A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



had to submit, were on less scrupulous lines. Such visitations were made 

 every three years, whereas those made by the diocesan were, as a rule, only 

 undertaken every six years. 



The amount of material that has had to be digested before producing 

 the following brief sketches of the different houses has, in some cases, been 

 exceptionally large. The extant records of St. Edmunds are almost over- 

 powering in their number, whilst the chartularies or registers of the houses 

 of Eye, Sibton, Blythburgh, Campsey, and Leiston, with Clare Friary and 

 Stoke-by-Clare Priory, are considerable in extent. The endeavour has been 

 made in each case to point out to the student the source or sources of 

 further information. 1 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS 



i. THE ABBEY OF BURY 

 ST. EDMUNDS 2 



In the year 903, or somewhat later, the relics 



1 The lists of superiors, though much fuller than 

 any hitherto attempted, are not to be considered as 

 exhaustive in all cases. 



* Several particulars with regard to the more general 

 details of the history of this great abbey have already 

 appeared in the sketch of the Ecclesiastical History of 

 Suffolk, and are not here repeated. The MS. sources 

 of information with regard to this great Benedictine 

 house are a good deal more numerous than those that 

 are extant for any other English religious foundation. 



But, first of all, mention must be made of the 

 Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey (Rolls Ser.), in 3 vols., 

 1 890-6, edited by Thomas Arnold. The MSS. there 

 printed are: Volume i (a),' The Passion of St. Edmund ' 

 by Abbo of Fleury, c. 1000 ; (b) 'The Miracles of 

 St. Edmund' by Archdeacon Herman, c. 1095 ; (c) 

 'The Infancy of St. Edmund 'by Geoffrey de Fontibus, 

 c. 1 150 ; (d) 'The Miracles of St. Edmund' by Abbot 

 Samson, c. 1190; and (e) Jocelyn's Chronicle, 

 1182-121 1. 



Volume ii contains : (a) An anonymous chronicle, 

 breaking off 1 2 1 2 ; (b) three narratives of the elections 

 of abbots in 121 5, 1257, and 1302 respectively; (c) 

 a French metrical biography of St. Edmund by Denis 

 Piramus ; (d) an account of the expulsion of the 

 Grey Friars from Bury in 1257 and 1263 ; (e) the 

 story of the Great Riots of 1327 ; and (f) Building 

 Acts of the Sacrists from 1065 to 1200. 



Volume iii contains : (a) ' The Chronicle of Bury, 

 1020—134.6 ' ; (b) the Collectanea of Andrew Aston, 

 hosteller of Bury, made in 1426 ; (c) Excerpts from 

 Cambridge MSS. 1351 to 1462; (d) the Curteys 

 Registers, 1 429 to 1446; (e) the destruction of the 

 church by fire, 1465 ; (f) a short general chronicle 

 from the Conquest to 147 1 ; and (g) a variety of 

 valuable excerpts in an appendix. 



The introduction supplies full particulars as to the 

 MSS. cited. 



MSS. in British Museum 



I. Harl. MS. 3977 is the 'Liber Consuetudinarius ' 



of the abbey, c. 1 300, with a few later additions. It 



deals with the reception of novices, the professions of 



the monks, the different penances, the duties of the 



56 



of the martyred king, St. Edmund, were trans- 

 lated from the comparatively obscure wooden 



obedientiaries, and various matters pertaining rather 

 to a chartulary than a custumary. There are also 

 certain folios of general chronicles. Many of the facts 

 contained in it, which have hitherto been ignored by 

 writers on this monastery, are given in the account in 

 the text. The heads of the forty-six chapters of this 

 custumary are given in a note in Dugdale's Mon. iii, 

 1 16-17. 



II. Harl. MS. 1005 is a thick vellum quarto 

 entitled ' Liber Albus,' in different hands, of nearly 

 300 folios. The contents are most varied ; but its 

 chief importance lies in the fact that it is to a great 

 extent a custumary of the abbey, for so many details 

 and ordinances relative to its minor working are 

 scattered throughout the folios. These are chiefly to 

 be found on fol. 49-64, 69, 84^, 88^-92^, 95-109, 

 117, 192-213. 



III. Harl. MS. 645, termed ' Registrum Kempe,' 

 contains 261 large parchment folios. The contents 

 are singularly varied, and are set forth in some detail 

 in the old catalogue of the Harl. MSS. (vol. i, 396). 



IV. Harl. MS. 447 is a book of general annals, 

 written in this monastery about 1300 ; it begins with 

 the creation and ends in 1 212. It contains a few 

 special facts as to the history of the abbey. 



V. Harl. MS. 1332 is another parchment volume 

 of general annals, with a few local details, written 

 rather earlier than the last ; it is imperfect, and ends 

 in 1093. 



VI. Add. MS. 14847 is the ' Registrum Album ' of 

 the monastery, written c. 1 300, with a few additions by 

 a slightly later hand. This chartulary of 95 folios con- 

 tains copies of several Anglo-Saxon documents in the 

 orthography of the thirteenth century. 



VII. Harl. MS. 230 is the register of Abbot 

 Thomas of Tottington (1302-12) and of Abbot 

 Richard of Draughton (13 1 2-35). 



VIII. Add. MS. 14850 is a large chartulary of 107 

 folios (xv cent, or xvi cent.) containing many rentals, 

 custumaries, and charters from registers of abbots from 

 1279 to 1 3 12 ; rentals, surveys of several manors, and 

 plan of the water-pipes of the monastery. 



IX. Harl. MS. 743 is an interesting collection of 

 charters, ordinances, &c, pertaining to the abbey 

 compiled by John Lakynghethe, a fourteenth-century 



