome  for  the  supreme  head  of  the 
Church,  and  made  himself  the  supreme  head."2 

Another  of  the  witnesses  against  the  Lord  Abbot  of 
Colchester  was  a  cleric,  John  Seyn,  who  deposed  that 
when  he  had  informed  him  of  his  neighbour,  the  Abbot 
of  St.  Osyth's  surrender  of  his  monastery  to  the  king,  he 
answered,  "  I  will  not  say  the  king  shall  never  have  my 
house,  but  it  will  be  against  my  will  and  against  my 

1  R.  O.  State  Papers,  Dom.,  1539,  .3jj7.  The  marginal  notes 
copied  from  the  original  document,  indicate  the  chief  points  on 
which  the  examination  turned. 

a  Ibid.,  s£6. 


THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  COLCHESTER  105 

heart,  for  I  know  by  my  learning  that  he  cannot  take 
it  by  right  and  law,  wherefore  in  my  conscience  I 
cannot  be  content,  nor  he  shall  never  have  it  with  my 
heart  and  will."  Whereunto  John  Scyn,  clerk,  answered 
in  this  wise:  "  Beware  of  such  learning  as  ye  learned  at 
Oxenford  when  ye  were  young.  Ye  would  be  hanged 
and  ye  are  worthy.  I  will  advise  you  to  conform  your- 
self as  a  true  subject,  or  else  you  shall  hinder  your 
brethren  and  also  yourself."  ' 

Nothing  more  is  known  of  Abbot  Marshall's  last  days, 
but  the  fact  of  his  execution  as  a  traitor  on  December 
1st,  1539.  The  enamelled  pectoral  cross  of  the  venerable 
martyr  has  been  preserved,  and  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Lord  Clifford  of  Chudleigh.  One  one  side  it  bears 
the  emblems  of  the  Five  Wounds,  in  the  centre  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  our  Lord,  surrounded  by  the  crown  of 
thorns,  above  which  is  the  inscription,  "  I.N.R.I.,"  and 
below  it  the  sacred  monogram,  "  I.H.S."  with  the  wounded 
hands  and  feet  of  our  Saviour.  On  the  back  the  instru- 
ments of  the  Passion  are  engraved.  The  following  in- 
scriptions in  Latin  appear  in  and  about  the  cross :  "  May 
the  Passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bring  us  out  of 
sorrow  and  sadness.  This  sign  of  the  cross  shall  be  in 
the  heavens  when  our  Lord  shall  come  to  judgment. 
Behold,  O  man!  thy  Redeemer  suffers  for  thee.  He 
who  will  come  after  me,  let  him  take  up  his  cross  and 
follow  me." 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  frequently  in  this  world 
malice  defeats  its  own  ends  even  when  it  takes  the  guise, 
to  some  persons  apparently  so  attractive,  of  doing  God 
a  service.    It  is  by  a  singular  fate  that  the  would-be 

1  R.  O.  Crumwell  Correspondence,  xxxviii,  No.  41. 


io6  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

preacher,  who  gave  himself  so  much  trouble  to  defame 
the  three  Abbots  of  Glastonbury,  Reading  and  Colchester 
and  their  companions,  in  the  expectation  doubtless  of 
thereby  recommending  himself  to  the  king,  should  have 
been,  after  three  centuries  and  a  half  of  oblivion,  the 
most  explicit  witness  of  the  cause  for  which  these  vener- 
able men  gave  up  their  lives  in  all  the  terrors  of  as 
shameful  and  painful  a  death  as  man  could  devise. 

The  writer  himself  amid  the  periods  which  betoken 
his  unhappy  spirit,  seems  to  have  been  haunted  still  with 
some  forebodings  that  he  was  destined  to  make  manifest 
a  truth  which  it  was  the  evident  design  of  those  in  power 
to  shroud  in  obscurity.  He  cannot  help  being  truculent 
even  at  his  best;  but  the  form  which  he  adopts  may  well 
be  pardoned  for  the  sake  of  the  sense.  "  Is  it  not  to  be 
thought,  trow  ye,"  he  says,  "  that  forasmuch  as  these 
trusty  traitors  have  so  valiantly  jeopardied  a  joint  for 
the  Bishop  of  Rome's  sake,  that  his  Holiness  will  after 
their  hanging  canvass  them,  canonise  them,  I  would  say, 
for  their  labours  and  pains.  It  is  not  to  be  doubted  but 
his  Holiness  will  look  upon  their  pains  as  upon  Thomas 
Becket's,  seeing  it  is  for  like  matter." 

Much  has  since  happened  which  the  writer  of  these 
words  could  not  have  anticipated.  In  God's  hands  are 
times  and  seasons,  and  He  alone  it  is  Who  judges  rightly 
the  acts  and  lives  of  men.  The  words  of  the  wise  man 
fittingly  rise  up  in  the  mind  as  it  recalls  the  story  of  the 
deaths  of  these  holy  abbots.  "  In  the  sight  of  the  unwise 
they  seemed  to  die:  and  their  departure  was  taken  for 
misery,  and  their  going  away  from  us  for  utter  destruc- 
tion: but  they  are  in  peace.  And  though  in  the  sight 
of  men  they  suffered  torments,  their  hope  is  full  of  im- 
mortality.   Afflicted  in  few  things,  in  many  they  shall 


APPENDIX  I  107 

be  well  rewarded ;  because  God  has  tried  them  and  found 
them  worthy  of  Himself.  As  gold  in  the  furnace  He 
hath  proved  them,  and  as  a  victim  of  a  holocaust  He  hath 
received  them,  and  in  time  there  shall  be  respect  had  unto 
them."  ' 


APPENDIX  I 

In  view  of  the  want  of  information  as  to  the  internal  arrange- 
ment of  the  monasteries  on  the  eve  of  their  suppression,  caused 
by  the  wholesale  destruction  of  documents,  and  especially  as 
regards  the  music  and  church  services,  the  following  paper 
printed  in  the  Reliquary  {New  Series,  vol.  vi,  p.  176)  seems  of 
sufficient  interest  to  be  given  here. 

From  the  document  it  may  be  gathered  that  at  Glastonbury 
there  were  always  three  organists :  a  chief  organist  and  master 
of  the  singing  boys,  appointed  for  life;  and  two  youths,  who  in 
consideration  of  a  musical  education,  were  bound  (after  two 
years'  instruction)  to  serve  as  assistant  organists  for  six  years. 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  chief  duties  of  these  organists 
and  of  the  singing  boys  were  confined  to  the  Masses  and 
offices  chanted  in  the  chapel  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  These 
were,  of  course,  not  monastic,  that  is  to  say,  they  were  outside 
of  the  ordinary  conventual  life,  and  were  not  followed  neces- 
sarily by  the  monks.  These  services  were  evidently  carried  out 
with  every  accessory  calculated  to  call  forth  popular  devotion 
to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
sweet  strains  of  melody  heard  every  day  in  this  special  sanc- 
tuary of  the  Mother  of  God  attracted  thither  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  who  might  find  as  an  ordinary  rule  but  little  to 
call  them  to  the  more  formal  and  simple  offices  daily  said  by 
the  monks  themselves  in  the  high  choir. 

It  is  this   music   in  the   chapels  of  Our   Blessed   Lady  in 

1   Wisd.,  iii,  2-0. 


10S  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

monasteries  apud  Britannos,  which  calls  forth  the  censures  of 
that  occasionally  severe  and  always  erratic  moralist  Erasmus 
(Anno/,  ad  i  Cor.  xiv,  26). 

We  have  no  means  of  saying  whether  on  festival  days  the 
monks  of  Glastonbury  themselves  used  "  that  depraved  kind  of 
chant  called  fanbourdon"  though  few  persons  at  the  present 
day  will  be  inclined  to  see  in  the  use  of  what  is  called  "har- 
monised gregorians  "  any  great  enormity.  It  is,  however,  cer- 
tain that  on  feasts  and  festal  days  the  monastic  offices  in  the 
"  High  Choir  "  of  Glastonbury  were  accompanied  with  such 
beauty  of  music  as  the  presence  of  the  singing-school  and  the 
playing  upon  the  organs,  under  the  care  of  the  chief  organist, 
could  give.  For  the  rest  the  document  will  repay  a  careful 
perusal,  and  for  those  who  are  interested  in  the  subject  of 
ecclesiastical  music  in  England  at  a  time  when  it  was  assidu- 
ously cultivated,  the  indications  and  suggestions  which  it  gives 
will  be  found  to  possess  a  high  degree  of  interest.  The  spell- 
ing of  the  document  has  been  modernised. 

"  This  indenture  made  the  tenth  day  of  August,  the  26th 
year  of  the  reign  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  King  Henry  VIII 
[i.e.,  1534],  between  the  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God, 
Richard  Whiting,  Abbot  of  the  Monastery  of  Our  Blessed 
Lady  of  Glastonbury  and  the  Convent  of  the  same,  in  the 
county  of  Somerset,  of  the  one  part,  and  James  Renynger  of 
Glastonbury  foresaid,  in  the  said  county,  Singingman,  of  the 
other  part,  witnesseth  that  the  said  James  Renynger  hath 
covenanted  and  granted  and  agreed,  and  by  these  presents 
covenants,  grants,  and  agrees  to  serve  the  said  Reverend 
Father  and  Convent,  and  their  successors  in  the  Monastery  of 
Glastonbury  foresaid,  in  his  faculty  of  singing  and  playing 
upon  the  organs  [for  the]  term  of  his  life  as  well  in  [the]  daily 
services  of  Our  Lady  kept  in  the  chapel  of  Our  Blessed  Lady 
in  Glastonbury  foresaid,  as  daily  Matins,  Masses,  Evensongs, 
Compline,  Anthems  and  all  other  divine  services  as  hath  been 
accustomably  used  to  be  sung  in  the  said  chapel  of  Our 
Blessed  Lady  of  Glastonbury  before  the  time  of  these  cove- 


APPENDIX   I  109 

nants.  And  to  do  service  in  singing  and  playing  upon  the 
organs  in  the  high  choir  of  Glastonbury  foresaid  on  all  and  all 
manner  such  feasts  and  festival  days  as  hath  been  in  times 
past  used  and  accustomed  there. 

"And  in  likewise  to  serve  the  said  Reverend  Father  and  his 
successors  with  songs  and  playing  on  instruments  of  music  as 
in  the  times  of  Christmas  and  other  seasons,  as  hath  been 
heretofore  used  and  accustomed  and  at  any  other  time  or 
times  when  the  said  James  Renynger  shall  be  thereunto 
required  by  the  said  Reverend  Father,  his  successor  or  assigns. 
And  further  the  said  James  Renynger  covenants,  grants  and 
agrees  to  instruct  and  teach  six  children  always  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  said  Reverend  Father  or  his  successors  for  the  chapel  of 
Our  Blessed  Lady  in  Glastonbury,  sufficiently,  lawfully  and 
melodiously  with  all  his  diligence  in  pricksong  and  descant ;  of 
the  which  six  children,  two  of  them  yearly  to  be  sufficiently 
instructed  and  taught  by  the  said  James  Renynger  in  playing 
on  the  organs  for  the  space  of  two  years;  the  said  children  to 
be  always  chosen  at  the  pleasure  of  the  said  Reverend  Father 
and  his  successors  which  he  or  they  shall  think  to  be  most  apt 
thereto,  so  that  the  friends  of  the  two  children  will  be  bound 
in  sufficient  bonds  that  the  said  two  children  and  any  of  them 
shall  serve  the  said  Reverend  Father  and  his  successors  in 
singing  and  playing  on  the  organs  daily  in  the  said  chapel  of 
Our  Lady  and  high  choir  of  the  Monastery  of  Glastonbury 
aforesaid,  and  other  times  of  the  year  in  manner  and  form  as 
before  rehearsed,  for  the  space  of  six  years  next  ensuing  the 
said  two  years  of  their  teaching  in  singing  and  playing.  And 
the  said  Reverend  Father  and  his  successors  shall  find  the  said 
James  Renynger  clavicords  to  teach  the  said  two  children  to 
play  upon,  for  the  which  service  well  and  truly  done  the  said 
Reverend  Father  and  Convent  covenants  and  grants  to  the 
said  James  Renynger  during  his  life  as  well  in  sickness  as  in 
health  ten  pounds  of  lawful  money  of  England,  as  well  for  his 
stipend  as  for  his  meat  and  drink,  at  four  principal  times  of  the 
year  in  equal  portions  at  the  Right  Reverend  Father's  chequer 


no  THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

of  receipt  in  Glastonbury  to  be  taken  and  received,  and  also 
once  in  every  year  his  livery  gown  or  else  thirteen  shillings  and 
fourpence  in  money  for  the  said  gown,  always  at  the  pleasure 
and  election  of  the  said  Reverend  Father  and  his  successors: 
also  two  loads  of  wood  brought  home  to  the  said  James 
Renynger's  house  or  chamber  (and  his  house  rent  free,  or  else 
thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence  a  year  for  it).  Always  (sup- 
posing) that  if  it  happen  the  said  James  Renynger  be  taken  up 
by  virtue  of  any  of  the  King's  commissions,  or  by  any  authority 
of  his,  to  serve  his  grace,  that  if  the  same  James  Renynger 
come  to  Glastonbury  again  within  one  year  and  one  day  the 
next  following,  and  so  from  thenceforth  do  his  diligent  service 
in  singing  and  playing  on  the  organs,  and  teaching  children  at 
all  times  and  in  everything  accordingly  in  manner  and  form  as 
is  before  rehearsed,  that  then  he  should  have  his  perpetuity 
again  without  any  interruption  or  let;  and  also  if  it  happen  the 
said  James  Renynger  does  not  do  his  diligence  in  teaching  and 
instructing  the  said  six  children  in  singing  and  playing,  as  is 
before  rehearsed,  to  the  pleasure  of  the  said  Reverend  Father 
or  his  successors,  or  else  if  it  happen  that  the  said  James  be 
sick  or  aged  so  that  he  cannot  well  and  diligently  instruct  and 
teach  the  said  children,  then  it  shall  be  lawful  to  the  said 
Reverend  Father  and  his  successors  as  Abbots,  of  the  said  ten 
pounds  (to  deduct)  for  the  teaching  and  instructing  of  the  said 
six  children  yearly  105s.  \d. 

"  In  witness  whereof  to  the  one  part  of  these  present  inden- 
tures remaining  with  the  said  James  Renynger,  the  aforesaid 
Reverend  Father,  Richard  Whityng,  Abbot  of  the  foresaid 
Monastery  of  Glastonbury,  and  Convent  of  the  same  have  put 
their  convent  seal  and  to  the  other  part,  remaining  with 
the  said  foresaid  Reverend  Father  and  Convent,  the  foresaid 
James  Renynger  has  put  his  seal. 

"Given  at  Glastonbury  aforesaid  the  day  above  said." 


APPENDIX  II  in 


APPENDIX  II 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  an  old  paper  kept  with  the 
pectoral  cross  of  the  last  Abbot  of  Colchester.  "  This  gold  and 
enamelled  cross  belonged  to  Abbot  John  Beche,  last  superior 
of  the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  John's,  Colchester,  in  the 
county  of  Suffolk  in  England.  He  was  elected  Abbot  in  1523, 
and  refused,  at  the  same  time  as  the  Abbots  of  Glastonbury 
and  Reading,  the  act  by  which  Henry  VIII,  King  of  England, 
was  declared  head  of  the  Church,  or  to  resign  to  his  Majesty 
the  property  of  his  abbey.  For  this  reason  he  was  convicted 
of  treason,  and  hanged  in  the  said  town  of  Colchester  on 
December  1st,  1539. 

"This  cross  was  preserved  in  the  Mannock  family,  whose 
seat  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Colchester,  up  to  the 
time  of  the  last  baronet,  Sir  George  Mannock,  who  gave  it  to 
the  English  Benedictine  nuns  then  at  Brussels,  and  since 
settled  in  Winchester,  where  two  of  his  sisters  were  nuns. 
About  the  year  1788,  the  cross  was  given  by  the  abbess  of 
that  community  to  the  late  Mr.  Weld,  whose  aunt  had  long 
lived  among  them." 

In  this  account  there  are  certain  inaccuracies  which,  how- 
ever, do  not  affect  the  truth  of  the  tradition  as  to  the  cross. 
The  Mannocks'  family  seat  was  Gifford  Hall,  not  far  from 
Colchester  and  in  the  county  of  Suffolk.  The  Mannocks  never 
lost  the  Catholic  faith,  and  at  least  four  members  of  the  family 
were  professed  among  the  English  Benedictine  nuns  of 
Brussels  in  the  last  century.  One  of  these,  Dame  Etheldreda 
Mannock,  was  Abbess  from  1762  to  1773.  Three  of  the  nuns 
were  sisters  to  Sir  George  Mannock,  who  presented  Abbot 
Beche's  cross  to  the  community.  The  Abbess,  Etheldreda 
Mannock,  was  succeeded  in  her  office  by  Dame  Mary  Ursula 
Pigott— a  name,  like  that  of  Mannock,  well  known  in  the 
English   Benedictine  Fasti  of  the  last  century,  and  to  some 


H2     THE  LAST  ABBOT  OF  GLASTONBURY 

persons,  perhaps,  through  the  once  well-known  Catholic  coun- 
sel, Nathaniel  Pigott,  of  Whitton,  for  whose  family  the  poet 
Pope,  a  near  neighbour,  entertained  a  high  regard.  It  was  this 
Abbess  who  gave  the  cross  to  Mr.  Weld. 

During  the  office  of  Lady  Abbess  Pigott,  the  community 
were  forced  by  the  Revolution  to  leave  Brussels,  and  settled  at 
Winchester,  whence  in  1857  they  removed  to  their  present 
abbey  at  East  Bergholt,  near  Colchester. 

From  the  Welds  the  cross  passed  through  Cardinal  Weld  to 
his  only  daughter,  Lady  Clifford.  It  afterwards  came  into  the 
possession  of  her  son,  the  Hon.  and  Right  Reverend  William 
Clifford,  third  Bishop  of  Clifton,  at  whose  decease  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  his  nephew,  the  present  Lord  Clifford  of 
Chudleigh,  to  whose  kindness  I  am  indebted  for  these  details. 


Autograph  Signature  of  Abbot  Whiting,  from  an  original 
letter  in  the  record  office  ("  rlc  abbatt  ther  ")• 


II 

ENGLISH   BIBLICAL  CRITICISM   IN 
THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY1 

THE  "dark  ages"  are  often  held  responsible  for 
ideas  wholly  foreign  to  the  mediaeval  spirit.  Eyes 
also,  usually  keen  enough  for  other  things,  not  unfre- 
quently  appear  to  fail  strangely  when  they  peer  into  the 
darkness  which  is  supposed  to  shroud  those  centuries. 
They  see  there  what  in  fact  does  not  exist,  whilst  they 
pass  over  what  is  real  without  any  intelligent  interest. 
Not  only  are  shadows  and  illusions  allowed  to  do  duty 
for  realities;  but  creations  of  the  essentially  modern 
mind  and  temper  are  projected  into  the  past  and  sub- 
jected to  criticism  as  substantial  objects  deserving  the 
ridicule  of  a  more  enlightened  age.  It  is  strange,  but 
true,  that  of  many  students  of  past  ages  it  may  be  said, 
"  Seeing  they  do  not  see,  and  hearing  they  do  not  under- 
stand." 

As  a  case  in  point  we  may  take  the  question  of  the 
Bible.  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  sub- 
ject, it  is  still  the  general  belief,  even  among  well- 
educated  Englishmen,  that  the  possession  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  was  one  of  the  most  obvious  and  most  im- 
portant practical  results  of  the  Reformation  to  the  world 
at  large.    This  notion  in  one  form  or  another  meets  us 

1  Published  in  the  Dublin  Review^  January,  1898. 

I 


ii4  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

at  every  turn.  Again  and  again,  for  example,  it  has 
been  pointed  out  and  proved  to  be  a  fact  from  written 
records,  that  the  very  literature  and  language  of  the 
Middle  Ages  is  moulded  and  formed  upon  the  Scrip- 
tures. Still  the  result  is  the  same;  and  the  fundamental 
article  of  popular  belief  is  that  it  certainly  was  Pro- 
testantism which  in  the  sixteenth  century  gave  to  the 
world  any  real  knowledge  of  the  Bible.  It  is  this  pre- 
possession which  prevents  many  from  seeing  the  plain 
evidence  of  its  use  and  its  study  in  the  earlier  centuries. 
Few,  however,  even  of  those  who  do  not  allow  them- 
selves to  be  blinded  by  prejudice,  really  understand  how 
seriously  and  thoroughly  the  Scriptures  were  studied  in 
the  so-called  dark  ages.  How  many  are  there,  for 
example,  who  realise  the  sound  work  in  textual  critic- 
ism which  characterised  the  scriptural  studies  of  the 
thirteenth  century?  Abroad,  it  is  true,  more  attention 
has  been  paid  to  the  matter,  and  the  eminent  French 
scholar,  M.  Samuel  Berger,  and  others,  have  written  on 
this  special  subject.  In  England,  however,  this  aspect  of 
their  work  has  apparently  failed  to  attract  the  notice  it 
deserves.  This  is  all  the  more  strange,  since  England, 
or  at  least  Englishmen  and  English  scholarship,  had  a 
very  large  share  in  the  attempts  made  in  that  century 
to  secure  a  purer  text  of  the  Latin  Vulgate  version  of 
the  Bible.  My  purpose  in  the  following  pages  is  to  give 
a  slight  sketch  of  the  history  of  this  important  move- 
ment, and  specially  in  regard  to  the  influence  of  English- 
men in  it. 

Our  knowledge  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other  matters 
connected  with  the  history  of  mediaeval  thought  and 
work  at  this  period,  is  mainly  derived  from  the  works 
of   Roger  Bacon.     In    fact    this   illustrious    Franciscan 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  1 15 

philosopher  had  himself  much  to  do  with  the  subse- 
quent correction  of  the  Latin  Bible  on  what  may  be 
described  as  thoroughly  sound  principles  of  criticism. 
Hody,  long  ago  in  his  work,  De  Bibliorum  tcxtibns,  at 
great  length  quoted  the  words  of  Bacon  on  the  state  of 
the  then  received  text,  as  giving  the  best,  if  not  the  only 
reliable,  account  of  the  matter.  He  did  not,  however, 
apparently,  fully  realise  the  extent  of  Bacon's  personal 
influence  in  the  work  of  correction,  nor  how  the  lines  of 
sound  critical  investigation  laid  down  by  him  were  in 
reality  those  upon  which  the  subsequent  rectification 
of  the  sacred  text  was  actually  accomplished.  Had 
Clement  IV,  the  Pope  to  whom  Bacon  addressed  his 
remarks  in  1267,  lived,  he  might  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, with  the  assistance  of  the  English  Franciscan,  have 
anticipated  the  work  of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  regard 
to  the  Latin  Vulgate. 

In  view  of  the  part  played  by  Bacon  in  so  important 
a  matter  as  the  determination  of  the  text  of  the  Bible,  it 
may  be  of  interest  to  understand  something  of  the 
influences  under  which  he  received  his  early  training. 
It  is  not  very  difficult  to  see  where  he  first  derived  his 
ideas  as  to  the  paramount  importance  of  biblical  know- 
ledge, which  he  holds  must  form  the  foundation  of  all 
ecclesiastical  studies.  In  fact,  so  strongly  does  he  main- 
tain this,  that  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  even  his 
scientific  researches,  for  which  he  is  so  justly  celebrated 
are,  in  his  mind,  subordinated  to  their  usefulness  in 
clearing  up  difficulties  and  more  exactly  determining  the 
sacred  text. 

Roger  Bacon,  according  to  his  own  account  of  him- 
self written  in  A.D.  1267,  commenced  his  studies  about 
forty  years  previously,  or  some  time  about  A.D.   1227. 


n6  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM   IN 

He  names  as  his  chief  masters  at  Oxford,  Bishop 
Grosseteste,  Friar  Adam  Marsh,  and  Thomas  Wallensis, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  St.  David's.  These  three  illus- 
trious men  had  all  taught  in  the  Franciscan  school  at 
the  University ;  and  it  was  most  probably  owing  to  the 
influence  of  that  great  churchman  and  scholar  Grosse- 
teste, for  whom  Bacon  so  frequently  expresses  unbounded 
admiration,  and  possibly  also  the  example  of  Adam 
Marsh,  who  late  in  life  had  given  up  a  distinguished 
career  as  professor  in  the  universities  of  Paris  and  Ox- 
ford, that  he  himself  joined  the  English  Franciscans. 
Of  Adam  Marsh  and  Bishop  Grosseteste,  their  illus- 
trious pupil  speaks  in  terms  of  the  highest  praise.  He 
considers  them,  he  says,  "  perfect  in  all  knowledge,"  and 
"  the  greatest  clerics  in  the  whole  world,  excelling  in 
all  wisdom  human  and  divine." l  The  Bishop  of  St. 
David's  he  especially  names  as  distinguished  for  his 
great  knowledge  of  foreign  languages.  These  three  had 
themselves  all  been  pupils  of  St.  Edmund  Rich,  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  they  had  evi- 
dently taken  to  heart  their  master's  favourite  maxim  for 
himself  and  his  disciples:  "  Study  as  if  you  were  to  live 
for  ever;  live  as  if  you  were  to  die  to-morrow." 

Shortly  after  the  first  establishment  of  the  Franciscan 
friars  at  Oxford,  Eccleston  tells  us  that  their  first  Pro- 
vincial in  England,  Friar  Agnellus,  "  persuaded  Master 
Robert  Grosseteste,  of  holy  memory,  to  read  lectures  to 
the  brethren  there."  Owing  chiefly  to  the  reputation  of 
this  great  master,  in  a  brief  time  the  fame  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan school  at  Oxford  had  spread  even  beyond  the 
limits  of  this  country,  and  through  the  influence  of  the 

1  Bacon,  Opera  inedita  (Rolls  series),  pp.  70,  74. 
-  Mon.  Franciscana,  i,  p.  37. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  117 

bishop,  other  professors  of  learning  and  repute  were  in- 
duced to  come  and  lecture  to  the   Oxford   friars.    The 
foundation  of  a  school  of  European  reputation  was  the 
result.     The  first   of  the    Franciscans   to    read    public 
lectures  at  Oxford  was  Adam   Marsh,  who  had  joined 
the  friars  in  their  first  fervour,  and  became  the  eminent 
instrument  in  the  formation  of  that  school  from  which 
came   a   succession    of  celebrated    Franciscan  teachers 
such    as    Richard    of  Coventry,   John   Wallis,   Thomas 
Docking,  Thomas  Bungay,  associated  in  popular  tradi- 
tion with  Roger  Bacon,  John  Peccham,  the  Franciscan 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,    Richard  Middleton,  Duns 
Scotus,   Occham,   and    Burley.     The    friars  at   Oxford 
attained    a    world-wide    renown.      Lyons,    Paris,    and 
Bologna  had  their  first  professors  from  the  ranks  of  the 
English    Franciscans,    whilst    repeated    requests   were 
made  for  English  friars  from  Ireland,  Denmark,  France, 
and  Germany,  and  foreigners  crossed  the  seas  to  study 
in  this  English  school,  established  by  the   learned  and 
devout  Bishop  Grosseteste.    "  The  three  schoolmen  of 
the  most  profound  and  original  genius,  Roger  Bacon, 
Duns  Scotus,  and  Occham,  were  trained  at  Oxford.    No 
other  nation  can  show  anything  like  the  results  which 
sprang  from  the  English  Franciscans  of  Oxford.    Italy 
produced  its  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin  and  St.  Bonaventure ; 
Germany  could  boast  its  Albertus  Magnus,  and  Spain 
its    Raymond    Lully;    but  the   Oxford  friary  was  the 
fruitful  mother  of  almost  every  Franciscan  schoolman 
St.  Bonaventure  and  Lully  excepted."  ' 

Grosseteste,  the   founder  of  this  renowned   body  of 
teachers,  cannot  have  failed  to  impress  upon  the  mind 
of  Roger  Bacon  his  own  veneration  and  love  of  Holy 
1  Cf.  Brewer,  Mon.  Franczscana,  i,  pp.  lxxx,  li. 


u8  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

Scripture.  Frequently,  says  Eccleston,  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  urged  the  friars  to  study  and  sedulously  to 
occupy  themselves  in  working  at  the  Holy  Bible.1  Nor 
were  his  exhortations  confined  to  the  circle  of  his  imme- 
diate pupils  among  the  Franciscans.  As  Chancellor  of 
the  University  he  addressed  his  letters  to  the  teachers  in 
the  theological  schools  of  Oxford,  urging  them  to  make 
the  Bible  the  foundation  of  all  their  lectures.  "  The 
skilful  builder,"  he  says,  "  sees  carefully  that  all  the 
stones  put  into  a  foundation  are  really  proper  for  the 
purpose ,  namely,  that  they  are  such  as  by  their  solidity 
are  fit  and  useful  to  support  the  building  to  be  raised 
upon  them.  You  are  the  builders  of  the  house  of  God, 
raising  it  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
Prophets,  etc. ;  and  the  foundation-stones  of  the  building 
of  which  you  are  the  architects — and  no  one  can  find 
others  or  set  others  in  the  foundation — are  the  books  of 
the  Prophets,  amongst  whom  we  must  count  Moses,  the 
law-giver,  and  the  books  of  the  Apostles  and  Evange- 
lists. These  foundation-stones  you  place  and  set  in  the 
foundation  of  your  building,  when  by  the  gift  of  dis- 
cerning spirits  you  expound  these  books  to  your  hearers 
according  to  the  mind  of  the  writers.  Take  heed  there- 
fore with  all  diligence  not  to  put  among  the  foundation- 
stones,  nor  to  use  as  foundation-stones  what  are  not 
such,  lest  the  strength  of  your  building,  made  to  rest 
upon  what  is  no  true  foundation,  is  first  shaken  and 
then  falls  to  ruin.  The  most  proper  time,  moreover,  for 
placing  and  setting  the  said  stones  in  the  foundation 
(for  there  is  a  fitting  time  for  laying  the  foundation  and 
one  for  raising  the  building)  is  the  morning  hour  when 
you  commonly  read  your  lectures.  It  is  proper,  there- 
'  Cf.  Brewer,  Mon.  Franciscana,  i,  p.  64. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  119 

fore,  that  all  your  lectures  be  taken  especially  at  that 
time,  from  the  books  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  lest 
otherwise  what  are  not  really  foundation-stones  be  laid 
as  if  they  were."  ' 

Roger  Bacon,  at  a  later  time,  bitterly  complains  that 
this  supremacy  of  Holy  Scripture  in  theological  studies, 
so  strongly  urged  by  the  illustrious  Grosseteste  in  the 
foregoing  letter,  was  not  acknowledged  in  practice  in 
the  University  of  Paris.  Writing  in  A.D.  1267  to  Pope 
Clement  IV,  he  points  out  that  de  facto  the  work,  called 
the  Book  of  the  Sentences,  was  preferred  to  the  Bible 
itself  in  the  system  of  education  pursued.  The  lector  of 
the  Scripture  lesson,  he  said,  had  even  to  beg  the  hour 
of  his  lecture  from  the  teacher  of  the  Sentences.  The 
latter  was  regarded  as  par  excellence  the  "  Doctor  of 
Theology,"  whilst  the  former  suffered  from  obvious 
University  disabilities.  Whilst  every  other  faculty,  more- 
over, took  its  text  as  the  basis  of  the  lectures  delivered, 
the  text  of  the  Bible,  although  all  the  ancient  teachers 
had  made  it  the  subject  of  their  readings,  was,  when  he 
wrote  in  1267,  relegated  to  a  secondary  place  in  the 
teaching  of  theology. 

The  Book  of  the  Sentences,  Bacon  declares,  was  never 
used  by  his  old  masters,  Bishop  Grosseteste,  Brother 
Adam  Marsh,  "  and  other  of  the  greatest  men  "  he  had 
seen.  Alexander  of  Hales  it  was,  he  says,  "  who  first 
read  the  work,"  and  even  he  merely  used  it  sometimes, 
just  as  the  "Book  of  the  Histories  used  to  be,  and  still  is, 
read,"  that  is,  only  very  rarely.  The  work  of  Peter 
Comestor  on  the  Histories,  the  Franciscan  philosopher 
holds  to  be  much  more  useful  and  necessary  for  theology 
than  the  Lombard's  work  on  the  Sentences,  because  the 
1  Roberti  Grosseteste  Epistolae  (Rolls  series),  p.  346. 


i2o  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

first  follows  and  explains  the  text  of  Holy  Writ  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end,  whereas  the  other  does  not  do 
so.  For  this  reason,  as  he  tells  the  Pope,  he  is  strongly 
of  the  opinion  that  if  any  theological  summa  is  required, 
it  should  be  modelled  upon  the  work  of  Peter  Comestor 
rather  than  upon  that  of  Peter  the  Lombard.  The  use, 
or  rather,  as  he  considers,  the  abuse,  of  the  Book  of  the 
Sentences,  must,  in  his  opinion,  tend  to  make  people 
ignorant  of  the  actual  text  of  the  Bible,  or  at  best  give 
them  but  a  very  superficial  and  secondary  knowledge 
of  it.1 

As  preparatory  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  or,  at  any 
rate,  as  necessary  for  any  revision  of  its  text,  Bacon 
insists  upon  the  absolute  need  of  a  fair  knowledge  of 
Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Latin 
grammatical  construction.2  Here  again  we  can  without 
difficulty  recognise  the  influence  of  his  Oxford  training 
in  the  school  of  Marsh  and  Grosseteste.  The  former,  as 
appears  in  a  letter  to  the  Minister-General  of  the  Friars 
Minor  in  England,  when  giving  advice  to  a  student 
destined  for  Paris,  strongly  urged  the  need  of  investi- 
gating the  original  works  of  the  Fathers  in  any  exposi- 
tion of  Holy  Scripture.3  The  latter  was  well  known  as 
the  patron  of  those  devoted  to  the  study  of  Greek, 
Hebrew,  and  other  foreign  languages.  In  fact,  England 
had  taken  the  initiative  in  these  studies,  and  even  before 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  Englishmen  had 
realised  the  importance  of  helping  forward  a  movement 
for  the  revival  of  letters.  More  than  one  of  our  country- 
men was  at  work  in  foreign  countries  studying  Eastern 
languages  and  collecting  precious  manuscripts.    Thus, 

1  Opera  inedita,  pp.  329-330.  -  Ibid.,  p.  92. 

J  Mo//.  Franc?  scana,  i. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  121 

to  take  an  example,  before  the  year  1200,  Daniel  de 
Morlai  had  come  back  from  Spain  to  England  learned 
in  the  languages  and  science  acquired  in  the  schools  of 
Toledo,  and  had  brought  with  him  to  this  island  "  a 
precious  number  of  books."  It  had  grieved  him,  he  says, 
to  find  that  even  Aristotle  and  Plato  had  been  so  en- 
tirely forgotten  in  the  Western  world,  and  until  he  re- 
ceived encouragement  from  his  friend  and  patron  John 
of  Oxford,  Bishop  of  Norwich,1  he  even  hesitated  to 
return  for  fear  that  he  should  be  the  only  one  among 
those  he  calls  the  "  Romans  "  to  cultivate  Greek  studies. 
In  1224  Pope  Honorius  III,  and  three  years  later  Pope 
Gregory  IX,  wrote  to  Cardinal  Langton,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  behalf  of  another  celebrated  Englishman, 
Michael  Scot.  He  had  studied  at  Oxford,  Paris,  and 
Toledo,  and  proved  himself  to  be  well  versed  "  not  only 
in  Latin,  but  also  in  Hebrew  and  Arabic,"  by  the  trans- 
lations he  had  made  of  Aristotle  and  other  philosophers 
for  the  use  of  students  in  the  Universities  of  the  Western 
world.2  Of  Grosseteste,  the  master  he  so  much  revered, 
Bacon  says  that,  though  so  learned  as  to  be  able  "  to 
master  anything  he  undertook,  he  still  only  knew  lan- 
guages well  enough  to  understand  the  fathers,  philo- 
sophers, and  wise  men  of  the  ancients,  but  that  he  did 
not  know  them  sufficiently  well  to  translate  properly 
till  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  when  he  sent  for  Greeks 
and  caused  them  to  bring  books  of  Greek  grammar  to 
England  from  Greece  and  elsewhere."  3  The  zeal  of  the 
bishop,  however,  was  well  known  where  studies  of  this 
kind  were  in   question.     He   gave    preferment  to   two 

1  Arundel  MS.  377,  <"•  88. 

2  Denifle,  Chartularium  Universit.  Parz'sz'ensis,  i,  Nos.  48  and  54. 
:!  Opera  inedita,  p.  91. 


122  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM   IN 

ecclesiastics  who  were  recognised  as  learned  men:  John 
of  Basing,  Archdeacon  of  St.  Alban's,  who  some  time 
about  1240  returned  from  Athens  laden  with  Greek 
manuscripts;  and  Nicholas,  chaplain  to  the  Abbot  of 
St.  Alban's,  surnamed  the  "  Greek,"  who  is  said  to  have 
assisted  the  bishop  in  some  of  his  translations  from  the 
Greek. 

As  regards  biblical  translations  in  particular,  a  certain 
amount  of  evidence  exists  to  show  that  even  in  this 
there  was  real  work  done  here  in  England.  M.  Samuel 
Berger  has  pointed  to  manuscripts,  all  or  nearly  all  in 
English  libraries,  and  chiefly  at  Oxford,  which  contain 
portions  of  the  sacred  Scripture  translated  from  Hebrew 
into  Latin  in  the  thirteenth  century.  The  eight  manu- 
scripts to  which  the  writer  refers  contain,  in  all,  the 
translation  of  about  one-half  the  entire  Bible  from  the 
original.  Although  the  translator  evidently  was  familiarly 
acquainted  with  French,  there  is  nothing  in  the  circum- 
stances inconsistent  with  his  being  of  English  nationality. 
The  French  language  was  at  the  time  as  much  the  lan- 
guage of  the  educated  in  this  country  as  in  France,  and 
the  manuscripts  are  written  in  the  characteristic  English 
writing  of  the  period.  M.  Berger,  after  pointing  this  out, 
adds:  "It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  school  of 
Oxford  was  one  of  the  few  Universities  in  the  Middle 
Ages  where  Hebrew  was  taught.  Nor  was  there  any 
other  seat  of  learning  which  could  boast  of  such  ability."  ' 

Roger  Bacon  was  thus  prepared  by  his  early  associa- 
tion with  Grosseteste,  Adam  Marsh,  and  the  Oxford 
Franciscans  generally,  to  face  the  many  difficult  ques- 
tions which  lay  in  the  path  of  any  one  undertaking  to 

1  S.  Berger,  Quani  Notitiam  Linguae  Hebraicae  habuerunt  Chris- 
tiani  medii  aevi  temporibns  in  Gallia,  p.  49. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  123 

correct  the  then  received  text  of  the  Latin  Bible.  To 
understand  what  these  difficulties  were,  it  is  necessary 
very  briefly  to  outline  the  history  of  the  Vulgate.  We 
may  conveniently  take  our  sketch  from  the  account  of 
the  early  translations  given  by  the  learned  Barnabite, 
Padre  Vercellone.  The  Latin  version  made  by  St.  Jerome 
in  the  fifth  century  was  in  reality  hardly  used  by  the 
Church  until  the  influence  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great  in 
the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century  caused  it  to  be 
very  generally  adopted.  Before  this,  St.  Jerome's  ver- 
sion was  read  and  studied  only  by  the  learned  few,  or 
was  occasionally  used  to  illustrate  certain  obscure  pass- 
ages in  the  ancient  Latin  version,  known  as  the  "  Itala," 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  works  of  St.  Augustine,  Cassio- 
dorus,  etc.  From  the  age  of  St.  Gregory,  however,  St. 
Jerome's  version  displaced  the  "  Itala"  almost  entirely. 
The  new  translation  was  used,  cited,  and  read  in  the 
churches  in  the  public  liturgy,  and  in  time  so  completely 
took  the  place  of  the  ancient  translation  that  no  com- 
plete copy  of  the  latter  is  known  to  have  survived.  It 
is  possible,  and  indeed  probable,  that  there  had  been 
some  authoritative  direction  as  to  the  adoption  of  St. 
Jerome's  version ;  and  it  is  certain  that  by  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  century,  and  still  more  in  the  ninth,  scribes 
multiplied  this  translation  exclusively. 

Inevitably,  with  the  multiplication  of  manuscripts  by 
the  pens  of  not  always  too-careful  copyists,  errors  crept, 
or  rather  flowed,  into  the  sacred  text  in  an  almost  con- 
tinuous stream.  Scribes  who  were  used  to  the  ancient 
version  seem  not  unfrequently  to  have  unconsciously 
introduced  words  and  phrases  from  the  ancient  "  Itala" 
into  the  more  recent  translation.  The  result  was  con- 
fusion.   Before  the  close  of  the  eighth  century  Charle- 


124  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

magne  had  recognised  the  need  for  a  careful  revision, 
and  the  illustrious  Englishman,  Alcuin,  was  employed 
upon  the  correction  of  the  corrupted  text.  This  he  did 
from  an  examination  of  the  oldest  manuscripts,  and  not, 
as  was  at  one  time  supposed,  by  any  comparison  with 
the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek.  From  this  period — the 
beginning  of  the  ninth  century — whether  from  the  great 
reputation  of  Alcuin,  from  the  authority  of  Charlemagne, 
from  the  intrinsic  merit  of  the  revision,  or  from  all  three, 
the  revised  text  of  Alcuin  became  the  accepted  text  of 
the  Latin  Church.  The  evil,  however,  was  not  put  an 
end  to.  Errors  began  immediately  once  again  to  find 
their  way  into  the  version,  and  even  grew  to  greater 
proportions  than  before,  by  the  admixture  of  the  old 
and  new  texts,  according  to  the  whim  and  fancy  of  in- 
dividual copyists. 

Lanfranc,  in  the  eleventh  century,  before  becoming 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  did  something  to  remedy  the 
ever-increasing  confusion  and  again  purify  the  text  which 
then,  as  a  contemporary  says,  "  was  by  the  carelessness 
of  the  scribes  greatly  corrupted."  But  this,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  did  not  stay  the  evil  for  long,  and  by  the 
middle  of  the  next  century  we  have  the  testimony  of 
Nicholas,  the  Deacon-librarian  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  that  the  words  of  St.  Jerome  about  the  state 
of  things  in  his  day  were  again  applicable,  and  "  there 
were  almost  as  many  versions  as  there  were  manu- 
scripts." 

Nor  is  this  the  verdict  of  an  individual :  the  unreliable 
character  of  the  text  was  at  this  time  fully  recognised  in 
the  University  of  Paris,  and  many  efforts  were  made  to 
correct  it.  Our  chief  information  about  these  essays  in 
correction  comes  from  Roger  Bacon,  whom  Vercellone 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  125 

in  this  regard  styles  "  Uomo  di  maraviglioso  ingenio  e 
di  erudizione  incredibile."  Hody  quotes  at  great  length 
Bacon's  remarks  on  the  unsatisfactory  nature  not  only 
of  the  text  itself,  but  of  the  attempts  made  to  correct  it. 
Writing,  as  I  have  said,  in  1267  to  Pope  Clement  IV, 
the  Franciscan  says  that  the  Paris  edition  of  the  Vulgate 
was  published  about  forty  years  previously.  He  is  not 
far  wrong,  for  M.  Berger  tells  us  that  the  most  ancient 
known  copy  of  this  edition  is  dated  in  A.D.  1231.  This 
manuscript,  it  is  not  uninteresting  to  note,  was  written 
at  Canterbury,  where  Cardinal  Langton  had  for  some 
years  been  archbishop.1  Langton's  connection  with 
biblical  studies  is  well  known:  as  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Paris  he  had  been  eminent,  as  an  earnest 
student  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and  it  was  to  him  that 
the  present  division  of  the  Bible  into  chapters,  etc.,  is  to 
be  attributed. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  here  all  that  was  under- 
taken by  the  University  of  Paris  during  the  reign  of 
St.  Louis  in  regard  to  biblical  scholarship,  and  in  par- 
ticular to  remedy  the  unsatisfactory  state  to  which  the 
text  of  the  Vulgate  had  been  reduced  by  ill-considered 
corrections,  as  much  as  by  the  almost  unavoidable  errors 
of  copyists.  "  The  study  of  the  Bible,"  says  M.  Berger, 
speaking  of  this  period,  "  was  taken  up  with  an  enthusi- 
asm which  we  can  hardly  conceive."  Foremost  amongst 
those  who  strove  to  improve  the  text  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ings must  be  named  the  Paris  Dominicans,  who,  in  A.D. 
1236  and  in  A.D.  1248  produced  two  corrected  editions 
of  the  entire  Bible.  No  sooner  was  the  first  put  into 
circulation  than  it  was  found  to  be  faulty,  and  a  second 
was  undertaken,  under  the  direction  of  Friar  Hugh  de 
1  S.  Berger,  ot>.  cit.,  p.  26. 


126  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM   IN 

Saint-Cher,  who,  before  its  completion,  was  made  Car- 
dinal in  1248.  In  A.D.  1256  the  General  Chapter  of  the 
Dominicans  forbade  the  use  of  the  "  Bible  of  Sens,"  or, 
as  we  now  know  it  to  be,  the  first  Dominican  correction 
of  the  text.  The  second,  or  Great  Bible  of  Hugh  de 
Saint-Cher,  which  took  its  place,  became  that  commonly 
used  by  the  professors  in  the  Dominican  schools  of 
Paris,  and  was  that  quoted  by  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin  in 
his  works.1 

But  there  were  others  at  work:  the  University  of 
Paris  established — or  rather,  perhaps,  approved — a  re- 
vision of  the  text  to  which  Bacon  chiefly  refers,  and 
which  he  calls  the  "  Exemplum  vulgatum,  hoc  est  Paris- 
iense?"  This,  we  are  told,  did  not  much  differ  from  the 
Dominican  text,  and  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  the 
very  copy  used  by  Cardinal  de  Saint-Cher  for  his  correc- 
tions was  a  copy  of  the  University  text.2  This  version 
itself  was  due  in  part  at  least,  if  not  wholly,  to  the 
labours  of  an  English  Franciscan  friar  named  William 
Briton.3 

What,  it  may  be  asked,  was  the  substantial  effect  of 
these  attempts  to  improve  the  biblical  text  in  the  thir- 
teenth century?  In  the  event,  did  they  make  it  more 
reliable?  It  is  in  answer  to  this  question  that  the  opinion 
of  Roger  Bacon  becomes  of  such  value  and  interest.  In 
1267  he  declares  that  the  text  of  the  Paris  copy  was 
most  seriously  corrupted;  and,  where  not  corrupt,  was 
very  doubtful.  At  this  date,  it  may  be  remarked,  most 
of  the  attempts  at  correction  had  been  made,  and  the 

1  S.  Berger,  Des  essais  qui  out  cte'  fails  d  Paris  mi  \yne  siecle 
pour  corriger  le  iexte  de  la  Vulgate,  pp.  48-49. 

2  S.  Berger,  p.  51. 

8  Berger,  Qua7n  notitiam,  etc.,  ut  sup.,  p.  26. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  127 

Franciscan  philosopher  had  them  distinctly  before  his 
mind  when  he  wrote.  The  corruption  of  the  text,  he 
says,  had  mainly  come  from  the  disputes  of  the  various 
correctors,  "  for  there  were  as  many  correctors,  or  rather 
corrupters,  as  there  were  readers.  Every  one  presumes 
to  change  anything  he  does  not  understand :  a  thing  he 
would  not  dare  to  do  for  the  books  of  the  classical 
poets."  l  The  evil  is,  he  considers,  most  grave,  for  the 
false  text  is  very  extensive,  and  the  necessary  correc- 
tions consequently  immense.  For  forty  years  previously 
many  theologians,  and  an  almost  infinite  number  of 
copyists  in  Paris,  have  taken  this  edition  as  the  model 
to  follow,  and  the  scribes,  by  making  many  changes  of 
their  own,  have  added  greatly  to  the  corruption  of  the 
true  text.  Then  modern  theologians,  not  being  able  to 
examine  the  copies  in  the  first  instance,  trusted  to  the 
scribes;  but  subsequently  they  came  to  understand  the 
errors,  defects,  and  numerous  additions.  They  conse- 
quently proposed  again  to  make  their  own  corrections, 
and  the  two  Orders  of  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  had 
already  commenced  their  work  of  changing  the  received 
text.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  there  was  no  head  to  direct 
them,  each  one  had  up  to  that  time  made  what  altera- 
tions he  deemed  best.  The  consequence  is  obvious: 
since  they  have  had  a  variety  of  opinions  as  to  the  true 
meaning  to  be  expressed,  the  variations  of  text  which 
have  resulted  are  endless.2 

Once  commenced,  the  mania — for  we  can  hardly  de- 
scribe it  in  any  other  way — for  correcting  the  Latin  text 
constantly  grew.  Every  professor,  as  Bacon  in  another 
place  informs  us,  made  changes  at  his  own  sweet  will. 
Amongst  the  Friars  Minor  and  the  Dominicans  this  was 
1  Opera  inedita,  p.  330.  -  Ibid.,  p.  ^33- 


128  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

so,  whilst  secular  teachers  were  not  behind-hand.  When 
any  one  did  not  understand  something,  he  changed  the 
text  to  accord  with  what  he  thought  it  should  be.  "  The 
Dominicans,  in  particular,"  he  says,  "  have  busied  them- 
selves in  thus  correcting.  Twenty  years  and  more  ago 
they  presumed  to  make  an  entire  corrected  copy  of  the 
Scriptures  and  had  it  multiplied,  but  subsequently  they 
made  another  and  forbade  the  first."  '  The  changes  in 
this  second  revision  were  so  extensive  that  in  quantity 
they  were  more  than  the  whole  New  Testament,  and 
even  by  reason  of  their  very  quantity  they  contained 
more  errors  than  the  first  correction.2  In  this  way  the 
Dominicans,  more  than  others,  changed  about  the  sacred 
text,  not  knowing  exactly  what  they  were  at.  Conse- 
quently, in  Bacon's  opinion,  their  correction  was  really 
the  most  pernicious  corruption,  and  even  the  manifest 
destruction  of  the  Word  of  God.  For  his  part,  he  thinks 
it  much  less  hurtful — and,  indeed,  without  comparison 
much  better — to  use  the  uncorrected  Paris  version,  bad 
as  it  is,  than  the  Dominican  version,  or,  indeed,  any 
other. 

Whilst  making  allowances  for  the  best  intentions,  the 
Franciscan  blames  his  own  Order  as  well  as  that  of 
St.  Dominic,  and  this  not  only  as  a  body,  but  individual 
members  of  it.  Those,  he  says,  who  have  in  all  truthful- 
ness attempted  to  correct  the  text  of  the  Bible  as  far  as 
they  can,  are  the  two  Orders  of  Preachers  and  Minors. 
Already  they  have  prepared  corrections  which  in  point 
of  size  would  be  more  than  the  whole  Bible.  They  con- 
tend, he  adds,  one  with  another  in  numberless  ways,  and 
not  merely  the  Orders  one  against   the  other,  but  the 

1  Opera  itiedita,  p.  333. 

2  Otrns  Maius,ed.  Bridges,  i,  p.  78. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  129 

brethren  of  both  Orders  contradict  the  opinions  of  other 
brethren  even  more  than  do  the  two  Orders  themselves. 
Indeed,  every  master  may  be  said  to  contradict  every 
other  master;  and  correctors,  following  one  after  the 
other,  strike  out  or  alter  previous  corrections  to  the 
infinite  scandal  and  confusion  of  all. 

As  the  fertile  causes  of  errors  in  the  text,  Bacon  notes 
negligence  in  following  the  readings  of  the  ancient  Bibles, 
and  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  Greek  and  Hebrew.  The 
text,  he  says,  has  come  to  us  from  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  and  has  in  it  a  vast  number  of  words  derived 
from  those  languages;  and  beyond  this,  modern  theo- 
logians and  correctors,  who  do  not  know  the  Latin 
language  as  St.  Jerome  did,  do  not,  in  their  ignorance, 
hesitate  to  change  the  ancient  grammatical  construction. 

But  what  perhaps,  more  than  anything,  had  led  to  the 
grave  corruption  of  the  sacred  text  was,  that  people  did 
not  realise  what  the  translation  was  which  the  Latin 
Church  used,  or  to  which  it  lent  the  weight  of  its 
authority.  For,  finding  the  text  changed  according  to 
the  mind  of  any  individual,  the  common  run  of  theo- 
logians did  not  stop  to  consider  whether  the  translation 
was  or  was  not  that  of  St.  Jerome  at  all;  but  concluded 
that  it  was  some  other  version  made  up  and  compiled 
from  various  other  versions.  Under  this  idea  they  used 
their  own  words  to  supersede  the  received  text  as  they 
liked.  The  idea  that  this  received  text  was  not  that  of 
St.  Jerome's  translation  was  most  false.  The  Latin 
Church,  Bacon  points  out,  makes  use  only  of  this  transla- 
tion, except  for  the  Psalter,  which  is  a  translation  of  the 
Septuagint,  and  remained  in  use,  because  this  version  of 
the  Psalms  was  so  common  in  the  Church  of  God  before 
St.  Jerome  translated  them,  that  it  was  found  practically 

K 


130  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

impossible  to  supersede  it.  The  only  version  of  the 
Bible,  however,  used  by  the  Church  is  certainly  that 
made  by  St.  Jerome,  though,  unfortunately,  it  has  been 
seriously  changed  for  the  worse  by  a  succession  of  scribes 
and  correctors  into  the  Paris  edition. 

Bacon  then  goes  on  to  describe  at  considerable  length 
the  origin  of  the  various  translations  before  that  of 
St.  Jerome,  and  to  explain  the  correct  meaning  of  the 
word  Vulgate  as  applied  to  the  Latin  version  authorised 
by  the  Church.  In  following  his  lengthy  argument  the 
reader  cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  by  the  range  of  read- 
ing in  the  history  of  the  early  translations  which  the 
learned  Franciscan  displays,  and  by  his  extensive  ac- 
quaintance with  the  works  of  the  Fathers.  Josephus, 
Origen,  Eusebius,  and  other  ancients  are  freely  quoted, 
evidently  with  full  knowledge  of  their  writings.  Bacon 
points  out,  too,  that  people  in  ignorance  have  taken 
various  quotations  from  Holy  Scripture  which  they  have 
read  in  the  works  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  and,  on  the 
supposition  that  they  represented  the  approved  Vulgate 
version,  have  without  hesitation  substituted  them  for  the 
ordinary  text.  Some  even  have  adopted  the  words  of 
Josephus  as  true  Scripture,  whilst  others  again  have  cor- 
rected their  versions  to  accord  with  the  various  quota- 
tions from  the  Bible  read  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  in 
which,  as  is  well  known,  the  actual  wording  had  fre- 
quently been  changed  to  facilitate  public  reading,  and 
even  to  assist  devotion.  In  brief,  the  general  belief,  when 
Bacon  wrote,  was  that  the  Latin  version  then  in  use  did 
not  in  any  way  represent  the  approved  Vulgate  ot 
St.  Jerome,  and  that  even  individuals  were  fully  at  liberty 
"  to  put  into  it  what  they  liked,  to  alter  and  change  any- 
thing they  did  not  understand."    Bacon  pleads  that  this 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY 


m 


state  of  things  should  be  put  an  end  to  at  once ;  that 
they  should  be  told  by  authority  that  the  only  recog- 
nised text  was  that  translated  by  St.  Jerome,  and  that 
the  only  attempt  at  revision  must  be  an  authorised  en- 
deavour to  recover  that  text  in  its  early  purity. 

It  is  for  this  that  he  appeals  to  the  Pope.  He  states 
that  in  his  opinion  nothing  can  be  suggested  for  remedy 
to  the  Holy  See  of  greater  importance  than  the  then 
corrupted  state  of  the  sacred  text.1  For  without  any 
possibility  of  doubt,  he  says,  I  prove  by  a  demonstra- 
tion, overwhelming  in  its  force,  that  the  whole  text  of 
the  copies  in  common  use  is  false  and  doubtful;  and 
doubt  ever  has  the  same  effect  upon  a  wise  man  as  fear 
has  upon  a  brave  one.2 

"  Roger  Bacon,"  writes  M.  Berger,  impassioned  but 
clear-sighted  in  his  criticisms,  considered  that  "  the 
would-be  correctors  of  the  thirteenth  century  had  by 
their  work  rendered  the  corruption  of  the  text  incurable. 
Seeing  correction  follow  upon  correction,  the  reader 
knew  not  whom  to  believe.  .  .  .  The  most  learned  men 
of  the  age  of  St.  Louis  lacked  something  which  not  all 
the  teaching  of  the  Paris  University  was  able  to  give 
them,  namely,  the  scientific  spirit.  It  is  much  that  in  the 
thirteenth  century  they  knew  the  need  of  applying 
Hebrew  and  Greek  to  the  correction  of  the  Vulgate,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  it  was  not  a  question  of 
Hebrew  but  of  the  text  of  St.  Jerome,  and  that  to  estab- 
lish the  text  of  a  version,  the  study  of  the  original  is 
dangerous  when  not  directed  with  prudence  and  sobriety. 
Hugh  de  Saint-Cher  and  his  disciples  with  their  methods 
could  only  succeed  in  making  the  text  of  the  Bible  still 

1   Opus  Majtis,  ed.  Bridges,  i,  p.  yy. 

-  Vatican  Preface  (Eng.  Hist.  Review),  July,  1897,  p.  514. 


132  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

worse,  and  Roger  Bacon  was  not  wrong  in  proving  this 
to  them."1 

It  was  precisely  in  "the  scientific  spirit"  that  Bacon 
desired  that  the  question  of  correcting  the  text  of  the 
Bible  should  be  approached.  He  demanded  that  the 
most  scientific  method  should  be  applied  to  the  restora- 
tion of  St.  Jerome's  version  of  the  Vulgate.  Put  briefly, 
the  principles  upon  which  in  his  opinion  the  necessary 
corrections  should  be  based  were — (i)  unity  of  action 
under  authority;  (2)  a  thorough  consultation  of  the  most 
ancient  manuscripts;  (3)  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  Greek 
to  help  where  the  best  Latin  manuscripts  left  room  for 
doubt;  (4)  a  thorough  knowledge  of  Latin  grammar  and 
construction;  and  (5)  great  care  in  distinguishing  be- 
tween St.  Jerome's  readings  and  those  of  the  more  ancient 
version.  Upon  the  consultation  of  the  older  manuscripts 
Bacon  laid  great  stress,  and  reminded  the  Pope  of  the 
advice  given  by  St.  Augustine:  "  If  variations  are  found 
in  Latin  codices,  recourse  must  be  had  to  ancient  manu- 
scripts and  to  several  copies.  For  ancient  copies  are  to 
be  considered  before  newer  ones,  and  a  reading  found 
in  many  before  that  of  a  few.  And  [he  adds]  all  the  old 
Bibles  which  lie  in  the  monasteries  which  are  not  yet 
glossed  or  touched,  have  the  true  translation  which  the 
Holy  Roman  Church  received  from  the  beginning  and 
ordered  to  be  spread  in  all  the  churches."  These,  he 
says,  on  examination  would  be  found  to  be  quite  different 
from  the  Paris  copies,  which  then  passed  as  the  current 
version."  This  latter  is  one  manuscript  against  the  al- 
most infinite  number  to  be  found  in  the  various  provinces, 
and  must  therefore  give  way  to  their  reading,  both  as 

1  S.  Berger,  De  FHistoire  de  la  Vulgate  en  France,  p.  1 3. 
■  Opus  Majus,  ed.  Bridges,  i,  p.  78. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  133 

being  more  recent,  and  as  contradicted  by  the  multitude 
of  these  ancient  manuscripts.1 

Roger  Bacon's  works  are  sufficient  proof  that  he  was 
fully  entitled  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  question  of 
the  revision  of  the  Latin  Vulgate.  The  passages  dealing 
with  the  matter  in  the  Opus  Majus,  and  even  more  so  the 
long  treatment  of  the  question  in  the  Opus  Minus,  prove 
that  he  had  prepared  himself  most  carefully  by  a  thorough 
study  of  the  matter.  In  fact,  it  would  almost  appear  as 
if,  when  writing  to  Clement  IV  in  1267,  he  had  already 
drawn  up  a  special  tract  dealing  directly  with  the  pro- 
posed correction,  or,  at  any  rate,  that  he  was  ready  to 
furnish  the  Pope  with  a  text  fully  amended  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  he  had  set  down,  and  an  accurate 
justification  of  the  needful  corrections.  "This  example 
of  the  errors,"  he  says  in  the  Opus  Minus,  "  together  with 
what  I  state  in  the  third  and  fourth  parts  of  my  Opus 
{Majus),  may  suffice  until  such  time  as  your  Holiness  re- 
quire the  correction  of  the  whole  text,  with  the  certain 
proofs  (of  the  truth)  of  the  correction."  2 

And  that  something  of  this  was  really  ready  would 
seem  to  be  implied  by  the  words  of  the  preface  to  the 
Opus  Majus,  published  for  the  first  time  in  the  English 
Historical  Review.  "  This  particular  and  special  proof 
can  be  presented  to  your  Wisdom  when  you  shall  order.3 

In  this  laborious  undertaking,  however,  Bacon  expressly 
says  that  he  had  been  aided  and  had  associated  with  him- 
self a  student  who  had  toiled  at  scriptural  work  during 
many  years.  In  the  Opus  Minus  he  thus  speaks  to  the 
Pope  of  this  biblical  scholar:  "  In  the  Church  you  have 
subjects  who  are  fully  able  (to  make  the  much-needed 

1  Opera  inedita,  p.  330.  2  Ibid.,  p.  333. 

J  Eng.  Hist.  Review,  July,  1897,  p.  516. 


