RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



to find books, vestments, wax, bread or wine. 

 He also received ten loads of peat yearly, 

 worth 3.5. \d. ; half a quarter of barley a day, 

 8s. 8d. ; a robe once a year, 201. ; in pence, 

 y. ifd. ; legacies, 6d. Moreover, the vicar 

 had wine on the greater and double feasts and 

 some other occasions, which was worth on 

 the average 351. 4^. The prior estimated 

 the total value of the vicar's portion at the 

 then large sum of ,21 2s. iod. 1 



Prior Henry's eyesight began to fail him 

 in 1367, and at last his blindness increased to 

 such an extent that he was unable to discharge 

 either the spiritual or temporal functions of 

 his office. In January, 1368, the bishop 

 formally enjoined the prior to provide himself 

 within six days with a coadjutor. He nom- 

 inated Peter Travers, a canon of the house ; 

 the bishop in sanctioning and confirming this 

 appointment in the following June described 

 the prior as wholly deprived, by the will of 

 the Most High, of the sight of both eyes. 2 



About this time one of the brethren, John 

 Cossham, absconded and assumed a secular 

 garb. On expressing his penitence, he was 

 absolved by the bishop and sent back with a 

 letter to the prior and convent ordering his 

 readmission with suitable discipline. The 

 prior however refused to admit him, alleging 

 that he had been a sower of tares among 

 them, as well as guilty of a diversity of 

 crimes. The bishop replied, expressing his 

 fear of losing a soul, and formally citing the 

 prior and convent to show cause why the 

 penitent brother should not be readmitted.* 



On 21 March, 1360, Wykeham addressed 

 a long and serious remonstrance to Sir William 

 Montague, second Earl of Salisbury, for 

 quartering his people on the canons of Christ- 

 church. The prior had complained to the 

 bishop that the earl, sometimes for a year and 

 sometimes for half a year, was in the habit of 

 occupying all the houses of the priory with 

 his whole household of both sexes, to the 

 great oppression and considerable disturbance 

 of the religious, and that his servants kept the 

 keys of the houses in the earl's absence. He 

 was further charged by the prior with causing 

 the convent and their representatives to be 

 treated unfairly at the hundred and manorial 

 courts. Moreover, the prior had in the past 

 kindly permitted a bridge to be made for the 

 entry and exit of the Lady Katharine, his 

 mother, now deceased, for her quiet and 

 honourable use ; but that now it was giving 

 rise to scandals to religion and to the house. 



1 Cott. MS. Tib. D. vi. pt. ii. ff. 228b, 229. 



2 Winton. Epis. Reg., Wykeham, iii. ff. ^b, loa. 



3 Ibid. iii. f. ja. 



The bishop reminded the earl that he was 

 as patron of the monastery not to subject it to 

 a military thraldom, nor to oppress it, but 

 rather to defend it from all attacks, and 

 concluded with a strong appeal to his sense of 

 religion and charity of heart to cease all this 

 oppression and wrongdoing, and formally 

 cited him to remove his family from the 

 houses of the priory before the Feast of the 

 Holy Trinity next ensuing. 4 



In April 1386 Prior Wodenham received 

 a mandate from Bishop Wykeham, directing 

 him to censure severely, and to canonically 

 punish for any further offence, those canons 

 who disobeyed the claustral prior. 6 In the 

 following year a commission was directed by 

 the bishop to John Sydeforde, the official, and 

 another, to visit Christchurch amongst other 

 priories. 6 



In February 1402 there was a grievous 

 rebellion in the priory. Seven of the canons, 

 Roger Milton, John Andrew, John Manere, 

 Thomas Portlande, John Wymborne, 

 Thomas Snoke, and Thomas Corf, animated 

 by a devilish spirit, entered into a conspiracy 

 binding themselves by an oath on the Blessed 

 Sacrament violently to eject the prior and 

 their other superiors, and afterwards made an 

 apostate flight, taking with them after a 

 sacrilegious and furtive manner, certain goods 

 and valuables of the priory. The bishop 

 commissioned John Elmore, the official, and 

 Robert Keeton, to inquire into the matter 

 and report. The commissioners held the 

 inquiry, associating with themselves the 

 priors of two other Austin houses, Mottisfont 

 and St. Denis, as assessors. They found all 

 the accused, except Snoke, guilty and 

 deserving of deprivation, but proceeded to 

 modify their sentences. Milton, who is 

 described by them as the ringleader and an 

 intolerable whisperer of slander and a 

 scandalous mischief-maker, as well as a thief 

 of conventual goods, was sentenced to 

 removal to another priory in the diocese, 

 there to undergo penance. Manere, who is 

 called a man of great astuteness, dangerous, 

 and given to contumely, and the counsellor of 

 Andrew, himself an evil man, received a like 

 sentence ; they were both to be kept in 

 solitary confinement. The others were 

 sentenced to penance (solitary confinement) 

 in their own priory, and were disqualified for 

 holding any office for two years. These 

 sentences were pronounced on 1 3 March, but 

 on 22 March the bishop revised the sentences 



* Ibid. f. 8b. 



* Ibid. f. Z22. 



6 Ibid. Wykehara, f. 229. 



157 



