RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



chantry in the church of Wappenham, in honour of the Holy Trinity, the 

 Blessed Virgin, and All Saints, for six priests, one of whom was to be termed 

 the warden (custos) , whose first duty it was to celebrate masses for the founder's 

 family. This foundation is expressly termed a chantry; but in 1337 John 

 Gifford, a canon of York, founded a 'college' at Cotterstock for a provost and 

 twelve chaplains, endowing it with the manor and advowson of the church and 

 other property. This is an exceptionally early instance of a parochial college. 

 Northamptonshire, for its size, was rich in foundations of this nature ; at 

 Irthlingborough in 1373 there was a foundation of a dean and five canons; 

 at Higham Ferrers, Archbishop Chicheley established his famous college of 

 a master and seven canons in the year 141 5 ; in the same year the royal 

 college of Fotheringhay, with its master, eight clerks, and thirteen choristers, 

 was established; whilst at Towcester in 1448, and at All Saints, Northampton, 

 in 1459, colleges of much smaller dimensions were instituted. Though the 

 distinctive feature of these colleges was, as a rule, that of large chantries for 

 the repose of the soul of the founder or founders — a fact which secured their 

 complete destruction under Edward VI — it will be found that the Northamp- 

 tonshire examples afford evidence of their members being engaged in definite 

 parochial work, in education, and in the care of the aged. Their numbers, 

 too, enabled them (on the larger foundations) to provide for the parish 

 and neighbourhood examples of the highest form of worship, such as could 

 otherwise only be found in the cathedral churches. 



Taken as a whole, the extant records of the visitations of the religious 

 houses of the county bear no small testimony to the general morality and 

 devout living of the inmates ; the testimony in favour of the good works 

 and moral lives of the inmates, as supplied by county gentlemen and others, 

 immediately before the dissolution, is particularly strong in several cases, 

 notably with regard to the abbeys of Pipewell and St. James's Northampton, 

 and the nunnery of Catesby. As to their suppression, the main features of 

 the dissolution in Northamptonshire have been already set forth, and certain 

 other particulars are given under the respective houses. 



HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE MONKS 



I. THE ABBEY OF PETERBOROUGH • "/''^' °" fi^^l'^X "f "? f °""''' ^axulf, a monk 



or noble birth, in high favour with renda, the 



The monastery of Peterborough was originally idolatrous king of Mercia, and with his Christian 



known as that of Medeshamstede, a name de- son and successor Peada, erected the first church 



rived from the meadows which lie on each side with the accompanying buildings for a mission 



of the River Nen — ' the home in the meadows.' station. The king in granting this great stretch 



' The wealth of material for a history of this great history of the house from its foundation to the time 



monastic foundation is almost unprecedented; it is of his death. After his death another monk, Robert 



not a little surprising that no monograph has been Svvapham, took up Hugh's work, and carried on the 



attempted since Gunton's Hist, of the Church of Peter- chronicle from the rule of Abbot Benedict (1177- 



borough, set forth with a supplement by Dean Patrick 1194) to the end of that of Abbot Walter in 1245. 



in 1686. In addition to the large store of informa- This chronicle was printed by Joseph Sparke in 1723, 



tion to be found in Bode, in the Saxon Chron., and in a folio entitled Hist. Anglicanae Scri/>tores Farii. 

 in later general annalists, there are several valuable Walter Whittlesey's Hist. Coenobii Burgensis covers 



local chronicles in print. the period of 1246 to 1321, embracing the rule of 



First among these comes the narrative of Hugh six abbots. This is printed by Sparke, and extends 



White or Candidus, who flourished under four sue- from page 125 to 216. An anonymous continuation 



cessive abbots of the twelfth century, John, Henry, carries on this history over the next two abbots, down 



Martin, and William of Waterville. He wrote the to 1353, and is paged from 217 to 237, 



83 