134  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

corrections  in  the  Latin  text  of  the  Bible  and  to  justify 
their  work),  though  the  errors  are  most  grave,  both  by 
reason  of  their  number  and  the  serious  nature  of  their 
falsity."  l 

In  the  Opus  Tertium,  he  speaks  somewhat  more  clearly 
about  the  learned  man  who  could  do  so  much  in  this 
matter.  "  It  is  necessary,"  he  writes,  "that  to  be  able  to 
correct  properly,  a  man  should  know  Greek  and  Hebrew 
sufficiently  well,  and  his  Latin  grammar  really  well 
according  to  the  works  of  Priscian,  and  that  he  shall 
have  considered  the  principles  and  method  of  correcting, 
as  well  as  the  way  to  justify  his  corrections,  so  as  to 
correct  with  knowledge.  This  no  one  ever  has  done 
except  the  wise  man  I  have  spoken  about.  Nor  is  this 
to  be  wondered  at,  for  he  has  spent  nearly  forty  years 
in  the  correction  of  the  text  and  in  explaining  its  literal 
sense.  All  others  are  but  idiots  in  comparison  with  him, 
and  know  nothing  about  the  subject."  ' 

In  another  place  the  Franciscan  speaks  of  the  great 
knowledge  of  foreign  languages  possessed  by  this  un- 
named biblical  scholar,  whom  in  this  respect  he  thinks 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  Grosseteste,  Bishop  Thomas 
Wallensis,  and  Friar  Adam  Marsh.  "  Some  old  men  are 
still  living,"  he  writes  in  1267,  "who  know  a  great  deal, 
like  him  who  is  so  wise  in  the  study  of  Holy  Scripture, 
who  has  never  had  an  equal  since  the  time  of  the  Fathers 
in  correcting  the  text  and  explaining  its  literal  sense." 

Still  more  clearly  again  does  he  speak  about  this 
wonderful  man  in  the  Vatican  Preface  just  named,  when 
he  offers  to  send  to  the  Pope  the  special  and  particular 
proofs  of  his  suggested  corrections.  "But  not  by  me 
alone,"  he  says,  "  but  much  more  by  another  who  has 
1    Opera  inedita,  p.  333.  s  Ibid.,  p.  93. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  135 

worked  at  this  matter  for  thirty  years  and  has  sketched 
out  the  whole  mode  of  correcting,  what  is  required  for  it, 
and  what  can  be  accomplished,  provided  that  assistance 
be  given  in  the  matter  of  books  in  other  languages.   For 
already  this  man  would  have  given  certain  specimens  [of 
his  corrections]  had  he  possessed  a  Greek  and  Hebrew 
Bible  and  a  book  of  etymologies  in  those  languages  such 
as  are  as  common  with  them  as  Isidore  and  Papias  are 
with  us,  and  of  which  copies  are  to  be  found  even  in 
England,  in  France,  and  in  many  places  in  the  hands  of 
Christians.    With  these  books  this  man  would  give  the 
true  text  and  a  reliable  exposition  of  the  literal  sense 
so  that  any  one  could  then  understand  God's  Word  with- 
out difficulty  and  labour.  .  .  .  And,  as  all  philosophy  is 
understood  by  the  exposition  of  the  wisdom   of  God, 
what  in  this  regard  is  wanting  in  this  man  can  by  your 
help  and  command  be  sufficiently  supplied  by  others."  l 
Unfortunately,  as  in  so  many  other  instances  where 
we  would  gladly  have  some  information  as  to  the  names 
of  people  mentioned  by  Bacon,  he  fails  us.    It  would 
certainly  be  interesting  to  know  who  this  man  was,  so 
learned  in  the  Holy  Scripture  as  to  call  forth  the  un- 
reserved   praises   of  the   illustrious    Roger  Bacon.    So 
diligent  a  student  of  biblical  texts  during  thirty  or  forty 
years,  and  one  who,  even  when  Bacon  wrote  in  1267, 
had  apparently  already  prepared  a  critical  and  scientific 
correction  of  the  Bible,  can  hardly  have  passed  away 
without  leaving  some  trace  of  his  long  and  laborious 
investigations,  and  without  in  some  way  or  other  inscrib- 
ing his  name  on  the  page  of  history.    It  may  be  taken 
for  granted  that  the  principles  upon  which  the  correction 
of  the  Bible  would  have  been  undertaken  by  this  un- 
1  Eng.  Hist.  Review,  p.  516. 


136  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

named  scholar  were  entirely  in  accord  with  those  laid 
down  by  Bacon.  In  fact,  we  may  almost  suppose  from 
the  words  already  quoted  from  the  Vatican  manuscript, 
that  they  had  collaborated  in  the  work,  at  least  to  some 
extent.  Is  there  any  evidence  of  such  a  work  ever  having 
existed  ? 

To  answer  this  question  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  few 
preliminary  observations.  In  several  libraries  of  Europe 
there  are  extant  certain  manuals  made  during  the  course 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  with  the  object  of  furnishing 
copyists  with  the  means  of  correcting  the  Bibles  they 
were  engaged  to  copy.  These  manuals  are  called 
Correctoria,  and  one  such  volume  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum,1  whilst  the  actual  manual  from  which  the  great 
Dominican  Bible  of  Saint-Cher  was  corrected  is  in  the 
National  Library  at  Paris.  Many  other  Correctoria  more 
or  less  founded  upon  this  latter,  are  known  to  students 
of  the  subject.  Vercellone  has  furnished  us  with  an 
account  of  three  manuscripts  of  this  kind  now  in  the 
Vatican.  The  three  have  some  connection  one  with  the 
other,  and  they  all  not  only  correct  the  errors  of  tran- 
scription and  the  still  more  serious  errors  of  rash  critics, 
but  point  to  the  existence  of  much  larger  works  of  the 
same  kind.  The  author  of  the  third  has  certainly  known 
of  the  existence  of  the  work  upon  which  the  second  and 
to  a  less  extent  the  first  is  founded,  although  it  is  not, 
like  them,  founded  upon  it.  This  third  is  in  all  ways  the 
most  important:  not  only  is  it  much  more  extensive,  but 
it  is  a  characteristic  of  the  writer  that  he  rarely  cites  the 
authority  of  any  ancient  author,  and  he  says  expressly 
that  he  underlines  all  words  which  do  not  fully  agree 
with  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  or  ancient  Latin.    This  Correc- 

1    MS.  Reg.  1  A.  viii. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  137 

foriuin  is  also  markedly  more  scientific  than  the  other 
two,  and  it  is  based  precisely  upon  those  principles 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  Bacon  laid  down  as  the  only 
proper  principles  to  ensure  any  proper  correction  of  the 
text.  Vercellone  has  no  hesitation  in  classing  these  three 
Vatican  Correctoria  as  follows:  Nos.  1  and  2  are  drawn 
up  for  the  purposes  of  a  correction  of  the  text  similar  to 
that  undertaken  by  the  Dominicans,  and  No.  3  for  some 
such  rectification  of  the  Bible  as  that  suggested  by  Roger 
Bacon.  In  fact,  the  learned  Barnabite  suggests,  some- 
what tentatively  and  timidly  it  is  true,  that  the  real 
author  may  have  been  Bacon  himself. 

M.  Berger,  in  more  than  one  work,  has  written  a  good 
deal  about  this,  to  him,  most  interesting  and  important 
manuscript,  known  as  the  Correctorium  Vaticanum.  If 
other  Correctoria,  he  says,  are  necessarily  the  work  of 
learned  men,  the  author  of  this  must  have  been  a  real 
scholar.  The  others  are  the  works  of  bibliographers,  this 
of  a  critic  who  knew  what  the  true  science  of  criticism 
was.  He  was  acquainted  with  Hebrew  and  Greek,  knew 
the  value  of  manuscripts  and  how  to  make  the  best  use 
of  them.  He  has  made  researches  too,  has  looked  every- 
where for  the  oldest,  because  the  best,  codices  ;  has 
worked  in  the  library  of  Sainte  Genevieve,  has  examined 
the  Bible  of  Charlemagne  at  Metz,  and  has  studied  the 
Codex  Amiatinus  in  Italy.  He  is  wise  and  learned  and 
patient.  Vercellone  says  that  he  shows  himself  to  be  of 
"vast  learning  and  of  right  judgment."  The  object  of 
all  his  criticism  is  the  restoration  of  the  true  text  of 
St.  Jerome  and  the  removal  of  every  trace  of  the  "  Itala," 
of  the  Greek,  and  of  the  Latin  translation  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint  from  the  then  accepted  version.  In  any  doubt 
he  consults  the  originals,  he  distinguishes  between  manu- 


138  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM  IN 

scripts  of  France  and  of  Spain,  and  he  has  read  St.  Mat- 
thew in  the  Hebrew.  It  is  quite  remarkable  what  stress 
he  lays  upon  the  examination  of  ancient  manuscripts, 
such  as  the  Bible  of  Charlemagne,  of  the  more  ancient 
manuscripts  written  before  the  time  of  Alcuin,  and  he 
cites  what  he  calls  the  Bible  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 

When  the  manuscripts  disagree  the  author  of  the 
Correctorium  Vaticanum  adopts  St.  Jerome's  principle 
and  has  recourse  to  the  Hebrew,  but  he  warns  students 
not  to  be  unfaithful  to  the  Latin  text  on  the  strength  of 
a  single  Hebrew  or  Greek  version.  His  work  is  aimed 
directly  against  correctors  of  the  type  of  Cardinal  Hugh 
de  Saint-Cher,  and  he  strongly  objects  to  those  who 
would  cut  out  of  the  Latin  every  word  not  found  in  the 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  words  which  had  been  introduced 
into  the  Vulgate  text  for  the  sake  of  clearness  of  ex- 
pression. This,  says  M.  Berger,  after  an  examination  of 
the  principles  which  guided  the  author  in  the  composi- 
tion of  his  Correctorium,  is  "  true  criticism,  and  we  could 
do  no  better  to-day."  And  this,  he  adds,  was  a  criticism 
two  centuries  and  a  half  before  the  coming  of  Erasmus.1 

The  same  eminent  writer  says  that  for  himself  he  does 
not  much  care  what  may  be  the  actual  name  of  this 
anonymous  critic  of  the  thirteenth  century,  for  with 
Vercellone  he  thinks  one  may  safely  recognise  in  him 
the  biblical  scholar  referred  to  by  Roger  Bacon  and  in 
evident  relation  to  him,  but  whose  name,  alas!  the  Fran- 
ciscan philosopher  does  not  give. 

"  This  much,"  says   M.  Berger,  "  is  certain,  that  we 

must  look  for  this  scholar,  who  was  born  out  of  due 

time,  among  the  disciples  of  that  precursor  of  modern 

science,  Roger  Bacon.    Either  he  had  the  Opus  Majus 

1  De  FHistoire  de  la  Vulgate  en  France,  p.  1 5. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  139 

under  his  eyes  or  he  received  the  counsels  of  its  author: 
the  spirit  is  the  same,  and  the  style,  though  less  virulent 
and  personal,  is  the  same.  Thus  we  are  brought  back  to 
the  school  of  the  doctor  mirabilis  [Roger  Bacon],  to  the 
school  of  that  mysterious  savant  who  had  such  astound- 
ing lights  on  all  the  sciences,  but  for  whom  no  study 
possessed  greater  fascination  than  the  correction  of  the 
biblical  text." ' 

In  another  work  the  same  writer  suggests  from  in- 
ternal evidence  that  the  author  of  the  Correctorium 
Vaticanum,  which  manifests  the  same  critical  spirit  in 
every  part  as  that  of  the  illustrious  Franciscan  philo- 
sopher, Bacon,  was  in  all  probability  a  Frenchman.  He, 
however,  confesses  that  the  slight  indications  are  hardly 
sufficient  to  warrant  any  certain  conclusion,  particularly 
as  Roger  Bacon  was  a  man  of  all  countries.2  Later  on, 
however,  owing  to  a  discovery  of  a  manuscript  at  Einsie- 
deln,  made  by  the  Dominican,  Father  Denifle,  M.  Berger 
was  enabled  to  give  the  actual  name  of  the  great  biblical 
critic  named  by  Bacon  in  his  works,  who  was  almost 
certainly  the  author  of  the  Correctorium  Vaticanum.  To 
us  it  can  hardly  fail  to  be  a  matter  of  great  interest  to 
know  that  he  was  another  Englishman,  himself  also  a 
member  of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis.  His  name  is  Friar 
William  de  Mara  or  de  la  Mare,!  and  he  is  another  of 
the  illustrious  pupils  in  the  school  established  by  Bishop 
Grosseteste  for  the  sons  of  St.  Francis  at  Oxford.  De  la 
Mare  has  indeed  long  been  known  for  his  attack  upon 
the  teaching  of  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  called  Correc- 
torium  Operum    fratris   T/iomae,  and    some  have  even 

1  De  VHistoire  de  la  Vulgate  en  France,  p.  15. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  65. 

3  S.  Berger,  Quam  notitiam,  etc.,  ut  supra,  p.  35. 


140  ENGLISH  BIBLICAL  CRITICISM 

considered  that  "the  serious  part  of  the  work  was  directly 
inspired  by  Bacon," ]  but,  until  the  discovery  above 
referred  to,  he  was  not  recognised  as  the  author  of  a 
work  which  before  all  others  laid  down  sound  principles 
of  true  scientific  criticism  upon  which  to  base  a  correc- 
tion of  the  Vulgate  text.  It  is  not  uninteresting  too,  to 
recognise  in  the  biblical  scholar  referred  to  by  Bacon, 
and  so  greatly  praised  for  his  wisdom,  learning,  and  in- 
dustry, another  English  Franciscan,  and  to  add  his  name 
to  the  many  of  our  countrymen  who  were  in  the  Middle 
Ages  renowned  for  their  work  of  textual  criticism. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  immediate  result  of  his 
labours,  in  the  end  the  principles  he  enunciated  were 
those  upon  which  the  Vulgate  text  was  corrected,  and 
we  may  say  with  M.  Berger  that  the  result  of  the  labours 
of  this  critic  and  others  in  the  thirteenth  century  was 
certainly  to  "  render  the  Bible  more  reverenced,  was  to 
make  it  better  known  and  without  doubt  better  loved." 

'   Little,  The  Grey  Friars  in  Oxford,  p.  215. 


Ill 

ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN  THE 
THIRTEENTH  CENTURY1 

THE  most  trustworthy  account  that  we  possess  of 
the  condition  of  learning  at  the  eve  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  comes  from  the  pen  of  an  Englishman — 
John  of  Salisbury.  This  great  man,  who  died  in  A.D.  1 180 
finished  his  twelve  years'  study  in  Paris  and  elsewhere 
probably  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.  What 
he  says  in  the  Metaiogiats,  as  to  his  training,  though  it 
may  seem  somewhat  remote  from  the  present  subject,  is 
worth  quoting: 

"  When  I  was  a  very  young  man,"  he  says,  "  I  went  to 
study  in  France,  the  second  year  after  the  death  of  that 
lion  in  the  cause  of  justice,  Henry,  King  of  England 
[i.e.,  1 1 36].  There  I  sought  out  that  famous  teacher  and 
Palatine  peripatetic  philosopher  [Abelard]  who  then 
presided  at  Mount  St.  Genevieve,  and  was  the  subject  of 
admiration  to  all  men.  At  his  feet  I  received  the  rudi- 
ments of  this  art  {i.e.,  rhetoric),  and  manifested  the 
utmost  avidity  to  pick  up  and  store  away  in  my  mind 
all  that  fell  from  his  lips.  When,  however,  much  to  my 
regret,  Abelard  left  us,  I  attended  Master  Alberic,  a 
most  obstinate  dialectician  and  unflinching  assailant  of 
the  nominalist  sect. 

1   Published  in  Dublin  Review,  October,  1898. 

141 


142  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

"  Two  years  I  stayed  at  Mount  St.  Genevieve  under  the 
tuition  of  Alberic  and  Master  Robert  de  Melun,  if  I  may 
so  term  him,  not  from  the  place  of  his  birth,  for  he  was 
an  Englishman,  but  by  the  surname  which  he  gained 
by  the  successful  conduct  of  his  schools.  One  of  these 
teachers  was  scrupulous  even  to  minutiae,  and  every- 
where found  some  subject  to  raise  a  dispute,  for  the 
smoothest  surface  presented  inequalities  to  him,  and 
there  was  no  rod  so  smooth  that  he  could  not  find  in  it 
some  knot  and  show  how  it  might  be  removed.  The 
second  (that  is  the  Englishman  who  afterwards  became 
Bishop  of  Hereford),  was  prompt  to  reply,  and  never  for 
the  sake  of  subterfuge  avoided  any  question  that  was 
proposed;  but  he  would  choose  the  contradictory  side, 
or  by  many  words  would  show  that  a  simple  answer 
could  not  be  given.  In  all  questions,  therefore,  he  was 
subtle  and  profuse,  whilst  the  other  in  his  answers  was 
perspicuous,  brief,  and  to  the  point.  If  two  such  char- 
acters could  ever  have  been  united  in  the  same  person, 
he  would  be  the  best  hand  at  disputation  that  our  times 
have  produced.  Both  of  them  possessed  acute  wit  and 
indomitable  perseverance,  and  I  believe  they  would  have 
turned  out  great  and  distinguished  men  in  physical 
studies  if  they  had  supported  themselves  on  the  great 
base  of  literature  and  more  closely  followed  in  the  tracks 
of  the  ancients." 

From  this  account  it  is  clear  that  academic  education 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Paris  schools  was  chiefly  con- 
fined to  dialectics  and  such  kindred  subjects  as  were 
considered  best  fitted  to  sharpen  wits  for  keen  disputa- 
tion. The  genius  of  John  of  Salisbury,  himself  a  child  of 
scholasticism,  enabled  him  to  put  his  finger  upon  the 
danger  to   true  education  inherent  in   the  system.    In 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  143 

common  with  the  two  masters  he  names,  the  scholastics 
very  generally  lacked  "  the  great  base  of  literature"  and 
neglected  to  follow  "  in  the  tracks  of  the  ancients,"  and 
in  their  minute  and  strictly  scientific  examination  of  the 
form  often  neglected  the  substantial  reality  behind  it. 
This  was  the  defect  of  the  system  against  which  a 
century  later  another  English  scholar,  Roger  Bacon, 
protested  loudly,  and  his  condemnation  could  hardly  be 
better  summarised  than  in  the  words  used  a  hundred 
years  before  by  John  of  Salisbury. 

In  this  sketch  of  the  education  given  in  the  schools  of 
Paris  in  the  twelfth  century,  we  have  distinct  evidence, 
however,  of  a  stirring  of  the  waters,  and  of  a  striving  to 
increase  the  narrow  limits  of  general  knowledge.  Already 
there  were  some  who  were  looking  even  to  the  East  and 
to  Greece  for  the  "  great  base  of  literature,  and  seeking 
to  find  again  there  the  tracks  of  the  ancients."  Adelard 
the  Englishman,  a  monk  of  Bath,  and  a  teacher  of 
renown  in  Paris,  had  travelled  in  Egypt,  Greece,  Asia 
Minor,  and  in  Moorish  Spain,  to  seek  for  science  un- 
known to  the  nations  of  the  West.  His  works  contain 
evidence  of  his  proficiency  in  the  liberal  arts,  even  in 
astronomy,  but  with  what  seems  to  us  in  these  days 
some  curious  limitations.  Of  Aristotle,  for  example,  he 
he  knew  little  or  nothing,  and,  like  John  of  Salisbury, 
regarded  this  light  of  ancient  learning  merely  as  an 
authority  on  logic,  then  the  all  important  branch  of 
education.  If  the  latter,  John  of  Salisbury,  was  ac- 
quainted with  Greek  as  a  language  at  all,  there  is  nothing 
to  show  it  in  his  voluminous  writings,  nor,  indeed,  in 
those  of  Adelard  of  Bath.  Hardly  later,  however,  we 
catch  the  first  impressions  of  a  change.  In  1 167  there  is 
some  evidence  of  a  desire  to  procure  Greek  manuscripts 


144  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

from  the  East,  for  in  that  year  a  certain  William,  a 
doctor  of  medicine  and  monk  of  St.  Denis,  returned  to 
Paris  from  Constantinople,  bringing  with  him  many 
precious  Greek  codices,  to  seek  for  which  he  had  been 
sent  to  the  East  by  his  abbot. 

But  this,  after  all,  can  only  be  regarded  as  an  isolated 
instance,  and,  as  it  were,  an  indication  of  a  real  renais- 
sance at  hand.  It  was  not  till  the  thirteenth  century  had 
begun  that  a  closer  connection  between  West  and  East 
brought  about  a  greater  knowledge  of  Greek  writers  and 
of  Eastern  literature  generally.  Just  as  in  the  fifteenth 
century  it  was  the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Turks,  which  immediately  secured  the  triumph  of  the 
new  learning,  so  it  was  the  taking  of  the  same  imperial 
city  by  the  Crusaders,  and  the  establishment  of  the  Latin 
Empire  of  the  East  in  1204,  that  brought  the  peculiar 
genius  of  Greek  thought  and  the  subtle  power  of  Greek 
models  to  bear  upon  the  thought  of  the  Western  world. 
It  is  difficult  to-day  to  realise  all  that  Constantinople 
was  in  the  thirteenth  century.  As  a  city  it  was  the 
storehouse  of  the  accumulated  wealth  of  ages,  and  it 
displayed  untouched  monuments  of  the  Roman  Empire 
and  of  ancient  Greek  art.  Its  population,  estimated  by 
some  at  over  a  million,  was  greater,  ten,  twenty  times 
greater,  if  not  more,  than  that  of  the  then  existing 
cities  of  London  and  Paris ;  in  fact,  it  more  than  out- 
numbered the  inhabitants  of  the  chief  cities  of  the 
Western  world  taken  collectively.  "  In  magnificence," 
says  Hallam,  "  she  excelled  them  more  than  in  num- 
bers ;  instead  of  the  thatched  roofs,  the  mud  walls,  the 
narrow  streets,  the  pitiful  buildings  of  those  cities,  she 
had  marble  and  gilded  palaces,  churches  and  monas- 
teries, the  works  of  skilful    architects ;    whilst    in    the 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  145 

libraries  of  Constantinople  were  collected  the  remains 
of  Greek  learning." 

This  was  the  city,  rich  alike  in  its  monuments  of 
ancient  art  and  its  evidences  of  ancient  learning  which, 
hitherto  closed  against  the  nations  of  Europe,  was  thrown 
open  to  the  Western  world  by  the  Latin  conquest  of 
1204.  Already  there  were  signs  of  a  wish  to  profit  by 
such  an  event  on  the  part  of  those  more  immediately 
concerned  in  the  fields  of  learning.  There  were  indica- 
tions of  an  awakening,  of  a  yearning,  after  the  knowledge 
of  the  ancients,  and  of  a  desire  to  know  something  of 
the  languages  of  the  peoples  with  which  the  three  great 
crusades  had  brought  the  Christian  nations  into  contact. 
Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  best  result  of 
the  crusading  efforts — certainly  one  of  the  most  obvious 
and  lasting — was  the  effect  they  had  upon  the  education 
of  Christendom  by  bringing  the  nations  of  Europe  into 
relation  with  Greeks  and  Arabs,  and  with  the  many- 
tongued  peoples  of  Asia  and  Africa.  The  influence 
of  the  East  can  be  traced  almost  immediately  in  all 
branches  of  knowledge  and  modes  of  thought:  in  the 
languages  and  literature,  and  in  the  sciences  and  arts  of 
Western  nations.  Inspired  probably  by  the  tales  of 
returned  crusaders,  travellers  and  scholars  had,  by  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  penetrated  into  regions  long 
unexplored,  and  by  their  strange  travellers'  tales,  and 
even  more  by  the  literary  spoils  they  brought  back  with 
them,  they  helped  to  turn  men's  thoughts  in  the  same 
direction.  Thus,  to  take  one  example  of  such  enter- 
prise: we  find  that  just  at  this  time  one  Englishman, 
Daniel  de  Morlai,  had  returned  to  England,  and  en- 
couraged by  his  friend,  John  of  Oxford,  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich, had  brought  back  to  his  native  country  a  number 

L 


146  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

of  precious  manuscripts  and  a  practical  knowledge  of 
the  Greek  language,  acquired  apparently  in  the  Arabic 
schools  of  Toledo.  He  appears  almost  as  the  first  herald 
of  the  coming  spring,  and  the  statement  of  his  fear  lest 
he  should  be  the  only  one  among  his  countrymen — 
whom  he  calls  "  the  Romans  " — to  cultivate  the  Greek 
tongue  is  at  least  sufficient  evidence  of  how  completely 
this  learning  had  died  out  in  England,  as  indeed  in 
Europe  generally.  For  this  reason  alone  the  name  of 
Daniel  de  Morlai  deserves  to  be  remembered  with  honour, 
and  his  own  brief  account  of  his  search  after  learning  is 
not  uninteresting. 

"  When  some  time  since,"  he  writes,  "  I  departed  from 
England  to  study,  and  remained  for  a  while  in  Paris,  I 
there  saw  certain  animals  \bestiales\  teaching  in  the 
schools  with  great  authority.  They  had  before  them  two 
or  three  desks  on  which  were  placed  large  codices  illu- 
minated with  golden  letters  representing  the  traditional 
teachings.  Holding  leaden  styles  in  their  hands,  they 
reverentially  marked  their  books  with  asterisks  and 
stops.  These  men  were  like  statues  in  their  ignorance, 
and  their  silence  alone  they  desired  to  be  taken  for 
wisdom.  When  they  attempted  to  open  their  mouths  I 
found  they  were  childish,  and  when  I  saw  this  to  be 
their  case,  for  fear  that  I  might  fall  into  the  same  evil  way, 
that  is,  be  content  with  the  art  of  illustrating  or  epitom- 
ising works  not  worth  even  a  passing  consideration,  I 
took  serious  counsel  with  myself.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
teaching  of  the  Arabs  at  Toledo  (which  is  almost  en- 
tirely imparted  in  the  Quadrivium)  is  in  these  days 
highly  praised,  I  hastened  thither  to  listen  to  the  wisest 
philosophers  in  the  world.  At  length,  invited  and  pressed 
by  my  friends  to  return  from  Spain,  I  came  back  to 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  147 

England  with  a  number  of  precious  manuscripts.  When, 
however,  I  heard  that  there  was  in  these  parts  no  liberal 
education,  and  that  to  make  way  for  Titius  and  Seius, 
Aristotle  and  Plato  were  forgotten,  I  was  greatly  grieved  ; 
and,  for  fear  lest  I  should  be  the  only  Greek  among  the 
Romans,  I  remained  where  I  understood  these  studies 
flourished.  On  my  journey,  however,  I  met  my  lord  and 
spiritual  father,  John,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  who,  receiving 
me  with  honour,  was  pleased  to  congratulate  himself 
upon  my  arrival."1 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  the  bishop  questioned 
De  Morlai  about  the  Toledo  teaching,  and  especially 
about  astronomy,  in  which  he  was  greatly  interested. 
The  result  of  De  Morlai's  information  is  given  in  the 
tract,  to  which  the  foregoing  forms  the  preface. 

Travellers  proverbially  tell  strange  tales,  and  this 
Englishman's  declaration  as  to  the  general  ignorance 
of  Aristotle  then  prevailing  in  the  Western  world  may 
seem  somewhat  exaggerated.  In  reality,  however,  it  is 
not  far  from  the  truth.  No  works,  of  course,  had  such  a 
paramount  and  lasting  influence  upon  the  scholastics 
generally  as  those  of  Aristotle.  The  philosophy  of  the 
Middle  Ages  may  be  described  as  Aristotelian  philo- 
sophy in  Christian  clothes ;  and  yet,  until  the  thirteenth 
century,  it  is  in  regard  to  logic  only  that  the  influence  of 
Aristotle  can  be  traced  in  contemporary  thought,  or  that 
his  authority  was  ever  invoked.  The  early  Christian 
Fathers,  as  Roger  Bacon  so  clearly  points  out,  were  for 
many  reasons  attracted  rather  to  the  works  of  Plato 
than  to  those  of  Aristotle,  and,  since  the  time  when  St. 
Gregory  of  Nazianzum  had  attributed  the  apostasy  of 
Julian  to  his  studying  the  works  of  the  philosophers, 

1  Ar.  MS.  377,  ff.  88-104. 


148  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

there  had  been  a  disposition  among  Christians  generally 
to  avoid  the  influence  of  pagan  writers.  Whatever  be 
the  cause,  the  result  is  certain:  Aristotle's  philosophy 
was  practically  unknown  to  Western  nations  until  the 
Crusaders  returned  from  the  East  with  a  knowledge  of 
the  use  that  had  been  made  of  his  works  by  the  Arabian 
writers.  A  few  facts  will  illustrate  the  previous  ignor- 
ance of  a  philosophy,  which  subsequently  obtained,  and 
for  generations  maintained,  a  supremacy  over  the  minds 
of  Christian  scholars.  In  the  great  work  of  Peter  the 
Lombard,  the  Book  of  the  Sentences — a  work  that  became 
the  text-book  of  scholastic  theology  and  philosophy — 
the  name  of  Aristotle  does  not  appear  at  all.  John  of 
Salisbury,  it  is  true,  says  that  he  was  acquainted  with 
Aristotle,  but  it  is  clear  he  knew  him  only  in  his  Logic, 
as  a  master  of  the  art  of  reasoning,  and  that,  we  have  no 
reason  to  doubt,  merely  in  a  translation  of  Boethius  or 
Victorinus,  or  in  the  abridgment  which  bore  the  name 
of  St.  Augustine. 

Within  a  few  years  of  1 204 — the  date  of  the  taking 
of  Constantinople — the  change  was  already  manifest. 
William  the  Breton  tells  us  that  up  to  1209  no  version 
of  the  Metaphysics  was  known  in  the  Western  schools, 
but  that  in  this  year  a  Latin  translation  was  made  from 
a  Greek  manuscript  brought  from  one  of  the  libraries  of 
Constantinople.  Paris,  then  the  acknowledged  capital 
of  the  intellectual  world,  was  directly  in  touch  with  the 
East,  for  one  of  the  first  acts  of  Baldwin  of  Flanders,  on 
being  chosen  to  rule  over  the  Latin  Empire  of  the  East, 
was  to  establish  a  Greek,  or,  as  it  was  called,  a  Con- 
stantinopolitan  college  in  connection  with  the  Paris  Uni- 
versity. Even  then,  however,  the  works  of  the  great 
Greek  philosopher,  whose  influence  over  the  minds  of 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  149 

the  greatest  lights  of  the  schools — Albert  the  Great,  St. 
Thomas  and  the  rest — seems  to  have  been  supreme,  were 
known  only  in  translations,  many  of  which  had  been 
taken  from  Arabic  versions,  and  all  of  which — if  we  are 
to  believe  that  rather  severe  critic,  Roger  Bacon — were 
ill  made.  Moreover,  many  of  the  recognised  teachers 
were  still  suspicious  of  the  growing  influence  of  a  pagan 
philosopher,  and  an  outcry  was  raised  against  allowing 
theology  to  rest,  even  for  form  and  manner  of  proof,  on 
his  authority.  The  highest  powers  were  invoked,  and 
the  University  of  Paris  prohibited  the  teaching  of  Aris- 
totle's physics  and  metaphysics  in  the  schools.  This, 
however,  was  caused  not  so  much  by  any  fear  of  the 
works  themselves  as  by  a  dread  of  the  influence  of  the 
Arabian  philosophers,  Averroes  and  Avicenna,  who  had 
made  so  much  of  these  works  in  their  writings.  These 
Arabians  were  suspected  of  pantheistic  tendencies,  and 
for  many  years  every  means  was  taken  to  stop  the 
circulation  of  their  commentaries  upon  Aristotle,  with 
what  success  may  be  best  seen  in  the  works  of  St. 
Thomas. 

"In  these  days,"  writes  Bacon  in  1267,  "whatever 
Averroes  says  has  won  favour  with  the  learned.  For  a 
long  time  he  was  neglected,  and  his  authority  repudiated 
and  condemned  by  the  most  celebrated  teachers  in  their 
lectures,  but  little  by  little  his  wisdom  appeared  suffi- 
ciently worthy  of  attention,  though  in  some  matters  he 
may  have  spoken  incorrectly.  We  know  also,"  he  adds, 
"  that  in  our  own  days  for  a  long  period  of  time  Aristotle's 
natural  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  as  expounded  by 
Avicenna  and  Averroes,  were  forbidden,  and  through 
crass  ignorance  their  works  were  excommunicated,  as 
well  as  those  using  them." 


150  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

Whilst  touching  on  the  rise  of  Aristotle's  influence  in 
the  Schools  of  the  West,  one  point  must  not  escape 
notice — the  extent  to  which  the  knowledge  of  his  works 
in  the  early  thirteenth  century  was  due  to  Latin  trans- 
lations of  Arabic  versions.  These  versions  were  mainly 
brought  to  the  schools  of  Europe  by  students  who  had 
frequented  the  great  centre  of  Arabian  learning  at 
Toledo.  It  has  been  noticed  how  Daniel  de  Morlai,  at 
the  end  of  the  previous  century,  had  returned  thence  to 
England  with  a  knowledge  of  Aristotle,  and  it  was  from 
the  same  Arab  source  that  many  of  the  early  Latin 
translations  reached  the  Universities  of  Europe.  Fre- 
quently they  appear  to  have  been  rather  transliterations 
than  translations,  made  by  people  alike  ignorant  of  the 
matter  and  the  language.  Speaking  of  those  early  transla- 
tions, Renan  says  that  such  editions  "  only  furnish  a 
Latin  translation  of  a  Hebrew  translation  of  a  com- 
mentary made  upon  an  Arabic  translation  of  a  Syriac 
version  of  the  Greek  text."  Under  these  circumstances 
it  is  hardly  a  matter  for  wonder  that  Aristotle  should 
have  been  so  often  misinterpreted,  or  that  Roger  Bacon 
should,  by  condemning  the  translations  in  use,  have  ex- 
pressed, it  may  be  somewhat  harshly,  his  disgust  at  the 
ignorance  of  Greek  displayed  by  professors,  who  would 
not  learn  the  language  to  discover  their  master's  real 
meaning. 

Among  the  influence  which  in  the  thirteenth  century 
brought  about  a  renaissance  of  letters  must  be  placed 
first  the  authority  ol  the  Popes.  Innocent  III,  for 
example,  who  in  his  youth  had  studied  in  Paris,  exerted 
his  supreme  power  in  favour  of  that  school  of  learning 
which  was  just  then  awakening  to  the  possibilities  within 
its  reach.  He  urged  the  clergyto  turn  themselves  seriously 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  151 

to  studious  occupations,  and  in  the  council  of  the  Lateran 
in  1 21 5  passed  a  universal  law  that  a  school  of  grammar 
should  be  a  necessary  adjunct  of  every  cathedral  church. 
So,  too,  Popes  like  Honorius  III  (1224)  and  Clement  IV 
(1267)  are  found  commending  the  work  of  those  engaged 
in  learned  pursuits  and  endeavouring  to  obtain  some 
temporal  recognition  of  their  services. 

Without  doubt,  however,  what  probably  did  more  than 
anything  else  to  assist  the  Western  world  to  understand 
that  the  night  was  past  and  the  day  was  at  hand,  and  to 
wake  it  up  to  the  opportunities  offered  it  by  the  reopen- 
ing of  communication  with  the  East  in  the  fall  of  Con- 
stantinople, was  the  rise  of  the  mendicant  Orders  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century.  Most  people  on  reflection  will 
be  inclined  to  agree  with  the  late  Mr.  Symonds  in  his 
opinion  that  of  all  the  names  in  this  century,  which  pro- 
duced so  many  illustrious  men,  those  of  St.  Francis  and 
St.  Dominic  stand  out  above  all  others.  With  the  latter, 
this  utilisation  of  the  power  of  letters  and  culture  in  the 
service  of  the  Church  was  no  mere  accident;  but  with 
St.  Francis,  Providence  seemed  to  have  overruled  his 
wish  that  none  of  his  sons  should  aspire  to  the  learning 
of  the  schools.  According  to  his  original  design  the 
qualification  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  Order,  as  he 
conceived  it,  was  to  be  found  in  a  capacity  to  attend  the 
leper  hospitals  and  to  wait  upon  the  poor  and  sick 
generally.  "  But  in  thus  qualifying  themselves  for  work- 
ing among  the  large  populations  of  the  towns,"  writes 
Mr.  Brewer,  "  the  friars  were  forced  upon  other  studies 
secondary  only  in  importance  to  their  main  concern." 
In  this  way  they  came  to  give  themselves  generally  to 
physical  studies  and  pursuits,  and  to  medicine  and  natural 
philosophy  specially.    Their  knowledge  quickly  became 


152  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

more  than  theoretical,  for  they  tested  their  theories  by 
observation  and  actual  experiment.  Shakespeare,  in  his 
portrait  of  Friar  Lawrence,  has  made  us  familiar  with 
this  characteristic  of  Franciscan  learning.  At  first — at 
least  with  these  friars — the  study  of  languages  was 
necessitated  by  a  missionary  activity  which  sought  for  a 
wider  scope  than  could  be  found  in  the  Western  world, 
and  brought  them  into  immediate  contact  with  forms  of 
thought  and  languages  to  which  they  were  strangers. 
To  do  good  at  all,  they  were  obliged  to  master  the 
tongues  of  the  peoples  of  whom  they  would  be  Apostles. 
This  was  the  impulse — the  service  of  God  and  His 
Church — and  in  their  enthusiasm  in  this  sacred  cause 
they  swept  the  world  on  with  them  and  helped  to  con- 
vince the  learned  of  the  need  of  mastering  the  languages 
and  learning  of  the  East.  Up  to  this  period  the  Chris- 
tian and  the  follower  of  the  prophet  had  met  only  to 
exchange  blows  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  idea  that 
good  of  any  kind  could  possibly  come  from  an  attempt 
to  master  the  languages  of  the  enemies  of  the  Cross,  or 
from  an  endeavour  to  understand  their  modes  of  thought, 
does  not  appear  to  have  suggested  itself  to  the  minds  ot 
the  Crusaders.  They  were  warriors  for  the  truth — men 
who  would  compel  adhesion  to  the  Faith  at  the  point  of 
the  sword — they  asked  for  nothing  more,  and  expected 
nothing  less.  It  was  left  to  the  friars  to  conceive  other 
ideals  of  Christian  missionary  enterprise,  and  in  their 
endeavours  to  realise  them,  they  were  destined  to  assist 
materially  in  reawakening  the  Western  mind.  The 
chronicle  of  Friar  Eccleston,  the  letters  of  Adam  Marsh, 
and,  above  all,  the  works  of  Roger  Bacon  manifest  the 
constant  activity  of  the  friars  in  the  early  days  of  their 
existence.    Before  the  middle  of  the  century  we   find 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  153 

them  in  Russia,  and  rigorously  keeping  their  Lenten 
observances  in  the  regions  of  Crim  Tartary.  As  mis- 
sioners,  they  noted  whatever  might  be  useful  to  the 
future  preachers  of  the  Gospel  in  the  countries  through 
which  they  passed,  and,  as  travellers,  they  carefully  re- 
corded their  observations  upon  the  natural  features  ot 
hitherto  unexplored  regions,  and  set  down  peculiarities 
of  animal  life,  of  vegetation,  and  the  rest.  The  travels 
of  the  Franciscan,  William  de  Rubruquis,  in  Inner  Asia 
for  example — travels  so  much  appreciated  by  Roger 
Bacon — "  still,"  writes  Mr.  Brewer,  "  hold  their  place  in 
that  species  of  literature  which  has  done  more  than  any 
other  for  the  promotion  of  science." 

As   somewhat   allied    to   this  subject,  the   following 
passage  from  Roger  Bacon  may  be  here  noted: 

"  There  is  more  trouble  and  labour  in  the  work  of 
wisdom,"  he  writes  to  the  Pope  in  1267,  "than  one  un- 
used to  such  work  might  think.  Nothing  can  be  properly 
completed  without  instruments  of  astronomy,  geometry, 
perspective,  and  many  other  sciences.  Wherefore  with- 
out such  instruments  nothing  of  any  high  order  can  be 
known,  and  they  must  be  obtained,  since  few  of  them 
are  made  among  Latin  nations.  Copies  also  of  books  on 
all  the  various  sciences  are  needed,  the  works  of  learned 
men,  both  ancient  and  modern,  and  these,  neither  I  nor 
any  of  my  acquaintances  have,  and  they  must  be  searched 
for  in  the  libraries  of  the  wise  through  many  different 
countries.  Further,  as  authors  contradict  one  another 
in  a  great  many  things,  and  have  written  much  from 
report,  it  is  needful  to  examine  into  the  truth  by  actual 
experience.  .  .  .  Hence  I  have  frequently  sent  beyond  the 
sea  and  into  foreign  countries  and  to  celebrated  fairs  and 
markets  in  order  to  have  ocular  testimony  about  things 


154  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

of  nature,  and  prove  the  truth  of  something  by  sight, 
touch,  smell,  and  sometimes  by  hearing,  and  thus  by  the 
certainty  of  experiment  [get  to  know]  what  I  could  not 
get  from  books." 

Before  the  close  of  the  century,  a  Franciscan  friar  of 
the  third  Order,  Raymund  Lully — the  doctor  illuminatus, 
as  he  was  called — had  eclipsed  even  De  Rubruquis  in 
the  magnitude  of  his  travels.  These  had  extended, 
indeed,  over  three-quarters  of  the  globe,  and  yet  his 
journeying  and  missionary  labours  were  by  no  means 
the  full  measure  of  his  gigantic  activity  and  industry. 
He,  too,  was  interested  deeply  in  the  study  of  Greek 
and  various  other  languages,  and  his  letters  on  this  sub- 
ject to  the  Pope  and  to  the  authorities  of  the  Paris 
University  are  worthy  of  a  passing  notice.  His  desire 
was  to  see  the  establishment  of  a  college  where  men 
might  be  taught  the  tongues  and  even  the  idioms  of  the 
infidels: 

"  I  can  vouch  from  experience,"  he  says,  "  that  there 
are  many  of  the  Arabian  philosophers  who  strive  to 
pervert  Christians  to  the  errors  of  Mahometanism; " 
and,  in  his  opinion,  the  establishment  of  such  a  place  in 
Paris,  where  Greek,  Arabic,  and  the  languages  of  the 
Tartar  races  could  be  taught,  would  do  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  assist  those  who  were  willing  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  the  Eastern  peoples.  It  would  enable  them 
at  least  to  know  the  tongues  of  those  they  had  to  deal 
with. 

So  far,  the  reader  has  been  asked  to  take  a  general 
survey  of  the  revival  of  letters  in  the  early  thirteenth 
century.  Attention  may  now  be  restricted  to  England 
somewhat  more  closely,  and  the  names  of  some  of  those 
Englishmen  at  this  time  illustrious  by  their  conspicuous 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  155 

learning  recalled  to  the  memory.  Where  the  material  is 
so  abundant  it  is  difficult  to  select,  and  all  that  it  is 
here  possible  to  do  is  to  make  choice  of  some  few  who 
may  be  taken  as  types  of  the  men  whose  energy  and 
ability  materially  assisted  in  this  general  awakening  of 
minds. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  thirteenth  century  a  student 
named  Michael  Scot,  born  probably  in  the  Lowlands  of 
Scotland,  and  educated  in  his  early  years  at  Oxford  and 
Paris,   was   working  at  Toledo.     After   having  visited 
Bologna  and  Palermo  in  his  search  after  learning,  he  had 
come  to  Spain,  attracted  thither  by  the  high  reputation 
of  the  Arabian   philosophers.     Here  he  learnt   Arabic 
sufficiently  well  to   be  able  to  translate  the   works  ot 
Aristotle.    Roger  Bacon  rather  disparages  his  learning, 
but  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  really  did  much  to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  the  philosophy  which  subsequently 
bore  so  great  a  part  in  the  mediaeval  revival.   In  his  work 
of  translating  he  was  assisted  by  a  Jew  named  Andre, 
and  Bacon  not  only  charges  him  with  having  allowed 
himself  to  be  deceived  by  this  assistant,  but  with  being 
really  ignorant  of  the  sciences  he  was  introducing  to  the 
Western  world.    Leaving  Toledo  sometime  after  12 17, 
Michael  Scot  became  attached  to  the  Court  of  Frederick  II, 
a  great  patron  of  learning,  with  whose  name  many  of 
the  translations  are  associated.  In  1 224  Pope  Honorius  1 1 1 
wrote  to  Cardinal  Langton  to  beg  that  the  English  Arch- 
bishop would  assist  Michael  Scot,  "  who,  even  among 
men  of  learning,  was  singularly  pre-eminent,"  to  some 
worthy  ecclesiastical  benefice  in   reward  for  his  services 
in  "  giving  us  for  the  use  of  the  learned  of  these  clays 
many  translations  of  Aristotle  and  other  works  from  the 
Hebrew  and  Arabic."   A  few  months  later  the  same  Pope 


156  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

wrote  again  more  fully  as  to  the  claims  and  merits  of 
this  illustrious  student,  who  was  well  versed  both  in 
Hebrew  and  Arabic,  besides  Latin.  "  From  childhood," 
he  says,  "  he  was  ardent  in  his  pursuit  of  literature,  and 
without  consideration  for  anything  else  he  has  wooed  it 
with  constant  study,  raising  up  on  the  foundation  of  the 
arts  a  splendid  structure  of  learning." 

Later  on,  in  the  same  year,  Honorius  111  appointed 
Scot  to  the  See  of  Cashel,  and  on  his  refusal  of  the 
honour  gave  him  leave  to  hold  a  benefice  in  Italy.  In 
1230,  according  to  Bacon,  Michael  Scot  came  to  Oxford, 
bringing  his  works  upon  Aristotle  to  introduce  them  to 
the  teachers  there.  Probably  this  was  the  mission  sent 
by  Frederick  II  to  all  the  schools  of  Europe  to  interest 
them  in  these  translations  which  had  been  made  under 
his  patronage. 

The  reputation  of  this  great  student  long  survived 
him,  and,  as  was  common  in  the  times  in  which  he  lived, 
his  very  learning  caused  him  to  be  looked  upon  with 
suspicion  by  those  who  were  unable  to  appreciate  such 
ardour  in  the  cause  of  letters.  Boccaccio  uses  his  name 
as  that  of  a  well-known  "  great  master  in  necromancy  " 
to  introduce  one  of  his  tales.  Dante  speaks  of  "  his 
magical  deceits,"  and  his  memory  still  lives  in  many 
legends  of  the  border  country:  any  work  of  great  labour 
or  difficulty  or  antiquity  being  usually  ascribed  to  the 
agency  of  "  auld  Michael,"  Sir  William  Wallace,  or  the 
Devil.  Readers  of  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  will 
remember  that  the  second  canto  tells  of  the  visit  of 
"  bold  Deloraine  "  to  Melrose  "  to  win  the  treasure  of  the 
tomb,"  the  "Mighty  Book"  of  Michael  Scot,  which, 
according  to  legend,  had  been  buried  with  him. 

Probably    no    English    name  deserves   to    be    better 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  157 

known  in  relation  to  the  revival  of  letters  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  than  that  of  Bishop  Grosseteste.  He  was, 
it  is  true,  neither  the  first  nor  the  greatest  of  English 
scholars  at  the  time,  but  his  influence  and  example  can 
be  traced  in  the  work  of  those  who  followed  him.  He 
was  the  pupil,  together  with  Thomas  Wallensis  and 
Adam  Marsh,  of  St.  Edmund  of  Canterbury  in  the 
schools  of  Paris.  Probably,  also,  he  had  listened  there 
to  the  lessons  of  Stephen  Langton,  who,  according  to 
Pope  Honorius  III,  "shone  even  among  those  most 
celebrated  throughout  the  world  for  eminent  literary 
knowledge  and  profound  theoretical  learning."  Grosse- 
teste was  already  a  brilliant  scholar  when,  becoming 
greatly  interested  in  the  new  institute  of  Franciscan 
friars  then  recently  come  to  Oxford,  he  undertook  to 
direct  their  studies.  He  not  only  kept  his  promise,  but 
persuaded  other  teachers  of  eminence  to  come  and  lecture 
in  the  friars'  school.  Amongst  others  were  Adam  Marsh 
and  Thomas  Wallensis,  both  Grosseteste's  fellow-pupils 
in  Paris,  and  the  former  of  whom,  after  a  brilliant  career 
as  a  professor  in  that  University,  had  joined  the  Fran- 
ciscans in  their  early  days. 

Grosseteste  and  Adam  Marsh  undoubtedly  laid  the 
foundation  in  the  Friary  at  Oxford  of  a  school  of  Euro- 
pean reputation.  Out  of  it  came  a  series  of  brilliant 
scholars  and  teachers,  the  like  of  which  is  unknown  in 
the  history  of  letters.  No  three  schoolmen  have  shown 
such  profound  and  original  learning  as  Bacon,  Scotus, 
Occham,  and  no  other  nation  can  show  such  results. 
Roger  Bacon,  the  stern  critic  of  others,  has  nothing  but 
praise  for  his  old  masters,  Grosseteste  and  Adam  Marsh. 
"  These,"  he  says,  "  were  perfect  in  all  wisdom."  '    Of  all 

1  Opera  inedita,  p.  70. 


158  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

the  learned  men  of  his  day,  "  one  only,  that  is  the 
Bishop  of  Lincoln,  knew  all  science  as  Boethius  knew  all 
languages."  ! 

"  A  translator,"  he  says  in  another  place,  "  should 
know  the  science  and  the  two  languages  from  which  and 
into  which  he  wishes  to  translate.  But  no  one  knew 
languages  except  Boethius,  the  famous  translator,  no 
one  science  except  Robert,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  both  by 
reason  of  the  length  of  his  life,  his  experience,  study,  and 
diligence,  and  because  he  knew  mathematics  and  per- 
spective he  could  master  anything;  at  the  same  time,  he 
only  knew  languages  well  enough  to  understand  the 
fathers,  philosophers,  and  wise  men  of  the  ancients.  But 
he  did  not  know  them  sufficiently  well  to  translate 
properly  till  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  when  he  sent  for 
Greeks  and  caused  them  to  bring  books  of  Greek  grammar 
to  England  from  Greece  and  elsewhere."  2 

This  reference  to  those  who  assisted  Bishop  Grosseteste 
in  his  linguistic  studies  recalls  the  name  of  John  de 
Basing,  or  Basingstoke.  This  eminent  scholar  had  passed 
some  time  in  Athens  perfecting  himself  in  the  Greek 
language  where,  as  he  told  Matthew  Paris  himself,  he 
was  taught  by  a  young  girl  not  twenty  years  of  age 
named  Constantia,  the  daughter  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Athens.  She  had  mastered  every  difficulty  of  the  trivium 
and  quadrivium,  and  John  de  Basingstoke  used  to  call 
her  "  another  St.  Catherine."  "  She,"  says  Matthew  Paris 
in  the  Chronica  Majora,  "was  his  instructress  in  every- 
thing he  knew,  as  he  often  asserted  though  he  had  long 
studied  and  read  in  Paris."  3 

On  his  return  to  England,  John  de  Basingstoke  brought 

1   Opera  inedita,  p.  33.  -  Ibid.,  p.  91. 

:|  Chronica  Majora,  v,  p.  286. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  159 

with  him  many  Greek  manuscripts,  and  among  others 
the  original  Greek  text  of  the  pseudo  Denys  the  Areo- 
pagite.  He  had  told  Bishop  Grosseteste,  who  became 
acquainted  with  him  at  St.  Alban's.that  at  Athens  there 
existed  much  learning  of  which  the  Latins  were  wholly 
ignorant.  Amongst  other  things,  says  Matthew  Paris,  he 
pointed  out  that  there  was  a  work  called :  "  The  Testa- 
ment of  the  twelve  Patriarchs,  the  sons  of  Jacob,  which 
was  of  the  substance  of  the  Bible ;  but  which,  through 
the  hatred  of  the  Jews  had  been  long  concealed,  since  in 
them  the  prophecies  about  Christ  were  most  clear.'  But 
the  Greeks,  the  most  diligent  seekers  after  manuscripts, 
coming  to  the  knowledge  of  the  document,  translated  it 
from  Hebrew  to  Greek  and  have  preserved  it  to  our 
own  times.2 

At  this  period  in  the  thirteenth  century  there  was 
much  talk  as  to  the  possibility  of  bringing  about  the 
conversion  of  the  Jews.  In  1231,  the  king  built  in 
London,  somewhere  about  the  site  now  occupied  by  the 
Public  Record  Office,  what  was  called  the  Domus  Con- 
versorum  for  the  support  of  those  who  should  embrace 
the  Christian  Faith.  The  great  controversy  as  to  whether 
the  Old  Law  was  to  be  considered  abrogated  or  merely 
enforced,  expanded  and  explained  by  the  promulgation 
of  the  New  Testament,  induced  Grosseteste  to  write  his 
De  cessatione  legalium.  On  being  told  by  John  de  Basing- 
stoke of  the  existence  of  the  P atriarcharum  Testamenta, 
the  Bishop  sent  special  messengers  to  Athens  to  obtain 
a  copy  of  what  then  appeared  to  be  a  most  important 
work.  "This,"  says  the  antiquary,  Samuel  Pegge,  "was 
a  noble  effort,  equally  noble  if  not  superior,  considering 
the  difference  of  the  times,  to  the  spirit  of  the  Scaligers, 
1   Chronica  Afajora,  v,  p.  285.  -  Ibid.,  iv.  233. 


t6o  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

the  Lauds,  the  Ushers,  and  other  learned  men  of  later 
ages." ' 

On  the  return  of  his  messengers  to  England  Grosse- 
teste,  says  Matthew  Paris,  "  translated  the  tract  fully  and 
completely  word  for  word  into  Latin  with  the  assistance 
of  Master  Nicholas  '  the  Greek '  clerk  of  the  Abbot  of 
St.  Alban's,"  2  and  here  I  may  note  that  the  original 
manuscript  brought  back  to  Grosseteste  and  used  by 
him  in  his  work  of  translating  is  probably  that  now  in 
the  University  Library,  Cambridge  (Ff.  i,  24).  Of 
course,  it  is  now  known  that  the  Testamenta  had  not  the 
importance  attached  to  it  by  Bishop  Grosseteste  and 
others  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  but  all  the  same,  few 
on  reflection  would  be  disposed  to  echo  the  words  of  the 
late  Dr.  Luard,  where  he  says:  "It  is  lamentable  to 
think  that  the  Greek  books  which  chiefly  occupied 
Grosseteste's  attention  were  the  wretched  forgeries  ol 
the  Testamenta  duodecim  Patriarcharum  and  the  Pseudo 
Dionysius  Areopagita." 

This  learned  editor  of  Grosseteste's  letters  thinks  that 
the  bishop  and  others  of  his  time  "  completely  received 
this  as  genuine  Scripture;  "  but  the  very  contrary  would 
seem  to  appear  from  what  Roger  Bacon  says  about  the 
work.  "Though  not  in  the  canon  of  Scripture,"  he 
writes,  "  wise  and  holy  men,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  have 
made  use  of  these  books  from  the  earliest  ages  of  the 
Church." 4 

To  Bishop  Grosseteste,  moreover,  we  in  the  first  place 
owe  our  knowledge  of  a  very  important  early  Christian 
document — certainly  not  a  "  wretched  forgery."   In  1644, 

1  Life  of  Grosseteste,  p.  1 5.  2  Chron.  Ma-!.,  iv.  233. 

3  Grosseteste 's  Letters,  pref.  xxvi, 

4  Ot>.  Maf,  p.  58. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  161 

Archbishop  Usher  published  a  Latin  version  of  what 
Bishop  Lightfoot  calls  the  middle  form  of  the  letters  of 
St.  Ignatius,  which  he  considers  the  most  important  of 
the  three  recensions.  The  Archbishop  had  observed  that 
the  quotations  from  St.  Ignatius'  writings  found  in  the 
works  of  Bishop  Grosseteste,  John  Tyssington  (c.  1 38 1) 
and  William  Wodeford  (c.  1396)  although  different  from 
the  text  of  the  Epistles  (the  longer  form)  then  received, 
yet  agreed  exactly  with  quotations  to  be  found  in  the 
works  of  Eusebius  and  Theodoret.  He  concluded  there- 
fore that  there  must  have  existed  in  England  from  the 
time  of  Bishop  Grosseteste,  a  version  corresponding  to 
the  older  text  of  St.  Ignatius.  His  examination  of  the 
English  libraries  was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  two 
manuscripts  of  this  version  the  translation  of  which  he 
suspected  was  due  to  Bishop  Grosseteste  himself,  especi- 
ally as  some  notes  upon  the  margin  of  one  of  the  MSS. 
proved  that  the  translator  was  an  Englishman.  Subse- 
quent writers  pointed  out,  as  confirming  Usher's  opinion, 
that  Tyssington  and  Wodeford,  who  had  used  the 
same  version,  both  belonged  to  the  Franciscan  convent  in 
Oxford  to  which  Grosseteste  had  bequeathed  his  books. 
Before  the  publication  of  Bishop  Lightfoot's  second  edi- 
tion of  his  monumental  work  upon  the  Epistles  of  St. 
Ignatius,  Usher's  theory  of  the  authorship  of  the  version 
was  confirmed  in  an  unexpected  way.  A  friend  pointed 
out  to  him  that  among  the  MSS.  in  the  library  of  Tours 
was  one  professing  to  contain  the  translated  Epistles  and 
assigning  the  work  to  Bishop  Grosseteste.  Upon  exami- 
nation this  was  found  to  be  the  case,  and  we  have  now 
the  authority  of  a  fourteenth-century  MS.  for  holding 
that  the  Bishop  did  translate  these  letters,  "  de  Graeco 
in  Latinum."    It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  when  Usher 

M 


162  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

found  this  Latin  version  of  the  Epistles,  the  Greek  ver- 
sion subsequently  discovered  in  the  Medicean  library  at 
Florence  was  unknown,  and  thus  the  earliest  knowledge 
of  the  most  correct  version  of  the  Ignatian  Epistles  was 
due  to  Bishop  Grosseteste's  work  of  translation  in  the 
thirteenth  century. 

In  regard  to  John  de  Basingstoke,  who  so  greatly 
assisted  Bishop  Grosseteste  as  we  have  said,  Matthew 
Paris  notes  that  he  first  introduced  to  the  English  the 
meaning  and  use  of  the  figure  numerals  of  the  Greeks, 
where  one  figure  represents  each  number  "  which  is  not 
the  case  with  the  Latins."  In  his  Chronica  Majora,  Paris 
sets  down  a  table  of  the  Greek  method  of  notation, 
which  he  obtained  evidently  from  John  de  Basingstoke 
himself.1 

The  same  Greek  scholar  was  the  author,  or  perhaps 
translator,  of  a  work  on  Greek  grammar  which  he  called 
the  Greek  Donatus,  of  a  book  called  Templum  Domini, 
which  Paris  says  is  "  very  useful,"  and  of  another  on  the 
order  of  the  Gospels — a  sort  of  harmony  probably — 
which  he  named  Athenae. 

Amongst  those  who  assisted  Bishop  Grosseteste  in  his 
Greek  studies  was  one,  already  named,  Nicholas,  "natione 
et  conversatione,"  a  Greek.  He  had  come  over  to  Eng- 
land, at  least  so  Pegge  considers,  at  the  invitation  of 
John  de  Hertford,  Abbot  of  St.  Alban's.  This  much  is 
certain,  that  he  found  a  home  at  that  abbey  and  was 
made  clerk  to  the  Abbot.  It  was  here  that  Bishop 
Grosseteste  apparently  found  him  and  obtained  his 
assistance  in  the  work  of  translating  the  Testamenta 
Duodecim  Patriarcharum.  He  was  still  living  late  in  the 
century  and  had  been  rewarded  by  Grosseteste  with  a 

1  Chron.  Maj.,  v,  234. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  163 

prebend  at  Lincoln.  And  here  it  may  be  worth  noting 
that  St.  Alban's,  then  in  the  height  of  its  greatest  glory, 
with  Matthew  Paris  working  as  our  national  archivist 
in  its  scriptorium  and  training  others  in  historical 
methods,  was  apparently  the  focus  from  which  Greek 
learning  and  a  love  of  letters  spread  to  other  parts  of 
England.  It  had  been  long  known  for  its  encourage- 
ment of  literary  efforts,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  we  have  the  distinct  testimony  of  that  illustrious 
Englishman,  Alexander  Neckham,  as  to  the  good  work 
done  in  this  way  by  the  great  Benedictine  monastery. 
He  ought  to  have  known,  for  he  was  born  beneath  its 
shadow,  received  his  early  training  and  passed  what  he 
calls  "  happy  years  and  days  of  peaceful  joy  "  within  its 
walls.  Not  only  were  the  two  great  scholars  just  named, 
John  de  Basingstoke  and  Nicholas  the  Greek,  connected 
with  the  abbey,  but  one  of  the  most  celebrated  early 
English  Dominicans,  John  of  St.  Giles,  was  born  at,  and 
received  his  early  education  at  St.  Alban's.  He  subse- 
quently studied  in  Paris  and  at  Montpellier,  becoming  a 
doctor  of  eminence  before  he  entered  religion.  In  1223, 
at  Paris,  during  a  sermon,  he  received  a  call  to  renounce 
the  world  and  declared  his  intention  of  joining  the 
Dominicans.  He  became  the  first  teacher  in  their  schools 
at  Oxford. 

It  is  impossible,  here,  to  speak  fully  of  the  great  light 
of  this  century,  so  far  as  England  at  least  is  concerned, 
Roger  Bacon.  The  authors  of  the  volume  of  the  Histoire 
Litteraire  de  la  France,  dealing  with  this  period,  declare 
that  "  his  works  neither  in  his  own  age  nor  even  in  our 
present  time  have  received  the  recognition  they  deserve. 
No  writer,  in  that  dark  age,  could  have  thrown  such  a 
vivid  light  upon  physical  sciences  and  upon  any  point 


r64  ENGLISH  SCHOLARSHIP  IN 

in  the  whole  range  of  human  knowledge  if  he  had  been 
allowed  to  propagate  his  discoveries."1 

Perhaps  the  highest  praise  that  can  be  accorded  to 
him  is  that  it  is  to  his  works  that  we  must  have  recourse 
to  obtain  information  about  the  trend  of  human  thought 
during  this  period.  In  them  we  see  him  as  a  deep 
student  of  natural  science  far  in  advance  of  his  age:  as 
an  accomplished  and  enthusiastic  linguist,  as  an  exact 
mathematician,  as  a  biblical  scholar  and  as  a  scientific, 
if  perhaps  somewhat  a  too  severe,  critic.  His  principles 
of  textual  criticism  are  sound,  and  recently  M.  Samuel 
Berger,  the  French  biblical  scholar,  has  declared  that  in 
his  opinion  we  could  not  do  better  at  the  present  day. 
Even  by  the  side  of  Albert  the  Great,  St.  Bonaventure, 
and  St.  Thomas,  Bacon  is  worthy  to  hold  his  place,  and 
the  more  his  works  are  known  and  studied  the  greater 
will  be  the  position  accorded  to  him. 

