RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



father abbot), to Bishop Wykeham, praying 

 for his benediction. Abbot Romsey made his 

 due profession to the bishop, describing him- 

 self as elected and confirmed, recognizing the 

 bishop as (through his predecessor) the founder 

 of their house, and promising to do all things 

 which pertained by right or custom to the 

 founder and patron of the house. Even to 

 this recognition of the bishop, the abbot added 

 the qualifying phrase providing against any- 

 thing contrary to all the customs and privi- 

 leges of his order. The bishop thereupon, 

 when celebrating pontifical mass in his private 

 chapel, after the abbot had signed a promise 

 of canonical obedience and reverence, gave 

 him his benediction. 1 



The houses of the White Canons were 

 visited yearly by the father-abbot, that is, the 

 abbot of the house from which they had their 

 origin, save in those years when there was an 

 authorized visit by commission of the General 

 Chapter of Prmontr. On 12 June, 1420, 

 Titchfield was visited by John Poole of Hales- 

 owen, as father abbot, with the assistance of 

 the Abbot of Durford, at a time when there 

 had been a vacancy in the office of abbot, and 

 when Richard Aubrey, the prior, had been 

 elected by his fellow canons to fill the post. 

 Abbot Poole duly confirmed the election. 

 The visitors found that there was no money 

 in the treasury, that there was owing to the 

 house 43 4*., but that the debts amounted 

 to 62 os. 6d. A return was made of the 

 valuables both in the sacristry and the treasury. 

 This inventory corresponds in the main with 

 that of 1370 ; the silver spoons had increased 

 from 8 1 to 84, whilst the chalices had de- 

 creased from 17 to 14. The livestock was: 

 24 horses, 10 draught horses, 4 colts, 1 54 oxen, 

 7 bulls, 69 cows, 17 heifers, 10 steers, 28 year- 

 lings, 29 calves, 381 muttons, 207 ' burtis et 

 muricis,' 121 hogsters, IOO lambs, 17 boars, 

 24 sows, 33 pigs, 126 hogs and 89 suckling 

 pigs. Neither in the granary nor bakehouse 

 was there anything. There was hay enough, 

 at a reasonable estimate, to last till the As- 

 sumption for use at their hospice.* 



Titchfield was visited in 1478 by Richard 

 Redman, Bishop of St. Asaph and Abbot of 

 Shap, in conjunction with Hubert, commissary- 

 general. In answer to the set form of visita- 

 tion questions, it was stated that the Abbot of 

 Halesowen was their father abbot, that their 

 church was dedicated in honour of the As- 

 sumption of the Blessed Virgin, because on 

 that day one Brother Richard, with other 

 canons of Hayles, had first come to Titch- 



1 Winton. Epis. Reg., Wykeham, i. ff. 208, 209. 

 * Dugd ale's Manas ticon, vi. 935. 



field, and that they held two churches, the 

 perpetual curates of which were both canons.* 



On 3 July of this year one Thomas Borrell, 

 canon of the house of Langley, Norfolk, was 

 sent to the Abbot of Titchfield to undergo in 

 the latter house forty days of penance for a 

 grave fault. This was done in accordance 

 with the decree of Bishop Redman as visitor. 

 Thomas brought with him sufficient clothing 

 for his body and bed, to last a year. The 

 Abbot of Langley commissioned his brother 

 of Titchfield to hear the penitent canon's 

 confession.* 



The Valor of 1535 gives the gross income 

 of the abbey at 280 19*. \Q\d. and the 

 clear value at ^249 i6s. id. John Maxey, 

 Bishop of Elphin, was then abbot. 



John Salisbury, the twentieth and last 

 abbot, was consecrated suffragan Bishop of 

 Thetford on 19 March, 1536, by Arch- 

 bishop Cranmer and the Bishops of Salisbury 

 and Rochester. 6 In May, 1538, he was 

 appointed Canon of Norwich, and in the 

 following year dean ; in 1 5 J I he was made 

 Bishop of Sodor and Man, and died in 1573. 



On i May, 1537, the Bishop of Thetford 

 wrote to Wriothesley saying that he intended 

 to send his steward to him the next week to 

 pay his fee for the half year, and desired that 

 he would continue his favours to his poor 

 house. 6 The income of the house put it 

 outside the first Act of Parliament for dis- 

 solution, and for such cases a variety of 

 schemes for 'surrender' were devised. Ap- 

 parently Salisbury had been put in office, 

 through some cajolery, to secure surrender. 

 Sir Thomas Audeley, the chancellor, wrote a 

 letter of reply to Cromwell in December, 

 1537, touching the dissolution of this house, 

 and saying that a deed of gift by the abbot 

 and convent, if they were content to give up 

 their house, sealed before some judge of re- 

 cord, would suffice ; but if Cromwell wished 

 to have a fine or recovery he explained how 

 it might be taken. T 



Meanwhile John Crawford and Rowland 

 Lathum were made the king's commissioners 

 to secure the' surrender of Titchfield, which 



3 Add. MS. 4935, f. 61. The Premonstra- 

 tensians possessed the unique privilege of eligi- 

 bility to the charge of secular parishes without 

 papal or other dispensation. Bishop Redman, 

 who held the Abbey of Shap in commendam, was 

 consecrated Bishop of St. Asaph in 1471, was 

 translated to Exeter in 1495 and to Ely in 

 1501 ; he died in 1505. 



4 Ibid. 4935, f. 62. 



5 Cant. Archiep. Reg., Cranmer, ff. 187-8. 

 Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII. xil. 1108. 



7 Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv. ff. 195, 198. 



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