A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



then Prince of Wales, the abbot sent the prince 

 a present of an embroidered robe, but he declined 

 to receive it unless a like one was sent to Piers. 

 A single entertainment of Edward II. and his 

 courtiers is said to have cost the abbey 

 ;{^i,543 13J. ^d. in provisions and presents. 



Bishop Burghersh, in 1321, granted an indul- 

 gence to all penitents hearing mass at the Lady 

 altar, the high altar, and the altar of All Saints 

 in the guest-house chapel of Peterborough 

 monastery.* 



On Godfrey's death there was an extent of 

 the lands of the abbey. Whittlesey sets out the 

 full particulars of each manor. The annual sum 

 produced by the Northamptonshire manors 

 amounted to £a'^9 io^- '^\d., and that from 

 their manors in Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester, 

 and Rutland to j^2i2 6j. o\d.^ making a total of 

 ;^62i ids. '^\d.^ But this did not by any means 

 represent the total of the abbey's income at that 

 date, for the return took no account of the 

 spiritualities in appropriated churches and pensions, 

 or of the tithes of venison, or of the rents from 

 certain tenements and detached plots of land, or 

 of the average return of forfeited chattels, or of 

 the very considerable offerings of the faithful. 



Adam de Boothby's rule, 1 321-1330, was 

 chiefly remarkable for his frequent and costly 

 entertainment of the king and royal family. In 

 1332 Edward III., with the queen-mother, the 

 king's sisters, three bishops, and the whole court, 

 kept Easter at the monastery, making a stay of 

 ten days. The consequent expenditure of the 

 abbot, including presents, was ;^487 6s. ^d. On 

 six subsequent occasions during this abbacy there 

 were prolonged royal visits to Peterborough.' The 

 rule of the next four abbots was not marked by 

 any particularly noteworthy incidents. Only a 

 few points need be here noticed. A curious 

 example of a mixed rental in money and kind 

 accruing to the abbey occurs at this period. In 

 1342 licence was granted to John Edgar to 

 alienate to Peterborough monastery 2 messuages, 

 20|^ acres of land, 4^^ acres of meadow, ()s. lod. 

 of rent, and a rent of two cloths, four geese, three 

 cocks, fourteen hens, and sixty eggs in Clinton 

 and Peterborough, of the united yearly value of 

 40s. 2hd.* 



The loss of half the monks during the Black 

 Death of 1349—50 has been already mentioned, 

 the total being reduced from 64 to 32.' In 1 353 

 Bishop Gynwell absolved Hugh de Spalding from 

 the excommunication he had incurred for break- 

 ing locks and gates on the monastic property, for 

 hunting in the woods, for felling trees, and for 

 fishing in the waters of the Nen without the 



abbot's licence.' The prior of Peterborough was 

 empowered by Bishop Gynwell in 1360 to 

 absolve some of his brother monks who had been 

 excommunicated for laying violent hands on cer- 

 tain secular clerks.'' 



William Genge, the fortieth abbot of Peter- 

 borough, succeeded in 1396 and became the 

 first mitred abbot. In November, 1402, he 

 obtained licence from Pope Boniface IX. for 

 himself and his successors to wear anywhere 

 the mitre, ring, pastoral staff, and other pontifical 

 insignia ; to give in the monastery and subject 

 priories, and in their parish and other churches, 

 solemn benediction after mass, vespers, and 

 matins, and at their table, provided that no bishop 

 nor legate were present ; to consecrate churches, 

 such as the churches, oratories, and chapels of 

 their monasteries and priories, together with the 

 altars, vestments, and chalices therein ; and to 

 reconcile the same and the cemeteries of such 

 churches.^ 



A detailed schedule of the taxation of the 

 abbey drawn up in 1 40 1— 2 shows that the total 

 value of the temporalities and spiritualities at that 

 time amounted to j^i,2i8 15J. ^\d. Out of 

 this the sum of ^do is. 2d. was definitely assigned 

 for alms. In the same register where the taxation 

 return is entered, many folios are devoted to the 

 full receipts of the abbey for the same year.' The 

 register or act book of William Genge and of his 

 successor, John Deeping (141 0-38), gives evidence 

 of the energetic administration of both these 

 abbots. One of its more interesting features is 

 the record of three gaol deliveries, for the prison 

 of Peterborough belonged to the great abbey. 

 At Michaelmas, 1400, the gaol delivery of 

 Peterborough before William Thirnyng, John 

 Coraunt, and their fellow justices, is entered in 

 the abbey register. The prisoners included four 

 who were notorii latrones, nine horse stealers, 

 one sheep stealer, two stealers of goods, one 

 utterer of forged money, nine suspected of robbery, 

 one case of serious wounding, four guilty of 

 murder or manslaughter, and one case of shelter- 

 ing a murderer.^" The gaol delivery of Michael- 

 mas, 1425, is entered in the same register. 

 There were twenty-seven prisoners, of whom 

 several were acquitted and five hung. The 

 capital sentences were for horse and cattle steal- 

 ing. The gaol delivery of 1434 also finds a 

 place in the abbot's register ; on that occasion 

 there was only one capital sentence.^! 



Bishop Repingdon, by mandate dated 10 March, 

 1413, gave notice to the abbot of his intention to 

 visit Peterborough Abbey on 14 April, tarn in 

 capite quam in membris. The abbot acknowledged 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Burghersh, f. 28 b. 



2 Sparke, op. cit. 175-216. 



3 Sparke, Hist. Coenobii Burgcnsis (Anonymous 

 cont.), 217-233. 



* Pat. 15 Edw. III. pt. iii. m. 3. 

 » Vide supra, Eccl. Hist. p. 26. 



' Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Bokyngham, f. 46. 



7 Ibid. Memo, of Gynwell, f. 132. 



8 Cal. of Papal L. v. 548. 



9 Add. MS. 25,288, ff. 91-2, 93-104. 



10 Ibid. fF. 114-116. 



11 Ibid. fF. 1 3 1-4, 154-5- 



90 