And  here  I  would  recall  a  passage  from  John  of  Salis- 
bury already  recorded.  Of  course  every  age  has  its  own 
particular  tendencies,  and  men  can  only  act  effectually 
by  taking  full  account  of  them  and  by  working  in  the 
prevalent  spirit  of  the  day.  Now,  without  any  doubt  at 
all,  the  spirit  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  essentially 
scientific.  That  wonderful  creation  of  the  human  mind, 
certainly  one  of  the  most  marvellous  creations  of  any 
age — the  Summa  of  St.  Thomas,  is  what  it  is  precisely 
because  it  is  scientific  in  its  system  and  construction. 
But  this  great  characteristic  of  the  thirteenth  century 
was  purchased  at  a  price.  Looking  back  to  the  previous 
age,  and  comparing  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries, 
we  can  hardly  fail  to  see  that  the  price  paid  was  the 
sacrifice  of  literature  in  its  highest  and  truest  sense;  a 

1  Tom.  16,  p.  25. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY  165 

great  price  indeed,  for  after  all  it  must  be  remembered 
that  literature  is  the  supreme  and  fullest  expression  of 
all  the  highest  powers  of  man.  We  have  only  to  look, 
for  example,  at  the  writings  of  John  of  Salisbury  and 
Peter  of  Blois,  and  set  them  by  the  side  of  those — say  of 
Albert  the  Great,  or  Alexander  of  Hales — to  see  that 
the  former  are  really  classical  in  thought  and  expression 
as  compared  with  the  later. 

Grosseteste  and  Bacon  were  essentially  men  of  their 
own  age,  and  they  show  themselves  possessed  to  the  full 
of  the  true  scientific  spirit.  But  they,  more  than  others, 
are  also  in  reality  the  heirs  of  the  twelfth  century,  for  in 
them,  more  fully  than  in  others,  we  find  what  John  of 
Salisbury  desired,  that  "  they  supported  themselves  on 
the  great  base  of  literature  and  endeavoured  to  walk  in 
the  tracks  of  the  ancients."  I  fully  believe  that  the  more 
this  question  is  examined  the  more  it  will  be  found 
to  be  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  lines  initiated  by 
Grosseteste  and  Bacon  were  not  those  which  ultimately 
prevailed. 


IV 

TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN  THE 
FIFTEENTH   CENTURY 

OUR  antiquaries  have  not  as  yet  devoted  much  atten- 
tion to  the  meals  of  our  mediaeval  forefathers. 
Descriptions  of  pageants,  religious  ceremonies,  battles 
and  tournaments  are  plentiful  enough;  but  as  to  how 
the  people  fed  and  what  they  were  fed  upon,  as  to  how 
the  viands  were  cooked  and  how  they  were  served  up, 
our  masters  in  the  history  of  social  manners  and  customs 
have  so  far  told  us  very  little.  There  is,  however,  no 
lack  of  material  out  of  which  to  construct  the  picture  of 
the  mediaeval  state  banquet  or  the  humble  mid-day 
meal.  Here  and  there  in  the  transactions  of  some 
Archaeological  Society,  or  in  some  antiquarian  note-book, 
we  have,  it  is  true,  indications  of  the  matter,  but  these 
are,  alas!  now  again  too  deeply  buried  in  the  mass  of 
more  ephemeral  literature,  and  hidden  away  on  the 
shelves  of  our  larger  libraries,  to  have  much  chance  of 
being  disinterred  by  any  ordinary  reader.  Of  late,  it  is 
true,  more  special  attention  has  been  devoted  to  the 
question  of  cookery  and  cooks'  recipes  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  several  collections  of  such  recipes  have  been 
printed  by  some  of  our  learned  societies,  but  as  yet  not 
much  use  has  been  made  of  them  in  order  to  reconstruct 
the  scenes  enacted  in  the  great  dining-halls,  or  in  the 

1 66 


TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  167 

more  common  meal  chambers,  of  by-gone  generations 
of  Englishmen.  The  one  fixed  idea,  apparently,  which 
most  people  have  of  our  mediaeval  parents  at  feeding 
time  is  that  they  were  altogether  a  very  coarse  and 
boorish  set,  who  devoured  their  ill-made  dishes  after  the 
manner  of  their  ill-bred  dogs,  which,  among  the  rushes 
that  covered  the  floor,  fought  over  the  bits  and  bones 
their  masters  cast  to  them  from  their  platters.  Few,  who 
have  not  examined  the  question  for  themselves,  probably 
dream  of  the  height  to  which  during  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries  gastronomic  art  had  reached,  or  of  the 
courtesy  and  good  manners  expected  from  all  at  the 
festive  board  in  spite  of  that  absence  of  some  of  the 
things  which  to  us  in  this  century  seem  to  make  decent 
eating  possible.  The  poet  Chaucer's  Squire,  for  instance, 
is  the  very  beau  ideal  of  the  chivalrous  English  gentle- 
man. He  tells  us  that  "  Curteys  he  was,  lowly  and 
servysable,  and  karf  beforn  his  fadur  at  the  table."  Of 
course,  some  of  the  things  our  ancestors  were  constrained 
to  do  at  food  time  do  not  seem  very  nice  to  us  to-day. 
Fancy,  for  example,  how  we  should  get  through  a  dinner 
now  without  one,  or  for  that  matter  perhaps,  a  multitude 
of  forks !  To  our  forefathers  the  fact  that  "  fingers  were 
made  before  forks  "  was  patent,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  they  thought  very  little  of  helping  themselves  from 
their  dishes  with  thumb  and  forefinger.  Here,  as  in  so 
many  similar  cases,  we  are  so  apt  to  import  our  modern 
ideas  into  by-gone  ages  when  such  things  as  silver 
forks,  and  for  that  matter  forks  of  any  kind,  were  not. 
The  fact  is  that  our  ancestors  provided  as  well  as  they 
could  against  the  unpleasantness,  and  I  fear  we  must 
say  rtlthiness,  occasioned  by  the  habit  of  eating  with 
their  fingers,   by  constantly  washing  their  hands  both 


1 68  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

before  and  after  their  meals.  In  every  large  establish- 
ment a  special  officer,  called  the  Ewerer — the  bearer  of 
the  jug  and  basin — was  told  off  to  provide  the  necessary 
water  and  towel.  Spoons  too  were  in  more  frequent  use 
than  now,  and  served  their  purpose  well  in  days  when, 
as  the  recipes  show,  the  food  in  great  measure  partook 
of  the  nature  of  hashes,  stews,  soups,  and  other  made 
dishes  easily  eaten  with  the  spoon.  The  antiquary  Pegge 
believed  that  large  pieces  of  meat  and  great  joints  were 
not  in  common  use  till  well  into  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  It  was  the  server's  place  to  see,  as  the  ancient 
Book  of  Kerving  tells  us,  "  that  every  person  had  a 
napkin  and  a  spoon,"  and  most  minute  directions  exist 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  carver  was  to  dismember 
birds,  to  free  the  fish  from  its  bones,  and  to  slice  the  meat 
into  "  gobbetts  "  which  could  be  managed  by  the  guests 
with  a  spoon.  Sometimes,  however,  the  diners  appar- 
ently helped  themselves  from  the  dishes  before  them 
without  waiting  for  the  carver  to  do  his  office.  This 
must  have  been  far  from  pleasant,  at  least  as  Barklay 
describes  the  custom : 

If  the  dishe  be  pleasaunt,  eyther  flesh  or  fyshe, 
Ten  handes  at  once  swarme  in  the  dishe ; 
And  if  it  be  fleshe  ten  knives  shall  thou  see, 
Mangling  the  flesh  in  the  platter,  flee. 
To  put  there  thy  handes  is  perill  without  fayle 
Without  a  gauntlet,  or  els  a  glove  of  mayle."  ' 

Then  the  platters — to  mention  but  one  other  accessory 
of  the  table  in  which  we  have  decidedly  the  advantage 
over  our  mediaeval  ancestors — must  have  been,  at  least 
to  our  modern   notions,  an   objectionable  feature  of  a 

'  Alexander  Barklay  (quoted  by  Warner,  Antiquitates  Culm- 
ariae,  p.  95). 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  169 

mediaeval  banquet.  Till  late  in  the  sixteenth  century 
wooden  trenchers,  and,  for  that  matter,  bowls  were  the 
rule  in  the  most  highly  respectable  houses  of  the  land. 

But  while  the  accessories  of  the  table  were  somewhat 
defective  according  to  our  way  of  thinking,  there  was  a 
well-recognised  method  of  preparing  and  serving  the 
meal,  especially  when  circumstances  required  a  grander 
display  than  usual.  I  remember  once,  in  turning  over 
the  leaves  of  an  old  account-book  in  the  Record  Office, 
that  I  came  upon  a  statement  of  the  preparations  made 
by  a  distinguished  ecclesiastic  for  a  dinner  he  gave  to 
King  Edward  III.  The  royal  arrival  was  apparently 
unexpected;  but  sufficient  notice  had  been  given  to 
set  the  whole  place  in  a  ferment  of  excitement.  People 
were  despatched  here,  there  and  everywhere  to  procure 
provisions  and  other  necessaries  for  the  feast,  to  which 
the  king  was  coming  with  all  his  household  (cum  tota 
familia  sua).  Here  are  some  of  the  items  required  as  I 
find  them  set  down  on  a  page  of  an  old  note-book  that 
I  was  using  at  the  time.  I  fear  they  will  appear  rather 
miscellaneous,  and  some  may  seem  not  to  have  very 
much  to  do  with  a  dinner.  First  there  were  sacks  of  fine 
flour  for  pasties  and  table  bread  (payndemayn);  then 
came  ells  of  linen  to  make  towels,  tablecloths,  "  saven- 
apes,"  and  cloths  to  wipe  out  the  cups  and  cleanse  the 
platters.  Next  came  a  long  list  of  spices,  such  as  cloves, 
mace,  ginger  and  galingale,  which  in  those  days  were  so 
constantly  used  to  flavour  sauces  and  disguise  the  taste 
of  meat  otherwise  unpalatable.  With  these  were  rice- 
flour  and  dates,  prunes,  pines,  and  "  Reys  corens,"  that 
is,  Corinth  raisins,  now  better  known  to  us  as  "currants." 
Of  meats  there  was  the  usual  profusion  found  in  the 
Middle  Ages.     Besides  the  beef,  mutton,  veal  and  pork, 


170  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

for  this  particular  banquet  we  find  provided  for  the  royal 
guest  "77  capons,  156  pullets,  188  pigeons,  2  pheasants, 
5  herons,  6  egretts,  and  6  brews." '  All  these  were  pur- 
chased in  London,  apparently  alive,  because  "the  carriage 
and  keep  of  them  "  to  the  place  where  they  were  to  be 
cooked  is  charged  at  43  shillings  and  6  pence.  The  same 
messenger  brought  along  with  him  5  lb.  of  salt  and  6 
gallons  of  cream. 

As  the  day  approached — it  was  August  8th,  1373 — 
the  hurry  and  scurry  became  more  apparent.  Men  were 
at  work  unremittingly  setting  up  trestles  for  tables,  side- 
boards and  forms  in  the  dining-hall,  and  dressers,  chop- 
ping-boards  and  baking-boards  for  the  cooks,  for  whom 
also  a  canvas  tent  was  erected,  apparently  to  serve  as  a 
larder.  Women,  too,  were  kept  hard  at  work  making  up 
linen  and  canvas  into  aprons  for  cooks,  strainers  for  use 
in  the  kitchen,  and  cloths  for  tables  and  dressers.  Bakers 
were  busy  for  three  days  before  the  king's  arrival  making 
the  bread  for  the  company  and  preparing  "horse  loaves" 
for  their  animals.  Lastly  we  find  set  down  the  wages 
for  the  cook  who  came  to  supervise  the  preparations 
for  the  banquet.  Perchance  this  same  professor  of  the 
culinary  art  may  have  been  the  king's  own  cook,  for 
some  of  the  old  royal  accounts  show  that  our  kings,  then 
as  now,  provided  themselves  when  on  a  journey,  like  the 
Canterbury  pilgrims  described  by  Chaucer  at  this  very 
time: 

A  coke  they  hadden  with  hem  for  the  hones 
To  boil  the  chickenes  and  the  marie  bones 
And  poudre  marchant,  tart  and  galingale. 
Wei  coud  he  knowe  a  draught  of  London  ale, 

1  This  was  probably  the  whimbrel,  or  half-curlew,  to  be  eaten 
"  with  watere  of  the  rivere" — sugar  and  salt. — Prologue. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  171 

He  couthe  roste,  and  sethe,  and  boyl,  and  frye, 
Makyn  Mortrews,  and  bakyn  well  a  pye. 

There  were,  however,  other  professional  cooks,  not  dis- 
tinctly attached  to  this  or  that  great  family  or  house, 
who  went  about  to  furnish  forth  a  banquet  wherever 
their  services  might  be  required.  Like  Gunter,  Bertram 
and  Roberts,  and  the  rest,  of  our  days,  there  were  appar- 
ently mediaeval  refreshment  contractors,  or  at  any  rate 
high-class  artists  in  cookery  ready  to  undertake  the 
preparation  of  the  feast  with  which  some  great  national 
event  was  celebrated,  or  to  cater  for  the  supply  of  refresh- 
ments to  clerics  brought  together  by  some  ecclesiastical 
function.  The  cookery  books  of  more  than  one  of  these 
artists  are  still  in  existence,  and  not  only  do  they  reveal 
the  secrets  of  their  triumphs  in  the  gastronomic  art,  but 
in  several  cases  they  record  the  times  and  places  of  their 
most  successful  efforts,  and  even  the  menu  of  the  ban- 
quets themselves. 

One  such  note-book,  written  by  a  fifteenth-century 
Gunter,  may  be  seen  among  the  MSS.  treasures  in  the 
British  Museum,1  and  has  within  the  last  few  years  been 
printed  by  the  Early  English  Text  Society.  It  is  a 
beautifully  written  collection  of  recipes  for  making  tasty 
dishes  arranged  under  various  headings,  so  that  any  one 
of  them  might  be  easily  found  by  the  index  prefixed  to 
the  collection.  In  addition  to  this  collection,  moreover, 
there  is  a  most  interesting  set  of  menus,  each  distinguished 
by  a  brief  account  of  the  occasion  upon  which  the  ban- 
quet described  was  served  up.  They  are  menus  of  dinners 
given  on  various  occasions  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century.   Two  of  them  describe  the  dishes  of  two  great 

'  Harl.  MS.,  279. 


172  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

dinners  given  in  the  Bishop's  palace  at  Wells.  The  chef 
must  have  been,  I  fancy,  a  distinguished  man  in  his  own 
profession  in  those  days,  for  his  list  of  triumphs  includes: 
the  feast  at  the  coronation  of  King  Henry  IV  at  West- 
minster in  1399;  royal  dinners  at  Winchester  and  else- 
where ;  a  great  fish  banquet  given  by  Lord  de  la  Grey, 
and  another  by  Bishop  Flemming,  of  Lincoln,  in  1420  ; 
the  installation  feast  of  Bishop  John  Chaundler  of  Sarum, 
in  14.17,  etc.,  etc. 

Besides  these,  as  I  have  said,  our  unknown  master  in 
the  art  of  cookery  superintended  two  great  dinners  at 
Wells.  The  first  occasion  was  in  December,  1424.  In 
the  month  of  September  there  died  Bishop  Nicholas  Bub- 
with,  whose  chantry  chapel  was  built  by  himself  on  the 
north  side,  in  the  nave  arcade  of  Wells  Cathedral,  oppo- 
site the  perhaps  better  known  chapel  of  Treasurer  Sugar. 
A  great  concourse  of  people,  distinguished  ecclesiastics, 
laymen  and  the  religious  of  the  diocese  would  have  come 
to  Wells  for  the  funeral.  The  deceased  prelate  had  been 
a  man  of  considerable  importance  to  the  country  in 
general  and  to  the  city  of  Wells  in  particular.  He  had 
been  Bishop  of  London  and  Treasurer  of  England.  He 
had,  as  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  attended  the  Council 
of  Constance,  and  had  been  one  of  the  thirty  who  had, 
by  command  of  the  Council,  taken  part  in  the  election 
of  Martin  V.  Traces  of  the  care  and  love  he  had  be- 
stowed upon  his  Church  can  still  be  seen.  The  eastern 
alley  of  the  cloister  with  the  lavatory  and  upper  library 
owed  much  to  his  zeal.  The  interesting  chapel  in  the 
vicar's  close  is  of  Bubwith's  time,  and  the  upper  portion 
of  the  north-west  tower  is  probably  his  work.  He  was 
buried,  a  considerable  time  after  his  death,  on  the  4th  of 
December,  1424,  where  his  body  now  lies,  in   his  little 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  173 

chantry  in  the  nave  of  his  Cathedral.    After  the  funeral, 
the  ecclesiastics  repaired  to  the  great  hall  of  the  palace 
where  the  dinner  described  in  the  two  menus  here  printed 
was  served.    Some  of  the  dishes  will,  no  doubt,  appear 
to  be  very  strange  to  most  of  us.     I  have  tried  to  set 
down  over  against  the  name  by  which  the  dish  was  called 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  where  the  meaning  is  not  obvi- 
ous, some  indication  at  least  of  what  it  might  now  be 
called.    In  some  instances  I  have  failed  to  identify  the 
description  even  with  the  help  of  the  recipe  book.    If  the 
courses  may  appear  to  us  unnecessarily  lengthy,  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  the  various  dishes  were  probably  not 
served  up  one  after  another ;  but,  like  the  very  sensible 
modern    Russian    plan,  various    meats  and  birds  were 
dished  up  together  that  everyone  might  make  his  choice. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  a  special  dinner  was  provided 
for  the  religious  who  at  this  time  had  to  abstain  from 
meat,  since  the  funeral  had  been  appointed  for  Monday 
in  the  first  week  of  Advent.  This  provision  for  the  meals 
of  those  who  were  bound  by  special  ecclesiastical  laws  is 
a  very  noticeable  feature  in  mediaeval  accounts.    It  was 
reciprocal  in  its  operation,  and  monastic  account-books 
show  how  meat  repasts  were  provided  for  workmen  and 
strangers  on  days  when  in  the  community  refectory  only 
fish  was  allowed ;  just  as  this  menu  shows  how  a  meagre 
dinner  was  got  ready  for  all  who  had  to  abstain  on  this  Ad- 
vent day.  Nothing  is  said  about  vegetables  in  the  courses 
of  these  dinners,  and  it  is  at  least  very  remarkable,  not  only 
in  these  mediaeval  menus,  but  in  the  great  variety  of 
recipes  for  making  dishes  which  exist,  that  there  is  hardly 
any  mention  of  "  green  meat "  beyond  the  herbs  used  for 
flavouring.  The  truth  is  that  in  the  matter  of  vegetables 
mediaeval  banquets  were  perforce  very  deficient,  for  the 


174  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

best  of  all  reasons,  that  there  were  very  few  known  to 
the  art  of  even  the  fifteenth-century  gardener.  With  this 
brief  introduction  I  now  give  the  menu  for  the  funeral 
dinner.  It  is  so  plentifully  supplied  with  meat  that  the 
lines 

Thrift,  thrift,  Horatio:  the  funeral  baked  meats 
Did  coldly  furnish  forth  the  marriage  feast, 

would  hardly  apply  here. 

Convivium  Dni.  Nicholai  Bubbewyth  nuper  Episcopi 
Bathon.  et  Well,  ad  funeralia;  Videlicet  quarto  die 
Decembris  Anno  Domini  1424. 

In  Carnibus. 

Le  I  Cours. 

Nomblyd  DE  Roo (Loin  of  Roe  deer). 

Blamangere •  (Meat  beaten  up  with  rice  into 

a  cream). 

Braun  cum  Mustard  ....  (Brawn). 

Chynes  DE  Porke (Chine  of  pork). 

Capona  Roste  de  haut  grece  (Stuffed  capon). 
Swan  Roste. 

HEROUN  ROSTYD (Heron  roasted). 

Aloes  DE  Roo (Ribs  of  venison). 

PUDDYING  DE  SWAN  NECKE. 

Un  Lechemete (Sliced  or  minced  meat). 

Un  bake  viz  Crustade    ...     (A  pie,  probably  sweet). 

Le  II  Cours 

Ro  STYUYD (Stewed  venison). 

Mammenye (Minced). 

Connyng  ROSTYD (Roast  rabbit). 

Curlew. 

Fesaunt  Rostyd. 
Wodecokke  Rost. 
Pertryche  Roste. 
Plover  Roste. 

Snypys  Roste (Snipe  roasted). 

Crete  byrdys  Rosted. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  175 

Larkys  Rostyd. 

Venysoun  de  Ro  Rostyd. 

Irchouns (Fork    prepared,    with    spikes 

made   of    almonds,    to   look 

like  a  hedgehog). 
UN  leche (Sliced    meat    or    bread    with 

spices). 
PAYN  Puffe (A  pastry  puff  with  yolk  of  eggs, 

etc.,  inside). 

COLDE  BAKEMETE (Cold  fruit  pie). 

Convivium  de  Piscibus  pro  viris  Religiosis  ad  funeral,  predict. 

Le  I  COURS 

Elys  in  Sorry (Eels,  with  a  sauce  made  of  fried 

onions,  wine,  and  spices). 

Blamanger (Fish  beaten  up  with  rice  into  a 

cream). 

Bakoun  heryng (Baked  herring). 

MULWYL,  TAYLYS (Cod). 

LENGE,  TAYLYS (Ling). 

Jollys  OF  SAMOUN (Salmon  jowls). 

Merlyng  sothe (Whiting  boiled). 

Pyke. 

Grete  Plays. 

Leche  barry (A  sliced  cake  with  bars  of  gold 

and  silver  as  ornament). 
CRUSTADE  RYAL (Apie  with  currants,  dates, eggs, 

etc.). 

Le  II  Cours 

Mammenye (A  mince  of  fish). 

Crem  OF  ALMAUNDYS  ....  (Almond  cream). 

Codeling (Codling). 

Haddok (Haddock). 

Freysse  Hake (Fresh  hake). 

Solys  Y  Sothe (Boiled  sole). 

GURNYD    BROYLID    WITH    A    SY- 

ryppe (Gurnard). 

Brem  DE  mere (Sea  bream). 

Roche (Roach). 

Perche (Perch). 


176  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

Menuse  fryed (Fried  minnows). 

IRCHOUNS (Pork     prepared    with    spikes 

made  of  almonds,  to  look 
like  a  hedgehog). 

Elys  y  sostyd (Eels  boiled). 

Leche  lumbard (A  sweet  made  of  dates,  etc.) 

Grete  crabbys (Crabs). 

A  COLD  bakemete (Cold  fruit  pie). 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  give  the  recipe  for  one  or  two 
of  these  dishes  as  they  are  found  in  the  old  cookery  book 
used  in  the  preparation  of  this  banquet.  They  may  seem 
somewhat  strange  nowadays,  but  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  our  forefathers  liked,  and  the  materials  for 
their  meals  probably  needed,  good  strong-smelling  and 
tasting  sauces.  One  of  these  dinners  much  affected  by 
those  who  lived  in  the  Middle  Ages  is  described  by 
Alexander  Barklay  in  the  lines : 

What  fishe  is  of  savour  swete  and  delicious 
Rosted  or  sodden  in  swete  herbes  or  wine ; 
Or  fried  in  oyle,  most  saporous  and  fine — 

The  pasties  of  a  hart. 
The  crane,  the  fesaunt,  the  peacocke  and  the  curlew, 
The  partriche,  plover,  bittorn  and  heronsewe : 
Seasoned  so  well  in  licour  redolent, 
That  the  hall  is  full  of  pleasant  smell  and  sent.1 

We  may  take  a  sample  of  the  dishes  at  haphazard.  For 
example,  this  is  how  Blamangere  was  prepared  by  our 
professional  cook.  I  take  the  liberty  of  somewhat 
modernising  the  spelling  and  expressions. 

"  Take  rice,  pick  it  clean,  and  wash  it  well  in  warm 
water.  Then  soak  it  in  water  and  afterwards  in  almond 
milk.  Add  to  it  brawn  made  of  capons  and  then 
put  the  whole  into  more  almond  milk.  Beat  it  small 
with  a  (rolling)  pin  and  when  it  sticks  to  it,  stir  it  well 
Quoted  by  Warner,  ut  sup.,  lv. 


i 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  177 

up.  Take  sugar  and  add  to  it,  and  then  thicken  it.  Then 
take  white  almonds,  fry  them  and  put  them  on  it  when 
you  serve  it  up.  If  you  please  you  may  serve  it  up  with 
Cawdelle  Ferry  described  above." 

This  Cawdelle  Ferry,  is  a  sauce  made  in  this  way: 

"  Take  raw  yolks  of  eggs  separated  from  the  whites. 
Then  take  good  wine,  warm  it  in  a  pot  over  a  good  fire 
and  casting  in  the  yolks,  stir  well,  but  do  not  let  it  boil 
till  it  thickens.  Add  sugar,  saffron,  salt,  mace,  gilli- 
flowers,  and  galingale  ground  small  and  flour  of  cinna- 
mon. When  serving  it  up  put  blank  powder — a  powder 
made  of  ginger,  cinnamon  and  nutmeg — on  it." 

Irchons — or  as  we  call  them,  urchins  or  hedgehogs — 
hardly  perhaps  sound  a  very  inviting  course.  This  is  how 
the  dish  is  made: 

"  Take  pig's  stomach  and  scald  it  well.  Take  minced 
pork  and  mix  with  spices,  powdered  ginger,  salt  and 
sugar  and  put  into  the  stomach,  but  not  too  full.  Then 
sew  it  up  with  strong  thread  and  put  on  a  spit  like  we 
do  pigs.  Then  take  white  almonds  and  cut  them  long, 
small  and  sharp  and  fry  them  in  grease  and  sugar.  Take 
a  small  skewer  and  prick  the  irchons  and  put  almonds 
into  the  holes.  Put  it  then  to  the  fire  and  when  roasted, 
cover  it  with  flour  and  milk  of  almonds,  some  green, 
some  black  with  blood.  Let  it  not  brown  too  much  and 
then  serve  it  up." 

The  above  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  reader  some 
notion  of  the  elaborate  care  taken  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury in  the  preparation  of  the  various  dishes.  Of  course, 
great  banquets  were  in  those  days  as  rare  probably  as  in 
our  own,  but  even  in  the  case  of  the  simpler  meals  the 
like  care  appears  to  have  been  taken  over  the  cooking 
of  the  dishes.    Chaucer's  Frankeleyn  was  probably  not 

N 


178  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

a  very  much  overdrawn  picture  of  a  well-to-do  man  in 
the  fourteenth  century  so  far  as  the  table  pleasures  were 
concerned: 

His  bread,  his  ale,  was  alway  afternoon 
A  bettre  envyned  man  was  nowher  noon 
Withoute  bake  mete  was  never  his  hous 
Of  fleissch  and  fissch,  and  that  so  plentyuous 
It  snewed  in  his  house  of  mete  and  drynk 
Of  alle  deyntees  that  men  cowde  thynke 
Aftur  the  sondry  sesouns  of  the  yeer, 
He  chaunged  hem  at  mete  and  at  soper, 
Ful  many  a  fat  patrich  had  he  in  mewe 
And  many  a  brem  and  many  a  luce  in  stewe. 
Woo  was  his  cook,  but  if  his  sauce  were 
Poynant  and  scharp,  and  redyal  his  gere. 
His  table  dormant  in  his  halle  alway 
Stood  redy  covered  all  the  large  day. 

If  there  was  plenty  there  was  also  thrift.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  read  the  accounts  of  monastic  houses  and  noble 
families  without  being  struck  with  the  exceeding  care 
with  which  those  whose  duty  it  was,  regulated  household 
expenses  and  zealously  guarded  against  waste.  It  was 
doubtless  in  this  way  that  in  the  great  halls  of  the  higher 
nobility  so  vast  a  number  of  retainers  and  guests  could 
have  been  entertained  almost  continually,  and  in  the 
monastic  refectories  such  boundless  hospitality  was  able 
to  be  dispensed.  As  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  a 
royal  home  was  regulated  in  the  fifteenth  century,  at 
the  risk  of  wearying  the  reader  I  will  give  a  long  extract 
from  the  rules  for  the  household  of  the  mother  of  King 
Edward  IV. 

"  A  compendious  recytation  compiled  of  the  order, 
rules  and  constructione  of  the  house  of  the  righte  excel- 
lent princesse  Cicile,  late  mother  unto  the  right  noble 
prince  King  Edward  IV. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  179 

"  We  semeth  yt  is  requisyte  to  understand  the  order 
of  her  own  person  concerning  God  and  the  Worlde. 

"  She  useth  to  arrise  at  seven  of  the  clocke  and  hath 
readye  her  chapleyne  to  saye  with  her  mattins  of  the 
daye  and  mattins  of  our  ladye;  and  when  she  is  fully 
readye,  she  hath  a  lowe  masse  in  her  chamber,  and  after 
masse  she  taketh  somethinge  to  re-create  nature;  and 
soe  goeth  to  the  chappell  hearinge  the  divine  service, 
and  two  lowe  masses;  from  thence  to  dynner;  duringe 
the  time  whereof  she  hath  a  lecture  of  holy  matter, 
either  Hilton  of  contemplative  and  active  life,  Bona- 
venture  de  infantia,  Salvatores  legenda  aurea,  St.  Maude, 
St.  Katherine  of  Sonys,  or  the  Revelacyons  of  St. 
Bridgett. 

"After  dynner  she  giveth  audyence  to  all  such  as  hath 
any  matter  to  shewe  unto  her  by  the  space  of  one  hower, 
and  then  sleepeth  one  quarter  of  an  hower,  and  after  she 
hathe  slepte  she  contynueth  in  prayer  unto  the  first 
peale  of  evensong;  then  she  drinketh  wyne  or  ale  at  her 
pleasure.  Forthwith  her  chapleyne  is  readye  to  saye 
with  her  both  evensongs;  and  after  the  last  peale,  she 
goeth  to  the  chappell  and  heareth  evensonge  by  note; 
from  thence  to  supper,  and  in  the  tyme  of  supper,  she 
recyteth  the  lecture  that  was  had  at  dynner  to  those  that 
be  in  her  presence. 

"  After  supper  she  disposeth  herself  to  be  famyliare 
with  her  gentlewomen ;  and  one  hower  before  her  going 
to  bed,  she  taketh  a  cuppe  of  wyne,  and  after  that  goeth 
to  her  priyvie  closette  and  taketh  her  leave  of  God  for 
alle  nighte,  making  end  of  her  prayers  for  that  daye; 
and  by  eighte  of  the  clocke  is  in  bedde.  I  trust  to  our 
lordes  mercy,  that  this  noble  princesse  thus  divideth  the 
howers  to  his  highe  pleasure." 


i8o  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

"  The  rules  of  the  house. 

"  Upon  eatyng  dayes  at  dynner  by  eleven  of  the  clocke, 
a  first  dynner  in  the  tyme  of  highe  masse,  for  carvers, 
cupbearers,  sewars,  and  offycers. 

"  Upon  fastinge  dayes,  by  twelve  of  the  clocke  and  a 
later  dynner  for  carvers  and  for  wayters. 

"  A  supper  upon  eatynge  dayes  for  carvers  and  offycers 
at  four  of  the  clocke;  my  ladye  and  the  householde  at 
fyve  of  the  clocke,  at  supper  .  .  . 

"  Uppon  Sundaye,  Tuesdaye,  and  Thursdaye  the 
householde  at  dynner  is  served  with  beefe  and  mutton 
and  one  roste;  at  supper,  leyched  beefe  and  mutton 
roste. 

"  Uppon  Mondaye  and  Wensdaye  at  dynner,  one 
boyled  beefe  and  mutton ;  at  supper,  ut  supra. 

"  Uppon  fastinge  dayes  salt  fyshe  and  two  dishes  of 
fresh  fishe;  if  there  come  a  principal  feaste,  it  is  served 
like  unto  the  feaste  honorably. 

"If  Mondaye  or  Wensdaye  be  hollidaye  then  is  the 
household  served  with  one  roste,  as  in  other  days. 

"  Upon  Satterdaye  at  dynner,  salt  fyshe,  one  fresh 
fyshe  and  butter;  at  supper  salt  fishe  and  egges. ' 

"  Wyne  daylie  for  the  heade  offycers  when  they  be 
presente,  to  the  ladyes  and  gentlewomen,  to  the  dean  of 
the  chappell,  to  the  almoner,  to  the  gentlemen  ushers,  to 
the  cofferer,  to  the  clerke  of  the  kytchin,  and  to  the 
marshall.  .  .  .  Breakfastes  be  there  none,  saving  onely 
the  head  offycers  when  they  be  present;  to  the  ladyes 
and  gentlewomen ;  to  the  deane  of  the  chappell,  to  the 
almoner,  to  the  gentlemen  ushers,  &c,  &c.  .  .  . 

"  To  all  sicke  men  is  given  a  lybertye  to  have  all  such 
thinges  as  may  be  to  theire  ease;  if  he  be  a  gentleman 
and   will  be  at  his  own  dyett,  he  hath  for  his  boarde 


THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY  r8i 

weekely  \6d.  and  gd.  for  his  servante  and  nothin  out  of 
the  house. 

"  If  any  man  fall  impotente,  he  hath  styll  the  same 
wages  that  he  had  when  he  might  doe  best  service  during 
my  ladyes  life." 

But  to  pursue  the  subject  with  which  we  are  more 
immediately  concerned:  The  second  Wells  banquet,  the 
menu  of  which  has  come  down  to  us,  was  given  also  in 
the  great  hall  of  the  Bishop's  Palace  on  the  installation 
of  Bishop  Bubwith's  successor.  John  Stafford  was  con- 
secrated at  the  Dominican  Church  in  London,  and  on 
the  16th  of  September,  1425,  he  took  possession  of  his 
See.  On  that  occasion  the  dinner  was  furnished  appar- 
ently by  the  same  professional  cook  that  arranged  the 
repast  at  the  funeral  of  Bishop  Stafford's  predecessor. 
It  will  be  seen  that  there  was  now  no  need  of  making 
preparation  of  a  fish  dinner  for  those  who  were  bound  to 
abstain ;  but  two  dinners  were,  however,  prepared,  one 
for  the  more  exalted  guests  and  the  other  for  those  who 
had  seats  in  "  the  lower  part  of  the  hall  and  elsewhere." 
The  two  menus  are  as  follows: 

Convivium  Johannis  Stafforde  Episcopi  Wellensis  in 
inductum  Episcopatus  sui.  Videlicet  16  die  Septembris 
Anno  Domini  Millessimo  ccccm0  vicessimo  quinto. 

Le  I  Cours 

Furmenty  with  Venysoun      .     (Venison  with  wheat  "  husked 

and  boiled  "). 

Mammenye (Mince). 

Brawne. 

Rede  roste (Eggs  treated  with  violet  flow- 
ers). 

Capoun  de  haut  grece  .    .     .    (Stuffed  capon). 

Swan. 

Heyroun (Heron). 


i82  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

Crane. 

A  leche (Sliced  meat  or  bread  spiced). 

CRUSTADE  Ryal (A  pie  with  currants,  dates,  eggs, 

&c). 

Frutoure,  Samata (Fritter  or  pancake). 

A  Sotelte    .         A  doctor  of  law. 

Le  II  Cours 

Blamche  Mortrewys  ....  (Forced  meat  of  fowl  or  pork). 

Vyand  Ryal (Almond  rice  mould). 

Pecoke. 

Conyng (Young  rabbit). 

Fesaunte. 
Tele. 

Chykonys  doryd (Chicken   glazed  with  almond 

milk). 
Pyjons. 
Venysonn  Rostyd. 

Gullys (Gulls). 

Curlew. 

Cokyntryche (Capon   and    pig    roasted    to- 
gether). 

A  leche (Sliced  meat  or  bread  spiced). 

Pystelade  Chaud (Hot  pasty?) 

Pystelade  fryid (Pasty  cooked  in  a  frying  pan). 

Frytoure  damaske     ....  (Fritter  with  Damascus  dates). 

A  SOTELTE       .  Eagle. 

Le  III  Cours 
Gely. 
Creivie  Moundy. 

Pety  Curlewe (Small  Curlew). 

EGRET (Young  Heron). 

Pertryche. 
Venyson  rost. 

P  LOVER  E. 
OXYN  KYN. 

Quaylys. 

Snypys (Snipe). 

Herte  de  Alouse. 
Small  byrdys. 


THE  FIFTEENTH   CENTURY  183 

DowCET  RYAL (A  kind  of  cheesecake). 

PETELADE  Fryid (Pasty  cooked  in  a  frying  pan). 

HYRCHOUNS (Fish  prepared  as  above). 

Eggs  Ryal (Eggs  royal). 

Pomys (A   kind   of   forced-meat    ball 

with  spices). 
Brawn  fry  id. 

A  Sotelte     .  Sent  Andrevve. 
Frute. 

Waffrys. 
Vyn  dovvce. 

Pro  inferiori  parte  Aule  et  in  aliis  locis. 

Le  I  Cours 

FURMENTY  with  VENYSOUN      .     (Venison  with  wheat  "husked 

and  boiled"). 

Mammenye (Mince). 

Brawn. 

Rede  ROSTE (Eggs  treated  with  violet  flow- 
ers). 

Capoun. 

Leche (Sliced    meat    or    bread    with 

spices). 

A  bakemete (A  fruit  pie). 

Le  II  Cours 

Mortrews (Forced  meat  of  fowl  or  pork\ 

Pygge. 
Conynge. 
Chykons. 
Venysoun  rosted. 

Leche (Sliced  meat  or  bread  spiced). 

Frutoure. 

Bakemete  Chaud (Fruit  pie  hot). 

Bakemete  Fryid. 

To  these  last  menus  it  may  be  useful  to  add  a  few 
words  upon  the  use  of  what  was  called  in  the  upper 
banquet  the  sotelte,  with  which  each  course  was  con- 
cluded.   These  were  designs,  more  or  less  ambitious,  in 


1 84  TWO  DINNERS  AT  WELLS  IN 

sugar  and  paste,  which  generally  pointed  some  allusion 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  feast.  They  were  often  pre- 
ceded by  what  were  called  warners  or  dishes  meant  to 
prepare  the  guests  for  the  great  tour  de  force  of  the 
chef  in  the  sotelte  proper.  Probably  the  great  designs 
which  ornamented  our  dinner  tables  some  years  ago  may 
be  considered  as  the  more  civilised  descendants  of  the 
mediaeval  subtlety.  Sometimes  these  artistic  erections 
on  the  tables  were  meant  to  be  eaten,  like  modern  orna- 
mented wedding  cakes;  and  frequently  they  were  of 
considerable  size.  Hunting  scenes  were  depicted  with 
trees,  hounds  and  stags,  and  in  one  case  the  whole 
interior  of  an  abbey  church  with  its  various  altars.  The 
two  subtleties  at  the  second  and  third  course  of  the 
installation  banquet  of  the  same  John  Stafford,  the  menu 
of  whose  feast  at  Wells  has  just  been  given,  when  in 
1443  he  was  translated  to  the  Archiepiscopal  throne  of 
Canterbury,  may  be  here  given  as  samples.  "  A  sotelte : 
The  Trinity  sitting  in  a  sun  of  gold,  with  a  crucyfix  in 
his  hand,  Saint  Thomas  on  the  one  side,  Saint  Austin 
on  the  other,  my  lord  (John  Stafford)  kneeling  in  pontifi- 
calibus  before  him,  his  crosier  (bearer)  coped,  with  the 
arms  of  Rochester:  Behind  him  on  the  one  side,  a  black 
monk,  Prior  of  Christchurch,  on  the  other  side,  the 
Abbot  of  Saint  Austin's." 

The  subtlety  at  the  third  course  was  the  following: 
"A  Godhead  in  a  sun  of  gold  glorified  above;  in  the 
sun  the  Holy  Ghost  as  a  dove:  St.  Thomas  kneeling 
before  him  with  the  point  of  a  sword  in  his  head  and  a 
mitre  thereupon  crowning  St.  Thomas :  on  the  right 
hand  Mary  holding  a  mitre,  on  the  left  John  the  Baptist 
and  in  the  four  corners  four  angels  with  incense." 

The  allusions  in  these  two  great  dishes  do  not  require 


THE  FIFTEENTTT  CENTURY  185 

any  explanation.  At  the  installation  at  Wells  the  subtle- 
ties were  as  we  see  of  a  simpler  character,  namely:  "  A 
doctor  of  law  "  for  the  first  course,  with  apparent  refer- 
ence to  the  state  of  the  bishop  before  consecration  : 
(2)  "An  eagle,"  the  emblem  of  St.  John;  and  (3)  "St. 
Andrew,"  the  patron  saint  of  the  Cathedral  Church  at 
Wells.  This  last  formed  the  first  subtlety  exhibited  at 
the  installation  at  Canterbury  as  having  reference  to  the 
previous  position  occupied  by  the  new  Archbishop.  At 
this  latter  feast  it  is  more  fully  described  as  "  Saint 
Andrew,  sitting  on  his  high  altar  in  state,  with  beams  of 
gold,  {i.e.,  the  rays  of  a  nimbus).  Before  him  kneeling 
the  Bishop  in  pontificalibus\  his  crosier  (bearer)  kneel- 
ing behind  him  coped." 


V 

SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 
FAMILY  IN   PENAL  TIMES 

WE  who  live  in  these  days  of  religious  liberty  can 
with  difficulty  realise  all  the  "  troubles  of  our 
Catholic  forefathers"  in  penal  times.  The  late  Father 
Morris  and  others  have  done  much  to  illustrate  the  suf- 
ferings of  those  who  were  called  upon — and  were  indeed 
happy  in  being  called  upon — to  bear  witness  to  their 
Faith  by  laying  down  their  lives  for  religion  in  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  names  and  the 
glorious  "  passions  "  of  these  strong  soldiers  of  Christ  are, 
thanks  to  Bishop  Challoner  and  subsequent  writers,  well 
known  and  held  in  benediction  by  us  who  are  heirs  to 
the  Faith  for  which  they  suffered  and  died.  But  beyond 
those  specially  "  signed "  with  the  seal  of  martyrdom 
there  is  "  a  great  multitude  which  no  man  could  number  " 
of  men  and  women,  of  every  rank  and  degree,  who  clung 
to  the  Catholic  Faith  and  worship  of  their  ancestors  in 
spite  of  every  form  of  refined  persecution  which  the  in- 
genuity of  those  "  men  of  the  New  Learning "  could 
invent  to  force  them  to  adopt  the  State  religion.  The 
names  of  these  noble  confessors  for  conscience'  sake  are 
for  the  most  part  unknown,  but  the  statute  book  would 
of  itself  be  sufficient  evidence  of  the  rigour  with  which 
they  were  treated  by  those  in   power  for  their  "  recu- 

186 


A  CATHOLIC   FAMILY   IN   PENAL  TIMES  187 

sancy  "  or  refusal  to  accept  the  "  Elizabethan  settlement 
of  religion  "  and  against  their  consciences  be  present  at 
the  Protestant  service  which  the  authority  of  the  law 
substituted  for  the  ancient  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  in  every 
parish  church  in  England.  So  terrible,  indeed,  and  so 
shocking  to  our  modern  ideas  are  these  penal  laws,  de- 
signed to  bring  our  Catholic  forefathers  into  conformity 
with  the  State  religion,  that  many  even  of  ourselves  have 
come  to  regard  them  as  having  been,  in  fact,  from  the 
first  a  dead  letter  on  the  page  of  the  statute  book,  never 
intended  to  have  been  enforced  by  those  in  authority,  and 
most  generally  disregarded  and  ignored  by  those  against 
whom  they  were  directed.  Non-Catholic  writers  have 
gone  to  the  point  of  trying  to  wipe  from  this  page  of 
English  history  even  the  memory  of  this  religious  coer- 
cion, or  of  trying  to  represent  "recusancy"  as  an  obstinate 
determination  on  the  part  of  some  bigoted  Catholics  not 
to  recognise  the  title  of  Elizabeth  to  the  Crown,  and  to 
refuse  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  her.  The  truth  is  that  a 
"  recusant  Catholic  "  was  one  who  simply  refused  to  be 
present  at  the  new  service  of  the  Protestant  religion  in 
the  parish  church,  and  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  there 
was  no  question  about  any  oath  of  fealty,  or  even  of  any 
declaration  of  belief  in  the  supremacy  of  the  Queen  over 
the  Church ;  although  of  course  a  Catholic  would  have 
equally  refused  to  acknowledge  her  ecclesiastical  title. 
There  can  be  no  manner  of  mistake  in  this  matter,  as 
there  is  a  definition  of  "  recusancy  "  upon  almost  every 
Crown  record  at  this  period.  Thus  in  the  Royal  Receipt 
Books,  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign, 
there  are  entered  the  fines  levied  on  recusants  to  the 
amount  of  £120,305  igs.j}yd.\  or  something  like  a  million 
and  a  quarter  of  our  money;  a  very  considerable  por- 


iS8  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

tion  of  the  revenue  of  the  country.  In  each  case  the 
receipt  is  entered  as:  Fines  de  vecusantibns  accedere  ad 
ecclesiam  ubi  communis  oratio  utitur.  That  is,  "  fines  from 
those  refusing  to  come  to  church  where  the  Common 
Prayer  is  made  use  of." 

Now  the  principle  of"  forgetting  "  what  it  is  unpleasant 
to  remember  may  be  carried  too  far,  till  we  are  in  danger 
of  ignoring  the  plain  facts  of  history  which  we  owe  it  to 
our  Catholic  ancestors  to  keep  with  gratitude  before  our 
memory.  The  truth  is  certain  ;  they  were  treated  with  a 
rigour  it  is  difficult  now  to  credit ;  they  were  imprisoned, 
taxed  and  fined  because  they  would  not,  as  it  was  called, 
conform  and  attend  the  Protestant  service;  their  lands 
were  seized  and  granted  out  for  long  terms  to  royal 
officials  and  favourites  to  pay  two-thirds  of  their  annual 
value  into  the  royal  purse;  their  goods  and  chattels  were 
taken  possession  of  and  sold  to  pay  at  least  a  portion  of 
the  "  debt  owing  to  the  Crown  "  by  reason  of  recusancy. 
As  we  turn  over  the  records  of  these  days  we  are  forced 
to  wonder  not  that  so  few  were  found  faithful  to  their 
consciences,  but  that  any  Catholic  family  could  possibly 
have  survived  the  long  and  relentless  persecution  by 
which  it  was  sought  to  force  all  into  the  State  estab- 
lished church,  and  to  take  the  form  of  religion  from  the 
Crown. 

Nor  are  we  to  suppose  that  it  was  only  the  rich  land- 
lords, and  those  who  possessed  special  power  of  any 
kind,  that  were  treated  in  this  way  as  enemies  to  the 
State.  The  strong  arm  of  the  law  was  stretched  out  to 
crush  also  the  poor  but  staunch  adherent  of  the  religion 
of  his  Catholic  ancestors.  The  Recusant  Rolls,  and  other 
documents  innumerable,  prove  that  there  were  none  too 
lowly  for  the  royal  officials  to  persecute.    The  poorest  in 


FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES  189 

the  smallest  village  were  not  exempt  from  fines  imposed 
for  recusancy,  and  from  distress  levied  upon  their  goods 
upon  conviction.  Not  that  for  the  most  part  the  Catholics 
could  pay  the  sums  demanded  of  them.  Still  the  fact 
that  they  were  indebted  to  the  Crown  to  the  amount  of 
^20a  month  or  £260  a  year,  and  in  consequence  were 
constantly  subject  to  the  demand,  "  Pay  what  thou 
owest,"  was  quite  sufficient  to  render  their  lot  a  pitiable 
one.  We  have  only  to  look  at  the  long  lists  of  recusants 
as  they  constantly  appear  on  the  parchments  of  the 
official  rolls  to  find  the  names  of  people  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions.  To  pass  over  the  gentry  and  those  able  even 
partially  to  pay;  we  find  millers,  tailors,  shoemakers, 
husbandmen,  yeomen,  labourers,  blacksmiths,  even  mil- 
liners. Praise  be  to  the  women  folk!  They  seem  to  have 
clung  with  heroic  courage  to  the  ancient  Faith  in  spite 
of  the  special  pressure  put  upon  the  husbands  of  many 
to  drive  their  wives  to  attend  the  Protestant  service. 

It  is  impossible  to  examine  the  Recusant  records 
without  feeling  a  desire  that  somehow  or  other  the 
names  of  these  true  confessors  for  the  Catholic  Faith 
were  better  known — or  I  might  say  known  at  all.  Gladly 
would  I  see  in  every  church  in  England  a  memorial 
tablet,  such  as  has  been  set  up  in  the  church  of  St.  Law- 
rence, Petersfield.  It  records  the  names  of  those  who  in 
that  part  of  Hampshire  had  the  happiness  of  being  "  con- 
victed recusants,"  and  who  by  their  staunch  and  loyal 
adherence  to  the  Catholic  Faith,  in  spite  of  every  form 
of  persecution,  have  contributed  to  hand  down  to  us  of 
these  days  that  most  precious  of  gifts. 

My  present  purpose,  however,  is  not  to  write  about 
the  recusant  laws  generally,  nor  to  illustrate  the  way  in 
which  the)'  were  executed  in  any  special  district.    It  is 


iqo  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

simply  to  relate  the  special  troubles  of  one  Catholic 
family  in  Wiltshire.  The  incidents  may  perhaps  be  all 
the  more  interesting  to  some,  inasmuch  as  the  chief 
people  concerned  in  this  sad  history  are  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  first  abbess  of  the  Benedictine  convent  at 
Cambrai,  now  established  at  Stanbrook.  The  story  itself 
illustrates  the  great  difficulty  which  Catholics  in  those 
days  experienced  in  obtaining  permission  to  lay  their 
dead  in  any  churchyard;  and  we  may  preface  it  by 
giving  an  old  account  of  what  happened  in  Winchester 
on  the  death  of  a  Catholic  gentleman  in  prison,  where 
he  had  long  lain  because  he  was  unable  to  pay  the 
amount  of  the  fines  claimed  by  the  Crown  for  his  recus- 
ancy, his  little  property  having  previously  been  seized 
by  the  royal  officials  and  sold.  This  account,  which  I 
owe  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  F.  J.  Baigent,  is  as  follows: 

"  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1589,  Nicholas  Tychborne, 
a  gentleman  of  rank,  died  in  the  gaol  of  Winchester. 
This  gentleman,  after  having  suffered  multiplied  and 
grievous  injuries,  together  with  the  spoliation  of  all  his 
goods,  was  at  length  captured  by  the  fraud  of  his  ene- 
mies, brought  to  Winchester  and  cast  into  prison.  Where, 
having  been  detained  therein  for  the  profession  of  the 
Catholic  religion  during  the  space  of  nine  years,  he  fell 
ill,  seized  with  a  grievous  malady,  and  he  sent  for  a 
priest  who  might  administer  the  rites  of  the  Church  to 
him,  now  approaching  the  end  of  his  existence. 

"  The  priest  did  the  duties  of  his  office,  after  which 
the  only  wish  of  the  sick  man  was,  that,  as  he  must  pay 
the  debt  of  nature,  he  might  be  permitted  to  survive 
until  the  festival  of  St.  James,  for  he  ardently  desired  to 
depart  this  life  on  the  feast  of  that  saint,  under  whose 
guardianship  and  protection  he  had  lived  seventy  years. 


FAMILY  IN   PENAL  TIMES  191 

Nor  was  the  wish  in  vain ;  for  beyond  all  hope  and  ex- 
pectation of  both  the  physicians  and  his  friends,  he  was 
preserved  for  the  space  of  fifteen  days — that  is,  until  the 
feast  of  St.  James,  in  which,  towards  night,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  many  of  his  Catholic  fellow  prisoners,  he  began 
more  ardently  to  implore  the  saint's  assistance.  He  then 
commended  himself  to  God,  to  the  Virgin  Mother  of 
God,  and  to  all  the  other  princes  of  heaven,  addressing 
them  in  the  most  moving  language;  and  having  crossed 
his  hands,  with  his  eyes  devoutly  lifted  up  to  heaven,  he 
laid  in  that  posture  about  two  hours,  sometimes  breaking 
forth  into  the  praises  of  his  Maker,  but  for  the  most  part 
quietly  meditating  within  himself,  till  at  length,  without 
any  agony  or  symptom  of  pain,  he  most  sweetly  expired. 
"  After  his  death  no  small  contention  arose  between 
Cooper,  the  superintendent  of  Winchester  {i.e.,  the  Pro- 
testant bishop)  and  the  Catholics  and  his  other  friends, 
for  he  would  not  grant  them  a  place  of  interment  in  any 
church  or  cemetery;  declaring  that  his  conscience  would 
not  permit  him  to  allow  a  Papist  to  be  buried  in  any 
of  his  churches  or  cemeteries.  To  this  the  Catholics 
answered  that  the  churches  had  been  built,  not  by  them 
[the  Protestants]  but  by  men  of  their  [the  Catholic]  re- 
ligion, and  by  these  the  cemeteries  were  consecrated, 
and  that  therefore  it  was  very  unjust  to  deny  them  the 
right  of  sepulture  in  those  places  which  Catholics  had 
formerly  erected  at  their  own  expense  for  this  very  pur- 
pose. But  this  argument,  though  indeed  most  powerful, 
availed  nothing  with  him.  They  therefore,  knowing  his 
power  and  authority,  which  was  very  great  in  the  city, 
and  struck,  at  the  same  time,  with  the  novelty  of  the 
affair,  continued  for  a  long  time  in  painful  suspense,  un- 
certain how  to  proceed. 


192  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

"  At  length  an  old  man  came  forth  and  said  the  fol- 
lowing: 'The  affair  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  very  greatest 
difficulty,  but  if  you  follow  my  advice,  we  shall  do  what 
seems  easier  than  was  first  intended  to  be  done,  and  of 
which  the  Protestants  have  not  the  slightest  suspicion. 
You  know  that  upon  a  hill,  about  a  mile  distant  from 
this  city,  is  a  place  on  which  there  was  formerly  a  chapel 
dedicated  to  St.  James,  the  vestiges  of  which  still  re- 
main, and  from  which  the  hill  itself  has  borrowed  its 
name.  I  remember  as  a  boy  seeing  several  persons  there 
buried;  even  there  let  us  take  this  good  man,  especially 
as  in  the  very  agony  of  his  death  we  beheld  him  par- 
ticularly recommending  himself  to  that  saint  as  to  his 
holy  patron,  to  whom  also,  during  his  whole  life,  he  was 
singularly  devout,  and  actually  died  on  his  festival  day, 
all  of  which  seems  to  demand  this  for  him  as  of  right, 
and  necessity  itself  compels.' 

"  The  advice  of  the  old  man  was  adopted  and  put  into 
execution,  and  the  bones  of  the  good  gentleman  now 
rest  on  the  summit  of  that  high  and  most  beautiful  hill, 
in  the  very  place  where  formerly  existed  a  celebrated 
chapel  dedicated  to  St.  James,  but  which,  not  many 
years  ago,  the  heretics,  as  is  their  custom,  pulled  down 
and  completely  demolished." 

I  need  only  add  that  from  that  date,  1589,  to  the 
present,  the  Catholics  have  always  retained  possession 
of  the  ancient  cemetery  of  St.  James.  It  is  the  Catholic 
cemetery  of  Winchester,  and  in  its  holy  ground  repose 
the  bodies  of  many  confessors  for  the  Faith  in  that 
neighbourhood. 

But  to  return  to  my  main  point.  The  Gawen  family — 
for  it  is  about  them  I  write — were  among  the  most  re- 
spectable and   respected   gentry  of  Wiltshire.    Aubrey 


FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES  193 

says  they  were  settled  on  the  land  at  Norrington  for 
450  years,  and  Chaucer  puts  the  name  of  "  Gavvain  " 
into  his  tales  of  Arthur.  Hoare,  in  his  account  of  the 
Hundred  of  Chalk,  gives  two  views  of  the  family  house 
at  Norrington,  and  he  describes  it — his  description  being 
borne  out  by  the  pictures — as  a  handsome  Gothic  edifice, 
probably  built  by  John  Gawen,  who  bought  the  estate 
in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  "  It  would," 
he  writes,  "be  unpardonable  in  the  impartial  topographer 
to  pass  over  such  an  one  [as  the  Gawen  family]  without 
doing  justice  to  their  memory,"  and  "  hand  down  to  pos- 
terity [whilst  he  recounts  the  high  and  dignified  offices 
they  held  in  the  county]  the  unmerited  sufferings  they 
endured  for  their  attachment  to  the  religion  they  pro- 
fessed, and  for  their  loyalty  to  the  House  of  Stuart, 
previous  to  and  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth." 

So  far  as  the  Wiltshire  estates  are  concerned  they  had 
practically  passed  out  of  the  possession  of  the  Gawens 
before  the  advent  of  the  Stuarts ;  having  been  seized  by 
Queen  Elizabeth  in  payment  of  fines  due  for  the  obstin- 
ate refusal  of  Thomas  Gawen  to  attend  his  parish  church 
for  the  Protestant  service.  By  an  inquisition  held  in  the 
last  year  of  that  queen  he  was  fined  £1,380  for  this  legal 
offence,  and  was  further  fined  £120  for  not  having  sub- 
sequently made  his  submission  according  as  the  Act  of 
Parliament  required.  It  is  also  stated  in  the  same  in- 
quisition that  he  was  a  popish  recusant,  and  that  con- 
sequently two-thirds  of  his  annual  estate,  valued  at 
£389  ys.  4a7.,  was  seized  to  the  Queen's  use. 

This  Thomas  Gawen  had  married  into  a  staunch 
Catholic  family,  his  wife  being  Katherine,  daughter  to 
Sir  Edward  Waldegrave,  K.G.,  who  in  the  first  years  of 
Elizabeth's  reign  had  refused  to  be  bound  by  the  royal 

o 


194  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

settlement  of  religion,  and  who,  together  with  his  wife 
and  seven  others,  was  sent  to  the  Tower  for  having  Mass 
said  in  his  house.  There  in  1 561  he  died,  a  confessor  for 
the  Faith.  By  his  marriage  Thomas  Gawen  had  two 
children:  a  son  Thomas,  who  succeeded  to  the  remnant 
of  the  family  estates  which  had  not  been  seized  to  pay 
the  recusancy  fines,  and  a  daughter  Frances,  who  be- 
came the  first  abbess  of  the  Benedictine  convent  at 
Cambrai. 

By  the  last  year  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  ruin  of 
the  Gawen  family  was  almost  complete.  In  a  letter 
written  from  England  on  July  22nd,  1599,  the  writer 
takes  their  case  as  typical  of  many  others  in  England 
at  the  time,  and  as  the  description  given  in  it  is  not 
only  of  interest  in  itself,  but  directly  introduces  us  to 
the  family  at  a  time  about  which  I  shall  have  something 
to  say,  I  quote  some  portions  of  it. 

"  Felton  "  (the  great  official  discoverer  and  persecutor 
of  Catholics)  "  brings  Papists  to  great  misery,"  writes 
our  informant.  "  When  the  statute  was  made  that  those 
who  did  not  pay  ,£20  a  month  should  forfeit  all  their 
goods  and  two-thirds  of  their  lands,  the  guard  and  others 
about  the  court  procured  the  Lord  Treasurer's  warrant 
that  any  who  indicted  and  convicted  such  a  Papist 
should  have  a  commission  to  find  his  land  and  have  a 
lease  of  two-thirds  of  it  at  the  rent  found  for  her  majesty. 
This  obtained,  they  would  offer  composition  to  the  re- 
cusant, and  when  this  was  agreed  upon  and  paid,  would 
find  it  under  the  rate  and  pass  the  lease  to  some  friend; 
for  they  might  not  by  covenant  grant  it  to  the  owner 
nor  any  recusant.  Yet  were  all  these  leases  during 
pleasure,  so  that  first  the  recusant  was  compelled  to  a 
grievous  fine,  and  yet  had  yearly  to  pay  the  Queen  a 


FAMILY  IN   PENAL  TIMES  195 

rent  for  his  own  living,  and  besides  had  to  make  away 
with  all  his  goods. 

"  Then  when  this  course  was  taken  all  England  over, 
Felton  informed  the  Queen  that  it  would  be  very  profit- 
able to  grant  a  commission  for  further  inquiry  into  recu- 
sants' livings.  He  got  many  base  fellows  in  different 
shires,  who  seized  on  all  recusants'  goods,  surveyed  their 
lands,  examined  their  tenants  on  oath,  found  their  livings 
[to  be]  at  higher  rates,  and  so  frustrating  the  first  leases 
took  new  ones,  dispossessed  the  recusants  and  lived 
there,  or  placed  there  some  bankrupts  like  themselves, 
so  that  the  recusant  had  to  maintain  himself  and  family 
only  on  a  third  part  of  his  estate.  .  .  . 

"  If  a  gentleman,  reconciled  [to  the  Church  of  Rome] 
during  his  parents'  life,  when  he  was  unable  to  pay  the 
statute,  should  afterwards  come  and  offer  arrears  and 
the  ,£20  a  month  in  future — which  is  what  the  law 
exacts — that  is  not  allowed ;  but  the  Queen  may  take 
the  fairest,  and  for  £260  she  has  some  ^400  a  year,  and 
yet  must  Felton  and  his  companions  choose  their  fairest 
house  and  domains,  and  assign  them  what  they  list  for 
their  third.  Thus  have  Caruell,  Thimbleby,  Gawen,  and 
many  others  been  dealt  with." 

The  writer  goes  on  to  describe  the  ruin  which  every- 
where falls  on  estates,  and  concludes:  "Some,  seeing 
that  Felton  must  get  all,  have  broken  their  windows, 
turned  up  their  gardens,  destroyed  their  dovecots  and 
warrens,  and  would  have  burnt  their  corn ;  but  the  law 
prohibits  this."  ' 

I  may  now  introduce  the  reader  to  the  two  documents 
which  afford  special  information  about  the  troubles  of 
the  Gawen  family  for  religion  and  conscience.    They  are 
1  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz.,  vol.  271. 


1 96  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

contained  in  some  Star  Chamber  proceedings  of  the 
reign  of  James  the  First  which  have  lately  been  pri- 
vately printed.1  To  understand  the  first  it  is  necessary 
to  remember  that  when  Queen  Elizabeth  died,  the 
Catholics,  rightly  or  wrongly,  expected  that  under  her 
successor — the  son  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots — they 
would  be  treated  with  greater  mildness,  if  not  with 
toleration. 

