422 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



of the members retired to Bru- 

 ges, in Flanders ; from whence 

 they returned to London, in 

 June 1555, and remained in 

 the Savoy till November, 1 556, 

 when possession was given 

 them of the Chartreuse of 

 Shene, near Richmond, in 

 Surrej'', and they were soon 

 after formally reinstated there- 

 in by letters patent of cardinal 

 Pole, bearing date December 

 SI, 1556. 



After the accession of queen 

 Elizabeth to the throne, these 

 monks, by the intercession of 

 don Gomez di Figueroa, duke 

 of Feria, the Spanish ambassa- 

 dor in England, were permit- 

 ted to depart the kingdom in a 

 body unmolestcd,bcingin num- 

 ber twelve professed monks, 

 and three converse brothers. 

 Their prior was don Maurice 

 Chauncey, who wrote the his- 

 tory of their emigration, print- 

 ed at Mentz. They arrived 

 in Flanders, July 1, 1559, and 

 retired to the Chartreuse at 

 Bruges, where they remained 

 till 1 56"9, when they removed 

 to a large house in St. Clare's 

 Street, in the same city. 



The 19th of April, 1578, 

 they were driven out of Bruges, 

 by the Geuslan faction, and 

 passing through Lille, Douay, 

 Cambray, and St. Quin tin's, 

 they went to the Chartreuse 

 near Noyon, where they staid 

 till the 5th of July foUowingj 

 from whence returning to the 

 Low Countries by the way of 

 Namur, they arrived at the 

 Chartreuse ofLou vain the 17th 

 of the same month. Here they 

 were received and lodged by 

 order of don Juau of Austria 



iill 1590 or 1591. 



Prior Chaunceydied at Paris, 

 July 12, 1581, in his return 

 from Spain, where he had been 

 to solicit succours for his com- 

 munity, and had obtained an 

 annual pension from Philip I L 

 but which was never regularly 

 paid, especially under his suc- 

 cessors. 



Chauncey was succeeded as 

 prior by don Walter Pytts, 

 who seeing his community 

 uneasy at Louvain, is said by 

 several historians of the Low 

 Countries to have removed it 

 to Antwerp in the year 1590; 

 but this does not appear from 

 any certain records of the 

 time. However that was, 

 the next year, 1591, he bought 

 a large house in the Bleek- 

 .street at Mechlin, where the 

 community resided till its 

 removal to Nieuport in Flan- 

 ders, in September, I626, by 

 virtue of a charter given by 

 Philip IV. of Spain, bearing 

 date Brussels, June 20, 1626. 

 The same king made a grant 

 to this house of about 250 

 acres of land in the neighbour- 

 hood of Nieuport, in lieu of 

 the annual pension given by 



Philip n. 



Here this community re- 

 mained until its final suppres- 

 sion by the emperor Joseph H. 

 in the year 1783, at which 

 time it was reduced in number 

 to three professed monks and 

 two lay-brothers. It is to be 

 observed, that this was the 

 only English community of re- 

 ligiousmen that had never been 

 dispersed or extinct since the 

 reign of queen Mary. In its 

 library,wliich was considerable 

 and well chosen, there was a 

 jnost beau tifu 1 large folio Bible, 



