RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



impression, which is indistinct, represents a shield 

 of arms with two keys in saltire for Peterborough 

 Abbey. Over the shield is a crowned head as in 

 the second seal of the abbey reverse. 



All that remains of the legend are the letters 



AB LLV£S 



ES. 



The seal of perhaps Robert Kirton is taken 

 from another cast ^ with very imperfect impres- 

 sion representing a saint, perhaps St. Peter, 

 turned to the right, holding a book and keys, an 

 ecclesiastic kneeling before him. The legend is 

 destroyed. 



The pointed oval seal of Abbot John Deeping 

 is taken from another cast representing St. Peter 

 with tiara and nimbus seated in a carved and 

 canopied niche, lifting up the right hand in bene- 

 diction, in his left hand a book and two keys, 

 between St. Paul with sword on the left and 

 St. Andrew with nimbus on the right in two 

 smaller niches. In base, which is much chipped, 

 under a round-headed arch the abbot mitred 

 between two shields of arms, both very indistinct 

 and one almost entirely broken away. 



Legend : s' : dKi : ioh'is : abbatis de : Bvrgo : 



SCI : PETRI 



2. THE PRIORY OF LUFFIELD 



Robert Bossu, earl of Leicester, in the reign 

 of Henry I.' founded a small priory of Benedic- 

 tine monks at Luffield within the forest of 

 Whittlebury. The conventual buildings and 

 offices were situated chiefly in the parish of 

 Lillingstone Dayrell (Bucks), but the church 

 stood in Northamptonshire, and from this fact 

 the establishment was usually reckoned as per- 

 taining to that county.^ The new foundation, 

 dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin, 

 and built, according to the charter of the 

 founder, for the good of the soul of William, 

 king of the English, and Matilda his wife, 

 as well as of the founder and his family, 

 obtained charters of royal favour and pro- 

 tection from Henry. I and Queen Maud, but 

 from the outset was only poorly endowed. 

 In 1 1 7 I the monks obtained a bull from Alex- 

 ander III.* confirming their possessions, among 

 which was reckoned the church of Dodford with 

 other gifts. At the time of the Taxation of 

 1291 the prior and convent held the churches 

 of Thornborough and Padbury, Evershawe and 



1 B. M. Ixix. 98. 



* Tanner gives the year 1 1 24. Notitia, Northants, 

 xxii. 



3 A proof of this may be found in the fact that 

 the bishop's mandate for the induction of priors was 

 always directed to the archdeacon of Northampton, 

 and royal writs respecting the temporalities of the 

 priory to the escheator of that county. 



* Bull of Alex. in. Dugdale, Mon. iv. 348. 



Steeple Clay don in Bucks, with a pension of los. 

 from the church of Murslcy.s Their temporali- 

 ties amounted to ^^24 19^. "J^d., of which 

 £i7, 195. 2id. was derived from lands in the 

 archdeaconry of Bucks, and ^^lo bs. 2,hd. from 

 the archdeaconry of Northampton.* 



Little is known of the early history of the 

 priory. In 1230 Henry III. granted a licence 

 for the brethren to hold a yearly fair at Luffield 

 commencing on the vigil of the Exaltation of 

 Holy Cross and lasting three days.'' The king 

 showed much practical sympathy with the little 

 community on the occasion of an outrage at the 

 priory which occurred in the autumn of 1244. 

 A band of twenty-five robbers broke into the 

 monastery and stripped it of all on which they 

 could lay hands, including gold and silver vessels 

 and even the ornaments of the church. 8 The 

 king, on hearing of their misfortune, ordered 

 that three chalices and ornaments for three 

 chaplains should be supplied to the brethren, 

 together with ^^15 in money.* 



Of the internal condition of the houses no 

 hint is given till the year 1280. Early in that 

 year the visit of Archbishop Peckham brought 

 about the resignation of the prior, William de 

 Esteneston, who had succeeded to the rule of the 

 house on the resignation of Ralf of Silverston 

 in June 1275.'" On 17 March, 1279-90, the 

 archbishop wrote to Oliver Sutton, bishop-elect 

 of Lincoln,'! setting forth the deplorable excesses 

 of the late prior and his perverse misbehaviour, 

 even on the very day of the archbishop's depar- 

 ture from the priory and in defiance of his 

 injunction.!* The latter forbade women to fre- 

 quent the cloister, and desired that no pension 

 or portion should be assigned to the late superior, 

 unless indeed the bishop should think fit to send 

 him elsewhere to do penance for his offences. 

 In that case the cost of his maintenance was left 

 to the bishop's discretion lest another house 

 should become chargeable. In the course of a 

 year or two, however, the ex-prior prevailed on 

 his diocesan to grant him the usual privileges of 

 a retired superior, and a special chamber in the 

 infirmary, together with certain liberties, was 

 assigned to him with episcopal sanction so long 

 as he should behave honestly and regularly. The 

 archbishop visited this forest priory 14 November, 

 1284, and on the following day issued his decree 



' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), pp. 32b, 33b. 



« Ibid. pp. 45b, 46, 47, 47b, 54. 



7 Close, 14 Hen. III. m. 15. 



* Similar robberies are recorded in other districts 

 in England at this time. 



» Ann. Mon. (Rolls Scr.), iii. 165. 



10 Pat. 3 Edw. I. m. 19. 



1! Reg. of Feckkam (Rolls Scr.), i. 10 1-2. 

 '- That is to say, the prior, convicted of grave 

 immorality, together with other monks in the course 

 of Peckham's visitation, was wasting the goods of the 

 house on women who were being entertained in the 

 cloister of the monastery. Ibid. 



95 