On  Friday,  9th  May,  1606,  in  the  Star  Chamber,  before 
seven  counsellors  and  judges,  the  suit  of  one  Richard 
Kennelle  against  Gawen  and  others  came  on  for  hear- 
ing. The  plaintiff  was  the  tenant  in  possession  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Gawen's  house  at  Norrington,  and  the  defend- 
ants were  Mr.  Gawen,  his  wife  Katherine,  his  son  Thomas, 
Sir  Edmund  Ludlowe,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  one 
Nicholas  Tooman,  the  "  tithing  man."  At  this  date,  when 
the  case  came  before  the  court,  Mr.  Thomas  Gawen  was 
already  dead;  but  as  the  others  were  held  to  be  the 
principal  "  rioters,"  it  was  allowed  to  proceed. 

The  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  Kennelle,  in  opening  the 
pleadings,  stated  that  Thomas  Gawen  being  a  recusant, 
Queen  Elizabeth  had  granted  his  lands  to  one  Fortescue, 
who  had  leased  them  for  a  term  of  years  to  Kennelle. 
This  latter,  "  having  servants  in  the  kitchen  and  the 
barn,  and  corn  growing  on  the  land,"  was  in  possession, 
when  on  7th  August,  in  the  first  year  of  James  I,  Kath- 
erine Gawen,  "  with  two  servants,  on  the  Sabbath  day, 
in  the  time  of  divine  service,  entered  into  the  house  and 
barred  the  doors."  The  following  day  she  "  assembled 
more  servants  and  friends  with  weapons,  and  kept  pos- 
session by  force,  and  took  the  goods  and  spoilt  them 
and  spent  them."  She  then  sent  for  Tooman  the  tithing 
1  Haywarde,  Les  Reportes  del  Cases  in  Camera  Slellala. 


FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES  197 

man,  and  Sir  Edmund  Ludlowe,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
to  uphold  her  in  possession  of  her  husband's  house. 

The  tithing  man — the  representative  of  our  modern 
constable — "  assembled  more  people  and  encouraged  the 
rioters,  and  assisted  them  in  the  king's  name  to  keep 
possession."  Upon  this  he  was  admitted  into  the  be- 
sieged house,  and  when  Sir  Edmund  Ludlowe  came, 
"  Katherine  Gawen  said  he  was  welcome  and  her  friend, 
and  he  walked  into  the  garden  and  so  into  the  house." 
It  was  part  of  the  case  of  the  plaintiff  that  this  Justice 
was  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  Catholic  mistress  of  the 
house,  and  adverse  to  the  tenant,  who  by  means  of  the 
laws  against  recusants  had  dispossessed  the  family  and 
taken  up  his  abode  in  the  mansion.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  both  his  sympathy  and  that  of  the  people  round 
about  were  on  the  side  of  the  persecuted  owners.  Sir 
Edmund  Ludlowe,  it  was  contended,  "  would  see  but 
three  rioters  in  the  house  and  no  weapons,  whereas  it 
was  proved  that  there  were  fourteen,  and  all  with 
weapons." 

Sir  Edmund,  however,  made  at  least  a  show  of  par- 
tiality, and  bound  both  parties  over  to  keep  the  peace. 
But,  said  Mr.  Counsellor  Pine,  in  pleading  the  plaintiff's 
case,  "  he  apprehended  a  servant, — thinking  him  to  be 
one  of  Kennelle's  men;  but  on  Mrs.  Gawen  telling  him 
he  was  her  servant,  he  allowed  him  to  go."  He  further 
ordered  Kennelle  to  find  "  sureties,"  and  seizing  him  "  by 
the  collar  struck  him,  declaring  that  he  would  drag  him 
off  to  gaol,  tied  to  his  horse's  tail." 

This  action  did  not  tend  to  settle  the  matter  quietly ; 
but  for  "  many  days  together  there  was  shooting  of  guns 
and  bows  out  of  the  windows  at  some  of  the  servants  " ; 
and  strangely  enough,  as  it  seems  to  us  now,  at  a  sessions 


198  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

held  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  plaintiff  was  condemned 
by  the  Justices  of  the  county  to  pay  £300  as  a  fine  for 
the  riot.  The  present  application  to  the  Star  Chamber 
was  to  set  this  verdict  aside,  and  to  punish  the  defend- 
ants as  well  as  to  reinstate  Kennelle  in  possession  of 
Norrington. 

In  reply  the  counsel  for  the  Gawens  showed  that  Mrs. 
Gawen  "  conceived  by  the  king's  general  pardon  "  on  his 
coming  to  the  throne  that  they  should  have  their  pro- 
perty free  again,  and  get  rid  of  the  objectionable  tenant 
who  had  been  quartered  in  their  house  by  the  royal 
officials.  The  property  was  mostly  "  her  jointure,"  and 
great  waste  was  being  done  on  the  lands  by  the  plaintiff. 

In  the  course  of  the  case  it  was  proved  that  Mrs. 
Gawen  was  a  recusant,  and  "  did  report,  upon  the  king's 
coming,"  that  times  would  be  changed  for  Catholics 
"  now  that  the  bloody  queen  was  dead,  under  whom  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice  did  rule  the  roste  and  Sir  John 
Fortescue  and  that  bloodsucker,  Sir  W.  Rawlie." 

Of  course,  the  result  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  The 
plaintiff  obtained  an  injunction  against  the  Gawens,  and 
an  order  for  the  sheriff  to  put  him  in  possession  of  Nor- 
rington again.  The  defendants  were  not  unprepared  for 
this,  and  seem  to  have  taken  the  result  as  philosophically 
as  possible.  Mrs.  Gawen  said  that  "  a  dogge  Kennelle 
were  a  fytter  place  for  "  the  plaintiff  than  her  house,  and 
Sir  Edmund  Ludlowe,  finding  that  the  actual  words  of 
the  judgment  were  that  the  sheriff  "  should  establish 
those  in  possession,"  cheerfully  said,  "  That  is  all  right. 
Mrs.  Gawen  is  in  possession,  is  she  not?"  But  the  matter 
did  not  end  here,  and  in  the  result  Mrs.  Gawen  was  fined 
£500;  Sir  Edmund  Ludlowe  £300  and  was  deprived  of 
his  office;  the  tithing  man  ;£ioo  and  discharged  from 


FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES  199 

his  post;  five  other  male  defendants  £50  a-piece;  and 
three  women  ,£10  each.  Of  course,  all  were  to  be  im- 
prisoned till  the  money  was  paid,  and  as  most  of  them 
were  servants,  the  mistress  was  ordered  to  pay  if  they 
could  not  do  so. 

Then,  continues  Haywarde,  the  writer  of  these  notes 
on  the  Star  Chamber  cases,  "  The  lords  much  insisted 
upon  the  vile  words  about  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  wished 
they  could  give  Mrs.  Gawen  exemplary  punishment. 
And  the  Lord  of  Northampton  took  occasion  to  say 
that  it  being  reported  that  King  James  had  sent  pri- 
vately to  Rome  to  promise  good  treatment  to  Catholics 
when  he  should  come  to  England,  he  had  informed  the 
king  of  the  report,  and  received  from  him  assurance 
that  he  would  execute  justice."  Further,  that  on  the 
king's  way  down  from  Scotland  "  the  Catholics  of  Ber- 
wick proffered  a  petition  for  better  treatment,"  but  the 
king  re-established  the  laws  against  them,  and  after  a 
report  being  traced  "  to  one  Watson,  a  priest  condemned 
to  death,  the  said  Watson  acknowledged  that  the  king 
had  never  given  him  any  such  hope." 

So  ended  this  case ;  but  the  following  day,  30th  May, 
1606,  the  Star  Chamber  was  occupied  in  hearing  a  case 
in  which  Mrs.  Gawen  was  plaintiff  against  two  Protestant 
ministers  named  Willoughby  and  Tines,  the  constable 
and  tithing  man  and  two  coroners  of  the  county  of  Wilt- 
shire. As  a  preliminary  it  is  noted  that  Mr.  Gawen  was 
a  "  stiffe  and  roughe  recusant,"  and  for  this  reason  his 
lands  had  been  granted  for  his  life  to  Fortescue  (no 
doubt  Sir  John,  about  whom  Mrs.  Gawen  had  expressed 
her  opinion  so  forcibly),  and  by  him  leased  to  Kennelle. 

It  appears  that  on  1st  August,  1603  (tne  first  year  °f 
James  I),  Mr.  Gawen  died,  either  on  the  Sunday  night 


200  SOME  TROUBLES  OF  A  CATHOLIC 

or  Monday  morning;  "and  being  a  fat  and  corpulent 
man,  his  wife  made  all  haste  to  bury  him."  In  one 
church,  however,  Mr.  Willoughby  refused  to  allow  him 
to  be  buried  in  church  or  churchyard,  because  he  was 
"  excommunicate."  The  family  pleaded  that  there  was 
a  king's  pardon,  but  Mr.  Willoughby,  repairing  to  his 
ordinary,  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  "  was  advised  that  he 
could  not  be  buried  in  consecrated  ground."  Upon  this 
going  to  another  parish  of  which  the  defendant  Tines 
was  minister  they  got  into  the  church  at  night — ten  or 
twelve  in  number — and  buried  the  body  in  the  chancel, 
without  "  minister,  clerk,  or  sexton."  They  locked  them- 
selves into  the  church,  and  others  having  obtained  an 
entrance  into  the  other  parish  church  they  tolled  the 
bells  all  next  day  in  both  churches.  Finally  the  con- 
stable and  posse  got  in  at  a  side  door,  and  in  ejecting 
them  from  the  chancel  "  a  woman  spat  in  his  face,  upon 
which  he  had  her  to  the  stocks." 

Now  Kennelle,  having  an  estate  for  Mr.  Gawen's  life, 
suspected  or  pretended  to  suspect,  that  he  was  not  dead 
at  all,  and  getting  into  the  church  at  night  with  his  man 
dug  up  the  grave.  He  found  a  coffin,  however,  and  there- 
upon leaving  it  uncovered  suggested  that  the  coroner  of 
the  district  should  hold  a  quest.  A  jury  was  summoned, 
but  for  fear  of  the  plague,  which  was  much  dreaded,  one 
of  the  jury  got  it  adjourned  for  fourteen  days,  leaving 
the  body  as  it  was.  At  the  expiration  of  the  fortnight 
the  coroner  ordered  the  tithing  man  to  dig  up  the  body, 
which,  however,  he  absolutely  declined  to  do,  and  upon 
this  Kennelle  hired  some  one  to  do  the  job. 

This  man,  continues  the  record,  "  was  enforced  by 
reason  of  the  waighte  of  the  corps  to  dragge  him  at  the 
lightest  ende,  whereby  his  feet  being  upward,  the  whole 


FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES  201 

waighte  of  his  corps  swayed  to  his  heade  and  necke 
'which  [by]  Kennellc  himself  he  was  charged  to  do),  and 
so  draged  him  into  a  meadowe  farre  off,  [for]  the  jury 
desyred  that  the  body,  having  long  lyen  in  the  earthe 
and  of  very  strong  savoure,  the  churchyard  small  and 
the  assembly  of  people  great — almoste  a  hundred — 
might  be  broughte  into  a  meadowe  close  adjoining, 
where  there  would  be  more  and  better  ayre."  None  of 
the  jury  would  even  then  come  near  to  examine  the 
body;  so  Kennelle  "caused  the  shroud  to  be  ripped 
up,"  and  gave  evidence  that  there  was  a  suspicious  look- 
ing circle  round  about  the  neck,  and  suggested  that  Mr. 
Gawen  had  been  strangled  and  made  away  with.  The 
jury,  however,  found  that  he  had  died  a  natural  death, 
probably  from  "  an  impostume  in  the  stomache." 

The  quest  being  finished,  the  coroner  gave  an  order 
to  the  church  officials  to  bury  the  corpse  again,  which 
they  absolutely  refused  to  do.  On  this,  Kennelle  caused 
it  to  be  drawn  into  the  church  porch,  hid  the  key  of  the 
church  door,  and  there  left  it  to  lie  several  days,  "  where- 
by all  the  parish  were  so  annoyed  that  they  durst  not 
come  to  the  church."  Finally  Kennelle,  after  some  time, 
gave  directions  to  have  the  body  buried,  but  as  "  moste 
parte  are  buried  east  and  west,"  he  had  it  laid  north  and 
south,  saying  "  as  he  was  an  overthwart  neighbour  while 
he  lived,  so  he  shall  be  buried  overthwartely ;  and  if  you 
mislike  it,  I  will  have  him  dragged  at  a  horse's  tail  and 
laid  upon  the  downs." 

In  the  result  the  Star  Chamber  judges  blamed  Kennelle 
for  proceeding  "  with  such  malice "  against  the  dead. 
"His  principal  offence  whereon  the  court  grounded  their 
sentence  was  his  inhuman  usage  in  the  burial  of  the 
corps  overthwarte,  and  his  malicious  words  of  him,  for 


202  A  CATHOLIC  FAMILY  IN  PENAL  TIMES 

demortuh  nil  nisi  bonum;  and  our  usual  manner  of 
burying  is  very  ancient,  as  Basil  noteth  and  used  by  the 
apostles  in  the  primitive  church";  and  for  this  reason, 
too,  we  pray  to  the  east.  Consequently  they  sentenced 
Kennelle  to  pay  a  fine  of  £100  and  to  be  imprisoned. 

At  the  end  "  The  archbishop  delivered  a  secret  prac- 
tice of  the  Papists,  that  of  late  days  they  used  to  wrap 
their  dead  bodies  in  two  sheets,  and  in  one  of  them  strew 
earth  that  they  themselves  had  hallowed,  and  so  bury 
them  they  care  not  where,  for  they  say  they  are  thus 
buried  in  consecrated  earth." 

It  is  impossible  here  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
Gawens  further.  I  will  only  say  there  are  many  records 
of  recusancy  fines  levied  upon  Mrs.  Gawen,  and  in  1607 
all  benefit  that  could  be  got  from  her  refusal  to  attend 
the  Protestant  service  was  granted  by  King  James  I  to 
a  certain  John  Price.  History  does  not  relate  what  profit 
Mr.  Price  made  out  of  this  staunch  Catholic  lady. 

Thomas  Gawen,  the  son,  went  to  live  at  Horsington, 
in  Somerset,  and  his  son  William,  born  in  1608,  sold  his 
remaining  interest  in  Norrington  to  the  Wyndhams  in 
1657,  the  year  after  his  father's  death.  Thus  the  ancient 
and  Catholic  family  of  Gawen  lost  their  possessions  in 
Wiltshire. 


VI 
ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH1 

BATH,  perhaps  more  than  most  other  cities,  has 
always  been  pleased  to  recognise  and  do  honour 
to  its  worthies.  To  me,  the  very  streets  of  the  city  appear 
to  be  peopled  by  the  ghosts  of  bygone  generations.  If 
I  shut  my  eyes  upon  electric  tramways  and  such  like 
evidences  of  what  is  called  "  modern  civilisation,"  the 
beaux  and  belles  of  ancient  days  seem  to  come  trooping 
from  their  hiding  places  and  appear  tripping  along  the 
streets  as  of  old;  the  footways  are  at  once  all  alive  with 
the  gentry  of  the  cocked  hat  and  full-bottomed  wig  period, 
with  their  knee  breeches  and  small  clothes  to  match. 
Ladies,  too,  are  there,  with  their  hooped  and  tucked 
dresses,  their  high-heeled  shoes,  and  those  wonderful 
creations  of  the  wigmaker's  art  upon  their  heads ;  whilst 
sedan  chairs  of  all  sorts  and  kinds  are  borne  quickly 
along  the  roadways,  now  desecrated  by  every  kind  of 
modern  conveyance. 

It  was  in  the  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries, 
of  course,  that  the  city  rose  to  the  zenith  of  its  renown,  and 
the  crowd  of  notabilities  who  then  came  to  seek  for  rest, 
health  and  pleasure  in  this  queen  of  watering-places,  has 
served  to  make  Bath  almost  a  synonym  for  a  city  of  gaiety, 

1  A  paper  read  before  the  members  of  the  Literary  and  Scientific 
Institution,  Bath,  December  14,  1906. 

203 


204  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

diversion  and  life.  Indeed  the  memories  of  that  period  of 
prosperity  and  glory  almost  seem  to  have  obliterated  the 
thought  of  persons  and  of  incidents  of  earlier  days.  It  is 
one  such  person  that  I  would  recall  to  your  memory  to- 
night. When  honoured,  by  the  request  of  your  President 
to  read  a  paper  before  this  learned  Society,  my  thoughts 
almost  immediately  turned  to  Abbot  Feckenham,  of 
Westminster,  who  is  one  of  the  personages  my  imagina- 
tion has  often  conjured  up  whilst  passing  along  the 
streets  of  this  city.  Most  of  those  who  listen  to  me 
probably  know  very  little  of  this  grave  and  kindly 
ecclesiastic,  but  the  name.  But  in  the  sixteenth  century 
he  was  a  generous  and  true  benefactor  to  the  poor  of 
this  place,  and  that  at  a  time  when  he  was  himself  suffer- 
ing grievous  trials  for  conscience'  sake.  At  the  outset  I 
should  like  to  disclaim  any  pretence  of  originality  in  my 
presentment  of  the  facts  of  Abbot  Feckenham's  life.  I 
have  merely  taken  what  I  find  set  down  by  others,  and 
chiefly  by  the  Rev.  E.  Taunton  in  his  history  of  the 
English  Black  Monks.  He  has  been  at  great  pains  to 
collect  every  scrap  of  information  in  regard  to  the  last 
Abbot  of  Westminster,  and  I  borrow  freely  from  the 
result  of  his  labours. 

Feckenham's  real  name  was  Howman,  his  father  and 
mother  being  Humphrey  and  Florence  Howman  of  the 
village  of  Feckenham,  in  the  county  of  Worcester.  They 
appear  to  have  been  of  the  yeoman  class,  and  to  have 
been  endowed  with  a  certain  amount  of  worldly  wealth; 
at  any  rate  they  seem  to  have  sent  their  son  John,  who 
was  born  somewhere  about  the  first  decade  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  to  be  trained  in  the  monastery  of  Eves- 
ham, which  was  near  their  home.  Here  the  boy,  who 
had  probably  received  an  elementary  education  from  the 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  205 

parish  priest  of  his  native  village,  would  have  been  taught 
in  the  claustral  school  of  the  great  abbey.  In  time  he 
joined  the  community  as  a  novice,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  very  general  custom  of  those  days,  became 
afterwards  known  by  the  name  of  his  birthplace,  as  John 
Feckenham. 

From  Evesham  the  young  monk  proceeded  to  Oxford 
to  study  at  "  Monk's  College,"  or  Gloucester  Hall,  now 
known  as  Worcester  College.  It  is  not  important  here 
to  determine  the  actual  date  when  he  commenced  his 
studies  at  Oxford ;  probably  he  went  to  college  about 
lS3°>  when  we  are  told  definitely  that  he  was  eighteen 
years  of  age.  His  Prior  at  the  house  at  Oxford  was  a 
monk  of  his  own  abbey  of  Evesham,  named  Robert 
Joseph,  and  an  accidental  survival  of  a  manuscript  letter- 
book  gives  us  not  only  the  information  that  it  was  this 
religious  who  taught  the  classics,  but  shows  in  some  way 
at  least  how  a  professor  lectured  to  his  students  in  those 
bygone  days.  The  MS.  in  question  is  a  collection  of 
Latin  letters  and  addresses,  made  by  this  Prior  Robert 
Joseph.  It  was,  as  you  are  all  aware,  the  fashion  in 
those  times  for  scholars  to  send  Latin  epistles  to  their 
friends,  and  then  to  collect  them  into  a  volume.  We 
have  many  printed  books  of  Latin  epistles  of  this  kind. 
Prior  Joseph,  though  his  elegant  letters  were  never 
destined  to  see  the  light  in  all  the  glory  of  a  printed 
dress,  still  made  his  collection,  which  somehow  or  other 
got  bound  up  with  a  Welsh  MS., — one  of  the  Peniarth 
MSS. — and  so  was  preserved  to  tell  us  something  more 
than  we  knew  before  about  the  work  of  a  professor  at 
Gloucester  Hall,  when  the  monks  were  students  there. 
Amongst  other  interesting  items  of  information  afforded 
in  this  MS.,  we  have  Prior  Robert  Joseph's  inaugural 


2o6       ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

lecture  on  a  play  of  Terence;  and,  by  the  way,  very 
practical  and  good  it  is.  There  is  also  another  lecture 
of  a  different  character,  which  was  carefully  prepared  for 
delivery  to  the  young  Benedictine  students  at  Gloucester 
Hall.  It  seems  that  one  of  the  monks  had  been  "  pulling 
his  old  professor's  leg,"  as  we  should  say,  by  telling  him 
that  many  of  them  thought  that  as  a  teacher  he  was 
getting  a  little  past  his  prime,  and  that  it  might  perhaps 
be  a  good  thing  if  he  were  to  give  place  to  a  younger 
man  more  in  touch  with  modern  scholarship.  Prior 
Robert  was  deeply  wounded,  and  his  carefully  prepared 
address  upbraids  his  pupils  for  their  ingratitude,  and 
practically  calls  upon  those  amongst  them  who  con- 
sidered that  he  ought  to  retire,  to  come  forward  boldly 
and  say  so:  an  invitation  which  it  is  hardly  likely  was 
accepted.  At  any  rate,  the  old  professor  certainly  con- 
tinued to  occupy  his  chair  for  some  time  longer. 

In  special  regard  to  the  young  monk,  John  Fecken- 
ham,  this  same  collection  of  letters  is  of  some  interest, 
since  it  contains  a  Latin  epistle  addressed  to  him  on 
the  occasion  of  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood.  "  It  is 
a  dignity,"  the  writer  says  in  the  course  of  a  long  letter, 
"  which  in  our  days  can  never  be  despised  or  held  in 
little  regard.  .  .  .  From  this  time  forth  your  very  carriage 
and  countenance  must  be  changed ;  from  this  time  forth 
you  are  to  live  after  a  fashion  different  to  what  you  did 
before. 

"  Now  have  to  be  given  up  the  things  of  youth  and 
the  ways  of  a  child,  for  now  you  take  up  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God."  This  would  have 
been  written  probably  about  the  year  1536,  and  in  the 
following  year  Feckenham  was  certainly  at  Oxford.  "  I 
find  him,"  writes  Anthony  a  Wood,  "there  in  1537,  in 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  207 

which  year  he  subscribed,  by  the  name  of  John  Fecken- 
ham,  to  a  certain  composition  then  made  between  Robert 
Joseph,  prior  of  the  said  college  (the  writer  of  the  Latin 
letters),  and  twenty-nine  students  thereof  on  one  part  (oi 
which  number  Feckenham  was  one  of  the  senior)  and 
three  of  the  senior  beadles  of  the  university  on  the  other." 
In  1538  Feckenham  supplicated  for  his  degree  as 
Bachelor  of  Divinity  and  took  it  on  June  1  ith,  1539. 
Previously  he  had,  in  all  probability,  been  for  some  time 
teaching  in  the  abbey  school  at  Evesham,  as  he  had 
himself  been  taught,  and  he  was  there  on  January  27th, 
1540,  when  the  monastery  was  surrendered  to  Henry 
VIII.  In  the  pension  list  his  name  appears  as  receiving 
15  marks  {£10)  in  place  of  the  usual  pension  (10  marks) 
for  the  younger  monks;  probably  because  of  his  uni- 
versity degree.  After  the  dissolution  of  his  religious 
home,  John  Feckenham  at  first  gravitated  back  to  his 
old  college  at  Oxford  to  continue  his  studies;  he  was 
soon,  however,  induced  to  become  chaplain  to  Bishop 
Bell  of  Worcester.  This  office  he  held  until  the  resigna- 
tion of  that  prelate  in  1543,  when  he  joined  Bishop 
Edmund  Bonner  in  London,  remaining  with  him  until 
that  prelate  was  committed  as  a  prisoner  to  the  Tower 
of  London  in  1 549,  for  his  opposition  to  many  religious 
changes  during  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  At  this  time 
Feckenham,  whilst  still  in  London,  received  the  living 
of  Solihull  in  Warwickshire.  During  the  time  of  his 
rectorship  his  parents — Humphrey  and  Florence  How- 
man — left  a  bequest  of  40s.  to  the  poor,  and  among  the 
records  of  the  parish  is  said  to  be  an  old  vellum  book 
"  containing  the  charitable  alms  given  by  way  of  love 
to  the  parishioners  of  Solihull,  with  the  order  of  distri- 
bution thereof,  begun   by   Master  John    Howman  alias 


2o8  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

Fecknam,  priest  and  doctor  of  divinity — in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1548." 

Though  moderate  and  gentle  in  his  disposition,  and 
ever  considerate  in  his  dealings  with  the  convictions  of 
others,  Feckenham  was  strong  in  his  own  religious  views 
and  uncompromising  in  his  attitude  to  religious  change. 
He  consequently  quickly  found  himself  involved  in  an 
atmosphere  of  controversy,  and  at  this  time  probably 
developed  those  oratorical  powers  for  which  he  after- 
wards became  really  famous.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
before  he  found  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  out  of 
which  he  was,  to  use  his  own  expression,  "  borrowed  " 
frequently,  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  the  "  ancient 
side "  in  the  semi-public  religious  controversies  which 
were  then  in  much  favour  with  all  parties.  The  first  of 
these  disputes  was  held  at  the  Savoy,  in  the  house  of 
the  Earl  of  Bedford  ;  the  second  was  at  Sir  William 
Cecil's  at  Westminster,  and  the  third  in  the  house  of 
Sir  John  Cheke,  the  great  Greek  scholar  and  King 
Edward  VI's  tutor. 

Although  held  all  this  time  as  a  prisoner,  Feckenham 
was  somehow  or  other  still  possessed  of  his  benefice  at 
Solihull,  of  which,  for  some  reason  or  other,  he  had  not 
been  deprived.  He  was  consequently  taken  down  from 
London  and  opposed  to  the  bishop  of  his  own  diocese, 
Bishop  Hooper,  in  four  several  disputations;  the  first 
was  arranged  at  Pershore  whilst  the  bishop  was  on  his 
visitation  tour,  and  the  last  in  Worcester  Cathedral, 
where  amongst  others  who  spoke  against  him  was  John 
Jewel,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Salisbury. 

With  Mary  Tudor's  advent  to  the  throne  Feckenham 
of  course  obtained  his  liberty.  On  Tuesday,  September 
5th,  1553,  he  left  the  Tower,  and  according  to  Machyn's 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  209 

Diary \  on  Sunday  the  24th  of  the  same  month  "  master 
doctor  Fecknam  did  preach  at  Paul's  Cross,  the  Sunday 
afore  the  Queen's  coronation."  He  again  became  chap- 
lain to  Bishop  Bonner,  now  also  set  at  liberty,  and  was 
nominated  a  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's  in  1554.  Other 
preferment  came  to  him  very  rapidly:  Queen  Mary 
made  him  one  of  her  chaplains  and  her  confessor,  and 
before  November  25th,  1554,  he  was  appointed  Dean  of 
St.  Paul's.  Fuller,  the  historian,  says  of  him  at  this  time: 
"  He  was  very  gracious  with  the  Queen  and  effectually 
laid  out  all  his  interest  with  her  (sometimes  even  to 
offend  her,  but  never  to  injure  her)  to  procure  pardon 
of  the  faults,  or  mitigation  of  the  punishment  of  poor 
Protestants.  The  Earls  of  Bedford  and  Leicester  re- 
ceived great  kindness  from  him ;  and  his  old  friend,  Sir 
John  Cheke,  owed  his  life  to  Fecknam's  personal  interest 
with  the  Queen.  He  took  up  the  cause  of  the  unfortunate 
Lady  Jane  Dudley,  and  remonstrated  with  the  Queen 
and  Gardiner  upon  the  policy  of  putting  her  to  death. 
He  visited  the  poor  girl  in  prison ;  and  though  unsuc- 
cessful in  removing  the  prejudices  of  her  early  education, 
he  was  able  to  help  her  to  accept  with  resignation  the 
fate  that  awaited  her.  Neither  did  he  forsake  the  hapless 
lady  until  she  paid  by  death  the  penalty  of  her  father- 
in-law's  treason  and  her  own  share  therein.  When  the 
Princess  Elizabeth  was  sent  to  the  Tower  in  March, 
1554,  for  her  supposed  part  in  Wyat's  rebellion,  Feck- 
nam, just  then  elected  dean,  interceded  so  earnestly  for 
her  release  that  Mary,  who  was  convinced  of  her  sister's 
guilt;  or  at  any  rate  of  her  insincerity,  showed  for  some 
time  her  displeasure  with  him.  But  Elizabeth's  life  was 
spared;  and  she  was  released,  mainly  by  his  importunity, 
after  two  months'  imprisonment." 

P 


2io  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

On  19th  March,  1556,  Giovanni  Michiel,  the  Venetian 
ambassador,  wrote  from  London  to  the  Doge  about  the 
restoration   of  the    Benedictines.     He    says:    "Sixteen 
monks  have  also  resumed  the  habit  and  returned  to  the 
Order  spontaneously,  although  they  were  able  to  live 
and  had  lived  out  of  it  much  at  ease  and  liberty,  there 
being  included   among  them    the    Dean    of  St.   Paul's 
(Feckenham)  who  has  a  wealthy  revenue  of  well  nigh 
2000  (£);  notwithstanding  which  they  have  renounced 
all  their  temporal    possessions    and    conveniences   and 
press  for  readmission   into  one  of  their  monasteries." 
There  were  obvious  difficulties  in  the  way  of  any  large 
scheme  of  monastic  restoration:  the  property  of  the  old 
abbeys  had   long  since  been   granted   away  mostly  to 
laymen,  and  at  some  of  the  greater  houses,  like  West- 
minster and  Gloucester,  chapters  of  secular  priests  had 
been  established   in   place  of  the  dispossessed  monks. 
At  Westminster,  however,  arrangements  were  quickly 
made  with  the  view  of  restoring  the  Benedictines  to 
their  old  home:  promotion  was  given  to  the  dean  and 
the  interests  of  the  other  secular  canons  were  secured, 
and    on    7th    September,    1556,   the    Queen    appointed 
Feckenham  abbot  of  restored  Westminster.    The  Vene- 
tian  ambassador  says  that  the  monks  with  their  new 
abbot  were  to   make  their  entry  at  the  close  of  Sep- 
tember, but  this  they  did  not  do:  there  was  evidently 
much  more  preparation  necessary  than  had  been  calcu- 
lated upon.    Dean  Stanley,  in  his  Historical  Memorials 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  says  "  the  great  refectory  was 
pulled  down  "  and  "  the  smaller  dormitory  was  cleared 
away,"  and  other  conventual  buildings  had  either  been 
destroyed  or  adapted  to  other  uses.    So  there  was  obvi- 
ously much  to  be  done  before  the  new  community  could 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  211 

take  up  the  old  life  again,  and  it  was  not  until  21st  Novem- 
ber that  the  monks  were  able  to  begin  once  again  the 
reeular  round  of  conventual  duties  in  the  cloisters  and 
choir  of  Westminster. 

I  cannot  resist  quoting  here  the  account  given  by  the 
contemporary  writer  Machyn,  in  his  quaint  style,  of  this 
restoration.     "The  same  day  (21st  November)  was  the 
new  abbot  of  Westminster  put  in,  Doctor  Fecknam,  late 
dean  of  Paul's,  and  xiv.  more  monks  sworn  in.    And  the 
morrow  after,  the  lord  abbot  with  his  convent  went  a 
procession  after  the  old  fashion,  in  their  monk's  weeds, 
in  cowls  of  black   saye,  with   his  vergers  carrying  his 
silver-rod  in  their  hands;  at  Evensong  time  the  vergers 
went  through  the  cloisters  to  the  abbot  and  so  went 
into  the  church  afore  the  high  altar  and  there  my  lord 
kneeled   down   and   his  convent;   and  after  his   prayer 
was  made  he  was  brought  into  the  choir  with  the  vergers 
and  so  into  his  place,  and  presently  he  began  Evensong 
xxii.  day  of  the  same  month  that  was  St.  Clement's 
Even  last."    "  On  the  29th  day  was  the  abbot  stalled 
and   did  wear  a   mitre.    The  Lord  Cardinal  was  there 
and  many  bishops  and  the  Lord  Treasurer  and  a  great 
company.     The  Lord   Chancellor  (Archbishop   Heath) 
sang  Mass  and  the  abbot  made  the  sermon." 

Feckenham  lost  no  time  in  setting  his  house  in  order 
and  in  gathering  round  him  other  monks  and  novices. 
Giovanni  Michiel,  the  ambassador  before  referred  to, 
tells  us  that  on  St.  Thomas'  Eve  (20th  December)  the 
Oueen  "  chose  to  see  the  Benedictine  monks  in  their 
habits  at  Westminster,"  and  so  going  for  Vespers  was 
received  by  the  abbot  and  twenty-eight  other  monks 
all  men  of  mature  age,  the  youngest  being  upwards 
of  forty  and  all  endowed  with  learning  and  piety 


212  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

proved  by  their  renunciation  of  the  many  conveniences 
of  life." 

The  restoration  of  Benedictine  life  at  Westminster  was 
not  destined  by  Providence  to  continue  for  very  long. 
Queen  Mary  died  17th  November,  1558,  and  her  funeral 
rites  were  solemnised  at  Westminster.  Feckenham 
preached  one  sermon  at  the  obsequies,  and  White,  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  the  other.  Both  gave  umbrage  to  the 
new  Queen,  and  the  bishop's  led  to  his  confinement  in 
his  own  house.  As  for  Feckenham,  it  is  said  that 
Elizabeth  greatly  desired  to  win  over  to  her  side  one 
whom  she  respected,  and  who  was  universally  popular. 
One  story  has  it  that  she  offered  him  the  Archbishopric 
of  Canterbury  if  he  would  assist  in  the  settlement  of  the 
national  religion  on  the  lines  she  desired.  The  abbot,  how- 
ever, remained  staunch  to  his  conscientious  convictions, 
and  in  Parliament  strenuously  opposed  all  the  measures 
by  which  the  religious  settlement  was  finally  effected. 
During  the  time  of  the  debates  in  the  Parliament,  Fecken- 
ham was  quietly  awaiting  at  Westminster  the  approach- 
ing ruin  of  his  house,  which  to  him  at  least  could  hardly 
be  doubtful.  He  went  on  in  all  things  as  if  no  storm  clouds 
were  gathering,  leading  his  monastic  life  with  his  brethren. 
The  story  goes  that  he  was  engaged  in  planting  some 
elms  in  his  garden  at  Westminster  when  a  message  was 
brought  to  him  that  a  majority  of  the  House  of  Commons 
had  voted  the  destruction  of  all  religious  houses,  and  the 
messenger  remarked  that  as  he  and  his  monks  would 
soon  have  to  go,  he  was  planting  his  trees  in  vain.  "  Not 
in  vain,"  replied  the  abbot.  "  Those  that  come  after  me 
may  perhaps  be  scholars  and  lovers  of  retirement,  and 
whilst  walking  under  the  shade  of  these  trees  they  may 
sometimes  think  of  the  olden     ^ligion  of  England  and 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  213 

of  the  last  abbot  of  this  place,"  and  so  he  went  on 
planting. 

The  end  of  monastic  Westminster  came  on  the  12th 
July,  1559.  On  that  date,  for  refusing  the  Oath  of 
Supremacy,  Feckenham  and  his  monks  were  turned  out 
of  their  house.  What  immediately  became  of  them  we 
do  not  know,  and  probably  never  shall,  but  judging  from 
the  case  of  the  bishops  we  may  suppose  that  they  were 
probably  assigned  places  of  abode.  It  was,  however, 
soon  considered  injurious  to  the  new  order,  that  the 
bishops  of  the  old  order  and  Abbot  Feckenham  should 
be  allowed  even  the  semblance  of  liberty  comprised  in 
the  order  for  a  fixed  place  of  abode,  from  which  they 
could  not  depart  without  permission.  So  on  May  20th, 
1 560,  it  was  agreed  in  the  Queen's  Council  that  Fecken- 
ham and  some  of  the  bishops  should  be  confined  straight- 
way in  prison,  and  so  by  order  of  Archbishop  Parker  "at 
night  about  8  of  the  clock  was  sent  to  the  Fleet  doctor 
Scory,  and  Master  Feckenham  to  the  Tower." 

In  this  confinement  the  abbot  remained  until  1563. 
In  the  March  of  that  year  Parliament  had  given  authority 
to  the  new  bishops  to  administer  the  Oath  of  Supremacy, 
with  the  new  penalty  of  death  for  those  who  refused  it. 
The  plague  was  at  that  time  raging  in  the  city  of  London, 
and  the  prisoners  petitioned  "  to  be  removed  to  some 
other  convenient  place  for  their  better  safeguard  from 
the  present  infection."  This  was  so  far  granted  that  they 
were  committed  to  the  charge  of  the  bishops.  Stowe, 
the  careful  historian,  thus  relates  the  fact:  "anno  1563 
in  September  the  old  bishops  and  divers  doctors,  (were 
sent  to  the  bishop's  houses)  there  to  remain  prisoners 
under  their  custody  (the  plague  being  then  in  the  city 
was  thought  the  cause  "). 


214  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

Feckenham  was  brought,  first  of  all,  back  to  his  old 
home  at  Westminster  to  the  care  of  the  new  dean, 
Goodman.  But  before  the  winter,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Bishop  Grindal,  he  was  removed  to  the  house  of  Bishop 
Home,  of  Winchester.  In  spite  of  all  he  could  do  and 
say  and  notwithstanding  all  his  arguments,  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester  was  unable  to  shake  the  resolution  of  the 
abbot  and  prevail  on  him  to  take  the  Oath  of  Supremacy. 
Home  indeed  complains  that  Feckenham,  at  the  end  of 
all  discussion,  used  to  declare  that  it  was  with  him  a  mere 
matter  of  conscience;  and,  pointing  to  his  heart,  would 
say:  "The  matter  itself  is  founded  here,  and  shall  never 
go  out."  And  so  in  the  end,  Home  gave  up  the  task  of 
trying  to  change  his  prisoner's  opinion  ;  and  by  January, 
1565,  Feckenham  was  back  once  more  in  the  Tower. 
From  that  time  until  17th  of  July,  1574,  he  remained 
either  there  or  in  the  Marshalsea,  under  more  or  less 
strict  restraint. 

After  fourteen  years'  confinement  he  was  permitted 
to  go  out  on  conditions.  He  was  bound  not  to  try  and 
gain  others  to  his  way  of  thinking;  he  was  to  dwell 
in  a  specified  place,  "  was  not  to  depart  from  thence 
at  any  time,  without  the  licence  of  the  lords  of  the 
Council,"  and  he  was  not  to  receive  any  visitors.  As 
a  prisoner  on  parole,  then,  Feckenham  went  in  July, 
1 574,  to  live  in  Holborn ;  whereabout,  it  is  not  exactly 
known.  No  sooner  had  he  gained  his  liberty,  even 
with  restrictions,  than  the  abbot's  old  passion  of  doing 
good  to  others  reasserted  itself,  and  he  at  once  became 
engaged  in  works  of  true  charity  and  general  useful- 
ness. "  Benevolence  was  so  marked  a  feature  in  his 
character  that,"  as  Fuller  says,  "  he  relieved  the  poor 
wheresoever   he  came ;   so  that   flies  flock   not   thicker 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  215 

about  spilt  honey  than  the  beggars  constantly  crowded 
about  him." 

We  have  unfortunately  no  information  about  the 
source  of  the  money,  which  he  evidently  had  at  his 
disposal.  But  clearly  considerable  sums  must  have  been 
given  to  him  for  charitable  purposes,  as,  no  doubt,  the 
donors  were  assured  that  they  would  be  well  and  faith- 
fully expended  by  him.  Whilst  dwelling  in  Holborn, 
Feckenham  consequently  was  able  to  build  an  aqueduct 
for  the  use  of  the  people  generally.  Every  day  he  is  said 
to  have  distributed  the  milk  of  twelve  cows  among  the 
sick  and  poor  of  the  district,  and  took  under  his  special 
charge  the  widows  and  orphans.  He  encouraged  the 
youth  of  the  neighbourhood  in  many  sports,  by  giving 
prizes  and  by  arranging  Sunday  games,  such  as  all 
English  lads  love. 

And  now  comes  the  connection  of  Abbot  Feckenham 
with  this  city  of  Bath.  Whilst  labouring  for  the  good  of 
others  in  London,  his  constitution,  naturally  enfeebled 
by  his  long  imprisonment,  gave  way,  and  he  became 
seriously  ill.  On  July  18th,  1575,  the  Council  in  reply 
to  his  petition,  ordered  "the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  or  in 
his  absence  the  Recorder  of  London,  to  take  bondes  of 
Doctor  Feckenham  for  his  good  behaviour  and  that  at 
Michaelmas  next  he  shall  return  to  the  place  where  he 
presently  is,  and  in  the  meantime  he  may  repair  to  the 
Baths."  "  The  baths,"  of  course — at  any  rate  in  those 
days — meant  this  city,  which  had  been  pre-eminently 
the  health  resort  of  Englishmen  for  centuries. 

Hither  then,  some  time  in  the  summer  of  1575,  came 
Abbot  Feckenham,  with  leave  to  remain  until  the  feast 
of  Michaelmas.  He,  however,  certainly  remained  longer 
than  that,  as  we  shall  see,  as  it  was  the  common  practice 


2i6       ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

at  this  time  to  extend  such  permissions.  Whilst  here 
the  abbot  was  the  guest  of  a  then  well-known  physician 
of  the  city,  Dr.  Ruben  Sherwood,  who,  although  a 
recognised  "popish  recusant,"  had  probably,  like  so 
many  other  doctors,  been  allowed  to  remain  unmolested 
because  of  his  skill,  and  the  paucity  of  such  men  of 
talent  in  medicine  in  the  sixteenth  century.  I  may  per- 
haps, here,  be  allowed  a  brief  digression  to  point  out  to 
you,  from  an  interesting  article  in  The  Downside  Review 
called  "  A  seventeenth  century  West  Country  Jaunt,"  by 
Father  N.  Birt,  that  this  Dr.  Ruben  Sherwood  died  in 
1599,  and  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  there  was 
certainly  a  Sherwood  tomb  and  brass  in  the  Abbey,  with 
the  arms  of  the  family  and  a  Latin  inscription ;  this  has, 
however,  since  disappeared. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  Dr.  Ruben  Sherwood,  at  the 
time  of  Abbot  Feckenham's  visit,  occupied  a  long  build- 
ing, parallel  to  the  west  end  of  the  abbey  church  on  the 
south  side,  which  existed  till  1755.  This  had  probably 
been  the  Prior's  quarters  and  was  subsequently  known 
as  Abbey  House.  Collinson  says  that  the  house  was 
again  rendered  habitable  some  time  after  the  dissolution, 
and  that  parts  of  it,  "  obsolete  offices  and  obscure  rooms 
and  lofts,"  were  left  in  their  former  state  and  had  never 
been  occupied  after  their  desertion  by  the  monks.  The 
historian  of  Somerset  also  speaks  of  a  find  of  old  vest- 
ments and  other  ecclesiastical  garments  in  a  walled-up 
apartment  in  this  old  house  in  1755;  but  unfortunately 
the  things  fell  to  dust,  and  we  have  no  description  of 
them.  It  strikes  me,  however,  as  more  than  possible  that 
they  were  vestments  for  the  use  of  priests,  who  were 
compelled  to  hide  away  during  penal  times.  Be  that  as 
it  may,  it  would  appear  more  than  likely  that  Dr.  Ruben 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  217 

Sherwood  lived  in  these  old  quarters,  and  that  it  was 
here  that  he  received  Abbot  Feckenham  when  he  came 
to  take  the  waters  in  1575.  Certainly  his  son,  John 
Sherwood,  also  a  physician  and  a  "  recusant,"  had  a 
lease  of  the  house  and  premises  till  his  death  in  1620, 
and  used  to  receive  patients  who  came  for  the  Bath 
waters. 

During  his  stay  at  this  renowned  watering-place, 
Abbot  Feckenham  was  not  wholly  occupied  with  the 
cure  of  his  own  ills.  It  seemed  impossible  for  him  not 
to  think  of  others,  and  here  in  this  city  he  felt  himself 
moved  with  compassion  to  see  how  the  poor,  deprived 
of  their  charitable  foundations  during  the  religious  up- 
heaval, were  excluded  from  the  use  and  benefit  of  the 
medicinal  waters.  He  therefore  built  for  them,  with  his 
own  means,  a  small  bath  and  hospital.  In  his  Descrip- 
tion of  Bath,  written  nearly  two  centuries  after,  a  writer 
thus  speaks  of  it:  "  The  lepers'  hospital  is  a  building  of 
8  ft.  6  in.  in  front  towards  the  East  on  the  ground  floor, 
14  ft.  in  front  above  and  13  ft.  in  depth,  but  yet  it  is 
furnished  with  seven  beds  for  the  most  miserable  of 
objects,  who  fly  to  Bath  for  relief  from  the  hot  waters. 
This  hovel  stands  at  the  corner  of  Nowhere  Lane,  and 
is  so  near  the  lepers'  bath  that  the  poor  are  under  little 
or  no  difficulty  in  stepping  from  one  place  to  the  other." 

A  slight  record  of  the  abbot's  work  in  this  matter  is 
found  in  the  accounts  of  the  City  Chamberlain  for  1576: 
"  Delyvered  to  Mr.  Fekewand,  late  abbot  of  West- 
minster, three  tonnes  of  Tymber  and  x  foote  to  builde 
the  howse  for  the  poore  by  the  whote  bath,  xxxiiis.  iiiid. 
To  hym  more  iiiic  of  lathes  at  xd  the  c,  iiis.  4c!. " 
Feckenham  placed  his  little  foundation  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  hospital  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  and  it  seems 


2i8  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

that  in  1804,  when  the  Corporation  pulled  down  "the 
hovel,"  £200  was  paid  to  the  hospital  in  Holloway  in 
compensation.  The  old  bath  itself  was  utilised  by 
Wood  as  an  underground  tank  when  he  built  the  Royal 
Baths. 

Besides  this  practical  act  of  charity  to  the  poor  of 
Bath,  Abbot  Feckenham  drew  up  a  book  of  recipes 
and  directions  to  help  those  who  could  not  afford  a 
physician  to  recover  their  health.  This  MS.  is  now  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  volume 
the  reader  is  told  that,  "  This  book  of  Sovereign  medi- 
cines against  the  most  common  and  known  diseases 
both  of  men  and  women  was  by  good  proofe  and  long 
experience  collected  of  Mr.  Doctor  Fecknam,  late  Abbot 
of  Westminster,  and  that  chiefly  for  the  poore,  which 
hathe  not  at  alle  tymes  the  learned  phisitions  at  hand." 

In  these  days  a  collection  of  simple  remedies  such  as 
those  here  brought  together,  is,  of  course,  of  small  value 
or  interest.  Many  of  these  remedies  are  old  family 
recipes  and  are  said  to  be  taken  "  from  my  cosen's 
D.  H.'s  book"— or  from  "  Mistress  H's" — no  doubt  one 
of  the  family  of  Howman.  But  what  is  of  interest  in 
this  regard,  is  a  set  of  rules  drawn  up  by  the  Abbot  for 
those  who  would  profit  by  taking  or  bathing  in  the  Bath 
waters. 

"  Prescriptions  and  Rules  to  be  observed  at 

the  Bathe 

"  When  you  com  to  Bathe  after  your  joyrnneing  rest 
and  quiet  your  bodie  for  the  space  of  a  daie  or  two  and 
sc  the  faccion  of  the  Bathe  how  and  after  what  sort 
others  that  are  there  do  use  the  same. 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  219 

"If  it  be  not  a  faire  cleare  daie  to,  go  not  into  the 
open  bathe,  but  rather  use  the  water  in  a  bathing  vessel 
in  yor  own  chamber  as  many  men  doe. 

"  The  best  time  in  the  daie  to  go  into  the  bathes  is  in 
the  morning  an  houre  or  half  an  houre  after  the  sunne 
riseing,  or  there  about,  in  the  most  quiet  time.  And 
when  you  shall  feel  your  stomache  well  and  quiet  and 
that  your  meet  is  well  digested  and  have  rested  well  the 
night  before.  But  before  you  goe  into  this  bath  you 
must  walke  an  houre  at  the  leaste  in  your  chamber  or 
else  where. 

"  You  must  go  into  your  Bath  with  an  emptie  stomake 
and  so  to  remayne  as  long  as  you  are  in  it  except  great 
necessitie  require  the  contrarie.  And  then  to  take  some 
little  supping  is  not  hurtefull.  Let  your  tarrying  be  in 
the  Bathe  accordinge  as  you  may  well  abide  it,  but  tarry 
not  so  long  in  any  wyse  at  the  fyrst  allthough  you  may 
well  abyde  it  that  yor  strength  att  no  tyme  may  fayl 
you. 

"  You  may  tarry  in  the  crosse  bathe  an  houre  and  a 
halfe  att  a  tyme  after  the  firste  bathinge.  And  in  the 
Kynges  Bathe  you  may  tarry  after  the  first  batheinges 
at  one  time  half  an  houre  or  3  quarters  of  an  houre.  But 
in  any  wyse  tarry  at  no  time  untyll  you  be  faynt,  or 
that  yor  strength  fayld  you. 

"  And  yf  at  any  time  you  be  faynt  in  the  bath  then 
you  may  drynke  some  ale  warmed  with  a  taste  or  any 
other  suppinge,  or  green  ginger,  or  yf  need  be  aqua 
composita  metheridate  the  bignes  of  a  nut  kernell  at  a 
time  either  by  itself  or  mixed  with  ale  or  other  liquor. 

"  As  longe  as  you  are  in  any  of  the  Bathes  you  must 
cover  your  head  very  well  that  you  take  no  colde  thereof, 
for  it  is  very  perilious  to  take  any  cold  one  your  head  in 


220  ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

the  bathe  or  in  any  other  place  during  your  bathinge 
tyme. 

"  When  you  forth  of  any  of  the  Bathes  se  that  you 
cover  your  head  very  well  and  dry  of  the  water  of  your 
bodie  with  warme  clothes  and  then  put  on  a  warm  shert 
and  a  mantle  or  some  warm  gowns  for  taking  of  cold 
and  so  go  straight  way  to  warmed  bed  and  sweat  ther 
yf  you  can  and  wype  off  the  sweat  diligently  and  after 
that  you  may  sleepe  a  whyle,  but  you  must  not  drynke 
anything  until  dinner  tyme,  except  you  be  very  faint 
and  then  you  may  take  a  little  sugar  candie  or  a  few 
rasons  or  a  little  thin  broath  but  small  quantitie  to  slake 
your  thirste  onlie,  because  it  is  not  good  to  eat  or  drynke 
by  or  by  after  the  bathe  untill  you  have  slept  a  little  yf 
you  can. 

"  After  that  you  have  sweat  and  slept  enough  and  be 
clearly  delivered  fro  the  heat  that  you  had  in  the  bathe 
and  in  your  bedd  then  you  may  ryse  and  walk  a  lytle 
and  so  go  to  your  dynner,  for  by  mesureable  walking 
the  evill  vapers  and  wyndines  of  the  stomache  that  are 
take  in  the  Bathe  be  driven  away  and  utterlie  voyded. 

"  After  all  this  then  go  to  your  dynner  and  eate  ol 
good  meat  but  not  very  much  that  you  may  ryse  fro  the 
table  with  some  appetite  so  that  you  could  eat  more  yf 
you  wolde  and  yet  you  must  not  eat  too  little  for  de- 
caying of  your  strength. 

"  Let  your  bread  bee  of  good  sweet  wheate  and  of  one 
dayes  bakeinge  or  ii  at  the  most  and  your  meat  well 
boylled  or  rosted.  And  specially  let  these  be  your 
meatcs,  mutton,  vcale,  chicken,  rabbet,  capon,  fesaunt, 
Patrich  or  the  like. 

"  You  may  eat  also  fresh  water  fish,  so  it  be  not 
muddie  as  eles  and  the  like,  refraining  all  salt  fish  as 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  22f 

lyng,  haberdyne,  &c.    Avoyd  all  frutes  and  rare  herbs, 
salletts  and  the  lyke. 

"Apparell  your  bodie  accordinge  to  the  coldness  of 
the  wether  and  the  temperature  of  the  eyre,  but  in  any 
wyse  take  no  cold. 

"  And  yf  you  bathe  agayne  in  the  after  noune  or  att 
after  Dinner  then  take  a  very  lyght  dinner  as  a  cople 
of  potched  eggs,  a  caudell  or  some  thine  broath  with  a 
chicken  and  then  4  or  5  hours  after  your  dynner  so 
taken  you  may  bathe  agayne  and  in  any  wyse  tarrie  not 
so  longe  in  the  bathe  as  you  did  in  the  fore  noone." 

It  is  apparently  impossible  to  determine  certainly  how 
long  Abbot  Feckenham  remained  at  Bath — probably  it 
was  until  the  spring  of  1576.  In  the  middle  of  1577  he 
was  certainly  back  in  London,  for  Aylmer,  Bishop  of 
London,  in  June  of  that  year,  had  complained  of  the 
influence  of  those  lie  called  "  active  popish  dignitaries," 
amongst  whom  he  names  the  abbot,  and  begs  that  they 
may  be  again  placed  in  the  custody  of  some  of  the 
bishops.  In  consequence  of  this  representation,  Wals- 
ingham  wrote  to  some  of  their  lordships  to  ask  their 
advice  as  to  "  what  is  meetest  to  be  done  with  Watson, 
Feckenham,  Harpefield  and  others  of  that  ring  that  are 
thought  to  be  leaders  and  pillars  of  the  consciences  of 
great  numbers  of  such  as  be  carried  with  the  errors." 

As  a  result  of  the  episcopal  advice,  Cox,  the  bishop  of 
Ely,  in  July,  1 577,  was  directed  to  receive  Abbot  Fecken- 
ham into  his  house,  and  a  stringent  code  of  regulations 
was  drawn  up  for  the  treatment  of  the  aged  abbot.  Dr. 
Cox  did  his  best  to  convert  his  prisoner  to  his  own 
religious  views,  but  without  success,  and  in  August, 
1578,  was  fain  to  write  to  Burghley  that  his  efforts  had 
failed  and  that  Feckenham  "  was  a  gentle  person,  but  in 


222       ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH 

popish  religion  too,  too  obdurate."  Nothing  was  done  at 
that  time,  and  the  abbot  remained  on  until  1580,  when 
in  June  Bishop  Cox  wrote  to  say  that  he  could  put  up 
with  him  no  longer;  so  in  July,  1580,  the  late  abbot  of 
Westminster  was  once  more  moved, this  time  to  Wisbeach 
Castle,  the  disused  and  indeed  partly  ruinous  dwelling 
place  of  the  bishops  of  Ely. 

Wisbeach  was  not  a  cheerful  abode.  It  has  been  well 
described  in  the  following  words:  "During  the  winter 
the  sea  mists  drifting  landwards  almost  always  hung  over 
and  hid  the  castle  walls.  Broad  pools  and  patches  of 
stagnant  waters,  green  with  rank  weeds,  and  wide 
marshes  and  sterile  fiats  lay  outspread  all  around  for 
miles.  The  muddy  river  was  constantly  overflowing  its 
broken-down  banks,  so  that  the  moat  of  the  castle  con- 
stantly flooded  the  adjacent  garden  and  orchard.  Of 
foliage,  save  a  few  stunted  willow  trees,  there  was  little 
or  none  in  sight ;  for  when  summer  came  round  the  sun's 
heat  soon  parched  up  the  rank  grass  in  the  courtyard, 
and  without,  the  dandelion  and  snapdragon  which  grew 
upon  its  massive  but  dilapidated  walls." 

Such  was  the  prison  in  which  Abbot  Feckenham  was 
destined  to  pass  the  last  few  years  of  his  life.  Even  the 
rigours  of  his  detention  and  the  dismal  surroundings  of 
his  prison-house  were  unable  to  extinguish  his  bene- 
volent feelings  for  others.  His  last  public  work  was  the 
repair  of  the  causeway  over  the  fens  and  the  erection  of 
a  market  cross  in  the  little  town.  He  died  in  1584,  and 
on  the  16th  of  October  he  was  buried  in  the  churchyard 
of  the  parish  of  Wisbeach. 

I  have  very  little  more  to  add.  Stevens,  the  continu- 
ator  of  Dugdale,  describes  Abbot  Feckenham  as  a  man 
of  "a  mean  stature,  somewhat  fat,  round-faced,  beautiful 


ABBOT  FECKENHAM  AND  BATH  223 

and  of  a  pleasant  aspect,  affable  and  lively  in  conversa- 
tion." Camden  calls  him  "a  man  learned  and  good,  who 
lived  a  long  time  and  gained  the  affection  of  his  adver- 
saries by  publicly  deserving  well  of  the  poor."  To  the 
last  he  never  forgot  the  poor  of  Westminster.  In  the 
overseer's  accounts  of  the  parish  of  St.  Margaret's  it  is 
recorded  in  1590:  "Over  and  besides  the  sum  of  forty 
pounds  given  by  John  Fecknam,  sometime  abbot  of 
Westminster,  for  a  stock  to  buy  wood  for  the  poor  of 
Westminster,  and  to  sell  two  faggots  for  a  penny,  and 
seven  billets  for  a  penny,  which  sum  of  forty  pounds  doth 
remain  in  the  hands  of  the  churchwardens."  He  also  left 
a  bequest  to  the  poor  of  his  first  monastic  home  of 
Evesham. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  a  man,  who  in  his  day  de- 
lighted in  doing  good  to  others.  In  spite  of  difficulties 
which  would  have  crushed  out  the  energies  of  most  men 
he  persevered  in  his  benefactions.  Amongst  other  places 
that  benefited  by  his  love  for  the  poor  is  this  great  city 
of  Bath  which  may  well  revere  his  memory  and  inscribe 
his  name  upon  the  illustrious  roll  of  its  worthies. 


VII 

CHRISTIAN    FAMILY    LIFE    IN 
PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS1 

MY  subject  is  one  of  great  and  enduring  interest — 
"  The  Christian  Family  Life."  Looking  back 
across  my  own  more  than  half  a  century  of  experience,  I 
see — or  shall  I  say  seem  to  see? — that  a  great  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  family  life  of  Catholics,  and  that 
to-day — speaking  broadly — it  is  not  what  it  was  fifty 
years  ago.  Did  I  not  know  that  there  is  apparently  a 
natural  tendency  as  men  get  on  in  life  to  disparage  the 
present  in  comparison  with  the  past,  I  should  be  inclined 
to  say  that  the  ideals  of  the  Christian  family  as  we  re- 
cognise them  to-day  have  as  a  whole  greatly  deteriorated, 
and  that  some  have  been  dropped  altogether  as  unsuited 
for  the  days  in  which  we  live.  In  the  task  that  has  been 
assigned  to  me  it  is  perhaps  fortunate,  for  myself,  that  I 
am  not  in  any  way  called  upon  either  to  establish  this 
deterioration  as  a  fact,  or  to  endeavour  to  ascertain 
the  cause,  if  it  be  a  fact;  or  yet,  again,  to  suggest  pos- 
sible remedies.  My  comparatively  easy  task  is  to  set 
before  you  at  least  the  broad  outlines  of  Catholic  home 
life  in  pre-Reformation  days.  It  may,  however,  be  useful 
for  me  to  preface  that  story  with  a  few  words  upon  the 
general  question  as  it  appears  at  the  present  day. 

The   Catholic  life  depends  in  great   measure  for   its 

'  A  paper  read  at  the  Catholic  Conference  at  Brighton,  1906. 

224 


FAMILY  LIFE  IN  PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS     225 

existence  and  its  growth  upon  the  Christianity  of  the 
family  life.    I  take  this  to  be  an  axiom.    For  although  it 
may  be  allowed  that  the  grace  of  God  may  so  act  upon 
the  individual  soul  as  to  produce  the  flowers  of  virtue 
amid  the  most  chilling  surroundings  and  in  the  mephitic 
atmosphere  of  a  bad  home,  still  in  His  providence  the 
ordinary  nursery  of  all  God's  servants  is  a  home  pre- 
sided over  by  pious  parents,  who  themselves  practise  the 
religion  they  teach  their  children.    The  father,  mother, 
and  children  together  make  up  the  sacred  institution  of 
God  called  the  family.    Without  the  parental  influence, 
example,  and    teaching,  the  child  will   hardly  have  a 
chance  of  acquiring  even  the  mere  elements  of  religion 
or  the  first  principles  of  an  ordered  life.    The  child  is  for 
the  most  part  the  creation  of  its  surroundings,  and  no 
amount  of  schooling  in  the  best  of  "  atmospheres,"  or  of 
religious  instruction  from  the  most  capable  of  teachers, 
can  supply  the  influences  which  are  lacking  in  the  home 
life.    On   parents   rests  the  responsibility — a  heavy  re- 
sponsibility of  which  they  cannot  divest  themselves — of 
training  their  offspring  in  habits  of  virtue — of  seeing,  for 
example,  that  they  say  their  prayers,  attend  church,  re- 
ceive the  Sacraments  and,  as  their  minds  expand,  are 
properly  instructed  in  their  duty  to  God  and  their  fellow- 
men.    The  knowledge  that  their  example  will  almost  in- 
evitably be  copied  by  those  they  have  brought  into  the 
world  should  act  upon  parents  as  a  restraint  upon  word 
and  action,  and  they  should  share  personally  in  all  the 
prayers  and  acts  of  religion  they  inculcate  as  necessary. 
There  is  much,  no  doubt,  in  surroundings  and  circum- 
stances, but  there  is  no  home  so  humble  that  it  may  not 
be  a  school  of  sound,  solid,  practical  Catholic  life;  there 
are  no  surroundings  and  circumstances,  however  hard 

Q 


226  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

and  difficult,  in  which  the  Christian  family,  recognising 
its  obligations,  cannot  practise  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
Holy  Household  at  Nazareth.  Of  course  it  is  religion 
which  must  bind  the  members  of  the  family  together, 
and  no  ties  are  secure,  or  will  bear  the  stress  of  life, 
which  are  not  strengthened  by  prayer  and  the  faithful 
practice  of  religious  duties. 

