RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



under cook, with five other servants, two of whom 

 were wood carriers ; their allowance amounted 

 also to i6x. 4</. There were two servants of the 

 church. In the tailory {sartrinium) there were 

 two tailors, two washermen, a wood carrier, and 

 a shoemaker. There were also servants attached 

 to the infirmary, to the lazar house (13 lepers 

 with 3 servants), two carriers of stone for the 

 workers of the abbey, a mason, a curtiler, a swine- 

 herd, and a refectorian, making a total of forty 

 servants.^ The money rents of the abbey at this 

 date, exclusive of payments in kind, amounted to 

 ^^284 135. 4^. 



Henry de Angeli, who abandoned the bishopric 

 of Soissons to become a monk and afterwards 

 prior of Cluny, subsequently prior of Savigni and 

 abbot of St. John Angeli, procured the abbey of 

 Peterborough in 1 128, through his kinship with 

 the king, after another period of vacancy. He 

 continued to hold at the same time his French 

 abbey, but on an endeavour to unite Peter- 

 borough to Cluny in 1133 he was banished the 

 realm.2 Martin de Bee, prior of St. Neots, was 

 joyfully received as abbot by the monks and 

 people on St. Peter's Day, 1133. Hugh gives a 

 particular account of the entry into the new pres- 

 bytery ten years later, and of the miracles then 

 wrought in connexion with the enshrined arm 

 of St. Oswald. Abbot Martin materially in- 

 creased the prosperity of the abbey, the chief 

 benefaction being the town of Pilfgate. He died 

 2 January, 1 155. On the very day of his 

 death, the monks, fearing to have a stranger 

 thrust on them, met to select one of their own 

 body as abbot. They deputed the choice to 

 twelve senior and discreet brethren, who were 

 sworn on the gospels and on the relics of the 

 monastery not to be swayed in their choice by 

 any personal affection or hatred. Hugh, the 

 chronicler, was the first to take the oath, and 

 went with the eleven others into the abbot's 

 lodging, whilst the rest of the monks continued 

 in prayer in the chapter-house. Each of the 

 delegates communicated privately to Hugh the 

 name God had put into their hearts, and their 

 choice fell unanimously on William of Waterville. 

 The king confirmed the election, the bishop gave 

 his benediction, and on Sexagesima Sunday the 

 new abbot was installed.^ 



William of Waterville added much to the abbey's 

 possessions. He was the founder of the tributary 

 nunnery of St. Michael's, Stamford. He settled 

 a yearly maintenance on the church of St. John 

 Baptist, Peterborough, ordering that the chaplain 

 of that church should yearly at Michaelmas 

 bring the church key to the sacrist of the 

 monastery, as an acknowledgement of its depen- 

 dency. After ruling the abbey with remarkable 

 success for twenty years he incurred the dis- 



1 Soc. of Antiq. MS. be. ff. 13, 14. 

 ' Sparke, op. cit. pp. 73-5. 

 8 Ibid. pp. 75-91. 



87 



pleasure of the king and was deposed in 1175.* 

 There is much confusion and contradiction 

 among annalists as to the cause of his deposition ; 

 at all events he appealed to Pope Alexander, who 

 confirmed the deposition, a judgement afterwards 

 repeated by his successor Pope Urban.' 



For two years after the deposition of Water- 

 ville, Henry II retained the abbey and its 

 revenues in his own hands ; but in 1 177 Bene- 

 dict, prior of Canterbury, was appointed abbot. 

 ' Blessed in deed and name ' [re henedictus et 

 nomine) is the verdict pronounced on him by 

 Swapham the chronicler, a verdict obviously 

 based on personal knowledge. The manner 

 in which he stamped his name on the fabric of 

 the great church committed to his care will be 

 dealt with elsewhere ; but perhaps the chief 

 claim to renown of Benedict rests on his con- 

 nexion with St. Thomas of Canterbury, of 

 whom he is the most distinguished biographer. 

 He succeeded in liberating the monastery from 

 the considerable debt of 1,500 marks with which 

 he found it burdened on entering upon office. 

 Benedict assisted at the coronation of Richard I., 

 and from 1191 to the time of his death in 11 93 

 was keeper of the great seal. He was genuinely 

 attached to Richard, and was the first to suggest 

 and carry out the sale of church plate to secure 

 his ransom." Andrew, prior of Peterborough, 

 and Acharius, prior of St. Albans, were the next 

 two promotions to the abbacy ; they ruled from 

 1 1 94 to 1 2 ID. For about four years after the 

 death of Abbot Acharius, King John kept the 

 revenues of the monastery in his own hands ; 

 but at length, in 1 2 14, Robert of Lindsey, then 

 sacrist of the monastery, was elected to the 

 vacant post. Swapham tells us that he paved the 

 way for his preferment by the zealous discharge 

 of his duty as sacrist. During that time he 

 caused more than thirty windows of the church 

 to be glazed, which had previously been stuflFed 

 up with reeds and straw. He also supplied a 

 glazed window to the parlour, another to the 

 chapter-house, nine to the dormitory, and three 

 to the chapel of St. Nicholas. Full details 

 of his vigorous administration of the abbey pro- 

 perty, and of the improvements he made in the 

 conventual and other buildings, are set forth by 

 the same chronicler. He attended the fourth 

 Lateran Council at Rome, 12 15. His death 

 occurred on 25 October, 1222.' About the 

 most precious MS. possessed by the Society of 

 Antiquaries is the psalter of Robert of Lindsey.* 

 It consists of 256 vellum leaves, small folio, is 

 exquisitely written, and contains several superb 

 illuminations, the gold backgrounds of which 

 retain their original brightness. In the margin 

 of the calendar are the obits of the abbots of 



♦ Ibid. 91-94 ; 97-100. 



' Gunton, Hbl. ofPctcrb. 24, 284. 



« Sparke, op. cit. pp. 101-3. 



1 Ibid. pp. 107-1 14. * No. Ux. 



