RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Robert of the Dingley preceptory must have 

 belonged, for he is termed both ' armiger ' and 

 ' scutifer.' At a chapter-general, however, held 

 in 1357, this sub-division vi^as abolished, it being 

 ruled that no serving brother should henceforth 

 be eligible for knightly rank. 



A court roll of the Hospitallers' manor of 

 Dingley, dated 18 March, 1482, names Sir 

 Henry Halley as preceptor. The chief finding 

 of the jury on that occasion related to the 

 ruinous condition of a spring {firii) called ' a 

 horse-well,' used by the whole town ; it was 

 ordered to be repaired before the next feast of 

 Trinity, under pain of a fine of 6;. 8^/.' 



Sir Giles Russell was the last commander of 

 Dingley ; he was also commander of the pre- 

 ceptory of Battisford, Suffolk. He was sum- 

 moned on 16 February, 1530— I, by Sir William 

 Weston, prior of St. John of Jerusalem, to attend 

 the provincial chapter at Clerkenwell, on 

 Thursday after Whit-Sunday, and to pay his 

 dues to the common treasure.' Russell was 

 evidently a man of considerable importance in 

 the order, for two days after the summons was 

 dispatched the prior's secretary writes to him 

 saying that if he has any business of importance 

 to bring before the chapter, and will let him 

 know, such matter should be expedited.^ A 

 year later the prior wrote to Sir Giles in favor 

 of John Launde, an old servant of the religion, 

 who held by copy a tenement called Freres, in 

 Russell's commandery, and received a speedy 

 reply.* 



In May, 1532, the prior wrote to Sir Giles, 

 stating that a bull, under lead, had arrived from 

 the council in Malta, ordering the payment of 

 their responsions for 1532. He desires him to 

 pay as soon as possible, ' for the religion has 

 right great need.' ^ 



In September of the same year Sir Giles, who 

 was then in London, received a letter from Sir 

 Ambrose Cave, commander of the preceptory of 

 Stydd, Derbyshire, asking him whilst in town to 

 arrange for a visitation of Stydd, and expressing 

 a hope that he (Sir Giles) may be one of the 

 visitors. He deprecated the visitors bringing a 

 large company with them, for if they did so it 

 meant dice and cards at the fireside for their 

 servants.* Sir Robert Croftes, commander of 

 Baddesley, Hants, wrote to Sir Giles in the 

 following November, consulting him as to the 



1 B. M. Sloane Chart, xxxi. lo. 



2 L. and P. Hen. Vlll. v. no. 

 s Ibid. III. 



* Ibid. 901, 992. 



6 Ibid. 999. Rhodes, after a most gallant and 

 prolonged defence, was surrendered to the Moslem in 

 1522. For eight years the order had led a wander- 

 ing life that almost entirely exhausted their common 

 treasury. When Charles V. granted Malta to the 

 knights in 1 530, great sums were requisite to fortify 

 their new settlement. * Ibid. i3+9- 



non-payment of tithes on apples, pears, ducky, 

 and walnuts.' 



In a debtor and creditor account of the sums of 

 money called ' responsions,' paid by the knights 

 of St. John in England to the common treasury 

 of the order for the year 1535, the name of Sir 

 Giles Russell is entered as paying for Dingley 

 preceptory. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of this 

 year yields no information with regard to this 

 preceptory. The Northamptonshire return states 

 t+iat the necessary information would be given 

 under Battisford, Suffolk, as Sir Giles held both 

 preceptories, but nothing is entered pertaining to 

 Northamptonshire under that head. 



In 1539 Sir Giles Russell was nominated 

 lieutenant turcopolier. Turcopolier was a title 

 peculiar to the head of the ancient langue or 

 province of England, and was much valued. 

 This officer was commander of the turcopoles or 

 light cavalry, and had also the care of the coast 

 defences of the island of Rhodes, and afterwards 

 of that of Malta. There are two interesting 

 letters extant from Sir Giles at Malta, one to 

 Sir John Mablesteyn, sub-prior of the order in 

 England, and the other to his brother. Lord 

 Russell, both dated 27 October, 1539.* In the 

 latter he refers to the stuff at his Dingley pre- 

 ceptory, stating that it was good and ought to be 

 recovered, and added that he was writing to the 

 parson of Dingley and his chaplain, Thomas 

 Borow, on the same subject. The parson or 

 rector of Dingley at that time was another 

 brother of Sir Giles, Thomas Russell, who had 

 been presented by him to the rectory in 1530.* 

 Sir Giles Russell died in 1543 ; at his death it 

 was decreed by the chapter-general at Malta that 

 there should be no further nomination to the 

 dignity of turcopolier until the (Roman) Catholic 

 religion should be re-established in England. 



It is infinitely to the credit of the knights of 

 St. John that they refused the degrading terms 

 offered them in 1538 by Henry VIII. to save 

 their broad acres in England. In 1540 the 

 whole of their property in this country was 

 confiscated, and those who declined to yield 

 spiritual obedience to the king were bitterly 

 persecuted and imprisoned, whilst several suffered 

 death on the scaffold. Those who yielded had 

 pensions assigned them out of the confiscated 

 property. Among these occurs the name of 

 Sir Giles Russell, who is entered for a pension 

 of;^iOO.i<' 



The priory manor of Dingley was granted by 

 the crown in 1540 to Edward Hastings for 

 twenty-one years ; the reversion of the manor 

 and the advowson of the rectory were purchased 

 of the crown in 1543 by Edward Griffin for 

 £tJoo 8x. id. The patent mentions the dove- 



7 Ibid. 1550. 



8 Ibid. xiv. p. ii. 404, 405. 



9 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Longlands. 



1" See Porter, Knights of Malta, xv. rvi. xxii. 



143 