FORGETFULNESS  OF  THE  FAMILY  TlE 

In  these  days — when  the  State  so  frequently  steps  in 
to  usurp  parental  rights  and  to  give  relief  from  parental 
duties;  when  the  Church,  in  its  anxiety  to  secure  some 
kind  of  religious  knowledge,  is  looked  upon  as  freeing 
the  parent  from  its  duty  of  imparting  it;  and  when  the 
well-meaning  philanthropist  urges  free  meals  and  free 
boots  as  the  necessary  corollary  of  compulsory  education 
— the  whole  duty  of  man  and  woman  to  those  they  have 
brought  into  the  world,  and  the  family  tie  binding 
parents  and  children  together,  are  in  danger  of  being 
forgotten.  The  State  regulations  for  secular  education 
claim  children  almost  before  they  can  toddle,  and  gra- 
tuitously instruct  them  in  all  manner  of  subjects,  some 
no  doubt  useful,  but  many  more  wholly  unnecessary  if 
they  are  not  positively  harmful.  The  parent  is  almost  a 
negligible  quantity  in  the  matter,  and,  by  way  of  a  set- 
off against  this  treatment,  he  is  not  called  upon  to  con- 
tribute a  penny  towards  his  child's  education,  although 
in  the  greater  number  of  cases,  as  was  shown  by  the  ex- 
perience of  years,  he  is  fully  able  to  do  so.  The  priest 
has  to  see  to  the  religious  side  of  education.  His  ex- 
perience is  that  the  parent  seldom  troubles  much  about 
this  side  of  his  duty,  and  that  it  is  with  difficulty  that  he 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  227 

can  be  £Ot  to  take  an  active  interest  in  his  child's  moral 
training,  or  even  to  second  the  priest's  efforts  for  the 
eternal  welfare  of  the  child,  for  whom,  by  every  principle 
of  natural  and  divine  law,  he  is  responsible.  When  the 
notion  of  responsibility  for  education  goes  from  the 
parental  mind,  with  it  departs  in  most  cases  the  sense  of 
duty  to  the  religious  obligations  incumbent  on  every 
parent  in  regard  to  the  soul  of  his  child.  Unless,  there- 
fore, the  priest  taught  the  children  to  pray  and  instructed 
them  in  their  faith  and  duty,  unless  he  prepared  them 
for  the  Sacraments,  unless  he  saw  that  they  approached 
them  regularly,  unless  he  drilled  them  to  come  to  Mass 
on  the  Sundays  and  Holydays,  no  one  else  would  do  so. 
Hence  the  priest  has  to  go  on  trying  to  fulfil  much  of 
the  responsibilities  of  parents,  in  spite  of  the  danger  that 
the  child,  as  it  grows  in  age  and  knowledge,  may  come 
to  look  upon  all  this  religious  training  as  a  mere  detail 
of  school  work  from  which  age  emancipates  it — a  dis- 
aster which  will  be  all  the  more  certain  if  the  religious 
lessons  given  are  not  enforced  by  the  example  of  its 
parents  in  the  home  life,  and  by  their  obedience  to  the 
practical  obligations  of  religion. 

All  this  raises  questions  of  the  utmost  importance, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  many  priests  of  experience,  no 
greater  service  to  religion  at  the  present  day  could  be 
effected  than  some  crusade  that  would  bring  home  to 
Catholic  parents  the  necessity  of  returning  in  their 
home  lives  to  the  traditions  and  example  of  their  an- 
cestors in  the  Faith.  As  a  small  contribution,  I  propose 
to  set  out  as  briefly  as  may  be  what  the  life  was  that 
was  lived  in  England  and  in  English  Christian  homes  in 
pre- Reformation  days,  in  order  that  we  may  have  some 
measure  of  comparison. 


228  christian  family  life  in 

Early  Rising 

In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  our  fore- 
fathers were  early  risers,  and  probably  the  usual  time 
for  the  household  to  bestir  itself  was  not  later  than  six. 
Hugh  Rhodes'  Book  of  Nature  teaches: 

Ryse  you  earely  in  the  morning, 

For  it  hath  propertyes  three  : 
Holynesse,  health,  and  happey  welth 

As  my  father  taught  mee. 
At  syxe  of  the  clocke,  without  delay 

Use  commonly  to  ryse, 
And  give  God  thanks  for  thy  good  rest 

When  thou  openest  thyn  eyes. 

This  same  hour  of  six  was  ordered  by  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester  for  the  officers  of  the  household  of  his  pupil 
Prince  Edward,  afterwards  King  Edward  V,  to  hear 
their  morning  Mass.  The  King,  in  appointing  Earl 
Rivers  and  the  Bishop  tutors  to  his  son  in  1470,  en- 
joined that  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  lie  in  bed,  but 
that  he  should  rise  "every  morning  at  a  convenient 
hour." 

The  Prymer  of  1538  (the  first  English  one,  though 
printed  at  Rouen)  in  its  "  Maner  to  lyve  well,  devoutly 
and  salutaryly  every  day,  for  all  persones  of  mean 
estate,"  says:  "  Fyrst  rise  at  six  in  the  morning  in  all 
seasons  and  in  doing  so  thank  God  for  the  rest  He  has 
given  to  you." 

Morning  Prayers 

This  brings  us  to  the  first  daily  morning  exercise  on 
which  our  ancestors  set  such  store.  The  School  of  Vevtue 
for  little  children  says: 


I'RE-REFORMATION  DAYS  229 

First  in  the  mornynge  when  thou  dost  awake 
To  God  for  his  grace  thy  peticion  then  make 
This  prayer  folowynge  use  dayly  to  say 
Thy  harte  lyftynge  up  ;  thus  begyn  to  pray : 
O  God,  from  whom  all  good  gifts  procede, 
To  Thee  we  repayr  in  tyme  of  our  need. 

And  so  through  a  prayer  for  grace  to  follow  virtue  and 
flee  from  vice,  and  for  God's  special  protection  during 
the  day  which  is  then  beginning,  which  the  child  asks 
may  be  spent: 

To  thy  honour  and  joy  of  our  parentes 

Learninge  to  lyve  well  and  kepe  thy  commandmentes. 

Richard  Whytford — "  the  Wretch  of  Syon  " — in  his 
Werke  for  HonsJiolders,  or  for  them  that  have  the  gydyng 
or  governaunce  of  any  company,  thus  sets  out  a  form  of 
early  morning  exercise  which  is  specially  intended  for 
the  use  not  of  recluses  or  cloistered  religious,  but  of 
those  having  to  live  an  ordinary  Christian  life  in  the 
world  : 

"  As  soon  as  ye  do  awake  in  the  morning  to  arise  for 
al  day  [he  writes]  first  sodeynly  tourne  your  mind  and 
remembrance  unto  Almighty  God ;  and  then  use  (by  a 
contynual  custom)  to  make  a  cross  with  your  thombe  on 
your  forehead  or  front,  in  saying  of  these  wordes:  In 
nomine  Patris ;  and  then  another  cross  upon  your  mouth 
with  these  words,  Et  Filii ;  and  then  a  third  cross  upon 
your  breast,  saying  Et  Spiritus  Sancti,  Amen. 

"  And  if  your  devotion  be  thereto  ye  may  again  make 
one  whole  cross  from  your  head  unto  your  feet  and 
from  your  lyfte  shoulder  unto  your  right  saying  alto- 
gether, /;/  nomine  Patris,  &c.  That  is  to  say,  '  I  do 
blesse  and  marke  myself  with  the  cognysaunce  and 
badge  of  Christ,  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  &c,  the 


230  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

Holy  Trinity,  three  persons  and  one  God.'  Then  say  or 
thynke  after  this  form:  'Good  Lord  God,  my  Maker 
and  my  Redeemer,  here  now  in  thy  presence,  I  (for  thys 
tyme  and  for  all  the  tyme  of  my  hole  lyfe)  do  bequeath 
and  bytake  or  rather  do  freely  give  myselfe,  soule  and 
body,' "  etc. 

The  Prymer  before  named  speaks  of  the  first  prayer 
of  the  day  as  to  be  said  at  once  on  rising: 

"  Commende  you  to  God,  to  our  Blessyd  Lady  Sainte 
Mary  and  to  that  saint  that  is  feasted  that  day  and  to 
all  the  saints  of  heaven.  Secondly,  Beseech  God  that  he 
preserve  you  that  day  from  deadly  sin  and  at  all  other 
tymes,  and  pray  Him  that  all  the  works  that  other  doth 
for  you  may  be  accept  to  the  laud  of  his  name  and  of 
his  glorious  Mother  and  of  all  the  company  of  heaven." 

So,  too,  in  The  Young  Children's  Booh,  a  version  of  an 
earlier  set  of  rhymes,  the  child  is  told  to — 

Aryse  be  tyme  out  of  thi  bedde 

And  blysse  thi  breast  and  thi  forhede. 

Then  wasche  thi  hondes  and  thi  face 

Kerne  thi  hede,  and  aske  God  grace 

The  to  helpe  in  all  thi  werkes; 

Thou  schall  spede  better  what  so  thou  carpes. 

Hearing  Mass 

So  much  for  the  early  morning  exercise;  we  come 
now  to  the  question  of  the  morning  Mass.  I  do  not 
think  that  there  can  be  much  doubt  that  all  in  pre- 
Reformation  days  were  not  satisfied  that  they  had  done 
their  duty  if  they  did  not  hear  Mass  daily  if  they  were 
able  to  do  so.  Of  course  it  is  obvious  that  very  many 
would  be  prevented  by  their  occupations  and  business 
from  going  to  the  church  on  the  week-days,  but  even 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  231 

for  these  the  prevalence  of  the  custom  in  cities  and 
towns  of  having  an  early  Mass  at  four,  five,  or  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  which  was  known  as  the  "  Mor- 
row Mass  "  or  the  "  Jesu  Mass,"  is  an  indication  that 
people  were  anxious  to  have  the  opportunity  of  attend- 
ing at  the  Holy  Sacrifice.  This  is  all  the  more  certain, 
as  this  Mass  was  generally  offered  as  the  result  of  some 
special  benefaction  for  the  purpose  or  by  reason  of  the 
stipend  found  by  the  people  of  a  parish,  "  gathered 
wekely  of  the  devotion  of  the  parishioners,"  as  one 
foundation  deed  declared,  in  order  that  "  travellers  "  or 
"  those  at  work  "  might  know  that  they  could  hear  their 
Mass  without  interfering  with  the  necessary  business  of 
their  lives.  Even  when  actual  presence  was  impossible, 
the  mediaeval  Catholic  was  taught  to  join  in  spirit  in  the 
Great  Sacrifice  when  it  was  being  offered  up  on  the  altar 
of  his  parish  church.  According  to  some  antiquaries, 
the  origin  of  the  low  side-window  to  be  found  in  many 
churches  was  to  enable  the  clerk  or  server  at  Mass  to 
ring  a  hand-bell  out  of  it  at  the  "  Sanctus  "  in  order  to 
warn  people  at  work  in  the  neighbouring  fields  and  else- 
where that  the  more  solemn  part  of  the  Mass  had  begun. 
We  can  hardly  doubt  that  this  practice  did  really  exist, 
in  view  of  a  Constitution  of  Archbishop  Peckham  in 
1281.  In  this  he  orders  that  "at  the  time  of  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  body  of  our  Lord  (in  the  Mass)  a  bell  be 
rung  on  one  side  of  the  church,  that  those  who  cannot 
be  at  daily  Mass,  no  matter  where  they  may  be, 
whether  in  the  fields  or  their  own  homes,  may  kneel 
down  and  so  gain  the  indulgences  granted  by  many 
bishops  "  to  such  as  perform  this  act  of  devotion. 

Andrew    Borde,  in    his    Regyment,  incidentally  gives 
testimony  to  the  practice  of  hearing  daily  Mass  on  the 


232  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

part  of  those  whose  occupations  permitted  them  so  to 
do.    After  speaking  of  rising  and  dressing,  he  says: — 

"  Then  great  and  noble  men  doth  use  to  here  Masse, 
and  other  men  that  cannot  do  so,  but  must  apply  [to] 
theyr  busyness,  doth  serve  God  with  some  prayers,  sur- 
rendrynge  thanks  to  hym  for  hys  manyfodd  goodness, 
with  askyng  mercye  for  theyr  offences." 

The  Venetian  traveller  who  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sixteenth  century  wrote  his  impressions  of  England, 
was  struck  with  the  way  the  people  attended  the  morn- 
ing Mass: — 

"  They  all  attend  Mass  every  day  [he  writes],  and  say 
many  Paternosters  in  public.  The  women  carry  long 
rosaries  in  their  hands,  and  any  who  can  read  take  the 
office  of  our  Lady  with  them,  and  with  some  companion 
recite  it  in  church,  verse  by  verse,  in  a  low  voice,  after 
the  manner  of  churchmen." 

Some  years  later  another  Venetian  wrote  that,  when 
in  England,  every  morning  "  at  day  break  he  went  to 
Mass  arm-in-arm  with  some  nobleman  or  other." 

King  Edward  IV,  in  the  rules  he  drew  up  for  the 
household  of  his  son,  says  that:  "  Every  morning  (after 
rising)  two  chaplains  shall  say  Matins  in  his  presence, 
and  then  he  shall  go  to  chapel  or  closet  and  hear  Mass," 
which  shall  never  be  said  in  his  chamber  except  for 
"  some  grave  cause."  "  No  man  to  interrupt  him  during 
Masse  time." 

In  the  Preface  to  The  Lay  Folkes  Mass  Book  Canon 
Simmons  gives  ample  authority  for  the  statement  that 
in  Catholic  times  all  who  could  were  supposed  to  hear 
daily  Mass,  and  that  unless  prevented  by  necessary 
work  or  business  they  in  fact  did  so  very  generally.  In 
VVynkyn  de  Worde's  Boke  of  Kervynge  the  chamberlain 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  233 

is  instructed  "at  morne"  to  "go  to  the  church  or  chapell 
to  your  soveraynes  closet  and  laye  carpentes  and  cuye- 
shens  and  put  downe  his  boke  of  prayers  and  then  draw 
the  curtynes."  And  so  in  the  same  way  Robert  of 
Gloucester  says  of  William  the  Conqueror,  reflecting  no 
doubt  the  manners  of  the  age  in  which  he  himself  wrote: 
"  In  churche  he  was  devout  ynou,  for  him  non  day  [to] 
abyde  that  he  na  hurde  masse  and  matyns  and  even- 
son[g]  and  eche  tyde."  On  which  quotation  Canon 
Simmons  remarks:  "That  the  rule  of  the  Church  was 
not  a  dead  letter  is  perhaps  unmistakeably  shown  by  the 
matter-of-course  way  in  which  hearing  Mass  before 
breaking  fast  is  introduced  as  an  incident  in  the  every- 
day life  of  knights  and  other  personages  in  works  of 
fiction  which,  nevertheless,  in  their  details  were  no 
doubt  true  to  the  ordinary  habits  of  the  class  they  were 
intended  to  portray." 

As  a  matter  of  course,  in  The  Young  Children's  Book 
the  child  is  taught  when  his  morning's  exercise  has  been 
done: — 

Than  go  to  the  chyrche  and  here  a  Masse 
There  aske  mersy  for  thi  trespasse. 

And  in  an  old  set  of  verses  called  The  Day es  of  the  Weke 
Moralysed,  for  Monday,  the  first  work  day,  the  following 
advice  is  given : — 

Monday  men  ought  me  for  to  call 
In  wich,  good  werkes  ought  to  begyn 
Heryng  Masse,  the  first  dede  of  all 
Intendyng  to  fie  deadly  syn,  etc. 

With  regard  to  attendance  at  Holy  Mass  it  is  import- 
ant to  observe  that  the  people  were  fully  instructed  in 
the   way   they   ought   to   behave   in    church   during   the 


234  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

sacred  rite,  and,  indeed,  at  all  times.  Myrc,  in  his  In- 
structions^ bids  the  clergy  tell  their  people  that  on  com- 
ing into  God's  house  they  should  remember  to  leave 
outside  "  many  wordes  "  and  "  ydel  speche,"  and  to  put 
away  all  vanity  and  say  Pater  noster  and  Ave.  They 
are  to  be  warned  not  to  stand  aimlessly  about  in  the 
church,  nor  to  loll  against  the  pillars  or  the  wall,  but 
they  should  kneel  on  the  floor 

And  praye  to  God  wyth  herte  meke 
To  give  them  grace  and  mercy  eke. 

So,  too,  Seager  in  The  School  of  Vertue  says : — 

When  to  the  church  thou  shalt  repayer 
Knelying  or  standynge  to  God  make  thy  prayer : 
All  worldely  matters  from  thy  mynde  set  apart 
Earnestly  prayinge  to  God  lyfte  up  thy  hart 
A  contrite  harte  he  wyll  not  dispyse, 
Whiche  he  doth  coumpt  a  sweet  sacrifice. 

Richard  Whytford,  speaking  to  householders  of  their 
duty  to  see  that  those  under  their  charge  come  to  the 
Sunday  Mass,  writes: — 

"  Take  the  pain  what  you  may  to  go  forth  yourself 
and  call  your  folk  to  follow.  And  when  you  ben  at  the 
church  do  nothing  else  but  that  you  come  for.  And 
look  oft  time  upon  them  that  ben  under  your  charge 
that  all  they  be  occupied  lyke  (at  the  least)  unto  de- 
voute  Chrystyans.  For  the  church  (as  our  Saviour  saithe) 
is  a  place  of  prayer  not  of  claterynge  and  talking.  And 
charge  them  also  to  keep  their  sight  in  church  close  upon 
their  books  or  bedes.  And  while  they  ben  younge  let 
them  use  ever  to  kneel,  stand  or  sit,  and  never  to  walk 
in  church.  And  let  them  hear  the  Masse  quietly  and 
devoutly,  moche  part  kneeling.    But  at  the  Gospel,  at 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  235 

the  Preface  and  at  the  Pater  noster  teach  them  to  stand 
and  to  make  curtsey  at  the  word  Jesus  as  the  priest 
clothe." 

When  the  bell  sounds  for  the  Consecration,  says 
another  instruction,  all,  "  both  ye  younge  and  olde,"  fall 
on  their  knees,  and  holding  up  both  their  hands  pray 
softly  to  themselves  thus : — 

Jesu  !  Lord,  welcome  thou  be 

In  form  of  bread  as  I  thee  see: 

Jesu  !  for  thy  holy  name 

Shield  me  to-day  from  sin  and  shame ; 

or  in  some  similar  way  such  as  the  Salve,  lux  mundi: 
"  Hail,  light  of  the  world,  word  of  the  Father;  Hail, 
thou  true  victim,  the  living  and  entire  flesh  of  God  made 
true  man" — or  in  the  words  of  the  better  known  Anima 
Christi  sanctified  Die. 

Grace  at  Meals 

After  morning  Mass  comes  the  first  meal,  which  comes 
before  the  occupations  of  the  day  begin.  At  this  and  at 
every  meal  children  were  taught  to  bless  themselves  by 
the  sign  of  the  Cross,  and  to  follow  the  head  of  the 
family  as  he  called  down  God's  blessing  upon  what  His 
providence  had  provided  for  them.  At  dinner  and  at 
supper  there  was  apparently  some  reading  in  many 
families,  which  was  at  any  rate  a  means  of  teaching 
some  useful  things,  and  of  avoiding,  as  one  account 
says,  "much  idle  and  unprofitable  talk."  In  1470  it  is 
ordered  that  at  meals  Prince  Edward  should  have  "  read 
before  him  such  rolls,  stories,  &c,  fit  for  a  prince  to 
hear";  and  Whytford  thinks  that  meal-time  in  a  Chris- 
tian family  could  not  be  spent  better  than  upon  incul- 


236  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

eating  the  religious  duties  and  knowledge  which  parents 
are  bound  to  see  that  their  children  know.  In  the  scheme 
of  instruction  he  sets  forth  he  says: — 

"  Ben  such  thynges  as  they  been  bounde  to  knowe,  or 
can  saye,  that  is  the  Pater  Noster,  the  Ave  Maria,  and 
the  Crede,  with  such  other  things  as  done  follow.  I 
wolde  therefore  you  should  begin  with  [those  under  your 
care]  betimes  in  youth  as  soon  as  they  can  speak.  For 
it  is  an  old  saying:  '  The  pot  or  vessel  shall  ever  savour 
and  smell  of  that  thing  wherewith  it  is  first  seasoned,' 
and  your  English  proverb  sayeth  that  '  the  young  cock 
croweth  as  he  doth  hear  and  lerne  of  the  old.'  You  may 
in  youth  teche  them  what  you  will  and  that  shall  they 
longest  keep  and  remember.  You  should  therefore, 
above  all  thynges,  take  heed  and  care  in  what  company 
your  chylder  ben  nouryshed  and  brought  up.  For  edu- 
cation and  doctrine,  that  is  to  say  bringing  up  and 
learning,  done  make  ye  manners.  With  good  and  ver- 
tuous  persons  (sayth  the  prophet)  you  shall  be  good 
and  vertuous.  And  with  evil  persons  you  shall  also  be 
evil.  Let  your  chylder  therefore  use  and  keep  good 
company.  The  pye,  the  jaye,  and  other  birds  done 
speak  what  they  most  hear  by  [the]  ear.  The  plover 
by  sight  will  follow  the  gesture  and  behaviour  of  the 
fowler,  and  the  ape  by  exercise  worke  and  do  as  she  is 
taught,  and  so  will  the  dog  (by  violence)  contrary  to 
natural  disposition  learne  to  daunce.  The  chylder,  there- 
fore, that  by  reason  do  farre  exceed  other  creatures,  will 
bear  away  what  they  hear  spoken ;  they  should  therefore 
be  used  unto  such  company  where  they  sholde  heare 
none  evil,  but  where  they  may  hear  godly  and  Chrystyan 
wordes.  They  wyll  also,  in  their  gestures  and  behaviour, 
have  such  manners  as  they  use  and  behold  in  other  per- 


PRE-REFORMATION   DAYS  237 

sons  so  will  they  do.  Unto  some  craftes  or  occupations 
a  certain  age  is  required,  but  virtue  and  vice  may  be 
learned  in  every  age.  See  therefore  that  in  any  wyse 
you  let  them  use  no  company  but  good  and  vcrtuous. 
And  as  soon  as  they  can  speak  let  them  first  learn  to 
serve  God  and  to  say  the  Pater,  Ave,  and  Crede.  And 
not  onely  your  chylder,  but  also  se  you  and  prove  that 
all  your  servants  what  age  so  ever  they  be  of,  can  say 
the  same,  and  therefore  I  have  advised  many  persons 
and  here  do  counsel  that  in  every  meal,  dynner,  or 
souper  one  person  should  with  loud  voice  saye  thus," 
etc. 

Whytford  then  gives  a  long  explanation  of  the  Our 
Father,  etc.,  in  which  may  be  found  set  forth,  as  in  the 
many  similar  tracts  written  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  full 
teaching  of  the  Church  on  faith  and  practice. 

Guard  of  the  Tongue 

The  foundations  of  the  Christian  virtues  have  to  be 
laid  early  in  life,  and  the  parent  or  head  of  the  family  is 
warned  constantly  of  his  obligation  of  seeing  that  this 
is  being  done,  and  of  rooting  out  every  tendency  to  evil 
in  those  of  whom  they  have  charge.  Bad  language  is  to 
be  specially  guarded  against,  and  the  first  indication  of 
the  formation  of  a  habit  to  be  noted  and  means  taken 
to  put  a  stop  to  its  growth.  Richard  Whytford  suggests 
that  children  should  be  made  to  repeat  the  following 
lines: — 

Yf  I  lye,  backebyte  or  stelle, 

Yf  I  curse,  scorne,  mocke  or  swere 

Yf  I  chyde,  fyght,  stryke  or  threte 

Good  mother  or  maystresse  myne 

Yf  ony  of  these  myne 


2*8  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 


o 


I  trespace  to  your  knowyng 
With  a  new  rodde  and  a  fyne 
Early  naked  before  I  dyne 
Amende  me  with  a  scourgyng. 

and  then,  continues  the  writer: — 

"  I  pray  you  fulfil  and  performe  theyr  petition  and 
request,  and  think  it  not  cruelly,  but  mercyfully  done. 
.  .  Your  daily  practice  doth  show  unto  you  that  yf 
you  powder  your  flesh  while  it  is  newe  and  sweet,  it  will 
continue  good  meet,  but  yf  it  smell  before  it  be  powdred 
all  the  salt  you  have  shall  never  make  it  seasonable. 
Powder  your  children,  therefore,  betyme  and  then  you 
love  them  and  shall  have  comfort  of  them." 

Correction,  however,  should  not  be  done  in  anger, 
and  all  are  to  understand  that  the  pain  of  him  who 
administers  the  rod  is  greater  than  his  who  receives  the 
punishment.  Before  children  the  greatest  care  is  neces- 
sary not  to  do  anything  that  they  may  not  imitate.  All 
idle  expressions  and  vain  oaths  should  be  avoided,  for 
such  habits  are  catching,  and  the  young  are  to  be  taught 
to  say  with  respect  "  Yea,  father,"  "  Nay,  father,"  or  "  Yea, 
mother,"  "  No,  mother,"  and  not  to  get  into  the  habit  of 
making  use  of  such  expressions  as  "  by  cocke  and  pye," 
"  by  my  hood  of  green,"  etc. 

Work 

It  is  unnecessary  to  go  through  the  day  in  any  well- 
constituted  family  in  Catholic  England.  Work  was  every- 
where insisted  upon  as  necessary  in  God's  service,  and 
work  was  savoured,. so  to  speak,  by  the  remembrance  of 
God's  presence.  The  two  orders  of  the  natural  and  super- 
natural were  not  so  separated  as  they  are  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  to-day.    Of  course  there  are  many  in  our 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  239 

day  who  no  doubt  keep  themselves  in  God's  presence, 
but  whilst  I  believe  that  most  will  allow  that  this  is  the 
exception,  in  the  ages  of  faith  it  was  apparently  the 
rule;  and  if  we  may  judge  from  the  books  of  instruction 
and  other  evidence,  God  was  not  far  removed  from  the 
threshold  of  most  Catholic  families  in  pre-Reforma- 
tion  days.  Of  course  there  were  exceptions,  and  many 
perhaps  led  as  wicked  lives  as  now,  but  there  is  obvi- 
ously something  about  the  family  life  of  that  time  which 
is  lacking  in  this.  There  was  the  constant  recognition 
of  God's  sanctifying  presence  in  the  family.  Of  this  I 
have  spoken,  and  over  and  beside  this  there  were  those 
common  religious  practices  of  prayer  and  religious  self- 
restraint  and  mutual  encouragement  to  virtue  of  which, 
alas,  the  modern  counterpart  of  the  old  English  home 
knows  so  little.  On  the  faith  of  those  simple  and  gener- 
ally unlettered  people  there  was  a  bloom — I  know  of  no 
better  word  to  express  what  I  see — which  perished  as 
one  of  the  results  of  the  religious  revolution  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

I  have  said  that  the  family  exercised  themselves  in 
prayer  in  common.  It  has  been  doubted  whether  people 
really  did  attend  their  churches  for  the  liturgical  services, 
such  as  Matins  and  Evensong  on  Sundays  and  feast 
days.  The  evidence  that  they  did  so  very  generally  is 
to  me  conclusive.  But  beyond  that,  we  know  that  many 
who  could  read  made  a  practice  of  saying  the  Little 
Office  day  by  day,  thus  joining  in  the  spirit  of  the 
canonical  hours  ordered  by  the  Church.  I  have  pointed 
out  that  Edward  IV  directed  that  the  chaplains  should 
recite  the  "  Divine  Service "  with  the  Prince  his  son 
daily.  The  1538  Prymer — intended,  of  course,  for  the 
use  of  the  laity — assumes  that  the  "Office"  is  said  by 


240  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

all  who  can.  In  the  directions  it  gives  on  the  point  for 
the  Christian  man's  day  it  says:  "  As  touching  your  ser- 
vice say  unto  Tierce  before  dinner  and  make  an  end 
before  supper.  And  when  ye  may  say  Dirige  and  Com- 
mendations for  all  Christian  souls  (at  least  on  Holy 
Days,  and  if  ye  have  leisure  say  them  on  the  other  days) 
at  the  least  with  three  lessons."  I  have  noted  how  the 
Venetian  traveller  spoke  of  the  practice  of  English  people 
coming  to  say  their  "  Office  "  together  in  church. 

Parents  and  Children 

Priests  are  warned  of  their  duty  to  instruct  parents  as 
to  the  necessity  of  bringing  their  children  to  the  Sacra- 
ments and  to  the  Mass  and  other  services  on  the  Sundays 
and  feast  days.  Such  fathers  and  mothers  as  may  be 
found  to  neglect  this  duty  are  to  be  punished  by  fasting 
on  bread  and  water,  and  the  clergy  are  to  make  sure  by 
personal  examination  that  as  children  grow  up  they  have 
been  sufficiently  instructed  in  their  religion  by  their 
parents.  Should  the  parents  fail  in  this  respect  the  god- 
parents were  held  to  be  personally  responsible.  On  the 
afternoons  of  the  Sundays,  when  Evensong  was  over,  the 
father  was  to  "  appoint  "  his  children  "  thyr  pastyme  with 
great  diligence  and  straight  commandment."  Whytford 
says  that  he  "  should  assign  and  appoint  them  the  man- 
ner of  their  disports,  honest  ever  and  lawful  for  a  reason- 
able recreation  .  .  .  and  also  appoint  the  time  or  space 
that  they  be  not  (for  any  sports)  from  the  service  of 
God.  Appoynt  them  also  ye  place,  that  you  may  call 
or  send  for  them  when  case  requireth.  For  if  there  be  a 
sermon  any  tyme  of  the  day,  let  them  be  there  present — 
all  that  be  not  occupied  in  nedeful  and  lawful  besyness, 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  241 

"  When  ye  are  come  from  the  church  (in  the  early 
morning)  [says  the  Rule  of  Life  printed  in  1538],  take 
hede  to  your  house  holde  or  occupacyon  till  dyner  tyme. 
And  in  so  doing  thynke  sometyme  that  the  pain  that  ye 
suffer  in  this  vvorlde  is  nothyng  to  the  regarde  of  the 
infinite  glory  that  ye  shall  have  yf  ye  take  it  meekly.  .  .  . 
Shrive  you  every  week  to  your  curate  unless  you  have 
very  great  lette.  If  ye  be  of  power  refuse  not  your  alms 
to  the  first  poor  body  that  axeth  it  of  you  that  day  if  ye 
think  it  needful.  Take  pain  to  hear  and  keep  the  word 
of  God.  Confess  you  every  day  to  God  without  fail  of 
such  sins  ye  know  ye  have  done  that  day.  Consider 
often  either  day  or  night  when  ye  do  awake  what  our 
Lord  did  at  that  hour  the  day  of  his  blessyd  passion 
and  where  he  was  at  that  hour. 

"  Seek  a  good  faithful  friend  of  good  conversation  to 
whom  ye  may  discover  your  mind  secrets.  Enquire  and 
prove  him  well  or  ye  trust  in  him.  And  when  ye  have 
well  proved  hym  do  all  by  his  counsell.  Say  lytell:  and 
follow  virtuous  company.  After  all  work  praise  and 
thank  God.  Love  hym  above  all  things  and  serve  hym 
and  hys  glorious  mother  diligently.  Do  to  non  other 
but  that  ye  wolde  were  done  to  you :  love  the  welth  of 
another  as  your  owne. 

"  And  in  going  to  your  bedde  have  some  good  thought 
either  of  the  passyon  of  our  Lord  or  of  your  synne,  or  of 
the  pains  which  souls  have  in  purgatory,  or  some  other 
good  spiritual  thoughts,  and  then  I  hope  your  lyving 
shall  be  acceptable  and  pleasing  to  God." 

The  Evening  Blessing 

Most  books  of  instruction  for  children  insist  much 
upon   an  old   Catholic   practice  which  still   survives   in 

R 


242  CHRISTIAN  FAMILY  LIFE  IN 

some  countries,  but  which,  I  fear,  has  fallen  much  into 
disuse  with  us  in  these  days,  when  the  relations  between 
parent  and  child  are  more  free  and  easy  than  they  used 
to  be  in  pre-Reformation  Catholic  England.  Speaking  of 
the  Fourth  Commandment,  Richard  Whytford  says: — 

"  Teche  your  children  to  axe  blessing  every  night, 
kneeling  before  their  parents  under  this  form :  '  Father, 
I  beseech  you  of  blessing  for  charity ' :  or  thus :  '  Mother, 
I  beseech  you  of  charity  give  me  your  blessing.'  Then 
let  the  father  and  mother  holde  up  bothe  ther  handes 
and  joining  them  both  togyder  look  up  reverently  and 
devoutly  unto  heaven  and  say  thus:  'Our  Lord  God 
bless  you  children,'  and  therewith  make  a  cross  with  the 
right  hand  over  the  child,  saying  '  In  Nomine}  &c. 

"  And  if  any  child  be  stiff  hearted,  stubborn  and  fro- 
ward  and  will  not  thus  axe  a  blessing,  if  it  be  within 
age,  let  it  surely  be  whysked  with  a  good  rod  and  be 
compelled  thereunto  by  force.  And  if  the  persons  be 
of  farther  age  and  past  such  correction  and  yet  will  be 
obstinate,  let  them  have  such  sharpe  and  grievous  punish- 
ment as  conveniently  may  be  devysed,  as  to  sit  at  dinner 
alone  and  by  themselves  at  a  stool  in  the  middle  of  the 
hall,  with  only  brown  bread  and  water,  and  every  person 
in  order  to  rebuke  them  as  they  would  rebuke  a  thief 
and  traitor.  I  would  not  advise  ne  counsel  any  parents 
to  keep  such  a  child  in  their  house  without  great  afflic- 
cyon  and  punishment." 

This  mediaeval  reverence  for  parents  was  much  insisted 
upon  by  all  writers.  Hugh  Rhodes'  "  Book  of  Nurture," 
printed  in  the  Babees  Book,  for  example,  says  to  the 
child:— 

When  that  thy  parents  come  in  syght  doe  to  them  reverence 
Aske  them  blessing  if  they  have  been  long  out  of  presence. 


PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS  243 

In  this  regard  no  doubt  we  shall  all  call  to  mind  what  is 
told  of  the  brave  and  blessed  Sir  Thomas  More.  Even 
when  Lord  Chancellor,  morning  after  morning,  before 
sitting  in  his  own  court  to  hear  the  cases  to  be  argued 
before  him,  he  was  wont  to  go  to  the  place  where  his 
father,  Sir  John  More,  was  presiding  as  judge,  and  there 
on  his  knees  crave  his  parent's  blessing  on  the  work  of 
the  day. 

Filial  Reverence 

Another  pre-Reformation  writer  warns  children  never 
to  be  wanting  in  due  courteous  behaviour  to  their 
parents:  "What  man  he  is  your  father,  you  ought  to 
make  courtesye  to  hym  all  though  you  should  mete  hym 
twenty  tymes  a  daye."  On  his  side  the  parent  is  warned 
frequently  in  the  literature  of  the  period  "  not  to  spoil 
his  son  "  by  neglecting  a  "  gentle  whysking "  when  it 
was  deserved.  He  is  to  be  watched,  and  incipient  bad 
habits  forthwith  corrected  during 

That  tyme  chyldren  is  moost  apt  and  redy 

To  receyve  chastisement,  nurture  and  lernynge. 

For  "  the  child  that  begynneth  to  pyke  at  a  pin  or  a 
point  will  after  pyke  unto  an  ox,  and  from  a  peer  to  a 
purse  or  an  hors,  and  so  fro  the  small  things  unto  the 
great."  If  a  child,  writes  one  educationalist  of  those 
days,  is  caught  taking  even  a  pin,  let  him  be  set  with  a 
note  pinned  to  him:  "This  is  the  thief."  Let  this  be 
done  in  the  house,  but  should  this  fail  to  correct  the 
habit  let  him  carry  his  docket  into  the  street  of  the  city. 

The  Lesson  of  it  all 

This  brief  indication  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Catholic  family  life  in  pre-Reformation  days  might  be 


244      FAMILY  LIFE  IN  PRE-REFORMATION  DAYS 

lengthened  out  almost  to  any  extent.  The  main  lines 
would,  however,  remain  the  same,  and  additional  details 
would  only  show  more  clearly  how  close  in  those  days 
the  supernatural  was  to  the  natural — how  God  was  ever 
present,  and  how  the  sense  of  this  real  though  unseen 
presence  affected  the  daily  life  of  all  in  every  Christian 
home.  The  proof  lies  on  the  surface  of  every  record. 
The  names  of  "  Jesus  and  Mary  "  are  found  written  on 
the  top  of  almost  every  scrap  of  paper  and  every  column 
of  account ;  the  wills  begin  with  the  invocation  of  the 
Blessed  Trinity  and  generally  contain  some  expression 
indicative  of  gratitude  to  the  Providence  of  God  and  of 
belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  of  the  reward 
gained  by  a  life  of  virtue;  letters  are  dated  by  reference 
to  some  Sunday  or  festival  and  so  on.  One  has  only  to 
turn  over  the  pages  of  that  wonderful  collection  of 
fifteenth-century  epistles  known  as  the  Paston  Letters,  to 
see  what  the  Church  festivals  and  saints'  days  were  to 
the  people  of  those  Catholic  times,  and  how  they  entered 
into  their  very  lives.  A  letter  is  frequently  dated  on  the 
Monday,  etc.  (whatever  day  of  the  week  it  might  be) 
before  or  after  such  or  such  a  celebration.  At  times  the 
date  is  taken  from  the  words  of  some  collect  of  the  pre- 
ceding Sunday,  as  when  Agnes  Paston  heads  a  com- 
munication as  "  written  at  Paston  in  haste  the  Wednesday 
next  after  Deus  qui  errantibus."  How  many  of  us,  with 
all  the  advantages  we  have  in  printed  missals,  would  at 
once  know,  as  this  lady,  and  doubtless,  too,  her  corre- 
spondent did,  that  this  date  was  the  Wednesday  in  the 
third  week  after  Easter? 


VIII 

CHRISTIAN    DEMOCRACY    IN 
PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES1 

WE  are  all  of  us,  I  take  it,  interested  in  the  social 
questions  which  nowadays  are  clamouring  for 
consideration.  In  all  parts  of  the  civilised  globe  the 
voice  of  democracy  has  made  itself  heard  ;  it  has  arrested 
the  attention  of  rulers  and  statesmen,  and  has  proved 
that  the  day  when  popular  aspirations  received  sufficient 
answer  in  the  sic  volo  sic  jubeo  of  the  autocrat  is  past; 
and,  moreover,  that  the  "  masses  "  have  at  least  as  much 
right  to  be  considered  as  the  "  classes."  Perhaps  fortun- 
ately for  myself,  I  am  not  directly  concerned  to  explain, 
much  less  to  defend,  the  principles  of  what  is  broadly 
known  as  "  Christian  democracy."  About  all  this  matter 
opinions  differ  very  widely  indeed;  and  although,  I 
suppose,  we  may  all  of  us,  in  these  days,  claim  to  be 
socialists  of  some  kind  of  type,  there  is  obviously,  even 
amongst  us  Catholics,  such  divergence  of  opinion  that 
any  preliminary  attempt  to  clear  the  ground  with  a  view 
to  agreement  even  on  first  principles  is  not  uncommonly 
productive  of  no  small  amount  of  heat  and  temper.  My 
concern  is  happily  with  facts  not  with  theories,  with  the 
past  not  with  the  present.  I  confess  that  personally  I 
like  to  feel  my  feet  upon  the  ground,  and  facts  furnish 
1  A  paper  read  at  the  Catholic  Conference  at  Nottingham,  1S9S. 

245 


246  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

undoubtedly  the  best  corrective  for  mere  theorising 
which,  at  times,  is  apt  to  run  away  with  all  of  us,  and  to 
give  rise  either  to  unwarranted  hopes  or  unnecessary 
fears.  In  the  belief  that  even  "  the  dark  ages  "  have  their 
useful  lessons  for  us  whose  lot  has  been  cast  in  these 
times,  I  propose  to  lay  before  you  briefly  the  teaching 
of  the  Church  of  England  in  pre-Reformation  days,  as 
to  the  relations  which  should  exist  between  the  classes 
of  every  Christian  community,  and  to  illustrate  by  a  few 
examples  the  way  in  which  the  teaching  was  translated 
into  practice  by  our  Catholic  ancestors. 

The  Relation  between  Rich  and  Poor 

There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  English  Church  in  regard  to  the  relation  which, 
according  to  true  Christian  principles,  should  exist  be- 
tween the  rich  and  the  poor.  The  evidence  appears  clear 
and  unmistakeable  enough  in  pre-Reformation  popular 
sermons  and  instructions,  in  formal  pronouncements  of 
Bishops  and  Synods,  and  in  books  intended  for  the 
particular  teaching  of  clergy  and  laity  in  the  necessary 
duties  of  the  Christian  man.  Whilst  fully  recognising  as 
a  fact  that  "  the  poor  must  always  be  with  us  " — that  in 
the  very  nature  of  things  there  must  ever  be  the  class  of 
those  who  "  have  "  and  the  class  of  those  who  "  have  not  " 
— our  Catholic  forefathers  knew  no  such  division  and 
distinction  between  the  rich  and  the  poor  man  as  obtained 
later  on,  when  Protestant  principles  had  asserted  their 
supremacy,  and  pauperism,  as  distinct  from  poverty,  had 
come  to  be  recognised  as  an  inevitable  consequence  of 
the  policy  introduced  with  the  new  era.  To  the  Christian 
moralist,  and  even  to  the  Catholic  Englishman,  whether 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  247 

secular  or  lay,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  those  who  had 
been  blessed  by  God's  providence  with  worldly  wealth 
were  regarded  as  not  so  much  the  fortunate  possessors 
of  personal  riches,  their  own  to  do  with  what  they  listed 
and  upon  which  none  but  they  had  right  or  claim,  as  in 
the  light  of  trusted  stewards  of  God's  good  gifts  to  man- 
kind at  large,  for  the  right  use  and  ministration  of  which 
they  were  accountable  to  Him  who  gave  them. 

Thus,  to  take  one  instance:  the  proceeds  of  ecclesi- 
astical benefices  were  recognised  in  the  Constitutions  of 
Legates  and  Archbishops  as  being  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
theory  the  eleemosynce,  the  spes  pauperum — the  alms  and 
the  hope  of  the  poor.  Those  ecclesiastics  who  consumed 
the  revenues  of  their  cures  on  other  than  necessary  and 
fitting  purposes  were  declared  to  be  "  defrauders  of  the 
rights  of  God's  poor"  and  "thieves  of  Christian  alms 
intended  for  them  " ;  whilst  the  English  canonists  and 
legal  professors  who  glossed  these  provisions  of  the 
Church  law  gravely  discussed  the  ways  in  which  the 
poor  of  a  parish  could  vindicate  their  right — right,  mind 
— to  a  share  in  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  of  their 
Church. 

This  "jus  pauperum,"  which  is  set  forth  in  such  a 
text-book  of  English  law  as  Lyndwood's  Provinciate,  is 
naturally  put  forth  more  clearly  and  forcibly  in  a  work 
intended  for  popular  instruction,  such  as  Dives  et  Pauper. 
"  To  them  that  have  the  benefices  and  goods  of  Holy 
Church,"  writes  the  author,  "  it  belonged  principally  to 
give  alms  and  to  have  the  cure  of  poor  people."  To  him 
who  squanders  the  alms  of  the  altar  on  luxury  and  use- 
less show  the  poor  man  may  justly  point  and  say:  "  It 
is  ours  that  you  so  spend  in  pomp  and  vanity!  .  .  .  That 
thou  keepest  for  thyself  of  the  altar  passing  the  honest 


248  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

needful  living,  it  is  raveny,  it  is  theft,  it  is  sacrilege." 
From  the  earliest  days  of  English  Christianity  the  care 
of  the  helpless  poor  was  regarded  as  an  obligation  in- 
cumbent on  all:  and  in  1342  Archbishop  Stratford,  deal- 
ing with  appropriations,  or  the  assignment  of  ecclesiastical 
revenue  to  the  support  of  some  religious  house  or  college, 
ordered  that  a  portion  of  the  tithe  should  always  be  set 
apart  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  because,  as  Bishop  Stubbs 
has  pointed  out,  in  England  from  the  days  of  King 
Ethelred  "  a  third  part  of  the  tithe  "  which  belonged  to 
the  Church  was  the  acknowledged  birthright  of  the 
poorer  members  of  Christ's  flock. 

That  there  was  social  inequality  goes  without  saying, 
for  that  is  in  the  very  constitution  of  human  society,  and 
may  indeed  be  said  to  be  a  very  law  of  human  nature. 
In  feudal  times  this  obvious  truth  passed  unquestioned 
as  the  divine  law  of  the  universe,  and  with  the  over- 
throw of  the  system  in  the  thirteenth  century  there  was 
created  a  chasm  between  the  upper  and  lower  classes 
which  it  was  the  interest  of  popular  agitators  and  dema- 
gogues to  widen  and  deepen.  But  even  then,  in  theory 
at  least,  the  claims  of  poverty  were  as  fully  recognised 
as  the  duty  of  riches.  The  verses  of  Piers  Plowman 
and  the  Canterbury  Tales,  and  even  the  words  of  "  the 
mad  preacher,"  John  Ball,  are  not  more  clear  as  to  the 
existence  of  the  social  difficulties  of  those  days  and  the 
claims  put  forward  in  the  name  of  justice  to  common 
humanity,  than  the  language  of  the  great  and  fearless 
orator,  Bishop  Brunton,  as  to  the  religious  obligations  of 
Christian  riches.  Again  and  again,  in  his  sermons,  this 
great  preacher  reminds  his  hearers  of  the  fact  that  poor 
and  rich  have  alike  descended  from  a  common  stock, 
and  that  no  matter  what  their  condition  of  life  may  be, 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  249 

all  Christians  are  members  of  one  body  and  are  bound 
one  to  the  other  by  the  duties  of  a  common  brotherhood. 

Still  more  definite  is  the  author  of  the  book  of  popular 
instruction,  Dives  et  Pauper,  above  referred  to.  The 
sympathy  of  the  writer  is  with  the  poor,  as  indeed  is 
that  of  every  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  period.  In  fact 
it  is  abundantly  clear  that  the  Church  in  England  in 
Catholic  days,  as  a  pia  mater,  was  ever  ready  to  open 
wide  her  heart  to  aid  and  protect  the  poorer  members 
of  Christ's  mystical  body.  This  is  how  Paiiper,  in  the 
tract  in  question,  states  the  Christian  teaching  as  to  the 
duty  of  riches,  and  impresses  upon  his  readers  the  view 
that  the  owners  of  worldly  wealth  are  but  stewards  of 
the  Lord:  "All  that  the  rich  man  hath,  passing  his 
honest  living  after  the  degree  of  his  dispensation,  it  is 
other  men's,  not  his,  and  he  shall  give  full  hard  reckon- 
ing thereof  at  the  day  of  doom,  when  God  shall  say  to 
him:  'Yield  account  of  your  bailywick.'  For  rich  men 
and  lords  in  this  world  are  God's  bailiffs  and  God's 
reeves,  to  ordain  for  the  poor  folk  and  to  sustain  them." 
Most  strongly  does  the  same  writer  insist  that  no  pro- 
perty gives  any  one  the  right  to  say  "  this  is  mine,  and 
that  is  thine ;  for  property  so  far  as  it  is  of  God  is  of  the 
nature  of  governance  and  dispensation,"  by  which  those 
who  by  God's  Providence  "have,"  act  as  His  stewards 
and  as  the  dispensers  of  His  gifts  to  such  as  "  have  not." 

The  words  of  the  late  Pope  Leo  XI 1 1  as  to  the  Catholic 
teaching,  most  accurately  describe  the  practical  doctrine 
of  the  English  pre-Reformation  Church  on  this  matter: 
"  The  chiefest  and  most  excellent  rule  for  the  right  use 
of  money,"  he  says,  "  rests  on  the  principle  that  it  is  one 
thing  to  have  a  right  to  the  possession  of  money  and 
another  to  have  the  right  to  use  money  as  one  pleases. 


2SO  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

...  If  the  question  be  asked,  How  must  one's  posses- 
sions be  used?  the  Church  replies  without  hesitation  in 
the  words  of  the  same  holy  Doctor  (St.  Thomas):  Man 
should  not  consider  his  outward  possessions  as  his  owny 
but  as  common  to  all,  so  as  to  share  them  without  difficulty 
zuJien  others  are  in  need.  When  necessity  has  been  sup- 
plied and  one's  position  fairly  considered,  it  is  a  duty  to 
give  to  the  indigent  out  of  that  which  is  over.  It  is  a 
duty,  not  of  justice  (except  in  extreme  cases),  but  of 
Christian  charity  .  .  .  (and)  to  sum  up  what  has  been 
said:  Whoever  has  received  from  the  Divine  bounty  a 
large  share  of  blessings  .  .  .  has  received  them  for  the 
purpose  of  using  them  for  the  perfecting  of  his  own 
nature,  and,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  may  employ 
them,  as  the  minister  of  God's  Providence,  for  the 
benefit  of  others." 

The  Condition  of  the  Poor 

There  is  no  need  to  dwell  upon  this  point,  as  there 
can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  practical  teaching  of  the 
Church  in  Catholic  England  on  the  subject  of  the  duties 
of  the  "  classes  "  to  the  "  masses."  I  pass  at  once  to  the 
actual  state  of  the  poor  in  the  times  which  preceded 
what  a  modern  writer  has  fitly  called  "  the  Great  Pil- 
lage." It  would  be,  of  course,  absurd  to  suggest  that 
poverty  and  much  hardness  of  life  did  not  exist  in  pre- 
Reformation  days;  but  what  did  not  exist  in  Catholic 
times  was  that  peculiar  product  which  sprung  up  so 
plentifully  amid  the  ruins  of  Catholic  institutions  over- 
thrown by  Tudor  sovereigns  —  pauperism.  Bishop 
Stubbs,  speaking  of  the  condition  of  the  poor  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  declares  that  "there  is  very  little  evidence 


FRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  251 

to  show  that  our  forefathers  in  the  middle  ranks  of  life- 
desired  to  set  any  impassable  boundary  between  class 
and  class.  .  .  .  Even  the  villein  by  learning  a  craft  might 
set  his  foot  on  the  ladder  of  promotion.  The  most  certain 
way  to  rise  was  furnished  by  education  and  by  the  law 
of  the  land.  '  Every  man  or  woman,  of  what  state  or 
condition  that  he  be,  shall  be  free  to  set  their  son  or 
daughter  to  take  learning  at  any  school  that  pleaseth 
him  within  the  realm.'  "  Mr.  Thorold  Rogers,  than  whom 
no  one  has  ever  worked  more  fully  at  the  economic 
history  of  England,  and  whom  none  can  suspect  of  un- 
due admiration  of  the  Catholic  Church,  has  left  it  on 
record  that  during  the  century  and  a  half  which  pre- 
ceded the  era  of  the  Reformation  the  mass  of  English 
labourers  were  thriving  under  their  guilds  and  trade 
unions,  the  peasants  were  gradually  acquiring  their  lands 
and  becoming  small  freeholders,  the  artisans  rising  to 
the  position  of  small  contractors  and  working  with  their 
own  hands  at  structures  which  their  native  genius  and 
experience  had  planned.  In  a  word,  according  to  this 
high  authority,  the  last  years  of  undivided  Catholic 
England  formed  "  the  golden  age  "  of  the  Englishman 
who  was  ready  and  willing  to  work. 

"  In  the  age  which  I  have  attempted  to  describe," 
writes  the  same  authority,  "  and  in  describing  which  I 
have  accumulated  and  condensed  a  vast  amount  of  un- 
questionable facts,  the  rate  of  production  was  small,  the 
conditions  of  health  unsatisfactory,  and  the  duration  of 
life  short.  But,  on  the  whole,  there  were  none  of  those 
extremes  of  poverty  and  wealth  which  have  excited  the 
astonishment  of  philanthropists,  and  are  now  exciting 
the  indignation  of  workmen.  The  age,  it  is  true,  had 
its  discontents,   and   these  discontents   were    expressed 


252  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

forcibly  and  in  a  startling  manner.  But  of  poverty 
which  perishes  unheeded,  of  a  willingness  to  do  honest 
work  and  a  lack  of  opportunity,  there  was  little  or  none. 
The  essence  of  life  in  England  during  the  days  of  the 
Plantagenets  and  Tudors  was  that  every  one  knew  his 
neighbour,  and  that  every  one  was  his  brother's  keeper." 

The  Reformation  and  the  Poor 

This  period  was  put  an  end  to,  in  Mr.  Rogers'  opinion, 
by  the  confusion  and  social  disorder  consequent  upon 
the  introduction  of  the  new  principles  of  the  Reformers, 
and  the  uprooting  of  the  old  Catholic  institutions. 

To  relieve  the  Reformation  from  the  odious  charge 
that  it  was  responsible  for  the  poor  laws,  many  authors 
have  declared  that  not  only  did  poverty  largely  exist 
before,  say,  the  dissolution  of  the  monastic  houses,  but 
that  it  would  not  long  have  been  possible  for  the  ancient 
methods  of  relieving  the  distressed  to  cope  with  the  in- 
crease in  their  numbers  under  the  changed  circumstances 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  to 
deal  with  broad  assertions  only  by  the  production  of  a 
mass  of  details,  which  is,  under  the  present  circum- 
stances, out  of  the  question,  or  by  assertions  equally 
broad:  and  I  remark  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  any 
change  of  circumstances,  so  far  as  such  changes  appear 
in  history,  which  could  not  have  been  fully  met  by  the 
application  of  the  old  principles,  and  met  in  away  which 
would  never  have  induced  the  degree  of  distressing 
pauperism,  which  in  fact  was  produced  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  social  principles  adopted  by  the  Reformers. 
The  underlying  idea  of  these  latter  was  property  in  the 
sense  of  absolute  ownership,  in  place  of  the  older  and 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  253 

more  Christian  idea  of  property  in  the  sense  of  steward- 
ship. In  a  word,  the  Reformation  substituted  the  idea 
of  individualism  as  the  basis  of  property  for  the  idea  of 
Christian  collectivism. 

Most  certainly  the  result  was  not  calculated  to  im- 
prove the  condition  of  the  poorer  members  of  the  com- 
munity. It  was  they  who  were  made  to  pay  for  the 
Reformation,  whilst  their  betters  pocketed  the  price. 
The  well-to-do  classes  in  the  process  became  richer  and 
more  prosperous,  whilst  the  "  masses  "  became,  as  an  old 
writer  has  it,  "  mere  stark  beggars."  As  a  fact,  more- 
over, poverty  became  rampant,  as  we  should  have  ex- 
pected, immediately  upon  the  great  confiscations  of  land 
and  other  property  at  the  dissolution  of  the  religious 
houses.  To  take  one  example:  Dr.  Sharpe's  knowledge 
of  the  records  of  the  city  of  London  enables  him  to  say 
that:  "the  sudden  closing  of  these  institutions  caused 
the  streets  to  be  thronged  with  the  sick  and  poor,  and 
the  small  parish  churches  to  be  so  crowded  with  those 
who  had  been  accustomed  to  frequent  the  larger  and 
more  commodious  churches  of  the  friars  that  there  was 
scarce  room  left  for  the  parishioners  themselves." 

"  The  Devil,"  exclaims  a  preacher  who  lived  through 
all  these  troublous  times — "  the  Devil  cunningly  turneth 
things  to  his  own  way."  "  Examples  of  this  we  have 
seen  in  our  time  more  than  I  can  have  leisure  to  express 
or  to  rehearse.  In  the  Acts  of  Parliament  that  we  have 
had  made  in  our  days  what  godly  preambles  have  gone 
afore  the  same,  even  quasi  oraculum  Apollinis,  as  though 
the  things  that  follow  had  come  from  the  counsel  of  the 
highest  in  Heaven ;  and  yet  the  end  hath  been  either  to 
destroy  abbeys  or  chauntries  or  colleges,  or  such  like,  by 
the  which  some  have  gotten  much  land,  and  have  been 


254  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

made  men  of  great  possessions.  But  many  an  honest 
poor  man  hath  been  undone  by  it,  and  an  innumerable 
multitude  hath  perished  for  default  and  lack  of  sub- 
stance. And  this  misery  hath  long  continued,  and  hath 
not  yet  [1556]  an  end."  Moreover,  "all  this  commotion 
and  fray  was  made  under  pretence  of  a  common  profit 
and  common  defence,  but  in  very  deed  it  was  for  private 
and  proper  lucre." 

In  the  sixty  years  which  followed  the  overthrow  of 
the  old  system,  it  was  necessary  for  Parliament  to  pass 
no  fewer  than  twelve  Acts  dealing  with  the  relief  of 
distress,  the  necessity  for  which,  Thorold  Rogers  says, 
"  can  be  traced  distinctly  back  to  the  crimes  of  rulers 
and  agents."  I  need  not  characterise  the  spirit  which  is 
manifested  in  these  Acts,  where  poverty  and  crime  are 
treated  as  indistinguishable;  it  was  not  the  spirit  of  old 
Catholic  days,  but  it  was  the  spirit  of  "  Protestant  indi- 
vidualism "  carried  into  the  sphere  of  social  economy. 

Not  the  Good  but  the  Goods  of  the  Church 

The  fact  is,  as  we  are  now  beginning  to  find  out,  the 
change  of  religion  in  England  was  not  effected  so  much 
by  those  who  hungered  and  thirsted  after  purity  of 
doctrine  and  simplicity  of  worship,"  who  hated  iniquity 
and  what  they  held  to  be  superstition,  as  by  those  who 
were  on  the  look-out  to  better  their  own  interests  in  a 
worldly  point  of  view,  and  who  saw  in  the  overthrow  of 
the  old  ecclesiastical  system  their  golden  opportunity. 
These  "  new  men  "  looked  not  so  much  to  the  "  good  " 
as  to  the  "  goods "  of  the  Church,  and  desired  more 
the  conversio  rerum  than  any  conversio  morum.  What 
Jansens  long  ago  showed  to  be  the  case  in  Germany, 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  255 

and  what  Mr.  Phillipson  and  M.  Hanotaux  declare  to 
be  certainly  true  of  France,  is  hardly  less  clear  in  regard 
to  England,  when  the  matter  is  gone  into — namely,  that 
the  Reformation  was  primarily  a  social  and  economic 
revolution,  the  true  meaning  of  which  was  in  the  event 
successfully  disguised  under  the  cloak  of  religion  with 
the  assistance  of  a  few  earnest  and  possibly  honest 
fanatics. 

It  is,  to  say  the  least,  strange  that  the  religious  inno- 
vations synchronised  so  exactly  with  ruthless  and  whole- 
sale confiscations  of  the  old  Catholic  benefactions  for 
the  poor,  and  with  the  appropriation  of  funds  intended 
by  the  donors  for  their  benefit,  to  purposes  other  than 
the  relief  of  distress.  Putting  aside  the  dissolution  of 
the  religious  corporations,  the  destruction  of  the  chaun- 
tries,  the  wholly  unjustifiable  confiscation  of  the  pro- 
perty of  the  guilds,  the  heartless  seizure  of  hospitals  and 
almshouses,  the  substitution  of  the  well-to-do  for  the 
poor  as  the  recipients  of  the  benefits  coming  from  the 
foundation  funds  of  schools  and  colleges,  even  the  intro- 
duction of  married  clergy  whose  wives  and  children  had 
to  be  supported  on  the  portion  of  the  ecclesiastical  bene- 
fices intended  for  the  relief  of  poverty,  and  much  more 
of  the  same  kind,  are  all  so  many  indications  of  the  new 
spirit  of  Individualism,  which  produced  the  great  social 
revolution  commonly  known  as  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion. It  was  a  revolution  indeed,  but  a  revolution  not  in 
the  ordinary  sense.  It  was  a  rising,  not  of  people 
against  their  rulers,  nor  of  those  in  hunger  and  distress 
against  the  well-to-do,  but  it  was  in  truth  the  rising  of 
the  rich  against  the  poor,  the  violent  seizure  by  the  new 
men  in  power  of  the  funds  and  property  which  genera- 
tions of  benefactors  had  intended  for  the  relief  of  the 


256  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

needy,  or  by  educational  and  other  endowments  to  assist 
the  poor  man  to  rise  in  the  social  scale. 


Confiscation  of  Guilds 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible,  within  the  narrow  limits  of 
this  brief  paper  to  go  as  deeply  into  the  subject  as  it 
deserves.  Fortunately  the  facts  lie  on  the  surface  of  the 
history  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  whatever  desire 
may  have  existed  to  cover  them  up,  now  that  the 
sources  of  authentic  information  are  open  to  all,  they 
can  no  longer  be  denied.  I  will  content  myself  here 
with  a  brief  reference  to  the  confiscation  of  the  chaun- 
tries  and  guilds  which  took  place,  as  all  know,  in  the 
first  year  of  King  Edward  VI,  and  I  shall  endeavour  to 
illustrate  what  I  have  to  say  by  examples  taken  mainly 
from  this  county  of  Nottingham. 

It  may  at  first  sight,  perhaps,  not  appear  very  obvious 
what  the  question  of  the  chauntries  has  to  do  with  the 
present  subject.  But  this  is  simply  because  the  purpose 
for  which  these  adjuncts  to  parish  churches  existed  has 
not  been  understood.  We  have  been  taught  to  believe 
that  a  "  chauntry  "  only  meant  a  place  (chapel  or  other 
locality)  where  Masses  were  offered  for  the  repose  of  the 
soul  of  the  donor,  and  other  specified  benefactors.  No 
doubt  there  were  such  chauntries  existing,  but  to  imagine 
that  they  were  the  rule  is  wholly  to  mistake  the  purpose 
of  such  foundations.  Speaking  broadly,  the  chauntry 
priest  was  the  assistant  priest,  or,  as  we  should  nowa- 
days say,  curate  of  the  parish,  who  was  supported  by  the 
foundation  funds  of  the  benefactors  for  that  purpose, 
and  even  not  infrequently  by  the  contributions  of  the 
inhabitants.    For  the  most  part  their  raison  d'etre  was 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  257 

to  look  after  the  poor  of  the  parish,  to  visit  the  sick,  and 
to  assist  in  the  functions  of  the  parish  church.  More- 
over, connected  with  these  chauntries  were  very  com- 
monly what  were  called  "obits,"  which  were  not,  as  we 
have  been  asked  to  believe,  mere  money  payments  to  the 
priest  for  anniversary  services;  but  were  for  the  most 
part  money  left  quite  as  much  for  annual  alms  to  the 
poor  as  for  the  celebration  of  the  anniversary  services. 
Let  us  take  a  few  examples.  In  this  city  of  Nottingham 
there  were  two  chauntries  connected  with  the  parish 
church  of  St.  Mary,  that  of  Our  Lady  and  that  called 
Amyas  Chauntry.  The  former,  we  are  told,  was  founded 
"  to  maintain  the  services  and  to  be  an  aid  to  the  vicar, 
and  partly  to  succour  the  poor,"  the  latter  to  assist  in 
"  God's  service,"  and  to  pray  for  William  Amyas,  the 
founder.  When  the  commissioners  in  the  first  year  of 
Edward  VI  came  to  inquire  into  the  possessions  of  these 
chauntries,  they  were  asked  to  note  that  in  this  parish 
there  were  "  1,400  houseling  people,  and  that  the  vicar 
there  had  no  other  priests  to  help  but  the  above  two 
chauntry  priests."  I  need  not  say  that  they  were  not 
spared  on  this  account,  for  within  two  years  we  find  the 
property  upon  which  these  two  priests  were  supported 
had  been  sold  to  two  speculators  in  such  parcels  of  land 
— John  Howe  and  John  Broxholme. 

