384 ANTIQUITIES OF SELBORXE 



LETTER XXII. 



As prior Berne, when chosen in 1454, held his priorship only 

 to 1468, and then made a voluntary resignation, wearied and 

 disgusted, as we may conclude, by the disorder that prevailed 

 in his convent ; it is no matter of wonder that, when re-chosen 

 in 1472, he should not long maintain his station ; as old age was 

 then coming fast upon him, and the increasing anarchy and mis- 

 rule of that declining institution required unusual vigour and 

 resohition to stem that torrent of profligacy which was hurrying 

 it on to its dissolution. We find, accordingly, that in 1 478 he 

 resigned his dignity again into the hands of the bishop. 



WAYNFLETE REG. fol. 55. 



Resignatio Prioris de Seleborne. 



May 14, 1478. Peter Berne resigned the priorship. May 16 

 the bishop admitted his resignation "in manerio suo de Waltham, 

 and declared the priorship void ; " et priorat. solacio destitutum 

 esse ;" and granted his letters for proceeding to a new election : 

 when all the religious, assembled in the chapter-house, did 

 transfer their power under their seal to the bishop, by the follow- 

 ing public instrument. 



"In Dei nomine Amen," &c. A. D. 1478, Maii 19. In the 

 chapter-house for the election of a prior for that day, on the free 

 resignation of Peter Berne, having celebrated in the first place 

 mass at the high altar " De spiritu sancto," and having called a 

 chapter by tolling a bell, ut moris est ; in the presence of a 

 notary and witnesses appeared personally Peter Berne, Thomas 

 Ashford, Stephen Clydgrove, and John Ashton, presbyters, and 

 Henry Canwood,* in chapter assembled ; and after singing the 

 hymn " Veni Creator Spiritus," " cum versiculo et oratione 

 ' Deus qui corda ;' declarataque licentia Fundatoris et patroni ; 

 futurum priorein eligendi concessa, et constitutione cbnsilii 

 generalis que incipit ' Quia propter' declaratis ; viisque per quas 

 possent ad hanc electionem procedere," by the decretorum docto- 



* Here we see that all the canons were changed in six years ; and that there was quite a new 

 chapter, Berne excepted, between 1472 and 1473; for, instead of Wyndesor, London, and Strat- 

 feld, we find Ashford, Clydgrove, Ashton, and Canwood, all new men, who were soon gone in 

 their turn off the stage, and are heard of no more. For, in six years after, there seem to have 

 been no canons at all. 



