RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the letter, and forwarded the required schedule 

 of the names of the monks on 26 March. 1 



In January, 1418-19, Henry V., having 

 brought the siege of Rouen to a successful issue, 

 (found time to write as follows, asking a favour of 

 Abbot Deeping : — 



' Trusty and wellbeloved yn God. We grete 

 you wel and we wol and prey you as we have 

 praide you by oure other lettres afore thys tyme 

 that ye wol have atte reverence of us our wel- 

 beloved servant and clerk of our chapelle, Alayse 

 Kyrketon, specialy recommended unto the next 

 benefice yat shal voide longyng to youre gifte. 

 And yat ye thenke hereupon yat hit be doon as 

 we trust to you. Notwythstandyng any instance 

 or prayere made or to be made to you to ye 

 contrarye. So yat we may have cause to give 

 you thanks therefore. And yat ye certifie us by 

 youre lettres of youre wille and entent in yis 

 mater in al goodely haste. And God have you 

 in his keepyng. Geven under oure signet in oure 

 hoose afore Roan ye first day of Janner.' 



To this request the abbot and chapter returned 

 a favourable answer also in English, stating in 

 grandiloquent terms their readiness to do their 

 sovereign's will, and thus concluding their letter, 

 which was dated 16 February: 'And further- 

 more we devoutly pray almighty God for his 

 endeles mercy to sende you the victory of al your 

 enemyes and to bryng you and al your trewe 

 lieges in saufte hom to us ageyne into Ingelond.' * 



Bishop Gray, 143 1—6, visited the abbey, and 

 issued subsequent injunctions which were for the 

 most part of the usual form, enforcing silence, 

 prohibiting entrance of women, etc. They were 

 ordered not to cut down the wood nor pawn the 

 jewels. Within the cloister there were only to 

 be two places for refection, namely, the refectory 

 and ' ley miserycord alias vocat ley Seyny.' Before 

 Michaelmas they were to obtain an instructor 

 who was to instruct the monks in grammar, and 

 this under the penalty of ;^I0 to be applied to the 

 alms of the lord abbot.' 



In September, 1454, Abbot Richard executed 

 a deed, entered in the diocesan register, binding 

 himself to give the administration of temporalities 

 and spiritualities for six years into the hands of 

 Richard Harleston and William UfFord, saving 

 the government of the quire and of regular obser- 

 vances ; sums in arrears for pensions of scholars 

 to be paid to the abbot, also ;^ 1 annually coming 

 from the sacristan for the wine of the convent, 

 and the money called 'jalez silver,'* and the rent 

 of one mark yearly of the chamber of each brother 

 and priest, and the rent of los. yearly for the 

 chamber of each brother not being a priest. The 



1 Add. MS. 25,288, ff. 59b, 60. 



2 Ibid. f. 1 06. 



3 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Gray, f. I98d. No 

 date. 



* i.e. gaol payments at so much a prisoner, the 

 Peterborough gaol being in the hands of the abbot. 



abbot is to dine with the monks. Separate places 

 to be provided for inmates of the infirmary, and 

 for strangers coming to the abbey.' 



Richard Ashton, the third of the mitred abbots, 

 ruled from 1438 to 1471. Many small points of 

 interest in connexion with the inner life of the 

 monastery can be gleaned from the rough memo- 

 randa and account book of William Morton, the 

 almoner of the abbey, which extends from 

 1448 to 1466. Among minor expenses of the 

 first of these years is I ^s. 4^. for wax for making 

 two torches, 6d. given to strolling players, ^.d. 

 for washing towels, 6d. for carpenter's work on 

 the rood loft (of the hospital church), 5;. for 

 mending the church windows, and id. for thread 

 for mending vestments.* There are many en- 

 tries relative to repairs on the manors of Maxey, 

 Warmington, and Sutton. In 1459, 31. gd. was 

 spent for 3^ gallons of wine given to the convent 

 at Pentecost, and 3;. 6^d. for 4^ gallons of wine 

 for the convent at the feast of the Assumption.'' 



In 1462 Edward IV. granted to Abbot Richard 

 and the convent, goods of felons, fugitives, and 

 outlaws within their hundreds of Nassaburg, 

 Polebrook, Huxloe, and Navisford, and all other 

 their hundreds, manors, and possessions in North- 

 ampton, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Leicester, Not- 

 tingham, and Rutland, deodands, wreck of sea, 

 treasure trove, evasions and escapes, fines, for- 

 feitures, and amercements, and all other liber- 

 ties granted by former kings. They were also 

 to have the delivery of the king's gaol at Peter- 

 borough, provided one of the justices of the 

 peace for the county of Northampton, or a per. 

 son skilled in the law, be one of the commis- 

 sioners appointed by them.* In the following 

 year the king granted to the abbey the custody 

 ot all its temporalities during voidance, on their 

 rendering to the Exchequer ^^40 for each 

 voidance." 



William Ramsey was abbot from 147 1 to 

 1496. During his rule in 1477 licence was 

 obtained for the appropriating of the church of 

 Oundle to the monastery, provided a vicarage 

 was sufficiently endowed, and a competent sum 

 of money distributed yearly among the poor. 

 The royal assent was given to this in considera- 

 tion of the abbey having granted to the king 

 84 acres of land and wood in Cottingham parish.^" 

 The appropriation was not completed till 1 48 1. 

 Another appropriation was made to the monas- 

 tery in i486, when a long-standing contention 

 with the neighbouring abbey of Crowland was 

 compromised by the yielding to Peterborough of 

 the church of Bringhurst, Leicestershire.^^ 



6 Line. Epis. Reg. Chedworth, f. 47b. 

 « Cott. MS. \'esp. A. xxiv. f. 3b. 



7 Ibid. f. 72 b. 



8 Pat. 2 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 10. 

 ' Ibid. 3 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 3. 



10 Ibid. 17 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 8. 

 n Gunton, Hisf. of Peterb. p. 55. 



91 