Then  again,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas,  we  find 
from  the  returns  that  the  members  of  the  Guild  of  the 
Virgin  contributed  to  the  support  of  a  priest.  In  the 
parish  there  were  more  than  200  houseling  people,  and 
as  the  parish  living  was  very  poor,  there  was  no  other 
priest  to  look  after  them  but  this  one,  John  Chester,  who 
was  paid  by  the  Guild.  The  King's  officials,  however, 
did    not    hesitate    to    confiscate    the    properly    on    this 

S 


258  CHRISTIAN  DEMOCRACY  IN 

account.    It  is  useless  to  multiply  instances  of  this  kind, 
some  hundreds  of  which  might  be  given  in  the  county 
of  Nottingham  alone.    I  will,  however,  take  one  or  two 
examples  of  "  obits  "  in  this  part  of  the  world :  In  the 
parish  of  South  Wheatley  there  were  parish  lands  let 
out  to  farm  which  produced  eighteenpence  a  year,  say 
from  £1   to  £1    4X    of  our    money.    Of  this  sum   one 
shilling  was  for  the  poor  and  sixpence  for  church  lights, 
that  is  two-thirds  or,  say,  16s.  of  our  money  was  for  the 
relief  of  the  distressed.    So  in  the  parish  of  Tuxford 
the  church  "obit"  lands  produced  .£1  $s.  4^/.,  or  more 
than  £16  a  year,  of  which  16s.  /\d.  was  for  the  poor  and 
gs.  for  the  church  expenses.    It  is  almost  unnecessary  to 
add  that  the  Crown  took  the  whole  sum  intended  for  the 
poor,  as  well  as  that  for  the  support  of  the  ecclesiastical 
services.    Neither  can  we  hold,  I  fear,  that  the  robbery 
of  the  poor  was  accidental  and  unpremeditated.    I  know 
that  it  has  been  frequently  asserted  that  although  grave 
injury  was  undoubtedly  done  to  the  poor  and  needy  in 
this  way,  it  was  altogether  inevitable,  since  the  money 
thus  intended  for  them  was  so  inextricably  bound  up 
with  property  to  which  religious  obligations  (now  de- 
clared to  be  superstitious  and  illegal)  were  attached,  that 
the  whole  passed  together  into  the  royal  exchequer.     I 
confess  that  I  should  like  to  consider  that  this  spoliation 
of  the  sick  and  needy  by  the  Crown  of  England  was 
accidental  and  unpremeditated,  but  there  are  the  hard 
facts  which  cannot  be  got  over.    The  documents  prove 
unmistakeably  that  the  attention   of  the   officials  was 
drawn  to  the  claims  of  the  poor,  and  that  in  every  such 
case  these  claims  were  disregarded,  and  a  plain  intima- 
tion is  given  that  the  Crown  intended  to  take  even  the 
pittance  of  the  poor. 


PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES  259 

The  Guilds 

I  pass  to  the  question  of  the  Guilds.    They  were  the 
benefit  societies  and  provident  associations  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  They  undertook  towards  their  members  the  duties 
now  frequently  performed  by  burial  clubs,  by  hospitals, 
by  almshouses,  and  by  guardians  of  the  poor.    "  It  is 
quite   certain   that  town   and   country  guilds  obviated 
pauperism    in    the    Middle  Ages,"  writes  Mr.  Thorold 
Rogers.  "They  assisted  in  steadying  the  price  of  labour, 
and  formed  a  permanent  centre  for  those  associations 
which  fulfilled  the  function  that  in  more  recent  times 
trade  unions  have  striven  to  satisfy."    In  these  days,  I 
fancy,  no  one  would  care  to  defend  the   abolition   of 
these  friendly  and  charitable  societies  and  to  justify  the 
confiscation  of  their  corporate  property,  which  may  be 
taken  as  for  the  most  part  representing  the  accumulated 
savings  of  the  working  classes.    Moreover,  in  putting  an 
end  to  the  Guild  system,  the  Reformers  did  a  far  greater 
injury  than  can  be  gauged  by  the  amount  of  the  money 
seized.    A    large    proportion    of  the  revenues  of  these 
societies  was  derived  from  the  entrance  fees  and  annual 
subscriptions  of  the  existing  members,  and  in  dissolving 
them  the  State  swept  away  the  organisation  by  which 
these  voluntary  subscriptions  were  raised.    In  this  way 
far  more  harm  was  done  to  the  interests  of  the  poor, 
sick,  and  aged,  and  in  fact  to  the  body  politic  at  large, 
than  was  caused  by  the  mere  loss  of  their  hard-earned 
savings. 

I  have  here  merely  indicated  some  lines  of  inquiry, 
especially  on  the  ecclesiastical  side,  into  matters  of  fact 
which,  if  followed  out,  may  help  us  to  come  to  some 
sound    knowledge   of  the   principles  which   guided   our 


260     DEMOCRACY  IN  PRE-REFORMATION  TIMES 

Catholic  forefathers  in  these  matters,  and  which  I  think 
may  be  safely  called  the  principles  of  Christian  Demo- 
cracy, or  Christian  Collectivism.  That  Christian  Demo- 
cracy was,  I  think,  manifested  before  the  Reformation  in 
this — that  the  community,  parishes,  trades,  etc.,  did  in 
fact  show  full  appreciation  of  the  principles  of  self-help 
and  mutual  assistance.  Self-help  and  self-government 
showed  themselves  in  popular  efforts  to  carry  out  common 
objects  as  far  as  possible,  and  to  secure  the  common 
good.  The  community  possessed  common  interests  in 
numberless  things,  had  common  lands,  common  cattle, 
and  other  stock :  and,  in  a  word,  the  tendency  was  to 
create  a  system  of  common  property  which  owed  its 
existence  largely  to  the  people  themselves.  Since  the 
Reformation  we  need  only  look  at  the  principles  demon- 
strated by  the  laws :  we  see  for  generations  that  the  bent 
of  legislation  was  to  do  away  with  what  was  common — 
the  principle  of  Tudor  enclosure  carried  out  to  the  fullest 
extent.  It  is  evident  that  the  idea  of  the  "  common  "  is 
opposed  utterly  to  the  idea  of  absolute  property,  whilst 
the  root  idea  of  Christian  Democracy  is  that  the  social 
order  is  founded  upon  the  principle,  which  is  also  the 
Christian  idea,  that  property  is  of  the  nature  of  a  trust 
and  stewardship,  rather  than  that  of  absolute,  individual 
possession.  I  need  not  point  out  how  the  firm  apprehen- 
sion of  this  principle  must  influence  our  judgment  on 
many  of  the  schemes  and  practical  proposals  of  the  day. 


IX 

THE    LAYMAN    IN    THE    PRE- 
REFORMATION   PARISH1 

HISTORY  relates  that  some  years  ago  a  Scotch 
Presbyterian,  with  serious  religious  difficulties  and 
doubts,  came  for  advice  to  a  then  well-known  Catholic 
priest.  In  the  course  of  the  interview  he  asked  to  be  in- 
formed as  to  what  his  position  would  be  should  the  result 
of  his  inquiries  lead  him  to  join  the  Church.  "  Among 
us,"  he  said, "  I  know  exactly  what  the  status  and  rights  of 
the  laity  are,  and  I  should  like  to  know  what  is  the  exact 
position  of  a  layman  in  the  Church  of  Rome."  "  Your 
question,"  replied  the  priest,  "  is  easily  answered.  The 
position  of  a  layman  in  the  Church  of  Rome  is  twofold: 
he  kneels  before  the  altar — that's  one  position;  and  he 
sits  before  the  pulpit — and  that 's  the  other;  and  there 
is  no  other  possible  position."  This  brief  statement, 
which  illustrates  one  view  of  the  question  under  discus- 
sion, cannot,  of  course,  be  taken  as  furnishing  an  adequate 
or  accurate  definition  of  the  status  of  the  Catholic  lay- 
man of  the  present  day.  To  begin  with :  he  is  always 
being  invited  to  assume  another,  and,  as  things  go,  a  most 
important  position  in  regard  to  the  Church,  namely,  that 
of  putting  his  hand  into  his  pocket  for  the  money  neces- 
sary to   meet  the  thousand  and  one  imperative  wants 

1  A  paper  read  at  the  Catholic  Conference  at  Stockport,  1899. 

261 


262  THE  LAYMAN  IN  THE 

incidental  to  the  present  circumstances  of  Catholics  in 
England. 

I  am  not  called  upon,  however,  to  discuss  the  main 
question,  having  been  requested  merely  to  illustrate,  as 
far  as  it  is  possible  in  a  brief  paper,  the  functions  of  the 
laity  in  the  mediaeval  parish.  I  am  dealing  with  facts 
as  I  read  them  in  pre-Reformation  documents,  and  am 
not  concerned  to  expose  or  advocate  this  or  that  theory, 
or  suggest  this  or  that  solution  of  difficulties  experienced 
at  the  present  day.  Whilst  fully  believing  that  the  past 
has  its  many  useful  and  suggestive  lessons  for  us  to-day, 
I  am  not  such  a  laudator  temporis  acti  as  to  suppose  that 
we  ought  to  imitate,  or  that  we  could  imitate  successfully, 
all  we  find  flourishing  in  mediaeval  Catholic  England. 

At  the  outset,  I  may  remark  that  what  strikes  the  ob- 
server most  forcibly  in  dealing  with  the  records  of 
parochial  life  in  pre-Reformation  times,  is  the  way  in 
which  priest  and  people  are  linked  together  as  one 
united  whole  in  Church  duties.  In  these  days  the  strong 
sense  of  corporate  responsibility  in  the  working  of  a 
parish,  and  the  well-being  of  a  parochial  district  with 
which  our  Catholic  forefathers  were  imbued,  does  not 
exist.  I  am  not  concerned  with  the  why  and  the  where- 
fore, but  with  the  fact,  and  of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
The  priest  in  modern  times  has,  for  the  most  part,  to 
worry  through  his  many  difficulties  in  his  own  way  and 
without  much  assistance  from  his  flock  as  a  body.  No 
doubt,  in  the  main,  he  has  to  look  to  them  for  the  money 
with  which  he  carries  out  his  schemes,  but  money  is  not 
everything,  and  the  real  responsibility  for  all  lies  upon 
the  priest  himself,  and  upon  the  priest  alone.  All  church 
building  and  beautifying,  the  providing  of  vestments  and 
sacred   plate,  the   furnishing  of  altars,  the  erection   of 


PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH  263 

statues  and  pictures  and  painted  glass,  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  schools,  and  the  payment  of  debts 
incurred  in  the  many  works  and  foundations  necessary 
for  the  due  working  of  the  district,  have  all  to  be  initiated, 
superintended,  and  maintained  by  the  energy  of  the 
priest  himself.  There  are,  it  is  true,  generally  many 
volunteer  labourers — all  praise  to  them — who,  for  the 
love  of  God  and  His  Church,  do  their  best  to  second  the 
efforts  of  their  pastor.  But  then  they  are  volunteers,  and 
herein  mainly  lies  the  contrast  between  the  old  Catholic 
times  and  our  own.  To-day,  at  best,  a  priest  can  enlist 
the  sympathies  and  practical  support  of  but  a  small 
fraction  of  his  flock  in  their  parish ;  the  rest,  and  by  far 
the  greater  number,  take  little  or  no  part  in  the  work — 
regard  it,  even  if  they  do  not  speak  of  it,  as  his  parish, 
his  business,  not  theirs.  It  may  be,  and  probably  is,  the 
case,  that  most  of  these  do  not  neglect  the  plain  Christian 
duty  of  supporting  their  pastors  and  their  religion,  and 
that  many  actively  co-operate  in  charitable  works  in 
other  places,  and  are  even  exemplary  and  regular  mem- 
bers of  flourishing  sodalities  or  young  men's  societies 
attached  to  other  churches ;  but  so  far  as  their  own  parish 
is  concerned,  it  profits  little  or  nothing  by  their  support, 
or  work,  or  sympathy. 

In  pre-Reformation  days  such  a  state  of  things  was 
unknown  and  altogether  impossible.  The  parish  was 
then  an  ever-present  reality ;  the  taking  part  in  its  affairs 
was  regarded  as  a  duty  incumbent  on  all,  and  so  far  as  we 
may  judge  by  the  somewhat  scanty  records  which  have 
come  down  to  us,  the  duty  was  well  fulfilled  in  practice. 
No  doubt  it- is  partly  true  that  in  these  days  there  are 
no  parishes  strictly  so-called.  Yet  the  canonical  defini- 
tion of  an  ecclesiastical  district  has  little  to  do  with  the 


264  THE  LAYMAN  IN  THE 

matter:  the  need  of  co-operation  is  to-day  clearly  as 
great,  if  not  greater  than  in  olden  times,  and  if  the  law 
as  to  the  hearing  of  Mass,  and  the  fulfilling  of  other 
obligations  in  the  church  of  the  district,  be  now  relaxed, 
that  ought  not  to  be  construed  into  freeing  the  parish- 
ioner from  all  ties  of  fellowship  contracted  by  the  mere 
fact  of  dwelling  in  a  particular  district,  or  all  duties  con- 
nected with  it.  At  any  rate,  whilst,  no  doubt,  the  stricter 
enforcing  of  parochial  rights  in  mediaeval  times  tended 
to  impress  upon  men's  minds  the  other  obligations  of  a 
parishioner,  there  does  not,  in  fact,  appear  to  have  been 
much  need  to  remind  them  of  those  common  duties. 
Everything  seems  to  have  been  ordinated  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  interest  and  enlist  the  practical  sympathies  of 
all  in  the  affairs  of  their  parish.  There  was  no  question 
of  mere  voluntary  effort  on  the  part  of  individuals,  but 
there  is  on  all  hands  proof  of  the  well-understood  and 
well-fulfilled  duty  of  all.  Let  me  illustrate  one  or  two 
characteristic  features  of  pre-Reformation  parochial  life. 
Our  main  sources  of  information  are  the  various 
churchwardens'  accounts  and  the  inventories  of  eccle- 
siastical parish  plate  and  furniture  which  have  survived 
"  the  great  pillage."  From  a  general  survey  of  the 
ground,  the  observer  must  at  once  be  struck  with  the 
similarity  of  the  evidence  afforded  by  all  these  docu- 
ments. They  one  and  all  so  plainly  tell  the  same  tale, 
that  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  the  picture  of  parochial 
life  presented  by  these  precious  records  that  have  sur- 
vived the  pillage  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  the  neg- 
lect of  subsequent  generations,  is  practically  true  of 
every  parish  in  Catholic  England.  What  they  prove  to 
us,  then,  above  all  else  is,  that  the  people  at  large  took 
a  personal  and  intelligent  interest  in  building,  beautify- 


PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH  265 

ing,  and  supporting  their  parish  churches,  and  that  the 
churches  were,  in  a  way  that  seems  strange  to  us  now, 
their  churches — their  very  life  may  be  said  to  be  centred 
in  them,  and  they,  the  people,  quite  as  much  as  their 
priests,  were  intimately  concerned  in  their  working  and 
management.  Whatever  had  to  be  done  to  or  for  God's 
Mouse,  or  in  the  parochial  district  of  which  it  was  the 
centre,  was  the  common  work  of  priest  and  people  alike. 
It  can,  in  absolute  truth,  be  described  as  a  "  family  con- 
cern," settled  and  carried  out  by  the  parson  and  his 
flock — the  father  and  his  children.  Moreover,  in  those 
more  simple  times,  traditions — family  or  parochial  tra- 
ditions— were  sacred  inheritances,  and  each  piece  of 
furniture  and  plate,  every  vestment  and  hanging  of  every 
parish  church,  had  a  history  of  its  own,  which  was  known 
to  all  through  the  publication  on  feast  days  and  holi- 
days of  the  names  of  these  benefactors  to  the  common 
good. 

We  will  come  to  specific  instances  presently;  but  just 
let  us  fully  understand  how  completely  our  Catholic 
forefathers  were  regarded,  and  regarded  themselves,  as 
the  proud  possessors  of  their  various  parish  churches. 
Bishop  Hobhouse,  in  an  interesting  preface  to  one  of  the 
Somerset  Record  Society  publications,  describes  the 
parish  thus:  "It  was  the  community  of  the  township 
organised  for  Church  purposes  and  subject  to  Church 
discipline,  with  a  constitution  which  recognised  the 
rights  of  the  whole  body  as  an  aggregate,  and  the  right 
of  every  adult  member,  whether  man  or  woman,  to  ad- 
vice in  self-government ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  kept  the 
self-governing  community  under  a  system  of  inspection 
and  restraint  by  a  central  authority  outside  the  parish 
boundaries." 


266  THE  LAYMAN  IN  THE 

As  Dr.  Jessopp  has  well  pointed  out,1  the  self-govern- 
ment of  a  Catholic  pre-Reformation  parish  was  most 
marked.  The  community  had  its  own  deliberative  and 
administrative  assembly — the  parish  meeting.  It  elected 
or  appointed  its  own  officers — sometimes  men,  some- 
times women — who  had  well-defined  duties,  and  were 
paid  for  services  out  of  funds  provided  by  the  par- 
ishioners. Such,  for  instance,  were  the  parish  clerk,  the 
gravedigger,  watchman,  keeper,  and  carrier  of  the  parish 
processional  cross.  These  were  in  no  sense  either  the 
nominees  or  paid  servants  of  the  rector.  They  had 
duties  which  were  directed,  no  doubt,  to  him,  but  they 
were  paid  by  the  parishioners  themselves,  and  were  "  re- 
movable, when  removable  at  all,"  by  the  rural  dean  or 
archdeacon  at  their  petition. 

"  The  president  or  chairman  of  the  church  council  or 
parish  meeting,"  writes  Dr.  Jessopp,  "  was  the  rector  of 
the  parish,  or  his  deputy ;  but  he  was  by  no  means  a 
'  lord  over  God's  heritage.'  There  is  no  evidence — but 
quite  the  contrary — to  show  that  he  initiated  to  any 
great  extent  the  subjects  of  debate,  and  the  income 
raised  for  parish  purposes,  which  not  infrequently  was 
considerable,  was  not  under  his  control,  nor  did  it  pass 
through  his  hands."  The  trustees  of  parish  property 
were  the  churchwardens.  They,  generally  two  in  num- 
ber, were  elected  annually,  and  were  always  regarded  in 
fact,  as  well  as  in  theory,  as  the  responsible  represent- 
atives of  the  parish.  Many  instances  could  be  given 
where  these  wardens,  either  from  parochial  funds  or 
specific  bequests  they  were  called  on  to  administer  for 
the  common  benefit,  found  the  stipends  for  additional 
curates  to  work  the  parish,  paid  the  fees  for  obits  and 
1  Nineteenth  Century,  January,  1898,  p.  5. 


PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH  267 

other  anniversary  services  to  the  parish  priests  and  other 
ministers,  or  for  clerical  or  lay  assistance  in  the  celebra- 
tions of  some  more  solemn  festivals.  In  some  cases  I 
have  found  them  arranging  the  hours  for  the  various 
daily  Masses,  which,  in  their  opinion,  would  best  suit  the 
convenience  of  the  people. 

The  parish  possessions  were  considerable,  and  com- 
prised all  kinds  of  property — lands,  houses,  flocks  and 
herds,  cows,  and  even  hives  of  bees.    These  were  what 
may  be  termed  the  capital  of  the  parish,  which  was  con- 
stantly being  added  to  by  the  generosity  of  generations 
of  pious  benefactors.    Then,  over  and  besides  the  chan- 
cel, which  was  the  freehold  of  the  parson,  the  body  of 
the  church  and  other  buildings,  together  with  the  church- 
yard and  its  enclosure,  and  generally,  if  not  always,  the 
common  church  house,  were  then  under  the  special  and 
absolute  control  of  the  people's  wardens.   Then,  if  the 
law  forced  the  parish  to  find  fitting  and  suitable  orna- 
ments and  vestments,  it  equally  gave  them  the  control 
of  the  ecclesiastical  furniture,  etc.  of  the  church.    Their 
chosen  representatives  were  the  guardians  of  the  jewels 
and  plate,  of  the  ornaments  and  hangings,  of  the  vest- 
ments and  tapestries,  which  were  regarded,  as  in  very 
truth  they  were,  as  the  common  property  of  every  soul 
in  the  particular  village  or  district  in  which  the  church 
was  situated.    It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  par- 
ish church  was  in  Catholic  times  the  care  and  business 
of  all.   Its  welfare  was  the  concern  of  the  people  at  large, 
and  it  took  its  natural  place  in  their  daily  lives.    Was 
there,  say,  building  to  be  done,  repairs  to  be  effected,  a 
new  peal  of  bells  to  be  procured,  organs  to  be  mended, 
new  plate  to  be  bought,  and  the  like,  it  was  the  parish 
as  a  corporate  body  that  decided  the  matter,  arranged 


268  THE  LAYMAN   IN  THE 

the  details,  and  provided  for  the  payment.  At  times,  let 
us  say  when  a  new  vestment  was  in  question,  the  whole 
parish  might  be  called  to  sit  in  council  at  the  church 
house  on  this  matter  of  common  interest,  and  discuss 
the  cost,  the  stuff,  and  the  make. 

The  parish  wardens  had  their  duties  also  towards  their 
poorer  brethren  in  the  district.  I  have  come  across  more 
than  one  instance  of  their  being  the  guardians  of  a  com- 
mon chest,  out  of  which  temporary  loans  could  be  ob- 
tained by  needy  parishioners  to  enable  them  to  tide  over 
pressing  difficulties.  These  loans  were  secured  by  pledges 
and  the  additional  surety  of  other  parishioners.  No  in- 
terest, however,  was  charged  for  the  use  of  the  money, 
and  in  cases  where  the  pledge  had  to  be  sold  to  recover 
the  original  sum,  anything  over  and  above  was  returned 
to  the  borrower.  In  other  ways,  too,  the  poorer  par- 
ishioners were  assisted  by  the  corporate  property  of  the 
parish.  The  stock  managed  by  the  wardens  "  were,"  says 
one  of  the  early  English  reformers,  "  in  some  towns  {i.e., 
townships  and  villages)  six,  some  eight,  and  some  a 
dozen  kine,  given  unto  the  stock,  for  the  relief  of  the 
poor,  and  used  in  some  such  wise  that  the  poor  '  cot- 
tingers,'  which  could  make  any  provision  for  fodder,  had 
the  milk  for  a  very  small  hire;  and  then,  the  number  of 
the  stock  reserved  [that  is,  of  course,  the  original  num- 
ber being  maintained],  all  manner  of  vailes  [or  profits], 
besides  both  the  hire  of  the  milk  and  the  prices  of  the 
young  veals  and  old  fat  wares,  was  disposed  to  the  re- 
lief of  the  poor."  ' 

The  functions  and  duties  of  the  mediaeval  par- 
ishioners were  determined  by  law  and  custom.  By  law, 
according   to   the  statute  of  Archbishop   Peckham    in 

1  Lever,  Sermon  before  the  King,  1550  (Arber's  reprint,  p.  82  j. 


PRE-REFORMATION   PARISH  269 

1280/  which  remained  in  force  till  the  change  of  religion, 
the  parish  was  bound  to  find,  broadly  speaking,  all  that 
pertained  to  the  services — such  as  vestments,  chalice, 
processional  cross,  the  paschal  candle,  etc. — and  to  keep 
the  fabric  and  ornaments  of  the  church  proper,  exclusive 
of  the  chancel.  In  1305  Archbishop  Winchelsey  some- 
what enlarged  the  scope  of  the  parish  duties,  and  the 
great  canonist,  Lyndwood,  explains  that,  very  frequently, 
especially  in  London  churches,  the  parishioners,  through 
their  wardens,  kept  even  the  chancels  in  repair,  and,  in 
fact,  found  everything  for  the  services,  except  the  two 
Mass  candles  which  the  priest  provides. 

To  take  some  examples:  first,  of  the  way  in  which, 
according  to  the  custom  of  our  Catholic  forefathers,  the 
memory  of  benefactions  to  the  parish  was  kept  alive. 
The  inventory  of  the  parish  church  of  Cranbrook,  made 
in  1509,  shows  that  the  particulars  of  all  gifts  and  donors 
were  regularly  noted  down,  in  order  that  they  might 
periodically  be  published  and  remembered.  The  presents 
vary  greatly  in  value,  and  nothing  is  too  small,  appar- 
ently, to  be  noted.  Thus  we  have  a  monstrance  of  silver- 
gilt,  which  the  wardens  value  at  £20,  "  of  Sir  Robert 
Egelyonby's  gift";  and  the  list  goes  on  to  say:  "This 
Sir  Robert  was  John  Roberts'  priest  thirty  years,  and  he 
never  had  other  service  or  benefice,  and  the  said  John 
Roberts  was  father  to  Walter  Roberts,  Esquire."  Again, 
John  Hindeley  "gave  three  copes  of  purple  velvet,  whereof 
one  was  of  velvet  upon  velvet  with  images  broidered," 
and,  adds  the  inventory  for  a  perpetual  memory,  "  He 
is  grandfather  of  Gervase  Hindeley,  of  Cushorn,  and 
Thomas,  of  Cranbrook  Street."  Or  again,  to  take  one 
more  instance   from   the  same,  it  is  recorded  that  the 

1   Wilkins,  ii,  49. 


270  THE  LAYMAN  IN  THE 

"  two  long  candlesticks  before  Our  Lady's  altar,  fronted 
with  lions  and  a  towel  on  the  rood  of  Our  Lady's  chan- 
cel," had  been  given  by  "old  Moder  Hopper."  So,  too, 
in  the  case  of  St.  Dunstan's,  Canterbury,  we  have  a  won- 
derful list  of  furniture  with  the  names  of  the  donors  set 
out.  The  best  chalice,  for  instance,  was  the  gift  of  one 
"  Harry  Boll."  The  two  great  latten  candlesticks  were 
a  present  from  John  Philpot,  and  "  a  kercher  for  Our 
Lady  and  a  chapplet  and  pordryd  cap  for  her  son  "  came 
from  Margery  Roper. 

I  have  said  that  the  memory  of  these  gifts  was  kept 
alive  by  the  "  bede-roll,"  or  list  of  people  for  whom  the 
parish  was  bound  to  pray,  published  periodically  by  the 
parson.  Thus,  to  take  one  instance:  At  Leverton,  in  the 
county  of  Lincoln,  the  parson,  Sir  John  Wright,  pre- 
sented the  church  with  a  suit  of  red  purple  vestments, 
"  for  the  which,"  says  a  note  in  the  churchwardens' 
accounts,  "  you  shall  all  specially  pray  for  the  souls  of 
William  Wright  and  Elizabeth  his  wife  "  [the  father  and 
mother  of  the  donor]  and  other  relations,  "  as  well  them 
that  be  alive  as  them  that  be  departed  to  the  mercy  of 
God,  for  whose  lives  and  souls "  these  vestments  are 
given  "to  the  honour  of  God,  His  most  blessed  mother, 
Our  Lady  Saint  Mary,  and  all  His  saints  in  Heaven,  and 
the  blessed  matron  St.  Helen,  his  patron,  to  be  used  at 
such  principal  feasts  and  times  as  it  shall  please  the 
curates  so  long  as  they  shall  last."  l 

In  this  way  the  names  of  benefactors  and  the  memory 
of  their  good  deeds  was  ever  kept  alive  in  the  minds  of 
those  who  benefited  by  their  gifts.  The  parish  treasury 
was  not  looked  on  as  so  much  stock,  the  accumulation 
of  years,  of  haphazard  donations  without  definite  history 

1  ArchaoL,  xli,  355. 


l'KE-REFORMATION   PARISH  271 

or  purpose ;  but  every  article,  vestment,  banner,  hanging, 
chalice,  etc.,  called  up  some  affectionate  memory  both  of 
the  living  and  the  dead.  On  high  day  and  feast  day, 
when  all  that  was  best  and  richest  in  the  parochial 
treasury  was  brought  forth  to  deck  the  walls  and  statues 
and  altars,  the  display  of  parish  ornaments  recalled  to 
the  minds  of  the  people  assembled  within  its  walls  to 
worship  God,  the  memory  of  good  deeds  done  by  genera- 
tions of  neighbours  for  the  decoration  of  their  sanctuary. 
"The  immense  treasures  in  the  churches,"  writes  Dr. 
Jessopp,  "  were  the  joy  and  boast  of  every  man  and 
woman  and  child  in  England,  who,  day  by  day,  and 
week  by  week,  assembled  to  worship  in  the  old  houses 
of  God  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  built,  and  whose 
every  vestment  and  chalice,  and  candlestick  and  banner, 
organ  and  bells,  and  pictures  and  images,  and  altar  and 
shrine  they  look  upon  as  their  own,  and  part  of  their 
birthright."  ' 

It  might  reasonably  be  supposed  that  this  was  true 
only  of  the  greater  churches ;  but  this  is  not  so.  What 
strikes  one  so  much  in  these  parish  accounts  of  bygone 
days  is  the  richness  of  even  small,  out-of-the-way  village 
churches.  Where  we  would  naturally  be  inclined  to  look 
for  poverty  and  meanness,  there  is  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary. To  take  an  example  or  two.  Morebath  is  a  small, 
uplandish,  out-of-the-way  parish  of  little  importance  on 
the  borders  of  Exmoor;  the  population,  for  the  most 
part,  had  to  spend  their  energies  in  daily  labour  to  secure 
the  bare  necessities  of  life,  and  riches,  at  any  rate,  could 
never  have  been  abundant.  Morebath  may  consequently 
be  taken  as  a  fair  sample  of  an  obscure  and  poor  village. 
For  this  hamlet  we  possess  full  accounts  from  the  year 

1  Nineteenth  Century,  March,  1898,  p.  433. 


272  THE  LAYMAN   IN  THE 

1530,  and  we  find  at  this  time,  and  in  this  very  poor,  out- 
of-the-way  place,  there  were  no  less  than  eight  separate 
accounts  kept  of  money  intended  for  the  support  of 
different  altars  of  devotions.  For  example,  we  have  the 
"  Stores  "  of  the  Chapels  of  Our  Lady  and  St.  George, 
etc.,  and  the  guilds  of  the  young  men  and  maidens  of  the 
parish.  All  these  were  kept  and  managed  by  the  lay- 
elected  officials  of  the  societies — confraternities,  I  sup- 
pose we  should  call  them — and  to  their  credit  are  entered 
numerous  gifts  of  money  and  specific  gifts  of  value  of 
kind,  such  as  cows,  and  swarms  of  bees,  etc.  Most  of 
them  had  their  little  capital  funds  invested  in  cattle  and 
sheep,  the  rent  of  which  proved  a  considerable  part  of 
their  revenues.  In  a  word,  these  accounts  furnish  abund- 
ant and  unmistakeable  evidence  of  the  active  and  in- 
telligent interest  in  the  duty  of  supporting  and  adorning 
their  church  on  the  part  of  these  simple  country  folk  at 
large.  What  is  true  of  this  is  true  of  every  other  similar 
account  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and  all  these  accounts 
show  unmistakeably  that  the  entire  management  of  these 
parish  funds  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people. 

Voluntary  rates  to  clear  off  obligations  contracted  for 
the  benefit  of  the  community — such  as  the  purchase  of 
bells,  the  repair  of  the  fabric,  and  even  for  the  making  of 
roads  and  bridges — were  raised  by  the  wardens.  Collec- 
tions for  Peter's  pence,  for  the  support  of  the  parish 
clerk,  and  for  every  variety  of  church  and  local  purpose 
are  recorded,  and  the  spirit  of  self-help  is  manifested  on 
every  page  of  these  accounts.  To  keep  to  Morebath.  In 
1528  a  complete  set  of  black  vestments  was  purchased  at 
a  cost — considerable  in  those  days — of  £6  $s.s  and  to 
help  in  the  common  work,  the  vicar  gave  up  certain  tithes 
in  wool  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving.    These 


PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH  273 

vestments,  by  the  way,  were  only  finished  and  paid  for 
in  1547,  just  before  the  changes  under  Edward  VI  ren- 
dered them  useless.  In  1538  the  parish  made  a  voluntary 
rate  to  purchase  a  new  cope,  and  the  general  collections 
for  this  purpose  produced  some  £3  6s.  Sd.  In  1534  the 
silver  chalice  was  stolen^and  at  once,  we  are  told,  "ye 
yong  men  and  maydens  of  ye  parysshe  dru  themselves 
together,  and  at  ther  gyfts  and  provysyon  they  boughr 
in  another  chalice  without  any  charge  of  the  parish." 
Sums  of  money,  big  and  small,  specific  gifts  in  kind,  the 
stuff  or  ornaments  needed  for  vestments,  were  appar- 
ently always  forthcoming  when  needed.  Thus,  at  one 
time  a  new  cope  is  suggested,  and  Anne  Tymwell,  of 
Hayne,  gave  the  churchwardens  her  "  gown  and  her 
ring  ";  Joan  Tymwell,  a  cloak  and  a  girdle;  and  Richard 
Norman,  "  seven  sheep  and  three  shillings  and  fourpence 
in  money,"  towards  the  cost. 

These  examples  could  be  multiplied  to  any  extent, 
but  the  above  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  popular 
working  of  a  mediaeval  parish.  The  same  story  of  local 
government,  popular  interest,  and  ready  self-help,  as  well 
as  an  unmistakeable  spirit  of  affection  for  the  parish 
church  as  theirs,  is  manifested  by  the  people  in  every 
account  we  possess.  Every  adult  of  both  sexes  had  a 
voice  in  the  system,  and  the  parson  was  little  more  in 
this  regard  than  chairman  of  the  village  meetings,  and, 
as  I  have  more  than  once  seen  him  described,  "  chief 
parishioner."  In  the  management  of  the  fabric,  the  ser- 
vice, and  all  things  necessary  for  the  due  performance 
of  these,  the  people  were  not  only  called  upon  to  pay, 
but  it  is  clear  the  diocesan  authorities  evidently  left  to 
the  parish  a  wise  discretion.  No  doubt  the  higher  eccle- 
siastical officials  could  interfere  in  theory;  but  in  prac- 

T 


274  THE  LAYMAN   IN  THE 

tice  interference  was  rare.  It  would  not  be  to  my  present 
purpose  to  describe  the  various  methods  employed  to 
replenish  the  parochial  exchequer.  There  was  apparently 
seldom  much  difficulty  in  finding  the  necessary  money, 
and  it  will  be  of  interest  to  see  how  it  was  expended,  by 
some  further  examples. 

The  church  accounts  of  Leverton  (six  miles  from 
Boston)  have  been  printed  in  the  Archceologia,  and  those 
that  are  interested  in  this  subject  may  conveniently  turn 
to  them  as  illustrating  it.  The  church,  until  the  past 
three  hundred  years  of  neglect  has  disfigured  it,  must 
have  presented  a  very  beautiful  appearance,  when  decked 
for  a  festival,  in  the  hangings  and  ornaments  which 
generations  of  the  inhabitants  had  lovingly  gathered 
within  its  walls.  When  first  the  accounts  were  opened 
in  1492,  the  parish  was  beginning  to  be  interested — as, 
by  the  way,  so  many  parishes  were  at  this  period — in 
bells.  The  people  evidently  made  a  great  effort  to  get  a 
new  peal,  and  they  contributed  generously.  The  rector 
headed  the  list  with  ten  shillings  and  sixpence,  which  was 
afterwards  paid  for  him  by  a  friend ;  but  what  I  would  re- 
mark is  that  the  whole  arrangement  for  the  purchase  and 
hanging  of  the  bells  was  in  the  hands  of  the  people's 
representatives,  the  churchwardens.  They  bought  timber 
for  the  framework,  and  hired  a  carpenter  to  make  it. 
They  hired  a  cart  to  bring  over  the  great  bell  from  the 
neighbouring  parish  where  it  had  been  cast,  and  there 
are  notes  of  the  cost  of  the  team  of  horses  and  other 
items  of  expense,  not  forgetting  a  penny  for  the  toll  of 
a  bridge.  We  may  judge,  however,  that  the  work  was 
not  altogether  a  success,  as  in  1498  the  two  wardens 
made  a  "  move  "  to  "  the  gathering  of  the  township  in 
the  kirk,"  at  which  they  gathered  £4   13s.   lod.   They 


PRE-REFORMATION   PARISH  275 

forthwith  set  about  the  building  of  a  new  steeple,  and 
ordered  another  peal  of  bells.  The  stone  was  given  to 
them,  but  they  had  to  see  to  the  quarrying  of  it.  Trees 
were  bought  in  a  neighbouring  wood,  and  by  direction 
of  the  wardens,  were  felled  and  cut  into  beams  and  boards, 
or  fashioned  roughly  for  scaffolding. 

As  the  sixteenth  century  progressed,  a  great  deal  of 
building  and  repair  was  undertaken  by  the  parish  au- 
thorities.   In  1503  the  wardens  ordered  a  new  bell,  and 
went  over  to  Boston  to  see  it  "  shott."    The  same  year 
they  took  in   hand   the  making  of  a  new   font,  and   a 
deputation  was  sent  over  to  Frieston,  about  three  miles 
from  Leverton,  to  inspect  and  pass  the  work.    The  lead 
for  the  lining  of  the  font  was  procured  in  pigs,  and  cast 
into  a  mould  on  the  spot  by  a  plumber  brought  over  for 
the  purpose.    In  15 17  extensive  repairs  were  undertaken 
in  the  north  aisle  which  necessitated  much  shoring  up 
•  of  the  walls.    Two  years  later,  on  the  completion  of  the 
works,  the  church  and  churchyard  were  consecrated,  the 
Bishop's  fees,  amounting  to  £3,  being  paid  out  of  the 
public  purse.    In  1526  the  rood-loft  was  decorated,  and 
the  niches  filled  with  images.    In  that  year  one  of  the 
parishioners,  William  Prankish,  died,  and  left  a  legacy 
to   the   churchwardens    for   the    purpose    of   procuring 
alabaster  statues  to  fill  the  vacant  spaces.   The  wardens 
hired  a  man,  called  sometimes  the  "  alabastre  man,"  and 
sometimes  "  Robert  Brook,  the  carver,"  and,  in  earnest 
for  the  payment,  at  the  conclusion  gave  him  a  shilling. 
At  the  same  time  a  collection  was  made  for  the  support 
of  the  artist  during  his  stay.    Some  of  the  parishioners 
gave  money,  but  most  of  them  apparently  contributed 
"  cheese." 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  quote  more  fully  from  these  in- 


276  THE  LAYMAN  IN  THE 

teresting  and  instructive  accounts.  The  serious  building 
operations  continued  up  to  the  very  eve  of  the  religious 
changes.  They  by  no  means  satisfied  the  energies  of  the 
parish  officials.  If  books  required  binding,  a  travelling 
workman  was  engaged  on  the  job,  and  the  leather,  thread, 
wax,  and  other  materials  for  the  mystery  of  bookbinding 
were  purchased  for  his  use.  Sometimes  extra  was  paid 
to  his  wife  for  the  stitching  of  leaves  and  covers,  and  the 
workmen  were  apparently  lodged  by  one  or  other  of  the 
people,  and  this  was  accounted  as  their  contribution  to 
the  common  work.  Then  there  were  vestments  and  sur- 
plices and  other  linen  bought,  mended,  and  washed,  and 
the  very  marks  set  upon  the  linen  cloths  are  put  into  the 
accounts.  So  entirely  was  the  whole  regarded  as  the 
work  of  the  people,  that,  just  as  we  have  seen  that  the 
parish  paid  for  the  consecration  of  their  parish  church 
and  graveyard,  so  do  we  find  the  wardens  assigning  a.. 
fee  to  their  own  vicar  for  blessing  the  altar  linen  and 
new  vestments,  and  entering  the  names  of  benefactors 
on  the  parish  bede-roll. 

I  have  said  that  the  wardens  often  appear  as  arranging 
more  than  the  ordinary  material  details.  Thus,  at  Hen- 
ley-on-Thames they  ordained  that  the  Chaplain  of  Our 
Lady's  altar  should  say  Mass  every  day  at  six  o'clock, 
and  the  chauntry  priest  of  St.  Catherine's  at  eight  o'clock, 
as  the  hours  most  convenient  for  the  majority  of  the 
people.  At  St.  Mary's,  Dover,  the  wardens  paid  the 
parson  a  stipend  for  regularly  reading  the  bede-roll,  and 
charged  a  fee  for  inserting  any  name  upon  it.  They 
paid  deacons,  sub-deacons,  clerks,  and  singing  men  and 
children  on  great  days  to  add  solemnity  to  the  church 
festivals.  Two  priests  were  generally  paid  at  Easter  to 
help  to  shrive,  and  one  year  there  were  payments  to 


PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH  277 

three  priests  "  to  help  to  shrive  and  to  minister  at 
Maundy  Thursday,  Easter  Even,  and  Easter  Day."  The 
same  year  the  parish  paid  for  "  a  breakfast  for  such 
clerks  as  took  pain  to  maintain  God's  service  on  the 
holidays";  and  on  Palm  Sunday  they  expended  three- 
pence on  "bread  and  wine  to  the  readers  of  the  Pas- 
sion." 

"  How  curious  a  state  of  things  is  revealed  to  us  in 
these  documents! "  says  a  writer  who  had  been  engaged 
over  these  churchwardens'  accounts.  "We  have  been 
taught  to  regard  our  mediaeval  forefathers  as  a  terribly 
priest-ridden  people,  yet  nothing  of  all  this,  but  quite 
the  contrary,  appears  in  all  these  parish  papers." 

What  is  seen  so  clearly  in  the  parish  accounts  as  to 
the  powers  exercised  by  the  wardens  in  the  management 
of  the  church  property  receives  additional  confirmation — 
were  that  at  all  necessary — from  the  pre-Reformation 
wills.  We  have  only  to  turn  over  the  leaves  of  the  col- 
lection of  Yorkshire  wills,  published  by  the  Surtees 
Society,  to  see  how  well  understood  was  the  intimate 
'connection  between  the  parishioners  and  the  parish 
church;  how  people  loved  to  leave  some  article  of  value 
to  the  place  where  they  had  worshipped,  in  order  to  per- 
petuate their  memory;  and  how  to  the  wardens  was 
entrusted  the  care  of  these  bequests.  Even  where  the 
names  of  the  popular  representatives  are  not  inserted  in 
the  wills  themselves,  they,  as  the  legal  trustees  for  the 
common  church  property,  and  not  the  parson  of  the 
parish,  trouble  themselves  in  the  matter.  Did  time  allow, 
I  might  quote  some  curious  illustrations  of  the  gifts  and 
bequests  thus  made  for  the  common  good.  I  wonder 
what  the  authorities  of  some  of  our  modern  parish 
churches  would  think  of  a  bequest  of  dresses  and  gowns 


278     THE  LAYMAN  IN  PRE-REFORMATION  PARISH 

to  various  images  to  make  vestments,  or  even  "  20  marks 
to  buy  20  bullocks  to  find  a  priest  to  pray  for  my  soul 
and  the  soul  of  my  wife  "?  Yet  in  these  interesting  wills 
there  are  numerous  examples  of  such  donations,  which 
to  my  mind  appear  to  indicate,  more  than  any  other 
way  can,  the  affection  of  our  Catholic  forefathers  for 
their  religion,  and  the  real  practical  hold  the  Faith  had 
over  them.  The  local  church  was  to  them  a  living 
reality:  it  was  theirs,  and  all  it  contained,  in  an  absolute 
and  sometimes  almost  a  startling  way.  One  instance 
comes  to  my  mind.  In  the  parish  of  Yatton,  in  Somer- 
set, on  the  eve  of  the  Reformation — about  1520,  say — a 
difficulty  arose  as  to  the  repair  of  certain  sluices  to  keep 
back  the  winter  floods.  To  make  a  long  story  short,  in 
the  end  the  parish  were  ordered  to  make  good  the  defect. 
It  meant  money,  and  the  wardens'  accounts  show  that 
they  had  been  spending  generously  on  the  church.  It 
was  consequently  decided  that  to  raise  the  necessary 
cash  they  should  sell  a  piece  of  silver  church  plate,  which 
had  been  purchased  some  years  before  by  the  common 
contributions  of  the  faithful.  "  How  monstrous!"  I  can 
hear  some  people  say.  Possibly:  I  am  not  going  to  try 
and  defend  what  they  did;  but  the  instance  furnishes 
me  with  a  supreme  example  of  the  way  in  which  the 
people  of  a  mediaeval  parish  regarded  the  property  of 
God's  house  as  their  own. 


X 

ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  AND 
ENGLAND1 

THE  year  of  our  Lord  604  is  a  date  memorable  in 
the  history  of  the  Church.  On  the  12th  of  March 
in  that  year,  aged  sixty-five,  and  in  the  fourteenth  year 
of  his  Pontificate,  died  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  perhaps 
the  most  illustrious  of  the  long  line  of  Popes  who  have 
sat  in  Peter's  Chair  and  governed  the  Church  of  Christ 
during  the  nineteen  centuries  of  its  existence.  To  Eng- 
lishmen of  any  form  of  religious  belief,  the  thirteenth 
centenary  of  that  event,  celebrated  this  year,  should  not 
be  without  interest.  As  early  as  A.D.  747,  the  Council  of 
Clovesho  ordered  that  the  12th  of  March,  the  feast  of 
St.  Gregory,  should  ever  be  kept  solemnly,  as  well  as 
that  of  the  burial  of  St.  "  Augustine,  Archbishop  and 
Confessor,  who  was  sent  to  the  English  nation  by  the 
said  Pope  and  our  Father  Gregory  to  bring  them  the 
certainty  of  the  Faith,  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  and 
the  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  kingdom."  2  For  many 
hundreds  of  years  our  forefathers  were  mindful  of  all 
they  owed,  in  the  way  of  religion  and  of  civilisation,  to 
this   great    Pontiff,  and    they  loved    to   call   him    their 

'   Published  in  the  Dublin  Review,  April,  1904. 
-  Haddan  and  Stubbs,  Councils  and  Eccles.  docls.,  iii,  368. 

279 


28o  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

"master,"  their  "teacher,"  the  "preacher  of  their  faith," 
their  "  doctor,"  their  "  father,"  and  their  "  apostle."  "  By 
his  labours,"  writes  Bede  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
the  English  People,  "  he  brought  our  race,  that  is,  the 
English  people,  from  out  of  the  power  of  Satan  to  the 
faith  of  Christ,  (and  so)  we  rightly  can  and  must  call 
him  our  Apostle."  1  "  Gregory  the  holy  Pope,  the  Apostle 
of  the  English  nation,"  writes  the  author  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  homily  for  his  feast,  "  on  this  present  day,  after 
manifold  labours  and  holy  studies,  happily  ascended  to 
God's  kingdom.  He  is  rightly  the  Apostle  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation,  for  through  his  counsel  and  mission  he  with- 
drew us  from  the  worship  of  the  devil,  and  turned  us  to 
God."2 

To  us  Catholics  especially,  who,  after  the  lapse  of 
thirteen  centuries,  still  look  to  Rome  and  the  Pope  for 
guidance  in  the  Faith  which  our  Saxon  ancestors  received 
from  Gregory,  the  celebration  of  this  centenary  should 
be  something  more  than  a  bare  commemoration  of  an 
interesting  event  which  happened  many  long  centuries 
ago.  It  should  renew  within  us  those  deep  feelings  of 
grateful  devotion  and  loyalty  to  the  See  of  Peter  felt 
and  expressed  by  the  English  people  for  generations 
after  the  coming  of  the  first  Roman  missionaries  to  our 
shores.  "  No  other  nation  in  the  Christian  world  can 
claim  a  Pope  for  its  Apostle,"  was  the  constant  boast  of 
the  English  people  in  Catholic  days.  For  this  reason 
England  was  admittedly  bound  to  the  successors  of 
Peter  by  closer  ties  and  more  intimate  relations  than 
were  the  other  peoples  of  Christendom.     It  is   indeed 

1  Hist.  Ecct.,  lib.  ii,  c.  i. 

-  The  Ho7iiities  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Church,  ed.  Thorpe,  ii, 
p.  117. 


AND  ENGLAND  281 

remarkable  how,  for  centuries  after  their  conquest  to 
Christianity  by  the  missionaries  of  St.  Gregory,  the 
Saxon  peoples  turned  to  Rome.  They  looked  to  it  for 
inspiration  in  their  ecclesiastical  buildings  and  their 
ecclesiastical  ceremonies,  as  well  as  for  authoritative 
guidance  in  the  faith.  To  make  the  journey  to  Rome 
and,  once  in  a  lifetime  at  least,  to  visit  the  limina 
Apostolorum,  was  the  ardent  desire  of  multitudes  of  both 
women  and  men;  and  the  letters  of  St.  Boniface  alone 
show  that  in  his  day  the  roads  to  Rome  were  well  worn 
by  the  journeyings  of  English  pilgrims  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions.  The  English  loved  to  note  down  in  their 
books  the  position  and  the  very  measurements  of  the 
sacred  places  in  the  Eternal  City;  and  there  is  some 
reason  for  thinking  that  here  in  England,  at  Canterbury, 
on  the  greatest  festivals,  such  as  Christmas,  they  tried 
to  copy  the  ceremonies  of  Papal  Mass  as  far  as  possible, 
and  even  sang  the  two  Epistles  with  the  Gradual  in 
Greek  and  in  Latin.  To  use  the  words  of  the  latest 
editor  of  St.  Bede's  History,  all  must  allow  that  "  the 
Church  of  England  long  retained  a  grateful  sense  of 
what  she  owed  to  St.  Gregory."  l  This  devotion  of  the 
English  to  their  "Apostle"  and  to  the  Popes  who  fol- 
lowed him  was  recognised  even  beyond  the  limits  of 
their  country.  Thus,  the  author  of  the  Gesta  Abbatum 
Fontanellensium,  A.D.  743-753,  speaks  of  "the  men  of 
Britain,  that  is  the  English,  who  always  remain  the 
most  faithful  servants  of  the  Apostolic  See";'  whilst 
the  chronicler  Thietmar  writes:  "I  have  time  without 
number  noted  that  the  Angles,  called  so  either  because 
of  their  angelical  faces,  or  because  they  occupy  an  angle 

1  Baedae  Opera  Historica,  ed.  C.  Plummer,  ii,  p.  67. 
-  Pertz,  Mon.  Germ,   ii,  289. 


282  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

of  this  earth,"  are  oppressed  by  the  Danes  and  made  to 
pay  tribute  to  them,  though  "they  were  tributaries  of 
the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  Peter,  and  the  spiritual  sons 
of  their  father  Gregory."  ' 

On  occasion  of  this  centenary,  then,  it  needs  no  ex- 
cuse to  recall  those  well-known  facts  which  brought 
St.  Gregory  into  such  close  connection  with  our  race, 
and  which  left  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  English 
people  so  deep  a  sense  of  gratitude  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors, that  it  lasted  on,  in  spite  of  changes  of  dynasty, 
social  upheavals  and  conquests,  for  more  than  eight 
centuries. 

Tradition  brings  St.  Gregory  into  connection  with 
England  for  the  first  time  in  the  story  of  the  "  fair-haired 
youths "  in  the  market-place  at  Rome.  The  anecdote 
is,  indeed,  one  of  our  cherished  national  possessions,  and 
like  so  many  of  the  tales  which  have  centred  round  the 
great  personality  of  the  Saint,  and  now  form  almost 
necessary  chapters  in  his  life,  this  story  is,  we  may  be 
happy  to  think,  of  English  origin.  John  the  Deacon,  who 
wrote  the  longest  biography  of  the  Pope,  about  the 
year  827,  plainly  says  that  the  instances  he  gives  about 
St.  Gregory's  wonder-working  powers  are  those  which 
are  commonly  read  to  the  people  in  the  English  churches.'"2 
Whatever  their  exact  historical  value,  these  stories  must, 
at  least,  be  regarded  as  certain  evidence  of  the  love  and 
affection  of  the  first  Christian  missioners — Augustine, 
Mellitus,  Paulinus,  and  the  rest — for  the  Pope  who  had 
sent  them  hither  and  had  encouraged  them  in  the  serious 
and  difficult  work  of  converting  the  far-distant  land  of 
England.    They  speak,  too,  of  the  eagerness  of  our  first 

1  Pertz,  Mon.  Germ.,  iii,  847-8. 

2  Migne,  Pair,  /a/.,  lxxv,  col.  105. 


AND  ENGLAND  283 

Christian  ancestors  to  know  all  they  could  about  Rome, 
and  especially  about  him  whom  they  had  come  to  revere 
and  love  as  "  their  father  and  apostle." 

Until  comparatively  recent  times  it  was  believed  that 
St.  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History  was  the  source  from 
which  St.  Gregory's  later  biographers,  the  deacons  Paul 
and  John,  had  drawn  many  of  the  facts  they  relate  about 
him.  But  the  discovery  of  an  earlier  life  of  the  Saint, 
made  by  Professor  Ewald  in  a  manuscript  in  the  library 
of  St.  Gall,  has  thrown  new  and  unexpected  light  upon 
the  origin  of  several  of  the  anecdotes  related  in  these 
biographies.1  The  MS.  in  question  (No.  567)  is  of  the 
eighth  or  ninth  century,  and,  according  to  the  high 
authority  of  its  finder,  it  is  certainly  the  earliest  known 
life  of  St.  Gregory,  anterior  to  the  account  given  in 
St.  Bede's  History,  and  consequently,  of  course,  to  the 
two  lives  by  the  deacons,  John  and  Paul.  In  his  intro- 
ductory essay  to  the  portions  of  this  manuscript  that  he 
has  printed,  Ewald  shows  that  this,  the  earliest  life,  is 
undoubtedly  English  in  origin,  is  the  work  of  a  North- 
umbrian, and  almost  certainly  of  a  monk  of  Whitby, 
since  he  calls  Whitby  nostrum  coenobium.  The  account 
given  of  the  work  of  St.  Paulinus  in  the  north  ;  the  know- 
ledge manifested  of  King  Edwin  and  of  the  burial  of  his 
remains  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter,  prince  of  the  Apostles, 
"  with  the  bones  of  our  other  kings,  at  the  north  of  the 
altar  sanctified  in  the  name  of  the  most  blessed  Apostle 
Peter,  and  to  the  east  of  that,  which  in  the  same  church 
is  consecrated  to  St.  Gregory  " "  all  help  to  connect  the 

1  It  is  now  nearly  three  centuries  since  attention  was  called  to 
the  work,  but  in  such  a  way  as  to  frighten  off  every  later  enquirer, 
cf.  Downside  Review,  July,  1886,  p.  271. 

-  Paul  Ewald,  Die  altestc  Biographie  Gregors  1  in  Historische 


2S4  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

writer  clearly  with  the  northern  part  of  England,  and  in 
some  way  with  Rome  through  St.  Paulinus,  St.  Gregory's 
immediate  disciple.  Of  the  writer's  own  personal  love 
and  devotion  to  St.  Gregory  there  is  ample  testimony  in 
this  new  life.  To  him  the  great  Pope  is  "  Papa  noster"; 
"  Apostolicus  noster";  "doctor  noster";  "noster  Gre- 
gorius"  {our  Gregory),  and  the  English  race  are  his 
special  Apostolate.  And  the  setting  of  the  scenes  recall 
the  north  and  St.  Paulinus  in  particular.  Even  in  his 
day,  St.  Bede  tells  us,  and  he  knew  that  part  of  the 
country  well,  the  memory  of  Paulinus,  the  Apostle  of 
the  north,  and  of  his  preaching,  was  still  fresh  and  green 
among  the  people  of  Northumbria.  In  the  northern 
Cheviots,  too,  at  Kirk-Newton,  the  dedication  of  a  church 
to  St.  Gregory,  and  the  existence  of  a  "  Gregory  hill  " 
and  a  "  Gregory  well,"  in  a  place  where  local  tradition 
still  points  to  the  spot  where  stood  the  royal  house  of 
Edwin,  and  where  still  runs  the  stream  in  which  Paulinus 
is  said  to  have  been  engaged  for  six-and-thirty  days  in 
baptising  his  new  converts,  seems  to  show,  were  proof 
needed,  the  ancient  devotion  and  veneration  of  Paulinus 
for  Gregory.  Is  it  too  fanciful,  therefore,  to  suggest  that 
many  of  these  stories  told  about  St.  Gregory  the  Great, 
and  which  have  now  been  shown  by  the  discovery  of 
Professor  Ewald  to  have  had  an  English,  and  a  northern 
English  origin,  may  have  fallen  from  the  very  lips  of 
St.  Paulinus  himself,  and  having  been  treasured  as 
cherished  traditions  by  the  first  Christians  of  the  northern 

Aufsdtze  dem  Andenken  an  Gcorg  Watts  gewidmet,  1886,  p.  63. 
I  have,  since  this  essay  was  written,  published  the  entire  text  of 
this  precious  MS.,  entitling  it:  A  Life  of  Pope  St.  Gregory  the 
Great,  written  by  a  Monk  of  the  Monastery  of  Whitby  {probably 
about  A.D.  713),  Westminster,  Art  and  Book  Co.,  1904. 


AND  ENGLAND  285 

parts,  were  preserved  to  us  by  this  monk  of  Whitby? 
The  writer,  indeed,  professes  to  record  what  is  commonly 
spoken  of  among  the  people;  for  instance,  he  prefaces 
his  account  of  the  story  of  the  English  youths  in  Rome 
by  the  phrase,  "  est  igitur  narratio  fidelium  " — "  it  is  a 
tale  told  among  the  faithful."  The  story,  too,  it  must 
be  remembered,  has  a  real  northern  setting:  Deira  was 
Northumbria,  and  Aelli,  the  king,  was  the  father  of 
Edwin,  by  whose  conversion,  as  the  writer  of  this  early 
life  takes  care  to  note,  Gregory's  prophecy  was  ful- 
filled. 

What  is  true  about  the  origin  of  the  "  market-place  " 
story  is  true  also  of  several  of  the  other  well-known  anec- 
dotes connected  with  the  life  of  St.  Gregory.  The  miracle 
of  the  woman  who  had  doubts  as  to  our  Lord's  presence 
in  the  Holy  Eucharist  at  the  time  of  Communion,-  for 
example:  the  cloths  sent  to  St.  Gregory;  the  story  of  the 
Tyrant  and  his  approach  to  Rome;  that  of  Trajan,  and 
in  fact  all  that  are  related  by  Paul  the  deacon  in  six 
chapters  s  of  his  life  of  the  Saint,  are  taken  almost  cer- 
tainly from  this  early  English  life,  and  may  thus  be  said 
to  have  had  an  English  origin.  Perhaps  it  would  be 
more  correct  to  represent  these  tales  as  having  been  re- 
turned to  Italy  whence  they  came,  after  having  been  told 
to  the  new  converts  in  England  by  their  first  missioners, 
treasured  up  in  the  memories  of  the  grateful  neophytes 
and  repeated  from  mouth  to  mouth,  as  perhaps  teaching 
them,  in  a  way  they  could  understand,  more  about  the 

1  Paul  Ewald,  Die  iilteste  Biographie  Gregors  I  in  Historischc 
Aufsiitze  dan  Andenken  an  Georg  Waitz  gewidmct,  1886,  p.  48. 

2  Migne,  Pair,  /at,  lxxv,  col.  52.  Told  in  the  life  by  Paul  the 
deacon. 

3  Cap.  23  to  29. 


286  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

real  personality  of  Gregory,  and  warming  their  hearts 
more  towards  him,  than  could  any  dry  statement  of  facts 
and  dates.  In  regard  to  the  Trajan  story,  harder  perhaps 
to  believe  in  those  days  even  than  in  our  own,  it  has 
been  remarked  that  it  is  instructive  "  to  see  how  the 
Englishman  (the  writer  of  this  early  life)  very  explicitly 
throws  the  responsibility  of  it  on  the  Romans,"  adding, 
"  some  of  our  people  say  that  the  tale  is  told  by  the 
Romans." 

Sometimes,  no  doubt — perhaps  often — the  stories  of 
the  wonders  worked  by  their  great  father  and  apostle  of 
their  race  would,  in  process  of  time,  tend  to  grow  in  the 
telling  as  all  such  stories  do.  One  such  instance  is 
afforded  us  by  an  English  addition  to  the  anecdote  of  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  who  was  said  to  have  been  delivered 
from  hell  by  the  prayers  of  St.  Gregory.  The  story  it- 
self, as  already  pointed  out,  is  first  known  in  this  earliest 
life  of  the  great  Pope  by  the  northern  monk.  In  a  later 
version,  given  in  an  English  collection  of  anecdotes  in- 
tended to  enlighten  the  tedium  of  ordinary  parochial 
discourses,  or  to  emphasise  the  point  of  some  doctrinal 
teaching,  there  is  a  somewhat  curious  explanation  of  the 
constant  sickness  that  almost  overwhelmed  St.  Gregory 
in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  which  is  brought  into  connec- 
tion with  the  Trajan  story.  "  In  the  life  of  St.  Gregory," 
the  writer  says,  "  we  read  that  after  he  had  liberated  the 
soul  of  the  Emperor  Trajan  from  hell  by  his  prayers,  an 
angel  appeared  to  him  and  said :  '  Since  you  have  prayed 
for  this  man  who  was  lost,  and  obtained  what  you  asked, 
you  have  now  to  choose  one  of  two  things:  you  must 
either  pass  the  space  of  two  days  in  Purgatory,  or  be 
afflicted  with  pain  and  sickness  during  the  rest  of  your 
life.'    The  Saint  made  choice  of  the  life-long  sufferings; 


AND  ENGLAND  287 

and  he  got  what  he  asked,  as  may  be  read  in  the  story 
of  his  life." ' 

According  to  the  English  tradition,  then,  St.  Gregory 
first  came  into  contact  with  the  English  in  the  Roman 
forum,  and  the  incident  first  made  him  dream  of  becom- 
ing the  Apostle  of  our  race.  This  event  must  be  placed 
somewhere  about  the  year  585 — that  is,  after  his  return 
from  Constantinople,  whither  he  had  gone  to  represent 
Pope  Pelagius  II  at  the  Imperial  Court.  Although 
Gregory  had  thought  to  escape  from  all  contact  with 
worldly  affairs  by  taking  refuge  in  the  cloister  as  a 
monk,  the  Pope  had  other  views  in  his  regard,  and  made 
him  one  of  the  seven  regionary  deacons  of  the  City  of 
Rome.  In  one  of  his  official  rounds,  he  is  supposed  to 
have  first  come  upon  the  English  youths.  The  story  will 
be  well  known  to  everyone,  but  it  may  perhaps  be  allowed 
to  find  a  place  here,  as  it  is  given  in  the  early  life  spoken 
of  above,  which,  be  it  remembered,  represents  the  earliest 
English  tradition  as  to  the  incident,  and  that  which 
almost  certainly  St.  Bede  subsequently  utilised.  Al- 
though in  its  main  features  the  story  is  the  same  that 
we  know  so  well,  there  are  one  or  two  interesting  differ- 
ences, which  make  it  perhaps  worth  while  to  give  it  at 
length  in  the  words  in  which,  as  the  Whitby  monk  says, 
"  it  was  told  among  the  faithful." 

"  Before  his  {i.e.,  St.  Gregory's)  pontificate,"  says  the 
writer,  "  there  came  to  Rome  some  men  of  our  nation 
with  fair  faces  and  light  hair.2    When  he  had  heard  of 

1  B.  Mus.  Acid.  MS.  11284,  f.  76.  The  writer  refers  the  reader 
to  the  Preface  of  the  Dialogues  for  St.  Gregory's  account  of  his 
sufferings.  This  is  a  mistake  for  the  Introductory  letter  to  the 
Morals  of  the  Book  of  Job.    Migne,  Patr.  hit.,  lxxv,  col.  615. 

2  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  earliest  account  of  the  incident 


288  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

their  arrival,  he  desired  to  see  them,  and  was  struck  by 
the  sight  of  their  light  colour,  and  his  attention  was 
arrested  by  their  novel  and  unwonted  appearance.  What 
is  more  than  this,  being  inwardly  moved  by  God,  he  was 
led  to  inquire  to  what  nation  they  belonged.  fSome  say 
that  they  were  handsome  boys,  some  call  them  curly- 
headed  and  graceful  youths.) '  When  Tin  reply  to  his 
question)  they  had  answered :  '  The  people  to  whom  we 
belong  are  called  Angles,'  he  exclaimed:  'Angels  of 
God.'  Then  said  he  again :  '  And  what  is  the  name  of 
the  king  of  that  people? '  To  which  they  replied,  '  Aelli! 
Upon  this  he  exclaimed  again:  ' Alleluia,  for  in  that 
place  ought  God's  praises  to  be  sung.'  Once  more  he 
asked  what  was  the  special  name  of  the  tribe  to  which 
they  belonged.  They  told  him:  '  Deira ';  on  which  he 
exclaimed:  l  de  ira  Dei' — those  who  are  flying  from 
God's  wrath  to  the  Faith."  2 

The  author  of  this  early  life  then  describes  the  attempt 
made  by  St.  Gregory  himself  before  becoming  Pope  to 
journey  over  into  England  as  our  Apostle.  The  account 
of  this,  as  given  by  St.  Bede,3  is  very  brief,  and  the  special 
incidents  related  in  the  two  lives  of  the  deacons  John 
and  Paul  do  not  appear  at  all  in  his  version.  They  are, 
however,  to  be  found  fully  recorded  in  this  early  life, 
which  is  thus  again  recognised  as  the  source  of  these 
narratives.  We  there  learn  of  Gregory's  secretly  setting 
out  from  Rome,  with  the  permission  he  had  with  diffi- 

does  not  speak  of  the  pueros  venales  of  St.  Bede.  The  other  lives 
of  the  deacons  Paul  and  John  follow  Bede  in  saying  that  these 
youths  were  slaves,  which  St.  Bede  introduced  with  the  phrase, 
"  Advenientibus  nuper  mercatoribus." 

1  This  passage  Ewald  notes  as  an  addition. 

2  P.  Ewald,  Die  dlteste  Biographie  Gregors  I,  tit  supra,  p.  48 
Hist.  Eccl.,  lib.  ii,  cap.  1  ^ed.  Plummer,  i,  p.  80). 


AND  ENGLAND  289 

culty  extorted  from  Pope  Benedict  I,  and  of  the  deter- 
mination of  the  Roman  people  to  bring  him  back  l  again 
to  the  city.  From  this  source  also  comes  the  incident, 
not  to  be  found  in  St.  Bede,  but  which  appears  in  the 
two  later  lives,  of  the  jingling  cries  invented  by  the 
Romans  in  their  endeavour  to  force  the  Pope  to  recall 
the  Saint:  "  Petrum  offendisti ;  Romam  destruxisti ; 
Gregorium  dimisisti  " — "  Thou  hast  offended  Peter  and 
ruined  Rome  in  letting  Gregory  go."  In  this  life  like- 
wise is  to  be  found  the  story,  again  not  to  be  found  in 
Bede,  but  which  is  in  the  later  lives,  of  the  locust  which 
is  said  to  have  settled  upon  Gregory's  book  as  he  was 
resting  during  a  mid-day  halt  in  his  flight  from  Rome. 
The  incident  is  well  known  from  one  of  those  plays  upon 
words,  which  through  the  non  Angli  sed  angeli  story  we 
are  used  to  attribute  to  St.  Gregory.  In  this  case,  repeat- 
ing to  himself  the  name  of  the  insect — locasta — he  inter- 
preted  it  as  signifying  locus-sta,  or  sta-in-loco — "  remain 
in  the  place  " — which  play  of  his  fancy  was  immediately 
realised  by  the  arrival  of  the  messenger,  whom  the  Pope 
had  been  forced  to  send,  to  recall  Gregory  to  the  Eternal 
City.  It  is  at  least  curious  and  worth  noting  that  this 
story,  as  well  as  the  non  Angli  incident,  which  so  well 
represent  St.  Gregory's  playful  nature,  and  which  we 
English  at  least  have  learnt  to  regard  as  typical  of  our 
Apostle,  have  both  an  English  origin. 

It  may  here,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  give  a  transla- 
tion of  another  passage  from  the  old  life,  which  deals 

1  See  in  Migne,  ut  sup.,  cols.  51,  52  (Paul  the  Deacon's  Life), 
and  col.  72  (John  the  Deacon's  Life).  We  may  note  that  it  is  from 
this  early  English  life  that  John  the  Deacon  got  the  correct  name 
of  the  Pope,  Benedict  I.  Bede  omits  it,  and  Paul  the  Deacon 
erroneously  gives  the  name  of  Gregory's  immediate  predecessor, 


Pelagius  11. 


U 


290  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

with  the  fulfilment  of  St.  Gregory's  old  prediction  as  to 
the  conversion  of  the  people  of  Deira.  Nothing  of  the 
kind  has  found  a  place  in  the  later  lives,  although  from 
his  connection  with  the  north  we  might  almost  have  ex- 
pected that  St.  Bede  would  have  given  something  of  the 
same  kind  as  we  find  in  the  Northumbrian  monk  of 
Whitby,  especially  when  we  can  be  almost  certain  that 
he  had  this  account  before  him.  The  author  of  the  early 
life  writes:  "By  these  {i.e.,  the  Kentish  missionaries, 
Augustine,  Mellitus,  and  Laurence)  Ethelbert,  the  first 
of  all  the  English  kings,  was  brought  to  the  faith  of 
Christ,  and  washed  by  His  baptism,  was  made  glorious 
with  all  His  people.  After  this,  in  our  own  nation,  which 
is  that  of  the  Northumbrians,  Edwin,  the  aforesaid  son 
of  Aelli,  whom  deservedly  we  remember  in  the  prophecy 
of  the  Alleluia  of  divine  praise,  ruled  both  with  singular 
wisdom  and  with  the  sceptre  of  that  royal  authority 
(which  had  existed)  ever  since  the  English  peoples 
landed  in  this  island. 

"O!  how  excellently  well  and  how  fitly  did  not  all 
these  things  happen.  Thus,  the  name  Angle,  if  one  letter 
e  be  added,  becomes  Angel:  certainly  the  people  who  are 
called  by  this  name  are  meant  to  praise  God  for  ever  in 
Heaven.  .  .  .  And  the  name  Aelli  is  composed  of  two 
syllables.  If  from  the  first  of  these  the  letter  e  is  removed, 
and  in  the  second  syllable  an  e  is  put  in  place  of  the 
(final)  z,  the  word  is  Alle,  which  in  our  language  means 
absolutely  '  everyone.'  And  this  it  is  that  our  Lord  says: 
Come  to  Me  all  ye  that  labour,'"  etc.;  as,  indeed,  the 
whole  people  did  when  they  lovingly  embraced  the  Faith 
at  the  bidding  of  their  Apostles.2 

1  Paul  Ewald,  ut  siipra,  p.  50. 

-  "  In  his  loyalty  to  the  royal  house  of  Deira,  the  founders  and 


AND  ENGLAND 


291 


In  spite  of  Gregory's  flight  from  Rome  to  avoid  the 
burdens  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  papacy,  he  surren- 
dered himself  finally  to  God's  will,  and  was  consecrated 
Pope  on  September  3rd,  A.D.  590.  He  had  not  forgotten, 
and  did  not  forget  even  in  the  multitude  of  affairs  which 
now  claimed  his  attention,  the  far-off  English  peoples 
whose  Apostle  he  had  desired  to  be.  As  Supreme  Pontiff, 
the  zeal  of  former  years  came  back  to  assist  him  in  carry- 
ing out  what  he,  from  his  office  of  common  father  of  all 
nations  of  the  earth,  now  regarded  as  a  duty  and  responsi- 
bility. He  had  evidently  determined  upon  and  planned 
the  mission  of  Augustine  long  before  he  was  in  a  position 
to  accomplish  it,  for  in  a  letter  written  after  the  first 
English  conversions  had  been  made,  and  after  Augustine 
had  received  consecration  as  first  Bishop  of  the  English 
at  Aries,  the  Pope  says  as  much  to  Syagrus  of  Autun.' 
At  first  it  was  evidently  his  intention  to  obtain  English 
youths  and  to  educate  them  in  Rome,  so  that  they  might 
subsequently  return  as  missionaries  to  their  native 
country.  In  the  early  days  of  his  Pontificate  the  Pope 
wrote  to  Candidus,  the  agent  for  the  patrimony  of  the 
Church  in  Gaul,  to  act  for  him  in  this  matter.  He  bade 
him  use  the  money  he  received  from  this  source  to 
furnish  clothes  for  the  poor,  or  to  obtain  "English  youths 

patrons  of  his  own  monastic  house  at  Whitby,  he  (the  author  of  the 
old  life)  gives  Edwin,  the  sainted  first  Christian  king  of  North- 
umbria,  a  splendid  character.  ...  Of  St.  Paulinus,  his  ecclesias- 
tical hero,  he  gives  an  account  filling  four  sections  (14-17).  The 
two  next  relate  what  is  wholly  new — the  translation  of  the  body  of 
St.  Edwin  from  Hatfield,  near  Doncaster,  to  Whitby,  some  time 
between  the  years  695-704;  here  we  incidentally  learn  that  in  the 
monastery  church  there,  there  was  an  altar  under  the  dedication  of 
St.  Gregory." — Downside  Review,  July,  1886,  p.  273. 
1  Ep.  ix,  108,  Migne,  Pair,  hit.,  lxxvii,  col.  1035. 


292  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  who  may  be  dedicated  to  God 
and  brought  up  in  monasteries  for  His  service.  As,  how- 
ever, such  youths  will  be  pagans,  I  desire,"  he  says,  "  that 
a  priest  be  sent  with  them  in  case  they  fall  ill  on  the 
journey,  so  that  he  may  be  able  to  baptise  them  should 
he  see  they  are  likely  to  die."  '  It  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  these  directions  were  carried  out;  and  that,  although 
there  is  no  direct  evidence  on  the  matter,  some  of  the 
missionaries  who  subsequently  came  to  England  were 
natives  of  the  soil,  educated  and  prepared  for  their  work 
in  this  way.  Indeed,  by  reason  of  a  suggestion  made  by 
some  ancient  Welsh  writers,  it  has  been  supposed  by 
some  that  St.  Paulinus,  the  Apostle  of  Northumbria,  was 
of  British  birth  and  had  been  taught  in  St.  Gregory's 
monastery  in  Rome;  but  this  is  a  mere  supposition,  and, 
in  view  of  the  traditional  description  of  his  person  given 
by  St.  Bede,2  seems  to  be  improbable,  if  not  quite  un- 
tenable. 

By  the  spring  of  596,  St.  Gregory's  preparations  for 
despatching  his  long-contemplated  mission  to  England 
were  complete.  For  that  difficult  and  perilous  work  he 
naturally  turned  to  men  of  his  old  monastery  of  St.  Andrew 
on  the  Ccelian,  some  of  whom  had  been  his  companions 
in  the  abortive  attempt  he  had  made  some  years  before 
to  become  himself  the  Apostle  of  England.  It  is  im- 
possible for  any  Englishman  to  read  without  emotion  the 
marble  record  in  the  Church  of  S.  Gregorio  on  the 
Ccelian  hill  in  Rome,  which  to-day  commemorates  the 
setting  forth  from  that  spot  of  the  mission  of  St.  Augus- 
tine and  his  companions,  more  than  thirteen  centuries 
ago.    It  requires  little  stretch  of  imagination  to  believe 

1  Ep.  vi,  7,  Migne,  Pair,  /at,  lxxvii,  col.  799. 
-  Hist.  Eccl.,  lib.  ii,  c.  16. 


AND  ENGLAND  293 

that  St.  Gregory  himself  had  trained  them  in  his  own 
spirit  and  zeal  for  souls,  and  in  his  entire  self-sacrifice  to 
prepare  them  for  the  work.  The  actual  progress  of  this 
mission  on  its  way  to  England  and  what  they  accom- 
plished does  not  immediately  concern  us,  except  in  so 
far  as  it  has  relation  to  St.  Gregory's  own  action.  Leaving 
Rome,  then,  in  A.D.  596,  the  travellers  rested  awhile  at 
the  celebrated  monastery  on  the  island  of  Lerins,  then  a 
great  centre  of  Christian  learning,  which  had  furnished 
many  illustrious  rulers  to  the  churches  of  southern  Gaul. 
From  Lerins  they  passed  on  to  Aix ;  where,  troubled 
by  rumours  of  the  difficulties  which  lay  before  them,  it 
was  determined  to  stay  awhile  and  to  send  Augustine 
back  to  Rome  for  advice,  and  even,  it  would  seem,  to 
suggest  to  the  Pope  the  necessity  of  their  recall  and  the 
entire  abandonment  of  their  mission. 

To  this  appeal  to  be  allowed  to  return,  St.  Gregory 
turned  a  deaf  ear.  He,  however,  seems  to  have  recognised 
the  need  of  increasing  the  authority  of  the  leader  of  the 
mission,  and  he  sent  Augustine  back  as  the  Abbot  of  the 
little  community.  By  him  he  sent  letters  of  thanks  to 
those  who  had  shown  kindness  to  his  missionaries  on 
their  way,  and  the  following  letter  of  exhortation  and 
good  advice  to  the  monks  themselves. 

"  To  the  brethren  on  their  way  to  England.  Gregory, 
the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  the  servants  of  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  right,  my  dearest  children,  that 
you  should  make  every  effort  to  finish  the  good  work 
which,  by  God's  help,  you  have  begun,  because  it  were 
better  not  to  undertake  good  works,  than  to  think  of 
withdrawing  from  them,  when  once  they  have  been  com- 
menced. Let  not  the  hardships  of  your  journey,  nor  the 
tongues  of  evil-speaking  people  frighten  you,  but  carry 


294  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

out  what  you  have  undertaken  at  God's  inspiration,  with 
all  eagerness  and  fervour,  knowing  that  the  reward  of 
eternal  glory  is  secured  by  great  labours.  Humbly  obey 
Augustine  your  prior,  whom  on  his  return  to  you  we 
have  appointed  your  Abbot,  in  all  things.  Remember 
that  whatever  you  do  according  to  his  directions  will 
always  be  profitable  to  your  souls.  May  God  Almighty 
shield  you  with  His  grace,  and  may  He  grant  that  I 
may  see  the  fruits  of  your  travail  in  our  everlasting 
country,  so  that  although  I  cannot  myself  labour  along 
with  you,  I  may  share  in  the  joy  of  your  reward,  be- 
cause, indeed,  had  I  my  wish,  I  would  join  in  your 
work.  May  God,  my  beloved  sons,  take  you  into  His 
safe  keeping."  ' 

At  the  same  time  St.  Gregory  wrote  to  Virgilius  of 
Aries,  and  sent  the  letter  by  the  hands  of  Augustine,  to 
"  whose  zeal  and  ability  "  he  bears  testimony.  He  informs 
the  Bishop  of  Aries  that  he  has  sent  the  bearer  "  with 
other  servants  of  God  "  on  a  mission  "  for  the  benefit  of 
souls  to  a  place  he  (Augustine)  will  tell "  him  about.  In 
this  work  he  writes:  "You  must  give  him  the  assistance 
of  your  prayers  and  other  help.  If  need  shall  arise,  aid 
him  by  your  encouragement  and  refresh  him,  as  is  right, 
with  your  paternal  and  priestly  consolation ;  so  that  if, 
whilst  accompanied  by  the  helps  of  your  holiness,  he 
shall  gain  anything  for  Our  God,  which  we  anticipate  he 
will,  you  also,  who  have  assisted  the  good  work  devotedly 
by  the  abundance  of  your  prayers,  may  likewise  have 
your  reward." ~ 

The  Pontiff  likewise  wrote  at  the  same  time  to  Theo- 
doric,  King  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  who  then  held  his 

1  Ep.  vi,  51,  Migne,  Pair.  Int.,  lxxvii,  col.  836. 
-  Ibid.,  53,  Migne,  Pair,  /at.,  lxxvii,  col.  837. 


AND  ENGLAND  295 

Court  at  Chalons-sur-Saone;  to  his  brother,  King  Theo- 
debert,  and  to  their  grandmother,  Brunhild,  who  lived 
with  the  latter  at  Metz,  asking  them  to  assist  in  the  good 
work.  "  We  have  heard,"  he  says  to  the  two  first-named, 
"  that  the  English  nation  has  been  led  by  the  mercy  of 
God,  eagerly  to  desire  conversion  to  the  faith  of  Christ, 
but  that  the  priests  near  by  are  negligent  and  do  not 
fan  the  flame  of  desire  by  their  exhortations."  "  For  this 
reason,  I  have,"  he  continues,  "  despatched  Augustine 
and  his  companions,  and  have  instructed  them  to  take 
with  them  some  priests  of  the  neighbouring  country, 
by  whose  assistance  they  may  ascertain  the  disposition 
of  this  people,  and  encourage  their  good  intentions  by 
their  preaching,  as  far  as  God  allows."  Then  after  be- 
speaking the  goodwill  of  the  two  rulers  for  his  mis- 
sionaries, he  concludes:  "Since  souls  are  at  stake,  may 
your  influence  protect  and  aid  them,  so  that  God  Al- 
mighty, who  knows  with  what  devoted  heart  and  pure 
zeal  you  render  this  assistance  in  His  work,  may  take 
all  your  affairs  into  His  merciful  charge,  and  lead 
you  through  earthly  sovereignty  into  His  Heavenly 
kingdom."  ' 

Encouraged  by  Gregory's  earnest  exhortations,  the 
missionaries  again  set  out  on  their  journey  through  Gaul 
towards  unknown  England.  Help  and  hospitality  were 
accorded  to  them  by  the  bishops  to  whom  the  Pope  had 
written  on  their  behalf.  They  were  received  by  Theo- 
doric  and  Theodebert,  and  by  Clothair  II,  who  was 
then  ruling  in  Paris  under  the  tutelage  of  his  mother, 
Queen  Fredegond.  Their  journey  was  slow,  and  they 
had  to  winter  in  Gaul,  so  that  it  was  not  till  Easter 
time,  597,  that  they  landed  in  England,  and  the  harvest 
1  Ep.  vi,  58,  Migne,  Pair.  lat.y  lxxvii,  col.  842. 


296  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

of  souls  so  eagerly  looked  for  by  St.  Gregory  began  to 
be  gathered  into  the  granaries  of  the  Church. 

The  delight  of  the  Pope  found  expression  in  many  of 
his  letters  at  this  time.  In  fact,  during  the  eight  years 
which  passed  between  the  coming  of  the  English  mission 
and  the  death  of  St.  Gregory,  in  writing  to  Patriarchs, 
Bishops,  Kings,  Queens,  and  others,  the  Pontiff  refers  to 
the  success  of  the  Gospel  in  this  country  some  six-and- 
tvventy  times,  so  full  is  he  of  the  work.  To  his  friend 
Eulogius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  for  example,  he  wrote, 
asking  him  to  share  in  his  great  joy:  "  I  know  well,  that 
even  in  the  midst  of  your  own  good  tidings  (which  you 
send  me),  you  can  rejoice  at  those  of  others,  and  so  I 
will  repay  your  news  by  announcing  tidings  not  very 
dissimilar.  The  English,  a  nation  occupying  a  little 
angle  of  the  world,  have  been  up  to  this  time  without 
the  Faith,  and  have  retained  the  worship  of  stocks  and 
stones.  Now,  however,  through  your  prayers,  God  put 
it  into  my  mind  to  send  thither  a  monk  of  my  own 
monastery  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  them.  By  my  licence 
he  has  been  consecrated  bishop  by  the  bishops  of  Ger- 
many, and  by  their  assistance  he  reached  the  above- 
named  nation  at  the  extremity  of  the  world;  and  now, 
news  has  just  reached  me  of  his  safety,  and  of  his  won- 
derful doings.  Either  he  or  those  that  were  sent  with 
him  have  been  so  conspicuous  amongst  this  people  by 
the  great  miracles  they  have  worked,  that  they  seem  to 
have  the  power  of  the  Apostles  in  the  signs  they  have 
wrought.  On  the  feast  of  Our  Lord's  Nativity  ...  as  I 
hear  from  our  same  brother  and  fellow  bishop,  more 
than  ten  thousand  English  were  baptised.  I  mention 
this  so  that  you  may  know  what  has  been  done  through 
your  prayers   at    this  farthest  extremity  of  the  world, 


AND  ENGLAND  297 

whilst  you  are  talking  to  me  about  the  people  of  Alexan- 
dria. Your  prayers  bear  fruit  in  places  where  you  are 
not,  while  your  works  are  manifest  in  the  place  where 
you  are." ' 

"  To  him  "  (that  is,  to  St.  Gregory),  writes  Venerable 
Bede,  "  must  be  attributed,  as  a  work  of  affection  and 
justice,  that  by  preachers  whom  he  sent  our  nation  was 
set  free  from  the  jaws  of  the  old  enemy,  and  made  to 
share  in  eternal  liberty."  '"  And  in  proof  of  the  venerable 
Pontiff's  joy  at  the  success  of  his  endeavours,  St.  Bede 
quotes  a  passage  from  St.  Gregory's  work,  the  Morals 
on  the  Book  of  Job.  "  God  Almighty,"  he  there  says, 
"  has  opened  the  midst  of  the  sea  to  the  sunlit  clouds, 
for  He  has  brought  even  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  the 
Faith  by  the  renowned  miracles  of  His  preachers.  For, 
behold,  how  He  has  already  touched  the  hearts  of  all 
nations!  Behold  how  He  has  joined  the  east  and  west 
in  one  faith!  Behold  how  the  British  tongue,  which 
knew  only  how  to  utter  savage  cries,  has  already  begun 
to  sing  the  Hebrew  Alleluia  in  the  divine  praises! 
Behold  how  the  swelling  ocean  already  submits  to  carry 
the  feet  of  the  saints;  how  its  rough  waves,  which 
earthly  princes  could  not  tame  by  the  sword,  are  through 
the  fear  of  God  made  captive  by  the  simple  words  of 
His  priests!  Behold  how  those  who,  whilst  they  had  not 
the  Faith,  never  knew  fear  for  any  bands  of  fighting 
men,  now  amongst  the  faithful  obey  the  word  of 
humble  men.  For,  indeed,  the  heavenly  message  being 
once  understood,  and  miracles  also  attesting  it,  the  grace 
of  the  knowledge  of  God  is  poured  out  upon  that  people ; 
it  is  restrained  by  fear  of  the  same  divine  power,  so  that 

1   Ep.  viii,  30,  Migne,  Patr.  tat.,  lxxvii,  col.  931. 
-  Hist.  Ecc/.,  lib.  ii,  c.  1  (ed.  Plummer,  i,  p.  78). 


298  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

it  dreads  to  do  evil,  and  with  every  best  desire  longs  to 
attain  to  the  grace  of  eternal  life."  l 

In  less  than  a  year  from  the  time  of  the  first  landing 
of  the  missionaries,  Augustine  found  it  necessary  to 
send  two  of  his  monks,  Laurence  and  Peter,  back  to 
Rome  to  obtain  assistance  and  advice.  They  left  Eng- 
land, probably  in  the  spring  of  598,  taking  to  the  Pope 
a  full  account  of  the  prosperous  state  of  his  mission, 
and  putting  before  him  certain  difficulties  which  required 
his  supreme  direction.  Though  it  is  said  that  Gregory 
did  not  delay  to  reply  to  the  questions  proposed  to  him, 
the  messengers  did  not  leave  Rome  again  on  their  return 
before  June  22nd,  601,  when  Laurence  and  Peter  took 
with  them  fresh  labourers  for  the  work  that  had  to  be 
done  in  England.  Amongst  them  were  three  names  after- 
wards prominent  as  missionaries  in  the  country,  Paulinus, 
Mellitus,  and  Justus.  They  carried  with  them  fresh 
letters  of  recommendation  from  the  Pope  to  bishops  and 
rulers,  asking  their  aid  for  the  missionaries,  and  mani- 
festing the  great  joy  of  St.  Gregory  at  the  tidings  of  the 
first  successes  by  which  God  had  blessed  the  undertaking. 

"  By  the  grace  of  our  Redeemer,"  he  writes  in  one  of 
these  communications,  "  so  great  a  multitude  of  the 
English  nation  is  converted  to  the  Christian  Faith,  that 
our  most  reverend  common  brother  and  fellow-bishop 
Augustine  declares  that  those  that  are  with  him  are  not 
sufficient  to  carry  on  the  work  in  every  place.  We  have 
consequently  determined  to  send  him  some  (more)  monks 
with  our  much-loved  sons,  Laurence  the  Prior,  and 
Mellitus  the  Abbot."2 

1  Migne,  Patr.  /at.,  ut  stipra;  also  Mora/ium,  lib.  xxvii,  c.  II, 
Migne,  Patr.  /at.,  lxxvi,  col.  410. 

2  Ep.  xi,  58,  Migne,  Patr.  /at.,  lxxvii,  col.  1176. 


AND  ENGLAND  299 

By  this  same  mission  Gregory  sent  letters  to  King 
Ethelbert  of  Kent,  and  his  Queen,  Bertha.  To  the  former 
he  writes  words  of  encouragement  and  paternal  advice. 
"  Almighty  God,"  he  says,  "  raises  up  certain  good  men 
to  govern  Mis  people,  so  that  through  them  He  may 
distribute  the  gifts  of  His  mercy  to  all  under  their  sway. 
Such,  we  understand,  has  been  the  case  in  regard  to  the 
English  nation,  over  which  Your  Magnificence  has  been 
placed,  so  that  the  heavenly  gifts  may  be  bestowed  upon 
the  people  under  your  rule  through  the  favours  granted 
to  you."  He  then  exhorts  him  to  persevere  in  helping 
on  the  conversion  of  the  English  people,  and  holds  up  to 
him  as  a  model  the  example  of  the  Emperor  Constantine. 
He  then  proceeds:  "  Our  most  reverend  brother  Augus- 
tine, Bishop,  is  proficient  in  the  monastic  rule,  filled 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  by  God's 
grace  endowed  with  good  works.  Give  a  willing  ear  to 
his  admonitions,  carry  them  out  devotedly,  and  store 
them  carefully  in  your  memory.  If  you  give  heed  to 
him  when  he  speaks  to  you  in  Almighty  God's  name, 
Almighty  God  will  the  more  speedily  hearken  to  him 
when  he  prays  for  you.  If,  which  God  forbid,  you  dis- 
regard his  words,  how  shall  Almighty  God  hear  his 
pleadings  for  you,  when  you  refuse  to  hear  his  for  God. 
...  I  have  forwarded  you  a  few  trifling  tokens  of  esteem, 
which,  however,  you  will  not  look  on  as  trifles  when  you 
remember  that  they  come  to  you  with  the  blessing  of 
blessed  Peter  the  Apostle."1 

To  Oueen  Bertha,  the  Pontiff  wrote  in  the  same  en- 
couraging  strain.  "  Our  most  beloved  sons,  Laurence 
the  priest,  and   Peter  the    monk,"    he   says,  "  on  their 

1  Ep.  xi,  66,  Migne,  Pair,  /a/.,  lxxvii,  col.  1201. 


3oo  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

return,  told  us  how  graciously  Your  Highness  received 
our  most  reverend  brother  and  fellow-bishop,  Augustine, 
and  of  the  great  consolation  and  affection  you  have 
shown  him.  We  have  blessed  Almighty  God  that  in 
His  mercy  He  has  deigned  to  reserve  the  conversion  of 
the  English  nation  as  your  reward.  For  even,  as  by 
Helena,  mother  of  the  most  pious  Emperor  Constantine 
of  precious  memory,  the  Faith  of  Christ  was  enkindled  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Roman  people ;  so  also  we  trust  that 
through  your  zeal  His  mercy  has  been  working  in  the 
English  nation."  The  Pope  then  mildly  rebukes  Bertha 
for  having  failed  to  try  and  convert  her  husband  before, 
but  encourages  her  to  strengthen  her  consort  in  the 
fervour  of  his  conversion.  "  Your  name,"  he  adds,  "  has 
reached  not  only  the  Romans,  who  have  prayed  fer- 
vently for  your  welfare,  but  divers  parts  of  the  world, 
and  even  Constantinople  and  the  ears  of  the  most  Serene 
Prince.  As  the  consolation  of  your  Christianity  has 
given  us  joy,  may  the  angels  in  heaven  rejoice  at  the 
completion  of  your  work.'" 

St.  Gregory's  letter  to  Augustine  himself,  written  at 
this  same  time,  allows  us  to  see  at  once  the  fulness  of  his 
joy  at  all  he  had  heard,  and  at  the  same  time  his  fear 
lest,  perhaps,  the  soul  of  his  disciple  should  be  in  any 
way  harmed  by  any  unwise  exaltation  at  the  swift  suc- 
cess that  had  attended  his  mission.  He  writes:  "Glory 
be  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace  to  men  of 
good  will;  for  the  grain  of  wheat  which  fell  into  the 
earth  is  dead,  and  so  He,  by  whose  weakness  we  receive 
strength,  by  whose  pains  we  are  freed  from  suffering, 
should  not  reign  solitary  in  Heaven.  For  love  of  Him, 
we  seek  in  Britain  the  brethren  whom  we  know  not,  and 
1  Ep.  xi,  29,  Migne,  Pair.  /#/.,  lxxvii,  col.  1141. 


AND  ENGLAND  301 

by  His  favour  we  have  found  those  whom  we  sought 
without  knowing  them.  Who  can  describe  the  joy  that 
filled  the  hearts  of  the  faithful  here,  because  by  Almighty 
God's  grace  and  through  the  labours  of  your  fraternity, 
the  English  nation  has  had  the  clouds  of  error  dispersed 
and  is  flooded  by  the  light  of  holy  Faith?  .  .  .  Whose 
work  is  this,  but  His  who  saith:  My  Father  worketh 
until  now,  and  I  work.  To  show  that  He  converted  the 
world,  not  by  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  by  His  own  power, 
He  chose  illiterate  men  to  send  into  the  world  to  preach. 
This  has  He  done  also  now,  for  He  has  deigned  to  per- 
form feats  of  strength  among  the  English  people  by 
means  of  weak  instruments. 

"  In  that  heavenly  gift,  dearest  brother,  there  is  that 
which  should  inspire  exceeding  great  fear.  I  know  well, 
beloved,  that  God  Almighty  hath  through  you  wrought 
great  miracles  in  the  nation  that  He  hath  deigned  to 
select.  In  that  heavenly  gift,  however,  there  is  that 
which  should  make  you  fear  while  you  rejoice.  You  can 
be  glad,  indeed,  because  the  souls  of  the  English  are 
drawn  to  interior  grace  through  exterior  means.  Yet  you 
must  also  fear  lest,  amidst  the  signs  that  are  wrought  by 
you,  your  weak  mind  should  be  presumptuously  lifted 
up  by  its  powers,  and  through  vain  glory  should  fall  from 
within  according  as  it  is  exalted  in  honour  from  with- 
out. 

One  point  settled  by  St.  Gregory  at  this  time  is 
worthy  of  some  notice.  In  his  letter  to  Ethelbert  the 
Pope  had  urged  the  King  to  destroy  the  pagan  temples 
in  his  kingdom,  but  he  subsequently  modified  this  view. 
After  the  second  band  of  missionaries  had  left  Rome,  he 
despatched  a  letter  to  overtake  Mcllitus  on  the  journey, 
1   Ep.  xi,  28,  Migne,  Pair,  hit.,  lx.wii,  col.  138. 


302  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

by  which  to  correct  his  first  judgment  on  this  matter.  In 
this  second  letter  he  says :  "  After  the  departure  of  our 
brethren  with  you,  we  were  in  great  anxiety  since  we 
heard  nothing  of  the  success  of  your  journey.  When 
Almighty  God  shall  have  brought  you  to  our  most 
reverend  brother,  Augustine,  tell  him  that  I  have  long 
deliberated  over  this  point  in  regard  to  the  English: 
(and  have  come  to  the  conclusion)  that  the  temples  of 
idols  in  that  country  should  not  be  demolished,  but  the 
idols  therein  destroyed.  Bless  water,  sprinkle  the  tem- 
ples with  it,  erect  altars  and  deposit  relics  in  them :  for 
if  these  temples  have  been  well  built,  they  should  be 
transferred  from  the  worship  of  idols  to  the  service  of 
the  true  God.  When  the  people  see  that  the  temples  are 
not  destroyed,  and,  putting  error  from  their  hearts,  come 
to  know  and  worship  the  true  God,  they  will  the  more 
readily  resort  to  the  places  that  are  familiar  to  them. 
Moreover,  as  it  is  their  practice  to  slay  numbers  of  oxen 
in  the  service  of  their  devils,  substitute  some  similar 
solemnity  for  this:  on  the  day  of  the  dedication  of  the 
church,  or  of  the  martyrs  whose  relics  are  deposited 
therein,  let  them  construct  bowers  of  the  branches  of 
trees  near  these  churches  into  which  the  temples  have 
been  converted,  and  let  them  celebrate  their  solemnities 
with  religious  rejoicings.  Let  them  no  longer  sacrifice 
animals  to  the  devil,  but  kill  them  for  their  own  use,  to 
the  glory  of  God,  and  let  them  render  thanks  for  their 
abundance  to  the  Giver  of  all  things.  In  this  way,  while 
some  form  of  external  rejoicing  is  preserved  to  them, 
they  may  be  the  more  inclined  to  appreciate  interior 
consolations;  for  it  is  undoubtedly  impossible  to  cut  off 
everything  from  their  rude  minds  at  once.  He  who 
would  climb  a  height  ascends  by  steps  or  paces,  not  by 


AND  ENGLAND  303 

vaulting." '  It  was  upon  the  directions  laid  down  in  this 
letter  that  St.  Augustine  acted  when  he  purified  the 
heathen  temple  at  Canterbury  and  dedicated  it  as  a 
Christian  church,  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Pancras.  If 
we  are  to  believe  in  a  subsequent  tradition  preserved  at 
Canterbury  itself,  the  choice  of  the  patron  was  dictated 
by  a  wish  to  take  this  martyred  Roman  youth  as  patron, 
so  as  to  be  a  memorial  of  the  fair-haired  Saxon  boys 
whose  presence  in  Rome  had  first  suggested  to  St. 
Gregory  the  need  of  converting  England  to  the  faith.1 
Very  possibly,  also,  some  of  the  monk  missionaries  may 
have  come  from  the  monastery  which  St.  Gregory  had 
established  at  the  Roman  Church  of  St.  Pancras  in 
order  that  the  Saint's  body  might  be  kept  with  honour, 
and  the  unbroken  liturgical  services  be  offered  to  God 
above  his  tomb.3 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  say  much  about  the  formal 
letter  to  St.  Augustine  sent  by  the  Pope  in  reply  to 
questions  as  to  discipline  and  ecclesiastical  management 
proposed  to  him.  St.  Gregory  answers  with  great  care 
and  minuteness,  and  the  document  evidences  his  interest 
in  the  state  of  the  country,  his  grasp  of  the  situation,  and 
his  broad-minded  consideration.  In  this"  little  book,"  as 
St.  Bede  calls  this  document,  we  may  understand  the 
spirit  of  him  whom  we  glory  in  revering  as  our  Apostle. 
What  evidently  characterises  the  Respousions  of  St. 
Gregory  throughout,  is  the  wise  discretion  which  knows 
how  to  relax  as  well  as  how  to  maintain  the  strictness  of 
rule;  how,  by  condescension,  to  adapt  even  outward 
circumstances  into  means  for  securing  the  very  end  de- 

1  Ep.  xi,  76,  Migne,  Patr.  /a/.,  lxxvii,  col.  12 13. 

2  Hist.  Mon.  S.  Augustine  Cantuar.    Rolls  series,  p.  80. 
'J  Ep.  iv,  [8,  Migne,  Patr.  Int.,  lxxvii,  col.  687. 


304  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

sired,  and  how  to  admit  of  the  good  from  whatever 
quarter  derived,  so  long  as  it  was  "  the  good  "  and  could 
be  made  to  serve  God's  work  and  God's  glory. 

The  last  act  of  St.  Gregory  for  the  English  Church 
was  to  make  provision  for  its  government.  He  estab- 
lished the  Metropolitan  Sees  at  London  (afterwards 
transferred  to  Canterbury)  and  at  York ;  the  latter  to 
enjoy  archiepiscopal  rights  only  after  St.  Augustine's 
death.  According  to  this  original  plan  each  Metro- 
politan was  to  preside  over  twelve  suffragans,  and  to 
each  Archbishop  he  proposed  to  give  the  pallium.  He 
then  exhorted  the  newly-established  Church  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  to  concord  and  unity:  "Let  all  things  that 
are  done  for  the  zeal  of  Christ,"  he  says,  "  be  arranged 
with  common  counsel  and  united  action:  let  all  deter- 
mine what  is  right  to  be  done  unanimously,  and  carry  out 
what  they  determine  without  differing  one  from  an- 
other."1 This  important  direction  as  to  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England  was  sent  off  at  the  end  of 
June,  60 1,  and  although  St.  Gregory  lived  for  nearly 
three  years  after  this,  he  did  not,  of  course,  live  to  see 
his  entire  plan  for  the  organisation  of  the  Church  carried 
out;  and  part  of  it  was  subsequently  found  to  be  un- 
workable in  practice. 

Something  must  now  be  added  to  what  has  already 
been  said  about  the  love  and  reverence  with  which 
St.  Gregory  was  always  regarded  by  the  English  people. 
Churches  were  dedicated  to  God  under  the  patronage 
of  his  name,  and  from  the  earliest  times  altars  were  set 
up  in  his  honour.  Of  the  latter,  two  may  be  named : 
that  erected  in  the  Church  of  the  blessed  Apostles  Peter 
and  Paul  at  Canterbury,  at  which,  in  St.  Bede's  day, 
1   Ep.  xi,  65,  Migne,  Pair,  /at,  lxxvii,  col.  1200. 


AND  ENGLAND  305 

every  Saturday  a  priest  celebrated  the  divine  mysteries 
in  memory  of  the  archbishops  who  had  succeeded 
Augustine  in  the  charge  committed  to  him  by  St. 
Gregory:1  and  that  "in  the  porch  of  Pope  St.  Gregory," 
built  by  St.  Oswald  at  the  Church  of  "  the  blessed 
Apostle  Peter  "  at  York,  in  memory  of  the  great  Pope 
"  from  whose  disciples  he  had  received  the  word  of 
life."  a 

Throughout  the  whole  Church,  and  in  a  particular 
manner  in  England,  the  works  of  St.  Gregory  became 
the  foundation  of  the  moral,  theological,  and  spiritual 
teaching  during  centuries  after  his  death.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  his  Morals  on  the  Book  of  job  and  his 
treatise  on  the  Pastoral  Charge  long  formed  the  store- 
houses from  which  generations  of  spiritual  writers  drew 
their  inspirations,  their  ideas,  and  frequently  their  very 
words.  Amongst  the  books  that  St.  Augustine  brought 
with  him  was  the  tract  De  Cura  Pastorali  of  the  Saint, 
which  was  long  treasured  at  Canterbury  by  those  who 
loved  to  be  called  the  "  discipuli  beati  papae  Gregorii" 
— the  disciples  of  the  blessed  Pope  Gregory.3  Pope 
Honorius,  in  his  letter  to  King  Edwin,  after  his  baptism 
in  the  north  by  St.  Paulinus,  urges  him  to  study  the 
works  of  St.  Gregory,  "your  teacher."'  In  the  lan- 
guage of  St.  Aldhelm,  the  great  Pope  was  "  our  watch- 
ful shepherd  and  teacher,  who  saved  our  ancestors  from 
the  dark  errors  of  paganism  and  brought  to  them  the 
grace  of  regeneration." 6    St.  Bede  gives  a  catalogue  of 

1  Hist.  Eccl,  ii,  cap.  3  (ed.  Plummer,  i,  p.  86;. 
-  Ibid.,  cap.  20. 

3  Ibid.,  Praef.  (ed.  Plummer,  p.  6). 
1  Ibid.,  lib.  ii,  c.  17. 
5  Migne,  Pair,  tat.,  lxxix,  col.  155. 

X 


3o6  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

St.  Gregory's  works,  and  Alcuin  says  that  whatever  the 
Pontiff  wrote  was  in  the  library  at  York.1  Writing,  too, 
in  797  to  an  English  Bishop,  Speratus,  on  the  office  of  a 
bishop,  he  says:  "  Often  read,  I  beg  of  you,  the  book  of 
our  teacher  Saint  Gregory  on  the  Pastoral  Charge.  In 
it  you  will  see  the  dangers  of  priestly  office,  and  not 
forget  the  reward  of  the  faithful  servant  who  has 
worked.  Often  keep  the  book  in  your  hands;  imprint 
its  meaning  deep  upon  your  memory,  so  that  you  may 
know  how  anyone  should  receive  the  dignity  of  the 
priesthood ;  and  having  received  it,  with  what  intention 
he  should  preach;  and,  indeed,  he  (St.  Gregory)  has 
described  with  the  greatest  discretion  what  is  proper  for 
each  one."  2 

Lastly,  to  take  one  more  example:  among  the  books 
which  King  Alfred  translated  for  the  use  of  his  people 
was  the  Pastoral  Book  of  St.  Gregory.  He  sent  a  copy 
of  this  translation  to  each  bishop  in  his  kingdom,  that  it 
might  be  placed  in  his  cathedral  church.  With  it  he 
sent  a  precious  "  aestel,"  or  marker,  and  ordered  that 
"  no  one  should  remove  the  aestel  from  the  book,  or  the 
book  from  the  minster,"  unless  it  were  wanted  by  the 
Bishop.  In  his  letter  to  the  Bishops  of  the  kingdom, 
which  accompanied  the  book,  the  King  says:  "  I  began, 
among  the  various  and  manifold  troubles  of  this  king- 
dom, to  translate  into  English  the  book  called  Pastoralz's, 
or  in  English,  Hirdeboc,  sometimes  word  for  word,  and 
sometimes  according  to  the  sense,  as  I  had  learnt  it 
from  Plegmund  my  archbishop,  and  Asser  my  bishop, 
and  Grimbald  my  Mass-priest, and  John  my  Mass-priest; 
and  when  I  had  learnt  it  as  I  best  could  understand  it, 

1  Historians  of  the  Church  of  York  (Rolls  series),  i,  p.  395. 

2  Migne,  Pair,  tat.,  c,  col.  242. 


AND  ENGLAND  307 

and  as  I  could  most  nearly  interpret  it,  I  translated  it 
into  English."  ' 

The  Popes  are  always  to  be  found  in  subsequent  ages, 
even  after  the  Conquest,  constantly  reminding  England 
of  its  debt  to  their  predecessor  St.  Gregory  the  Great. 
For  instance,  to  give  some  examples  only  after  the 
Normans  were  established  in  the  land:  Paschal  II, 
writing  to  Henry  I,  refers  to  the  necessity  of  keeping  the 
laws  and  directions  received  "from  Blessed  Gregory, the 
Apostle  of  the  English  race."  Pope  Calixtus  II,  in  a 
letter  to  the  same  king,  uses  the  expression :  "  Pope 
Gregory,  that  renowned  propagator  of  the  Christian 
faith  in  your  kingdom."  In  the  same  way  the  debt  of 
gratitude  is  fully  acknowledged  on  the  part  of  the 
English.  Ralph,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  for  instance, 
in  1 199,  speaks  of  the  close  relations  which  have  ever 
existed  between  Rome  and  Canterbury,  "  from  the  time 
when  the  Holy  Father  Gregory  sent  the  saintly  and 
venerable  man  Augustine  to  preach  the  Faith."  Through- 
out this  letter  the  great  Pontiff  is  pater  noster  Gregorius 
— "  our  father  Gregory," — and  the  Archbishop  declares 
that  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Canterbury  has  always 
shown  "  the  greatest  obedience  to  the  supreme  and  chief 
See,  that  of  the  blessed  Peter."  The  Metropolitan  rights, 
about  which  the  Archbishop  was  then  appealing  to  the 
Pope,  were  really  safeguarded  from  the  earliest  times, 
because  they  had  been  established  by  St.  Gregory. 
Alcuin  declared  this  in  one  of  his  verses:  "  It  was,"  he 
says,  "  because  Gregory  the  Bishop  had  decreed  thus  or 
old,  when  from  the  City  of  Rome  he  sent  the  seed  of  life 
to  the  English  nation." 

The   feelings  of  our  Saxon   forefathers  towards  the 
1  W.  Hunt,  Hist,  of  the  English  Church,  i,  p.  281. 


308  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

great  Pontiff  are  well  expressed  in  the  words,  written  as 
a  Northumbrian,  by  the  old  English  monk  in  the  earliest 
life  of  St.  Gregory:  "O  most  loving  Father,  Lord  God 
Almighty,  though  we  did  not  deserve  to  have  the  actual 
presence  of  the  blessed  Gregory  amongst  us,  nevertheless 
we  have  ever  to  give  Thee  thanks  that  it  was  through 
him  we  had  our  teacher  Paulinus." 

We  may  conclude  by  the  relation  of  an  incident  re- 
corded as  having  happened  after  the  death  of  our  great 
Apostle,  which  is  partly  fact  and  partly,  possibly,  legend 
embroidered  upon  the  groundwork  of  reality  by  the  de- 
votion and  reverence  of  subsequent  generations.  Gre- 
gory's death,  we  are  told,  was  immediately  followed  by 
a  display  of  the  proverbially  fickle  character  of  a  mob, 
and  of  a  Roman  mob,  perhaps,  in  particular.  The  Pope 
had  lived  for  the  people,  he  had  taught  them,  he  had  fed 
them  and  cared  for  them,  but  his  death  synchronised 
with  a  time  of  great  scarcity  and  distress.  A  rumour, 
rising  no  one  knew  from  whence  or  from  whom,  and 
spreading,  no  one  knew  how,  among  the  half-starving 
people,  attributed  their  troubles  to  the  fact  that  Gregory 
had  dissipated  the  patrimony  of  the  Church,  which  they 
had  come  to  regard  as  their  own.  The  mob  surrounded 
the  papal  palace,  and  determined  to  destroy  all  the 
works  of  the  saint,  whom  they  had  suddenly  come  to 
regard  as  their  worst  enemy.  This  catastrophe  was 
averted  by  a  tragic  occurrence  which  was  long  the  talk 
of  Rome.  Peter,  the  deacon,  as  all  readers  of  St.  Gregory's 
Dialogues  know  so  well,  had  been  the  constant  attendant 
of  the  Pope,  and  his  amanuensis  in  the  composition  of 
his  works.  Fearing  that  the  threats  of  the  mob  might 
really  result  in  the  destruction  of  the  works  he  regarded 
as  so  precious,  Peter  came  forward,  and  offered  in  his 


AND  ENGLAND  309 

person  to  stand  the  test  of  their  worth.    He  promised  to 
take  an  oath  upon  the  Gospels  that  these  works  were 
inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  it  would  be  a 
grievous  offence  against  the  Almighty  to  destroy  what 
had  thus  been  written.    He  offered  consequently  to  take 
this  oath  as  to  the  truth  of  what  he  was  going  to  relate, 
and  to  take  the  consequences  of  what  St.  Gregory  had 
foretold  would  happen,  namely  his  death,  if  he  ever  re- 
vealed what  his  intimate  relation   with  the  Pope  had 
made  known  to  him.    Having  told  them  this,  Peter,  it 
is  said,  mounted  some  steps,  took   an   oath   upon  the 
Gospels,  and  related   the  following  incident  in  the  life 
of  the  dead  Pontiff  to  which  he  could  testify.   Whilst 
dictating  to  him  it  was  frequently  St.  Gregory's  custom 
to  place  himself  behind  a  curtain  screened  from  the  sight 
of  his  scribe.    One  day  Peter  moved  by  curiosity  at  the 
curious  pauses  the  saint  had  been  making  in  speaking, 
raised  the  curtain  and  looked  behind,  when  he  beheld 
the  semblance  of  a  dove — the  emblem  of  God's  Holy 
Spirit — hovering  round  about  St.  Gregory's  head  and, 
as  the  Saint  paused,  approaching  him  and  appearing  to 
whisper  in  his  ear  as  if  directing  him.    Upon  the  holy 
Pontiff  finding  out  that  the  faithful  Peter  had  surprised 
his  secret,  he  warned  him  never  to  reveal  it  to  anyone, 
and  declared  that  in  the  hour  that  he  did  so,  he  would 
die.    This   was  the    supreme  test  to   which    Peter  the 
deacon  submitted  himself,  to  save  the  works  of  his  be- 
loved master  from  destruction.    The  proof  was  in  favour 
of  the  works,  for,  as  the  story  goes,  as  his  relation  of 
this    incident    concluded,  he   expired   suddenly   in   the 
sight  of  all. 

Lastly,  it  is  impossible  to  celebrate  the  memory  of 
this  event,  which  happened  thirteen  hundred  years  ago, 


310  ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT 

without  reflecting  upon  the  historical  influence  exercised 
by  the  mission  of  Gregory  upon  "  the  making  of  Eng- 
land." Perhaps  no  single  life  in  the  entire  period  from 
that  day  to  this,  has  been  so  productive  of  such  lasting 
fruit,  and  to  no  single  individual  does  England  owe 
so  much.  The  historian  Green  has  fully  discerned  this, 
and  has  well  described  what  the  genius  of  Rome  and 
the  genius  of  Pope  Gregory  effected  for  this  country's 
good.  "  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  Roman  Chris- 
tianity," he  writes,  "  than  its  administrative  organisation. 
Its  ordered  hierarchy  of  bishops,  priests,  and  lower 
clergy,  its  judicial  and  deliberative  machinery,  its  courts 
and  its  councils,  had  become  a  part  of  its  very  existence, 
and  settled  with  it  on  every  land  that  it  won.  Gregory, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  plotted  out  the  yet  heathen  Britain 
into  an  ordered  Church,  and  although  the  carrying  out 
of  this  scheme  in  its  actual  form  had  proved  impossible, 
yet  it  was  certain  that  the  first  effort  of  the  Roman  See, 
now  that  the  ground  was  clear,  would  be  to  replace  it 
by  some  analogous  arrangement.  But  no  such  religious 
organisation  could  stamp  itself  on  the  English  soil  with- 
out telling  on  the  civil  organisation  about.  The  regular 
subordination  of  priest  to  bishop,  of  bishop  to  Primate 
(and,  we  may  add,  of  Primate  to  Pope),  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Church  would  supply  a  model  on  which 
the  civil  organisation  of  the  State  would  unconsciously, 
but  irresistibly  shape  itself.  The  gathering  of  the  clergy 
in  national  synods,  would  inevitably  lead  the  way  to 
national  gatherings  for  civil  legislation.  Above  all,  if 
the  nation  in  its  spiritual  capacity  came  to  recognise 
the  authority  of  a  single  Primate,  it  would  insensibly 
be  led  in  its  temporal  capacity  to  recognise  a  single 
sovereign.  .  .  .  The  hopes  of  such  an  organisation  rested 


AND  ENGLAND  311 

in  the  submission  of  the  English  States  to  the  Church  of 
Rome." 

This  was  the  work  St.  Gregory  did  for  England,  and 
if  to  some  the  words  of  the  historian  of  The  English 
People  may  appear  somewhat  far-fetched,  it  is  impossible 
to  read  the  records  of  those  early  times  without  seeing 
that  the  influence  of  Rome  and  Roman  ways  made  for 
unification.  Without  St.  Gregory  and  his  monk-mission- 
aries, the  welding  of  the  peoples,  and  even  nations,  in 
this  land  into  the  one  English  folk  might  have  been  in- 
definite!)' postponed. 


INDEX 


ABBEYS  OF  ENGLAND,  ec- 
clesiastical position  of,    2 ;    a 
great  good  to  the  people,  96. 
Abbot,  position  of  a  parliamentary, 

23.  33- 

Abbots  refuse  to  surrender,  50, 
104;  proposed  legal  process 
against,  55;  cause  of  their 
deaths  the  supremacy  question, 
106. 

Abingdon,  Abbot  of,  examined  as 
to  opinions,  86;  monk  of,  in 
prison,  86. 

Adelard,  monk  of  Bath,  teacher  of 
renown  in  Paris,  143. 

Aelli,  King  of  Northumbria,  285. 

Agnellus,  Friar,  Franciscan  Pro- 
vincial in  England,  116. 

Aidan,  St.,  4. 

Albans,  St.,  monastery  of,  seat  of 
learning,  163. 

Alberic,  teacher  in  Paris,  142. 

Albertus  Magnus,  117. 

Alcuin  corrected  corrupt  biblical 
text,  124 ;  on  St.  Gregory's  work, 
306 ;  recommends  reading  of  Pas- 
toral Charge,  306. 

Aldhelm,  St.,  2. 

Alfred,  King,  translates  Pastoral 
Charge,  306. 

Almshouse  established  by  Abbot 
Bere,  14. 

Altar,  the  silver,  at  Glastonbury,  20. 


A  ml  a  tin  us  Codex,  137. 

Amyas  Chauntry,  Nottingham,  257. 

Amyas,  Wm.,  founder  of  Notting- 
ham Chauntry,  257. 

Apostles,  the  preaching  of,  in  Eng- 
land, 4. 

Aprice,  John,  the  royal  Visitor,  37. 

Arimathea,  St.  Joseph  of,  legends 
as  to,  4. 

Aristotle,  forgotten  in  the  West,  121 ; 
ignoranceof,  in  the  West,  lOfdseijtj. ; 
rise  of  influence  of,  on  Western 
studies,  150. 

Aries,  British  bishops  at,  91  note. 

Arthur,  King,  3. 

Arthur,  John.    See  Thorne,  John. 

Aske,  Robert,  his  letters  to  Read- 
ing, 82. 

Asser,  Bishop,  306. 

Athelney  Abbey,  fined,  16;  me- 
thod by  which  surrender  of,  was 
secured,  49. 

Athenae,  a  work  on  the  harmony  of 
the  Gospels,  162. 

Attainder,  of  abbots,  54,  55,  56,  59; 
effect  of,  as  to  monastic  property, 
147. 

Audley,  Sir  Thomas,  pleads  for 
Colchester,  87. 

Augustine  of  Hippo,  St.,  123. 

Augustine,  St.,  of  Canterbury,  282, 
290;  sent  to  England,  progress  of 
journey,   292  seqq.;    made  abbot, 


313 


3H 


INDEX 


293 ;  sends  back  messengers  to 
Rome  for  advice  and  further  help, 
298 ;  preaching  of,  3. 

Avalon,  5. 

Averroes,  149. 

Avicenna,  149. 

Aylmer,  Bishop,  complains  of  influ- 
ence of  "  popish  dignitaries,"  221. 

Bachyler  (cf.  Giles,  Bachelor),  pro- 
ceedings against,  81,  88. 

Bacon,  Roger,  works  of,  source  of 
knowledge  of  mediaeval  thought 
and  work,  114;  account  of  his 
studies,  lie,  seqq. ;  his  eulogy  of 
Adam  Marsh  and  Bishop  Grosse- 
teste,  116;  complains  that  Scrip- 
ture was  not  supreme  in  theo- 
logical studies,  119;  on  Bishop 
Grosseteste's  attainments,  121; 
on  correction  of  biblical  texts, 
122;  on  various  corrections  of 
biblical  text,  126  seqq.;  shows 
knowledge  of  works  of  Josephus, 
Origen,  and  Eusebius,  130;  de- 
mands "scientific  spirit"  in  re- 
vision work,  132;  principles  to 
guide,  132;  Opus  Majus  and 
Opus  Minus,  133;  Opus  Tertium, 
134;  on  unnamed  English  bib- 
lical scholar,  i^a, seqq . ;  on  Aver- 
roes, Avicenna,  and  Aristotle, 
149;  condemns  translations  of 
Aristotle,  etc.,  in  use,  150;  on 
activity  of  friars,  152;  on  aids  to 
study,  153;  French  estimate  of, 
163  seqq.;  value  of  his  work, 
165. 

Baigent,  F.  J.,  190. 

Baldwin  of  Flanders,  established 
study  of  Greek  in  Paris,  148. 

Barklay,  Alexander,  on  mediaeval 
table  manners,  168;  describes 
mediaeval  feast,  176. 


Barton,  Abbot  of  Colchester,  95. 

Basing  (or  Basingstoke),  John  de, 
Greek  scholar,  122,  158  ;  on 
Greek  numerals,  162;  and  St. 
Albans,  163. 

Batcombe,  Parish  Church  of,  41. 

Bath,  71;  and  Abbot  Feckenham, 
203  seqq. ;  Feckenham's  bath  and 
hospital  in,  217. 

Bath  Abbey,  9. 

Battle  Abbey,  3. 

Beche,  John,  Abbot  of  Colchester, 
95;  not  long  at  Colchester,  96  note ; 
at  Oxford,  96;  his  piety  and 
learning,  98;  his  distress  at  the 
deaths  of  Fisher  and  More,  99, 
103;  in  the  Tower,  101;  exam- 
ination of  witnesses  against,  101; 
his  loyalty  to  authority  of  the 
Pope,  102;  his  opinion  of  Cran- 
mer,  etc.,  103;  his  opinion  on 
the  divorce  question,  104;  his 
refusal  to  surrender  of,  104;  his 
pectoral  cross,  105,  III  seqq. 

Becket,  St.  Thomas,  his  cause  same 
as  that  of  abbots,  106;  his  Life 
found  at  Glastonbury,  52. 

Bede,  St.,  on  St.  Gregory  as  Apostle 
of  England,  280;  on  St.  Gregory's 
attempt  to  go  to  England,  288. 

Bede-roll,  276. 

Bedford,  Earl  of,  befriended  by 
Feckenham,  209. 

Bells,  peal  of,  at  Leverton,  process 
of  casting,  etc.,  274. 

Beneall,  Richard,  monk  of  Glaston- 
bury, 21. 

Benedict  I,  289  note. 

Benedictine  Order,  loyalty  of,  to 
Holy  See,  86;  colleges  of,  at  Ox- 
ford, 96. 

Benen,  St.,  and  Glastonbury,  4; 
Church  of,  at  Glastonbury,  14. 

Benet  Biscop,  St.,  4. 


INDEX 


315 


Benet,  Dom  John,  subpriorof  Glas- 
tonbury, 18. 

Bere,  Abbot  of  Glastonbury,  10, 
7$  note;  installed  as  abbot,  12; 
his  administration,  14;  his  build- 
ings, 14,  19;  his  learning,  15; 
entertains  Henry  VII,  13;  his 
embassy  to  the  Pope,  15;  his 
death,  17  ;  his  tomb,  19;  character 
of,  14. 

Bere,  Blessed  Richard,  9. 

Berger,  Samuel,  on  ancient  biblical 
studies,  114;  on  Bibles  in  Eng- 
land translated  from  the  Hebrew, 
122;  on  study  of  the  Bible,  125; 
on  Bacon's  criticisms  of  biblical 
text  revisions,  131;  on  Correc- 
torium  Vaticanum,  137  seqq.;  on 
unknown  biblical  scholar,  138: 
discovers  name  of,  139;  on  Roger 
Bacon's  learning,  164. 

Bergholt,  East,  Benedictine  Abbey 
at,  112. 

Berkeley,  Maurice,  Crumwell's  re- 
quests for,  41. 

Bible  of  Charlemagne  at  Metz,  137. 

Birkcnshaw,  John,  Abbot  of  Ches- 
ter, 96  note. 

Bishops,  the,  under  Henry  VIII, 
25-26. 

filanutngere,  method  of  preparation 
of,  176. 

Blessed  Virgin,  Services  in  Chapel 
of,  at  Glastonbury,  107. 

Blessing,  parental,  241. 

Boisil,  St.,  4. 

Boll,  Harry,  presents  Chalice  to 
Church,  270. 

Bonaventure,  St.,  117. 

Book  of  Histories  read  at  Oxford, 
119. 

Book  of '  Kervyngc,  168,  232. 

Book  of  Sentences  preferred  to  Bible 
in  studies,  119. 


Borde,  Andrew,  Begyment,  231  ;  on 
hearing  Mass,  232. 

Boston,  bell  casting  at,  274. 

Breton  [or  Briton],  Wm.  the,  Fran- 
ciscan, corrects  Bible  text,  126, 
148. 

Brewer,  Rev.  Mr.,  on  scholarship 
of  Friars,  151. 

Bridgewater,  71. 

Bristol  merchants  and  Glastonbury 
memorials,  7. 

Bristol,  St.   Augustine's  Abbey  at, 

38. 

British  bishops  and  Rome,  91  note. 

British  Christianity,  evidences  of, 
at  Glastonbury,  5. 

British  Church  at  Glastonbury,  4. 

Brook,  Robert,  carver  of  statues, 
275. 

Rroxholme,  John,  buys  up  chaun- 
tries,  257. 

Bruges,  Franciscan  Convent  at,  9. 

Brunton,  Bishop,  on  religious  ob- 
ligations of  Christian  riches, 
248. 

Brussels,  Benedictine  nuns  at,  III. 

Bruton  Abbey,  Dr.  Layton  on  reli- 
gious life  at,  38. 

Bruton,  Bishop  Gilbert,  Abbot  of, 
blesses  Abbot  Whiting,  22. 

Brynstan,  Friar  John,  preaches  at 
Glastonbury,  42. 

Bubwith,  Nich.,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  account  of  and  funeral 
feast  of,  172;  Menu  of  funeral 
feast  of,  detailed,  174  seqq. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  11  note; 
position     of,    in     west    country, 

34- 
Bungay,        Thomas,        Franciscan 

teacher,  117. 
Burley,  Franciscan  teacher,  117. 
Burnet,  on  the  condemnation  of  the 

three  abbots,  57. 


3i6 


INDEX 


Csedwalla,  King,  his  journey  to 
Rome,  5. 

Calixtus  II  reminds  Henry  I  of 
England's  debt  to  St.  Gregory, 
307- 

Cambridge  University,  Abbot  Whit- 
ing at,  11,  17. 

Camerarius,  the,  duties  of,  17. 

Candidus,  urged  by  St.  Gregory  to 
assist  English  youths,  291. 

Canterbury,  3. 

Canterbury,  anciently  Epistle  sung 
there  in  Greek  and  Latin,  281 ; 
St.  Dunstan's,  "old  Moder  Hop- 
per's" gift  to,  270. 

Canterbury,  Archbishop  of,  position 

of,  34- 
Canterbury  Tales,  on  rights  of  the 

poor,  248. 
Caruell   family  persecuted  by  Fel- 

ton,  195. 
Cassiodorus,  123. 
Caterers,  mediaeval,  171. 
Cawdelle  Ferry,  how  to  make,  177. 
Chair,  the  Glastonbury,  70  note. 
Challoner,  Bishop,  on  troubles  en- 
dured during  penal  times,  186. 
Charlemagne  sees  need  of  revision 

of  text  of  Bible,  124. 
Chaucer,    his     description    of    the 

Franklin's  housekeeping,  178. 
Chaunder,  John,  Bishop  of  Sarum, 

installation  feast  of,  1 72. 
Chauntry,  what  it  really  was,  256. 
Cheke,  Sir  John,   owes  his  life  to 

Feckenham,  209. 
Chester,  Abbot  of,  becomes  Abbot 

of  Colchester,  96  note. 
Chester,     John,    chauntry     priest, 

257. 

Church,    mediaeval    attendance  at, 

239- 
Church, parish,  looked  on  as  property 

of  parishioners,  277-278. 


Churchwardens'  Accounts,  264. 

Churchwardens,  arranged  hours  for 
Masses,  paid  obits,  etc. ,  266-267  ; 
trustees  of  parish  property,  266 ; 
and  the  poor,  268. 

Cicely,  mother  of  Edward  IV,  rules 
for  the  household  of,  178  seqq. 

Cistercian  movement,  abbeys 
founded  during,  2. 

Civil  commotions,  demoralising 
effect  of,  10. 

Clarke,  Thomas,  42. 

Claymond,  John,  75  note. 

Cleeve  Abbey,  fined  by  Henry  VII, 
16. 

Clement  IV,  115;  encourages  learn- 
ing, 151. 

Clergy  in  sixteenth  century,  the, 
25. 

Clerke,  Dom  Robert,  sacrist  at 
Glastonbury,  18. 

Clifford,  Lord,  present  possessor  of 
Abbot  Beche's  cross,  112. 

Clothair  II,  receives  English  mis- 
sionaries, 295. 

Cobbes,  Richard,  77  seqq. 

Colchester,  Abbey  of,  difficulties  as 
to  temporalities,  95 ;  oath  of 
supremacy  administered  at,  97 ; 
gateway  of,  100;  reported  dis- 
solution of,  100. 

Colchester,  Abbot  of.    See  Beche. 

Coliner,  Henry,  prior  of  Glaston- 
bury, 17. 

Collectivism,  outcome  of  Catholic 
religion,  253. 

Collier,  his  account  of  condemna- 
tion of  abbots,  57. 

Comestor,  Peter,  work  of,  on  Book 
of  Histories,  119. 

Compromissum,  election  of  Abbot 
Whiting  by,  18. 

Constantia,  Athenian  maiden, 
teacher  of  Greek,  158. 


INDEX 


3l7 


Constantinople,  influence  of,  on 
Western  studies,  144  seqq.' 

Cook,  Abbot  Hugh,  of  Reading, 
his  origin,  72,  73  ;  his  alternative 
name  of  Faringdon,  "j^no/e ;  his 
election  as  abbot,  74;  affection  of 
Henry  VIII  for,  76,  79,  83;  his 
reports  about  the  king's  death, 
82;  his  difficulties  with  Bishop 
Shaxton,  76  seqq. ;  his  detestation 
of  new  doctrines,  80;  his  loyalty 
to  Holy  See,  86;  on  the  royal 
supremacy,  29,  80,  90  seqq. ; 
holds  examination  on  treasonable 
correspondence,  82 ;  his  sus- 
picion of  Dr.  London,  87;  his 
treason  is  really  his  loyalty  to 
Rome,  29,  82,  89;  examination 
in  the  Tower,  88;  his  condemna- 
tion in  the  Tower,  56,  88;  his 
unwillingness  to  surrender  his 
abbey,  87 ;  date  of  his  martyr- 
dom, 90;  his  speech  at  his  execu- 
tion, 90;  testimony  as  to  martyr- 
dom, 72. 

Cooper,  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, refused  burial  to  recu- 
sants, 191. 

Copyists,  errors  of,  123. 

Cornish,  Dr.  Thomas,  Bishop  of 
Tinos,  ordains  Abbot  Whiting,  16. 

Cornish  insurgents,  12. 

Correcioria,  136  seqq. 

Counter,  the,  supposed  trial  of 
abbots  in,  56. 

Coventry,  Ciles,  grey  friar  of  Read- 
ing,  88. 

Cox,  Bishop  Ric,  receives  Fecken- 
ham,  221. 

Cox,  Leonard,  75. 

Cranmer,  Archbishop,  his  Lutheran 
opinions,  78;  a  heretic,  103. 

Criticism,  biblical,  English,  in  thir- 
teenth century,  113  seqq. 


Crowland,  3. 

Crowman,  Edmund,  servant  of 
Abbot  Beche,  101. 

Croydon,  the  vicar  of,  90. 

Crumwell,  Thomas,  Sir  Thomas 
More's  advice  to,  25 ;  advance- 
ment of,  26;  his  views  as  to 
Glastonbury,  42;  defective  re- 
cords of  the  last  years  of  his  ad- 
ministration, 47 ;  denies  any  in- 
tention of  a  general  dissolution, 
48 ;  his  determination  to  proceed 
against  Abbot  Whiting,  50;  his 
Remembrances ;  54,  56,  59,  88 ; 
condemns  the  abbots,  56 ;  Abbot 
Beche's  opinion  about,  103. 

Cunthorpe,  Dean  of  Wells,  enter- 
tains Henry  VII,  13. 

Cura  Paslorali,  de,  of  St.  Gregory, 
305- 

Danes,  ravages  of  the,  4,  6. 
Dante   on    Michael  Scot's   powers, 

156. 

David,  St.,  and  Glastonbury,  4. 

Dayes  of  the  Wcke  Moralysed,  on 
Mass  hearing,  233. 

Deira,  285. 

Democracy,  Christian,  in  pre- Re- 
formation times,  245  seqq. 

Denifle,  Father,  on  biblical  studies, 

139. 

Denys  the  Areopagite,  pseudo-,  text 
of,  brought  to  England,  159. 

Dialogues  of  St.  Gregory,  287  note. 

Dinners,  Two,  at  Wells  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  166  seqq. 

Dissolution  of  monasteries,  the  gen- 
eral, 47 ;  royal  intention  of,  de- 
nied, 48. 

Dives  et  Pauper,  on  rights  of  the 
poor,  247  ;  on  religious  obligations 
of  Christian  riches,  249. 

Divorce,    the,    27;    a   book    upon, 


3i8 


INDEX 


found  among  Abbot  Whiting's 
effects,  52-55;  Abbot  Beche  on, 
104. 

Docking,  Thomas,  Franciscan 
teacher,  117. 

Dominicans  of  Paris  revise  Bible, 
125. 

Doulting,  2. 

Dover,  St.  Mary's,  payment  to  priest 
to  read  bede-roll,  276. 

Dudley,  Lady  Jane,  befriended  by 
Feckenham,  209. 

Dugdale,  Sir  Wm.,  gives  descrip- 
tion of  Feckenham,  222. 

Duns   Scotus,    Franciscan    teacher, 

117,  157- 
Dunstan,   St.,  6;    his  dream  as  to 

Glastonbury,  6;  monastic  revival 

under,  7. 
Durham,  Liber  vitae  of,  5. 

Eccleston,  Friar,  on  Oxford  teach- 
ing, 116;  on  activity  of  Friars, 
152. 

Edgar,  King,  his  chapel  at  Glaston- 
bury, 19. 

Edward  III,  preparation  for  a  dinner    | 
for,  169  seqq. 

Edward  IV,  rules  for  household  of 
Cicely,  mother  of,  178  seqq.\  rules 
of,  for  his  son  to  hear  daily  Mass, 
232;  directions  of,  for  perform- 
ance of  divine  service,  239. 

Edward  V,  regulations  for  training 
of,  228;  instructions  for  saying 
grace,  235. 

Edward  VI  and  the  confiscation  of 
guilds  and  chauntries,  256. 

Edwin,  King,  burial  of,  283;  con- 
version of,  290. 

Edwin,  St.,  translation  of  body  of, 
from  Hatfield  to  Whitby,  291  note. 

Egelyonby,  Sir  Robert,  gift  to 
Church,  269. 


Election    of    abbots,    form  of,    17 

seqq. 
Eliot,    Sir   Thomas,    suspected    of 

popish  opinions,  86. 
Elizabeth,      Princess      (afterwards 

Queen)  befriendedby  Feckenham, 

209. 
Elphege,  St.,  7. 
England,  revival  of  learning  in,  154- 

155- 

Erasmus,  and  Abbot  Bere,  15;  on 
music  in  English  monasteries, 
108. 

Ethelbert,  King,  conversion  of,  290. 

Ethelwold,  St.,  7. 

Eusebius,  161. 

Evesham  Abbey,  3. 

Evesham  Abbey,  Feckenham  edu- 
cated at,  205. 

Ewald,  Professor,  and  discovery  of 
very  ancient  Life  of  St.  Gregory, 
283  and  note. 

Ewerer,  office  of,  168. 

Exmew,  Blessed  William,  II. 

Eynesham,  Abbot  of,  86. 

Eynon,  John,  60  note,  81,  90,  91; 
right  spelling  of  name,  91  note; 
his  declaration  as  to  the  papal 
supremacy,  92  note. 

Family  Life,  Christian,  in  pre-Re- 
formation  days,  224  seqq. 

Family  ties,  forgetfulness  of,  226. 

Faringdon,  Abbot.    See  Cook. 

Faubourdon  music  at  Glastonbury, 
118. 

Feckenham,  Abbot,  and  Bath,  203 
seqq. 

Feckenham,  John,  alias  Howman, 
birth  and  training  of,  204;  goes 
to  Oxford,  205 ;  ordination  of, 
206 ;  takes  degree  of  Bachelor  01 
Divinity,  207 ;  teaches  at  Eves- 
ham, 207;  signs  surrender  of  his 


INDEX 


319 


monastery,  pensioned,  207 ;  re- 
turns to  Oxford,  207;  chaplain  to 
Bishop  Bell  of  Worcester,  then  to 
Bishop  Bonner,  207 ;  sent  to 
Tower  by  Edward  VI,  still  Vicar 
of  Solihull,  207;  disputes  at  Sir 
W.  Cecil's  house,  and  at  Sir  John 
Cheke's,  208;  holds  disputation 
with  Bishop  Hooper,  208 ;  re- 
leased from  Tower,  208 ;  preaches 
at  Paul'sCross,  209;  againbecomes 
chaplain  to  Bishop  Bonner,  209; 
prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  209;  in- 
tercedes for  Princess  Elizabeth 
(afterwards  Queen),  209;  chaplain 
and  confessor  to  Queen  Mary, 
209;  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  209; 
resumes  Benedictine  habit,  210; 
becomes  Abbot  of  Westminster, 
210;  restores  divine  office  to 
Westminster  Abbey,  211;  preaches 
at  Queen  Mary's  funeral,  212; 
hears  of  suppression  of  religious 
houses,  212;  rumoured  offer  to 
him  by  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Arch- 
bishopric of  Canterbury,  212; 
ejected  from  Westminster  Abbey, 
sent  to  Tower,  213;  in  charge  of 
Dean  Goodman,  then  of  Bishop 
Home,  214;  discussions  with 
Bishop  Home,  214;  sent  back  to 
Tower,  214;  released  from  prison, 
dwells  in  Holborn,  214;  bene- 
volence of,  214;  builds  aqueduct 
in  Holborn,  provides  poor  with 
milk,  215;  permitted  to  visit  Bath, 
215;  stays  with  Dr.  Sherwood  in 
Bath,  216;  builds  a  bath  and 
hospital  for  the  poor  in  Bath, 
217;  draws  up  book  of  medical 
recipes,  218;  his  rules  for  taking 
the  Bath  waters,  21S  seqq. ;  sus- 
pected of  influencing  consciences, 
221 ;  sent  to  live  with  Bishop  Cox, 


221;  sent  to  Wisbeach,  222; 
description  of,  by  Dugdalc,  222 ; 
death  and  burial  of,  222  ;  be- 
quests of,  to  poor  of  Westminster, 
223. 

Felons,  the  abbots  put  with  con- 
demned, 66. 

Felton,  persecutor  of  Catholics, 
194  seqq. 

Fisher,  Blessed  John,  II,  28,  55, 
59,  98,  103. 

Fitzjames,  Nicholas,  39,  64. 

Flemming,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  feast 
given  by,  172. 

Ford  Abbey,  fined  by  Henry  VII, 
16. 

Forrest,  Blessed  John,  28,  73. 

Fortescue,  Sir  John,  198. 

Fountains  Abbey,  2. 

Fox,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
12. 

Fox,  John,  the  martyrologist,  10. 

Francis,  Dom  John,  monk  of  Col- 
chester, 97. 

Frankish,  Wm.,  legacy  of,  for 
statues,  275. 

Fredegond,  Queen,  receives  mis- 
sionaries to  England,  295. 

Frieston,  bell  casting  at,  275. 

Fuller,  describes  Feckenham,  209. 

Galingale,  169. 

Gall,  St.,  MS.  life  of  St.  Gregory, 
283. 

Gawen  family,  troubles  of,  in  penal 
times,  192  seqq;  persecuted  by 
Felton,  195;  Star  Chamber  pro- 
ceedings against,  196  seqq. 

Gawen,  Frances,  first  Abbess  of 
Cambrai,   194. 

Gawen.  John,  settles  at  Norrington, 

„  x93- 

Gawen,  Thomas,  refuses  to  attend 
Protestant    service,     193;    fined, 


_i20 


INDEX 


193;    estate    sequestrated,     193; 

marries    Katherine    Waldegrave, 

193;   his   grave   desecrated,  200 

seqq. 
Gawen,    Thomas,    son  of  Thomas 

Gawen,  194. 
Gawen,  Thomas  (Junior),  settles  at 

Horsington,  Somerset,  202. 
Gawen,     Wm.,    sells     Norrington, 

202. 
Gerson,  John,  30. 
Gesta  Abbatum  Fontanellensium,  on 

England's   fidelity  to  Holy  See, 

2S1. 
Gifford  Hall,  III. 
Gildas,  St.,  and  Glastonbury,  4. 
Giles,  Bachelor,  81,  88. 
Giles,  John  of  St.,  and  St.  Albans, 

163. 
Glastonbury  Abbey,  unique  charac- 
ter of,  2  seqq.;  legends  of,  5,  7; 
a  Roma  secunda,  7 ;  pilgrimages 
to,    7;    Henry  VII   at,    13,   15; 
school  at,  9 ;  musical  training  at, 
107  seqq.;  number  of  monks  at, 
17,  28;  love  of  monks  for  tradi- 
tion of,  70  note ;  magnificence  of 
the  buildings  at,  63;    the  great 
church  of,   19;  the  religious  ser- 
vices  at,    107 ;    character   of  the 
religious  life  at,  38  note;  position 
of  an  abbot  of,  22,    33;  abbot's 
house  at,  34;  abbot's  garden  at, 
44;  supremacy  oath  taken  at,  27; 
royal  injunctions  unworkable  at, 
39 ;  views  on  king's  policy  at,  43 ; 
coming   dissolution   of,    47 ;    last 
undissolved    house   in    Somerset, 
49  ;    final  measures  against,   50  ; 
plate  at,  51,   54;    the  great  sap- 
phire of,   51  note;  ransacked  for 
plate,  52;  dissolution  of,  52,  54; 
Crumwell's  note  as  to  plate,  59; 
the   chair   belonging   to,    35,   70 


note ;  proposed  restoration  of,  in 
Mary's  reign,  71. 
Glastonbury,  British  Church  at,  4; 
St.    Benen's  Church  at,  4;    Tor 
Hill  at,  2,  69,  70. 
Glastonbury,  Dom  John,  cellarer  of 

the  abbey,  18. 
Gloucester  Hall,  Oxford  or  Monks' 
College,  now  Worcester  College, 
205. 
"Gobbetts,"  168. 
Grace  at  Meals,  235. 
Greek,   knowledge  of,  at  Glaston- 
bury,  15;    at   Reading,   75  note; 
need  of  knowledge  of,  in  biblical 
studies,    120;    studied    in    West 
after  capture  of  Constantinople, 
144. 
Green,  J.    R.,  on    the  influence  of 
Rome  on  the  "  making  of  Eng- 
land," 310. 
Gregory    IX   writes  on    behalf    of 

Michael  Scot,  121. 
Gregory  of  Xazianzum,  St.,  147. 
Gregory  the  Great,  St.,  influence  of, 
in  adoption  of  St.  Jerome's  Vul- 
gate,    123;     and    England,    279 
seqq. ;  and  Saxon  youths  in  Rome, 
282;  most  ancient  Life  of,  com- 
posed at  Whitby,   283;    Life   of 
Pope,   St..   written  by  a  monk  of 
Whitby,    284   note ;    miracle    of 
doubting   woman,   285;    said    to 
have  delivered  Trajan  from  hell, 
285-286;  becomes  monk  and  de- 
sires to  become  apostle  of  Eng- 
land, 287 ;  Saxon  youths,  legend 
of,  288;  becomes  Pope,  291 ;  de- 
termines on  mission  to  England, 
291-292;  urges  Candidus  to  assist 
English   youths,    291;    sends  St. 
Augustine  to  England,  292;  letter 
of,  to  missionaries  on  way  to  Eng- 
land,   293 ;    writes  to    Virgilius, 


INDEX 


321 


Bishop  of  Aries,  294  ;  writes  to 
Theodoric,  King  of  Burgundy, 
294 ;  to  Theodebert,  295  ;  to 
Brunhild,  295 ;  delighted  with 
conversion  of  England,  296;  in- 
forms Eulogius  of  Alexandria, 
296 ;  rejoices  at  conversion  of 
England  in  Morals  on  the  Book  of 
fob,  297;  on  the  success  of  the 
English  missioners,  298 ;  writes 
to  King  Ethelbert  and  Queen 
Bertha,  299;  writes  to  congratu- 
late St.  Augustine  and  warn  him 
against  pride,  300 ;  orders  St. 
Augustine  to  utilise  pagan  tem- 
ples, 301 ;  his  Responsions,  302- 
303 ;  founds  English  Sees  and 
settles  government  of  Church, 
304;  love  and  reverence  for,  of 
English  people,  304  seqq. ;  Eng- 
land's debt  to,  307 ;  revolt  of 
Roman  mob  against,  308;  Peter 
the  deacon's  secret  about,  308; 
and  "  the  making  of  England  " 
influence  of,  on,  310. 

Grey  Friars  at  Reading,  proceedings 
against,  88. 

Grey,  Lord  de  la,  fish  banquet  by, 
172. 

Grimbald,  King  Alfred's  Mass 
priest,  306. 

Grocyn,  75  note. 

Grosseteste,  Bishop,  Roger  Bacon's 
master,  116;  urges  Friars  to 
pursue  studies,  118;  Bacon  on 
his  attainments,  121 ;  on  cor- 
rection of  biblical  texts,  122;  and 
the  revival  of  learning  in  Eng- 
land, 157;  his  masters,  157;  De 
cessatione  legalium,  159;  trans- 
lates Greek  works,  160;  value  of 
his  work,  165. 

Guilds,  259  seqq. 

Guilds,  confiscation  of,  256. 


Hales,  Alexander  of,  first  read  Book 
of  Sentences,  119. 

Hallam  on  splendours  of  Constan- 
tinople, 144. 

Hanborough,  86. 

Hanotaux,  M.,  on  economic  aspect 
of  Reformation,  255. 

Harpsfield,  Dr.,  suspected  of  in- 
fluencing consciences,  221. 

Hay  ward e,  reporter  of  Star  Cham- 
ber proceedings,  199. 

Hearne,  the  antiquary,  9. 

Heath,  Archbishop,  sings  Mass  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  211. 

Hebrew,  need  of  knowledge  of,  in 
biblical  studies,  120. 

Henley  on  Thames,  hours  of  Mass 
at,  payment  of  priests  at,  276. 

Henry  IV,  coronation  feast  of,  1 72. 

Henry  VII,  insurgents  against,  12; 
visits  Glastonbury,  12,  15. 

Henry  VIII,  early  reputation  of,  28  ; 
general  character  of,  25 ;  his  spi- 
ritual headship  not  understood, 
28,  29,  92  note\  object  of  royal 
injunctions  to  monasteries,  37; 
his  jealousy  for  royal  prerogatives, 
78;  reports  as  to  death  of,  82; 
his  breach  with  Rome  on  the 
divorce  question,  104. 

Hertford,  John  de,  Abbot  of  St. 
Albans,  patron  of  learning,  162. 

Hindeley,  John,  gifts  of,  to  church, 
269 ;  Gervase,  269 ;  Thomas,  269. 

Hinton,  Charterhouse,  49,  59. 

Hirdeboc,  or  St.  Gregory's  Pastoral 
Charge,  306. 

Hobhouse.  Bishop,  on  mediaeval 
laymen's  attitude  to  parish  church, 
265. 

Hody,  his  work  De  Bibliorum 
textibus,  115. 

Holyman,  Dom  John,  monk  of 
Reading,  75,  81. 


322 


INDEX 


Holyman,  Dr.,  rector  of  I  Ian- 
borough,  86. 

Honorius  I  calls  St.  Gregory 
"  teacher"  of  England,  305. 

Honorius  III,  writes  on  behalf  of 
Michael  Scot,  121 ;  recommends 
Michael  Scot  to  Cardinal  Lang- 
ton,  155;  encourages  learning, 
151 ;  on  Bishop  Grosseteste's 
learning,  157. 

Hopper  "Old  Moder,"  gift  of,  to 
Church,  270. 

Home,  Thomas,  Abbot  Whiting's 
servant,  62. 

Horner,  Thomas,  64. 

Houghton,  Blessed  John,  11. 

Howe,  John,  buys  up  Chauntries, 
257. 

Howman,  Florence,  204;  leaves 
bequest  to  poor  of  Solihull,  207. 

Howman,  Humphrey,  204 ;  leaves 
bequest  to  poor  of  Solihull,  207. 

Howman,  John,  alias  Feckenham, 
204. 

Ilchester,  71. 

Ina,  king,  3,  4;  his  journey  to 
Rome,  5. 

Individualism,  result  of  Reforma- 
tion, 253. 

Indractus,  the  hermit,  4. 

Injunctions,  object  of  the  royal,  37; 
unworkable  in  practice,  39. 

Innocent  III  encourages  learning, 
150. 

Instruction  of  children,  240. 

Inventories  of  Church  goods,  264. 

Irchons,  how  to  make,  177. 

"  Itala"  version  of  Bible,  123. 

James  I  repudiates  alleged  promise 
made  to  Catholics,  199. 

James,  Roger,  subtreasurer  of  Glas- 
tonbury, 53,  67,  70. 


Jansens,  on  result  of  Reformation 
in  Germany,  254. 

Jerome,  St.,  author  of  Vulgate, 
123. 

Jessopp,  Dr.,  on  self-government 
of  mediaeval  parishes,  266;  on 
vast  wealth  of  Church  treasures, 
271. 

Jewel,  John  (afterwards  Bishop  of 
Sarum),  disputes  with  Feckenham, 
208. 

Jews,  idea  of  conversion  of,  159. 

John,  King  Alfred's  Mass-priest, 
306. 

John  of  Oxford,  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
121;  encourages  students,  145, 
147. 

John  of  Salisbury,  on  English  scho- 
larship, in  his  Metalogicics,  141; 
his  own  training,  141  seqq.;  and 
Aristotle's  Logic,  148. 

John  the  Deacon,  on  St.  Gregory's 
miracles,  282;  supposed  to  have 
drawn  information  about  England 
from  St.  Bede's  History,  283. 

Joseph,  Robert,  prior  of  Monks' 
College  and  Feckenham's  master, 
205  ;  letter  book  of,  205  seqq. 

Julian,  the  Apostate,  147. 

Jurisdiction,  suspension  of  abbatial, 

39- 
Jury,  functions  of,  in  Tudor  times, 

63,  64. 
Jus  pauperum,  247. 
Justus,  St.,  298. 

Kennelle,  Ric. ,  sues  Gawen  family 
in  Star  Chamber,  196  seqq.  ; 
desecrates  grave  of  a  recusant, 
200;  blamed  by  Star  Chamber 
for  desecrating  grave,  201 ;  fined 
and  imprisoned,  201. 

King,  Oliver,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  13,  16. 


INDEX 


323 


Kirk-Newton,  Church  of,  dedicated 
to  St.  Gregory,  284 ;  reason  why, 
284. 

Lanfranc  purified  biblical  text,  124. 

Langton,  Cardinal,  his  connection 
with  biblical  studies,  125. 

Lateran  Council  orders  schools  of 
grammar  to  be  founded,  151. 

Latimer,  Bishop,  73;  his  Lutheran 
views,  78. 

Lawrence,  Peter,  warden  of  the 
Grey  Friars,  Reading,  in  Tower, 
88. 

Lawrence,  St.,  of  Canterbury,  290, 
298. 

Lay  Folks  Mass  Book,  232. 

Layman,  the,  status  of,  in  Catholic 
Church,  261 ;  in  the  pre- Reforma- 
tion parish,  261  seqq. 

Layton,  Dr.  Richard,  royal  Visitor 
at  Glastonbury,  38,  39,  60;  his 
testimony  to  the  religious  life  at 
Glastonbury,  38;  retracts  his 
praise,  51;  suspends  the  abbot's 
jurisdiction,  40;  arrests  the  Abbot 
of  Glastonbury,  51;  on  spoils  of 
Reading  Abbey,  93. 

Legh,  Thomas,  the  royal  Visitor,  37. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  befriended  by 
Feckenham,  209. 

Leland,  the  antiquary,  on  the  Glas- 
tonbury library,  36;  on  Abbot 
Whiting,  36  note. 

Leo  XIII  on  right  use  of  riches, 
249. 

Leverton,  church  accounts  of,  274  ; 
book-binding,  etc.,  at,  276  ;  pre- 
sent of  vestments  to  church  of, 
270. 

Library,  the,  at  Glastonbury,  36. 

Lightfoot,  Bishop,  and  Letters  of 
St.  Ignatius,  161. 

Loans,  parish,  to  the  poor,  268. 


London,  Dr.,  royal  Visitor  at  Read- 
ing, 76,  87. 

London,  Dom  Roger,  monk  of 
Reading,  76,  79  and  note,  Si;  in 
Tower,  88;  proceedings  against, 
88. 

London,  See  of,  founded  by  St. 
Gregory,  transferred  to  Canter- 
bury, 304. 

Loretto,  B.  V.  M.  of,  chapel  to,  at 
Glastonbury,  19. 

Ludlowe,  Sir  Edm.,  J. P.,  favours 
Gawen  family,  196  seqq. 

Lully,  Raymond,  117;  Franciscan 
traveller,  154;  urges  teaching  of 
Greek,  Arabic,  etc. ,  in  Paris,  154. 

Lutheran  doctrines,  opposed  at 
Reading,  75,  77,  80. 

Lyndwood,  Provinciate,  on  rights  of 
the  poor,  247 ;  on  duties  of 
parishioners,  269. 

Lyte,  John,  43. 

Machyn  records  sermon  by  Fecken- 
ham, 209;  describes  re-entry  of 
Benedictines  into  Westminster 
Abbey,  211. 

Manchester,  Richard,  friar,  Si;  in 
Tower,  88. 

Manners,  table,  in  fifteenth  century, 
167. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  on  supreme 
headship,  30. 

Mannock,  Family  of,  original  pos- 
sessors of  Abbot  Beche's  pectoral 
cross,  ill. 

Mannock,  Sir  George,  III;  Dame 
Etheldreda,  III. 

Mare,  Win.  de  la,  English  Fran- 
ciscan biblical  scholar,  139;  his 
work  against  St.  Thomas  of 
Aquin,  139 .. 

Marillac,  the  Ambassador,  40;  on 
Abbot  Whiting,  55. 


324 


INDEX 


Marsh,  Friar  Adam,  Roger  Bacon's 
master,  116;  lectures  in  Oxford, 
117;  on  correction  of  biblical 
texts,    122;  on  activity  of  friars, 

152,  157- 

Marshall,  Abbot  of  Colchester.  See 
Beche. 

Masbury  Camp,  view  from,  1. 

Mass,  behaviour  at,  234;  hearing, 
230;  Morrow,  231;  Jesu,  231. 

Mellitus,  St.,  282,  290,  298. 

Melun,  Robert  de,  teacher  in  Paris, 
142. 

Menus,  mediaeval,  171. 

Mere,  near  Glastonbury,  criticism 
of  king  at,  42. 

Melalogicus  of  John  of  Salisbury, 
141. 

Michiel  Giovanni,  Venetian  Am- 
bassador, on  restoration  of  the 
Benedictines,  210;  describes  re- 
storation of  divine  office  at  West- 
minster Abbey,  211. 

Middle  Ages,  literature  of,  formed 
on  Scripture,  114. 

Middleton,  Richard,  Franciscan 
teacher,  1 17. 

Monasteries,  royal  demands  on  re- 
venues of,  41 ;  strongholds  of  papal 
supremacy,  46-47 ;  suppressed  for 
the  sake  of  plunder,  31,  102;  legal 
aspect  of  suppression  of,  45  ;  royal 
visitation  of,  37 ;  object  of  royal 
injunctions  to,  37 ;  wrecking  of 
the  Somerset,  50 ;  means  of  com- 
munication between,  84-85 ;  music 
and  church  services  in,  107. 

Monketon,  the  Parish  Church  of, 
41. 

Monks,  Benedictine,  loyalty  of,  to 
I  loly  See,  86. 

Monks'  College,  Cambridge,  1 1 
note. 

Moore,  the  blind  harper,  81;  carries 


communications  between  monas- 
teries, 83,  85;  in  Tower,  88;  his 
probable  execution,  85  note. 
Morals  on  the  Book  of  Job,  287  note, 

3°5- 

More,  Blessed  Sir  Thomas,  a  wit- 
ness to  Abbot  Whiting's  election, 
43  ;  his  corrody  from  Glastonbury, 
41;  his  advice  to  Crumwell,  25; 
refuses  supremacy  oath,  28,  55; 
his  declaration  as  to  papal  su- 
premacy, 30;  died  for  Church's 
unity,  98;  103;  sought  parental 
blessing,  243. 

More,  Sir  John,  and  parental  bless- 
ing, 243. 

Morebath,  church  accounts  of, 
271-272. 

Morlai,  Daniel  de,  121;  student  and 
traveller,  145;  his  account  of  his 
search  for  learning,  146  seqq. ; 
knowledge  of  Aristotle,  150. 

Moyle,  51. 

Mucheleney  Abbey,  fined  by  Henry 
VII,  16. 

Music  at  Glastonbury,  107  seqq. 

Myrc,  Instructions  on  behaviour  at 
Mass,  234. 

Neckham,  Alexander,  on  learning 
at  St.  Albans,  163. 

Netley  Abbey,  2. 

Nevill,  Marmaduke,  98. 

Nicholas,  Deacon-librarian  of  Ro- 
man Church,  on  multitude  of  bib- 
lical versions,  124. 

Nicholas  the  "  Greek,"  Greek 
scholar,  122,  160;  account  of, 
162;  and  St.  Albans,  163. 

Nicke,  Richard,  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
12. 

Nobility,  the  new,  character  of,  24. 

Norman,  Richard,  gift  of,  to  church, 

273- 


INDEX 


325 


Norrington,  ancient  seat  of  Gawen 
family  at,  193. 

Northwood  Park,  41. 

Norway,  Sigfrid,  apostle  of,  7. 

Nottingham,  Amyas  Chauntry,  257; 
St.  Mary's  Chauntry,  257;  chaun- 
try   in    parish    of    St.    Nicholas, 

257- 
Nuthake,    Thomas,    his     evidence 
against  Abbot  Beche,  104. 

"  Obits,"  explanation  of,  257. 

Observants,  the,  28. 

Occham,    Franciscan  teacher,   117, 

157- 

Organists  at  Glastonbury,  the,  107. 

Oxford,  Abbot  Beche  takes  his  de- 
gree at,  96. 

Oxford,  studies  at,  116  seqq.;  re- 
nown of  Friars  of,  117;  learning, 
and  Franciscans  of,  157;  Hebrew 
taught  at,  122. 

Oynion.    See  Eynon. 

Pace,  Richard,  educated  by  Abbot 
Bere,  14. 

Papal  supremacy,  foundation  of,  30; 
loyalty  of  Abbot  Whiting  to,  68, 
88;  do.  of  Abbot  Cook,  80,  81, 
88,  90-91;  Abbot  Beche  in  favour 
of,  102 ;  abbots  died  for,  106. 

Paris,  course  of  studies  in,  142;  in- 
effective teaching  in,  146. 

Paris,  Matthew,  Chronica  Majora 
of,  on  Constantia  a  teacher  of 
Greek,  158;  on  Bishop  Grosse- 
teste's  translations  of  Greek  au- 
thors, 160;  on  Greek  method  of 
notation  in  Chronica  Majora, 
162. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  sends  Abbot 
Feckenham  to  Tower,  213. 

Parliament  did  not  attaint  abbots, 
55-56. 


Pancras,  St.,  Canterbury,  303. 
Parents,  responsibility  of,  225. 
Paschal  II  reminds   England  of  its 

debt  to  St.  Gregory,  307. 
Paston,  Agnes,  method  used  by,  to 

date  letters,  244. 
Paston  Letters,  method  of  dating, 

244. 
Pastoral   Charge    of    St.    Gregory, 

3°5- 

Patriarcharum      7'estamenta,     sent 

for,  to  Greece,  by  Bishop  Grosse- 
teste,  159. 

Patrick,  St.,  and  Glastonbury,  4. 

Paul  the  Deacon,  supposed  to  have 
drawn  information  about  Eng- 
land from  St.  Bede's  History, 
283. 

Paulet,  Sir  Amyas,  15,  21,  64. 

Paulinus,  St.,  282;  reverence  for, 
in  North  of  England,  284;  char- 
acter of,  291  note;  thought  by 
some  to  have  been  of  British 
birth,  292;  298. 

Pauperism,  outcome  of  Reforma- 
tion, 250. 

Payndemayn,  169. 

Peccham,  John,  Franciscan  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  117;  231; 
on  obligations  of  parishioners, 
268-269 

Pegge,  S.,  on  English  search  for 
Greek  manuscripts,  159;  on 
Nicholas  the  Greek,  162;  on 
mediaeval  table  manners,  16S. 

Pelagius  II,  287,  289  note. 

Penal  times,  troubles  of  a  Catholic 
family  in,  186  seqq. 

Peniarth  MSS.,  205. 

Penison,  William,  keeper  of  Read- 
ing Abbey,  94  note. 

Penny,  Thomas,  10. 

Perkin  Warbeck  in  Somerset,  13. 

Peter   the  Deacon,    legend   of    his 


326 


INDEX 


death  and  secret  about  St.  Gre- 
gory, 30S. 

Peter  the  Lombard,  120;  Book  of  the 
Sentences,  148. 

Peterborough,  3,  5. 

Petersfield,  list  of  Catholic  recu- 
sants in  church  at,  189. 

Petre,  William,  51  note. 

Philip,  St.,  disciples  of,  at  Glaston- 
bury, 4. 

Philipson,  Mr.,  on  economic  aspect 
of  Reformation,  255. 

Philosophy  of  ancients  known  in 
West  only  by  translations  from  the 
Arabic,  149. 

Philpot,  John,  presents  gifts  to 
Church,  270. 

Piers  Plowman,  on  rights  of  the 
poor,  248. 

Pigott,  Dame  Mary  Ursula,  ill; 
Nathaniel,  112. 

Pilgrimage  of  grace,  16;  connection 
of  Reading  with,  82;  denied  by 
Eynon,  92  note;  supposed  sympa- 
thy with,  at  Colchester,  97,  103. 

1'ilgrimage  to  Rome,  of  old  often 
made  by  Englishmen,  281. 

Pilgrim's  Way,  the,  at  Glastonbury, 
34- 

"  Pillage,  the  Great,"  250,  264. 

Pine,  Counsellor,  sues  Gawen 
family  in  Star  Chamber,  197. 

Plate   and  jewels   at    Glastonbury, 

5i>  59- 
Plato,  forgotten  in  the  West,   121; 

preferred    to   Aristotle    by   early 

Christian  Fathers,  147. 
1'legmund,  Archbishop,  306. 
Pole,  Cardinal,  59,  87,  89. 
Pollard,   22;   hands   over   plate   of 

Glastonbury,  54, 63 ;  accompanies 

Whiting  on  his  last  journey,  62; 

writes  about  Wells  jury,  64,  65, 

67 ;  at  Reading,  94. 


Pope,  the,  abbots  staunch  for,  89; 
spiritual  prerogatives  of,  29-30; 
respect  for,  86;  abbots  died  for, 
106. 

Porta  coeli,  the  choir  arch  at  Glas- 
tonbury called,  20. 

Possessions  of  parish,  nature  of, 
owned  by  parishioners,  267. 

Prayers,  morning,  228. 

Price,  John,  granted  benefit  of  re- 
cusancy of  Mrs.  Gawen,  202. 

Priests,  modern  parish  duties  and 
cares  of,  262. 

Prymer  (1538),  228;  morning 
prayers,  230. 

Quadrivium,  146. 

Ralph,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
refers  to  close  relations  between 
Rome  and  Canterbury,  307. 

Rates,  voluntary,  made  to  meet 
debts,  etc.,  272. 

Rawlie  [Raleigh],  Sir  W.,  198. 

Reading,  mock  trial  of  Abbot  Cook 
at,  89;  St.  Giles'  Church  in,  82; 
Grey  Friars  at,  dissolution  of,  87  ; 
warden  of,  in  Tower,  SS;  pro- 
ceedings against,  88. 

Reading  Abbey,  3 ;  position  of,  72 
teaching  at,  75;  Greek  studies  at 
75  note ;  strict  observance  at,  80 
scripture  lectures  at,  76  seqq. 
visitation  of,  76 ;  friends  of,  sus 
pected,  86;  suspense  at,  87 
spoils  of,  93 ;  ruins  of,  93. 

Records,   defective   nature    of  the, 

47- 
Recusancy,  Protestant   explanation 
of,  187;  Catholic  explanation  of, 

187.    ' 

Recusant  rolls,  188  seqq. 
Recusants,  who  they  were,  189;  re- 
fused burial,  191. 


INDEX 


3-7 


Reformation,  the,  and  the  poor, 
252;  responsible  for  poor  laws, 
252;  sought  not  "good"  but 
"goods"  of  the  Church,  254;  a 
rising  of  the  rich  against  the  poor, 

255- 

Remembrances,  Crumwell's,  54,  56, 
88;  facsimile  of,  58. 

Renan,  on  value  of  early  biblical 
and  philosophical  translations, 
150. 

Renynger,  James,  chief  organist  at 
Glastonbury,  108  seqq. 

Resfonsions  oi  St.  Gregory,  302-303. 

Reverence,  filial,  243. 

Reynolds,  Blessed  Richard,  II. 

Rhodes,  Hugh,  Book  of  Native, 
228;  Book  of  Nurture,  on  par- 
ental blessing,  242. 

Rich  and  poor,  mediaeval  relations 
between,  246. 

Rich,  St.  Edmund,  professor  at  Ox- 
ford, 116;  157. 

Richard,  of  Coventiy,  Franciscan 
teacher,  117. 

Rievaux  Abbey,  2. 

Rising,  early,  228. 

Robert  of  Gloucester,  on  Mass 
hearing,  233. 

Roberts,  John,  269;  Walter,  269. 

Roe,  Nicholas,  10. 

Rogers,  Thorold,  Mr.,  on  condi- 
tion of  labourers  before  Reforma- 
tion, 251;  traces  poor  laws  to 
suppression  of  monasteries,  254; 
on  guilds,  259. 

Rome,  Henry  VIII  throws  off  spi- 
ritual supremacy  of,  27 ;  Abbot 
Whiting's  loyalty  to,  68;  Abbot 
Cook's  last  testimony  to  love  for, 
91;  Abbot  Beche  on  supremacy 
of,  102. 

Roper,  Margery,  presents  gift  to 
Church,  270. 


Roses,  Wars  of  the,  8;   effect  of, 

24. 
Rowse,   Robert,    a  witness   against 

Abbot  Beche,  101. 
Rubruquis,  William  de,  Franciscan, 

Asian  traveller,  153. 
Rugg,  John,  60  note,  81 ;  formerly 

prebendary  of  Chichester,  92  note; 

proceedings   against,    88;    death 

of,    90,   92;    on    king's   supreme 

headship,  92  note. 

Saint-Cher,    Hugh     de,    Cardinal, 

corrects  Bible,  125-126,  131. 
Saint  Osyth's,  Chancellor  Audeley 

pleads  for,  100. 
Salisbury,  John  of,  on  the  spirit  of 

thirteenth  century,  164. 
Sander,  Nicholas,  on  condemnation 

of  abbots,  57 ;  interpolation  of  his 

work  on  The  Schism,  60  note. 
"  Savenapes,"  169. 
Scholarship,  English  biblical,  1 14. 
Scholarship,  English,  in  thirteenth 

century,  141  seqq. 
School  of  Virtue,  228. 
Schools,    at   Glastonbury,    9  seqq., 

108  seqq.;  at  Reading,  75  seqq. 
Scot,  Michael,  Latin,  Hebrew,  and 

Arabic  scholar,   121;  account  of, 

155  se'l'l- 

Seager,  School  of  Virtue,  on  be- 
haviour at  Mass,  234. 

Selby  Abbey,  3. 

Sellyng,  William,  Prior  of  Canter- 
bury, 75  note. 

Selwood,  Abbot  John,  10;  death 
of,  12. 

Serbopoulos,  John,  Greek  copyist 
at  Reading,  75  note. 

Shakespeare's  Friar  Lawrence,  1 52. 

Sharpe,  Dr.,  ascribes  pauperism 
to    suppression    of    monasteries, 

253- 


328 


INDEX 


Sharpham  manor  house,  arrest  of 
Abbot  Whiting  at,  51;  remains 
of  the  grange  at,  52. 

Shaxton,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  his 
Lutheran  views,  79;  his  action 
in  regard  to  Reading,  76  seqq. ; 
his  prison,  86. 

Sherwood,  Dr.,  tomb  of,  in  Bath 
Abbey,  216. 

Sherwood,  Dr.  John,  recusant  phy- 
sician in  Bath,  217. 

Sherwood,  Dr.  Ruben,  of  Bath,  en- 
tertains Feckenham,  216. 

Shrewsbury  Abbey,  3. 

Sigfrid,  apostle  of  Norway,  7. 

Silvester,  Pope,  St.,  British  bishops 
to,  91  note. 

Simmons,  Canon,  on  Mass  hearing 
in  mediaeval  days,  232,  233. 

Singing  school  at  Glastonbury,  108 
seqq. 

Somerset,  insurgents  in,  12;  pun- 
ishment of,  15;  wrecking  of 
monasteries  in,  50. 

Sotelte,  explanation  of,  183. 

Spices,  use  of  and  names  of,  169. 

Spies  of  Crumwell,  86 ;  at  Col- 
chester, 97,  99. 

Stafford,  Edward,  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, 1 1  note. 

Stafford,  John,  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  menu  for  installation  ban- 
quet of,  181  seqq.;  his  sotelte  or 
subtlety,  184. 

Stanbrook  Abbey,  founded  at  Cam- 
brai,  190. 

Standish,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph, 
91. 

Stanley,  Dean,  on  restoration  of 
Westminster  Abbey  to  Bene- 
dictines, 210. 

Stapeldon,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  8. 

Star  Chamber  proceedings  against 
Gawen  family,  196  seqq. 


State  supplants  parents  in  training 
children,  226. 

Stokesley,  Bishop,  29;  loyal  to 
papal  authority,  91. 

Stourton,  Lord,  his  connection  with 
Glastonbury  and  Benedictine 
Order,  44  and  tiote. 

Stowe,  relates  imprisonment  of 
bishops  and  others,  213. 

Stratford,  Archbishop,  on  rights  of 
the  poor,  248. 

Stubbs,  Bishop,  on  the  tithes  of  the 
poor,  248 ;  on  class  distinctions, 
250-251. 

Suppression  of  monasteries,  legal 
aspect  of,  45 ;  no  law  for  any 
general,  45. 

Supremacy,  the  royal,  oath  of,  27 ; 
as  tendered  to  monasteries,  32; 
method  of  regarding  it,  29 ;  used 
to  force  surrender,  49;  abbots 
condemned  for  refusing,  57,  90 
seqq. ;  view  taken  at  Reading 
concerning,  80;  the  touchstone 
of  loyalty,  97;  Abbot  Beche 
against,  102. 

Surrender,  the  forced,  of  monas- 
teries, 46. 

Syagrus,  Bishop  of  Autun,  291. 

Sydenham,  John,  94. 

Symonds,  Mr.,  on  scholarship  of 
Friars,  151. 

Taunton,  Perkin  Warbeck  at,   13; 

Franciscan   convent   at,   9  note ; 

St.  Margaret's  Spital  at,  14. 
Taunton,  Dom  John,  Precentor  of 

Glastonbury,  19. 
Taunton,  Rev.  E.  L.  (late),  204. 
Templum  Domini,  162. 
Theodore,  Archbishop,  3. 
Theodoret,  161. 
Thietmar,    on     Saxon    fidelity     to 

Roman  See,  281. 


INDEX 


329 


Thimbleby    family,    persecuted    by 

Felton,  195. 
Thomas,    St.,   of  Aquin,    117;    on 

right  use  of  riches,  250. 
Thomas  Wallensis,  157. 
Thome,  John,  the  martyr,  treasurer 

of  the  church  at  Glastonbury,  53, 

67,  70. 
Tintern  Abbey,  2. 
Tithing  man,  198. 
Tongue,  guard  of,  237. 
Tor  hill,  Glastonbury,  1;   the  scene 

of  martyrdom  of  Abbot  Whiting, 

69. 
Tower,  the,  Abbot  Whiting  sent  to, 

52;  examinations  in,  54;  Abbot 

Cook  in,   88 ;    prisoners  in,   88 ; 

condemnation  of  abbots  in,    56; 

secret    tribunal    in,    60;    Abbot 

Beche  in,  101. 
Trajan,  St.  Gregory  said  to  deliver 

him  from  hell,  285-286. 
Treason,  suppression  of  monasteries 

for   supposed,   46,  87;    meaning 

of,  in  Tudor  times,  68. 
Tregonwell,  John,  51  note. 
Tutton,  John,  42. 
Tychborne,  Nich.,  account  of  death 

and  burial  of,  190  seqq. 
Tymwell,  Anne,  of  Hayne,  gift  of,  to 

Church,  273. 
Tymwell,  Joan,  of  Hayne,  gift  of,  to 

Church,  273. 
Tyssington,  John,  161. 

Usher,  Archbishop,  and  Letters  of 
St.  Ignatius,  161. 

Vercellone,  on  Roger  Bacon's  re- 
vision of  Bible,  124-125;  on 
various  correcto ria,  136  seqq. 

Visitation  of  religious  houses,  the, 

37- 
Vulgate,  histoiy  of,  123. 


Waldegrave,  Katherine,  marries 
Thomas  Gawen,  193. 

Wallensis,  Thomas,  Roger  Bacon's 
master,  116. 

Wallis,  John,  Franciscan  teacher, 
117. 

Warham,  Archbishop,  his  view  as 
to  papal  authority,  91. 

Wasyn,  John,  election  of,  as  Abbot 
of  Glastonbury,  12. 

Watson,  Bishop,  suspected  of  in- 
fluencing consciences,  221. 

Watts,  John,  monk  of  Glastonbury, 

43- 

Weld,  the  Family  of,  112. 

Wells,  71;  Henry  VII  visits,  13; 
Cathedral  of,  34;  jury  assembled 
at,  63 ;  Abbot  Whiting  arrives  at, 
65;  bishop's  palace  at,  66. 

Wells,  two  dinners  at,  in  fifteenth 
century,  166  seqq. 

Westminster  Abbey,  position  of, 
34;  crowning  place  of  kings,  3; 
restored  to  Benedictines,  210; 
dispersal  of  community  of,  213. 

Wheatley,  South,  chauntries  and 
guilds  in,  258. 

Whitby,  source  of  most  ancient  Life 
of  St.  Gregory,  283. 

White,  Bishop,  preaches  at  Queen 
Mary's  funeral,  212. 

Whiting,  Richard,  Abbot  of  Glas- 
tonbury, early  life  of,  S  seqq.; 
birthplace  of,  9;  at  Glastonbury 
school,  10;  at  Cambridge,  II, 
17;  ordination  of,  16;  holds 
office  as  chamberlain,  17;  his 
election  as  abbot,  ijseqq.;  blessed 
as  abbot,  22 ;  simple  character  of 
his  life,  34  seqq. ;  his  character, 
19,  21;  his  bed,  35;  his  signa- 
ture, 112;  character  of  his  letters, 
41;  his  life  at  home,  42,  43;  his 
garden,  44;  king's  quarrel  with, 


53° 


INDEX 


47;  arrest  of,  51;  effects  ran- 
sacked for  evidence,  52;  sent  to 
Tower,  52 ;  supposed  treasons 
°f>  53»  54  5  real  offences  of,  54; 
examinations  in  Tower,  54,  56; 
his  condemnation  for  treason, 
56,  60;  design  to  lower  him,  60; 
indignities  offered  to  him,  61, 
66;  his  last  journey,  61;  date  of 
martyrdom,  67  and  note ;  place  of 
martyrdom,  69  note. 

Whitton,  112. 

Whytford,  Richard,  We?-ke  for 
Housholders,  229 ;  rules  for  early 
rising  and  prayers,  229;  on  be- 
haviour at  Mass,  234;  suggests 
reading  at  meals,  235;  on  guard 
of  the  tongue,  237 ;  on  parental 
blessing,  242. 

Wilfrid,  Roger.    See  James  Roger. 

William,  monk  of  St.  Denis  in 
Paris,  Eastern  traveller  and 
student,  144. 

William  the  Breton.  See  Breton, 
148. 

William  the  Conqueror  heard  Mass 
daily,  233. 

Williams,  Sir  John,  51  note. 

Willoughby,  Mr.,  minister,  refuses 
burial  to  recusants,  200. 

Wilton  Abbey,  9. 


Winchelsey,  Archbishop,  regulates 
for  duties  of  parishioners,  269. 

Winchester,  3;  Benedictine  Nuns 
at,  ill;  ancient  Catholic  ceme- 
tery at,  192. 

Wodeford,  William,  161. 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  makes  choice  of 
Abbot  Whiting,  18;  his  care  for 
religious  observance,  22. 

Wood,  Anthony  a,  on  Feckenham, 
206-207. 

Worde,     Wynkyn     de,     Boke     of 
Kervynge,  232. 

Work,  238. 

W'right,  Elizabeth,  270. 

Wright,  Sir  John,  presents  vest- 
ments to  Leverton  Church,  270. 

Wright,  William,  270. 

Wrington,  9. 

Wulfric,  brother  to  St.  Dunstan,  7. 

Wyndham  family  purchase  Nor- 
rington  Estate  of  Gawens,  202. 

Yatton,    churchwardens    sell    altar 

plate  to  pay  debts,  278. 
York,  See  of,  founded  by  St.  Gregory, 

304- 
Young   Children's   Book,    230;    on 

Mass  hearing,  233. 

Youths,  Saxon,  in  market-place  of 

Rome,  legend  of,  288. 


CHISWICK    PRESS:    PRINTED   BY   CHARLES   WHITTINGHAM   AND   CO. 
TOOKS   COURT,    CHANCERY   LANE,    LONDON. 


By  the  same  Author. 


Sixth  Edition,  with  new  Preface.    Demy  %vo,  Ss.  6d.  net. 


HENRY  VIII 

AND  THE 

ENGLISH   MONASTERIES 

BY 

ABBOT  GASOUET,  D.D. 


"  As  to  the  solid  value  of  this  great  book  there  is  absolutely  no  difference 
of  opinion  among  competent  critics,  and  the  scrupulous  moderation  which 
always  characterises  the  learned  Abbot's  statement  of  a  case,  and  the  total 
absence  of  controversial  bitterness,  renders  all  his  work  in  the  field  of 
history  acceptable  even  to  those  who  differ  the  most  widely  from  his  con- 
clusions. We  may  say  of  this  book,  as  we  said  of  another  by  the  same  author, 
that  of  such  historians  as  Abbot  Gasquet  the  cause  of  historic  truth  can  never 
have  too  many." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"This  'cheaper  revised  popular  edition'  of  what  is  now  a  standard  and 
indispensable  work  contains  a  new  preface,  in  which  Abbot  Gasquet  ex- 
plains and  holds  to  the  position  he  at  first  adopted,  and  which  succeeding 
investigation  only  proves  more  and  more  fully  to  be  just  and  historically 
correct. " — Academy. 

"The  work  of  Abbot  Gasquet  on  the  dissolution  of  the  English 
Monasteries  is  so  well  known  and  so  widely  appreciated  that  little  may 
be  said  to  commend  a  new  and  cheaper  edition.  The  criticism  of  nearly 
twenty  years  has  served  only  to  show  that  the  views,  expressed  by  the 
author  in  the  original  edition,  are  shared  by  every  candid  student  of  the 
events  of  that  period." — Scottish  Historical  Review. 


LONDON:   GEORGE   BELL   AND   SONS 
York  House,  Portugal  Street,  W.C. 


Fourth  Edition,  Revised.    Crotvn  8vo,  6s.  net. 


THE  EVE  OF 
THE  REFORMATION 

STUDIES  IN  THE  RELIGIOUS  LIFE  AND  THOUGHT 

OF  THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE  IN  THE  PERIOD 

PRECEDING  THE  REJECTION  OF  THE 

ROMAN  JURISDICTION  BY 

HENRY  VIII 

BY 

ABBOT  GASOUET,  D.D. 


"  Dr.  Gasquet  has  produced  a  book  which  will  set  many  men  thinking. 
He  has  done  an  excellent  piece  of  work,  and  has  offered  to  students  of 
history  a  highly  interesting  problem.  He  writes  as  usual  in  a  lucid  and 
attractive  style.  The  controversial  element  is  so  subordinated  to  the 
scholarly  setting  forth  of  simple  facts  and  the  adroit  marshalling  of  evidence, 
that  one  might  read  the  volume  through  without  being  tempted  to  ask 
what  the  author's  creed  is,  or  whether  he  has  any,  and  when  one  gets  to  the 
end  one  is  inclined  to  wish  that  there  were  a  little  more." — Athenaiim. 

"Dom  Gasquet  is  one  of  the  few  writers  on  controversial  subjects  whom 
it  is  always  a  pleasure  to  read,  perhaps  because  he  never  writes  in  a  con- 
troversial spirit,  nor,  so  far  as  appears,  for  a  controversial  end.  .  .  .  He 
has  done  good  service  to  the  cause  of  historical  truth  by  insisting  that  the 
Church  in  England  on  the  eve  of  the  Reformation  was  not  so  hopelessly 
corrupt  as  the  fancy  of  the  popular  Protestant  has  painted  it." — Guardian. 

"  Even  when  one  differs  from  Dr.  Gasquet's  conclusions,  there  is  no 
gainsaying  his  learning,  acuteness,  and,  what  is  best  in  a  controversialist, 
his  desire  to  be  fair.  All  these  virtues  are  present  in  '  The  Eve  of  the 
Reformation.'  .  .  .  Future  historians  must  meet  seriously  his  sustained 
argument  that  when  the  great  change  took  place  '  so  far  from  the  Church 
being  a  merely  effete  or  corrupt  agency  in  the  commonwealth,  it  was  an 
active  power  for  good  in  a  very  wide  sense.'  " — Times. 


LONDON  :  GEORGE  BELL  AND  SONS 

2 


Demy  Svo,  12s.  net. 


HENRY  THE  THIRD  AND 
THE  CHURCH 

A  STUDY  OF  HIS  ECCLESIASTICAL  POLICY 

AND  OF  THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN 

ENGLAND  AND  ROME 

BY 

ABBOT  GASQUET,  D.D. 


"It  is  written  with  no  desire  to  defend  the  Papacy  from  the  charges 
which  were  made  even  by  the  faithful  at  the  time,  and  it  may  fairly  claim 
to  represent  an  unbiassed  survey  of  the  evidence.  He  has  gone  carefully 
through  a  large  body  of  evidence  which  English  historians  have  too  much 
neglected,  and  that  his  investigations  serve  rather  to  confirm  than  to  upset 
generally  received  opinions  is,  perhaps,  additional  reason  for  gratitude. 
I  lis  book  will  be  indispensable  to  the  student  of  the  reign  of  Henry  III." — 
Times. 

"  This  substantial  book  is  beyond  doubt  a  valuable  study  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical policy  of  Henry  III  and  his  advisers,  and  of  the  relations  between 
England  and  Rome.  The  whole  of  the  chapters  on  this  exceptionally 
interesting  half-century  of  English  history,  when  the  relations  of  Church 
and  State  were  sorely  tried,  are  written  in  a  spirit  of  admirable  calmness 
and  fairness  of  citation,  nothing  apparently  of  importance  being  kept  back 
on  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  questions  that  come  under  discussion.  Dr. 
Gasquet's  endeavour  has  been  to  state  the  facts  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
actual  language  of  the  time,  or  in  the  statements  of  such  chroniclers  as 
Matthew  Paris.  The  result  of  this  honest  endeavour  is  a  trustworthy  con- 
tribution to  the  story  of  this  long  reign  on  the  very  points  upon  which  most 
historians  are  either  silent  or  provokingly  brief." — Athenautn. 

"  In  this,  his  latest  work,  Abbot  Gasquet,  breaking  away  from  the  epoch 
of  the  Reformation  upon  which  his  researches  have  shed  so  much  light, 
has  given  us  a  considerable  contribution  to  the  study  of  one  of  the  most 
difficult  reigns  in  our  history.  .  .  .  We  trust  we  have  said  enough  to  send 
our  readers  to  the  book  itself  and  to  indicate  with  what  scrupulous  com- 
pleteness and  painstaking  veracity  the  facts  are  set  forth,  ami  with  what 
soberness  and  impartiality  Abbot  Gasquet  deals  out  his  verdict." — Tablet. 


LONDON  :  GEORGE  BELL  AND  SONS 

3 


Second  Edition,  Crown  Svo,  6s.  net. 


THE    BLACK    DEATH 

OF  1348  AND   1349 

BY 

ABBOT  GASQUET,  D.D. 

"  By  far  the  most  interesting  and  exhaustive  record  to  be  found  of  this 
most  appalling  visitation." — Morning  Post. 

"A  scholarly  monograph  upon  the  Great  Pestilence  .  .  .  which  not  only 
brings  the  history  of  the  plague  up  to  date,  but  tells  us  all  that  is  likely  to 
be  known  of  the  subject  lor  a  considerable  time  to  come.'' — Alhenceum. 

"The  gratitude  of  all  students  of  English  history  is  due  to  Dr.  Gasquet 
for  this  painfully  interesting  narrative  of  a  calamity,  the  greatness  of  which 
has  not  hitherto  been  sufficiently  recognized.  .  .  .  We  can  only  urge  upon 
all  students  of  the  history  of  the  English  Church  to  read  carefully  this  im- 
portant work.  Every  page  bears  evidence  of  his  caution,  and  his  con- 
clusions are  borne  out  by  his  facts." — Guardian. 


Second  Edition,  Crown  Svo,  6s.  net. 


THE  OLD  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

AND  OTHER  ESSAYS 

BY- 
ABBOT  GASQUET,  D.D. 

Contents:  Notes  on  Mediaeval  Monastic  Libraries — The  Monastic 
Scriptorium — A  Forgotten  English  Preacher — The  Pre-Keformation  Eng- 
lish Bible — Religious  Instruction  in  England  during  the  Fourteenth  and 
Fifteenth  Centuries — A  Royal  Christmas  in  the  Fifteenth  Century — The 
Canterbury  Claustral  School  in  the  Fifteenth  Century — The  Note-Books  of 
William  Worcester,  a  fifteenth-century  Antiquary — Hampshire  Recusants 
in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 


LONDON :  GEORGE  BELL  AND  SONS 

4 


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