RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the names of the priors between 1410 and 

 1492 have as yet been recovered : the history 

 of the house during that period is almost a 

 blank sheet. In 1504, at the resignation of 

 Thomas Wright, the number of monks was 

 insufficient for a canonical election, and the 

 bishop was obliged to collate a prior * ; and 

 in 1524 the site of the monastery and its 

 scanty revenues were granted to Cardinal 

 Wolsey for the endowment of his new col- 

 lege. 2 



During the latter half of the fourteenth 

 century, when the priory of Bradwell was evi- 

 dently very poor and its monks few in number, 

 it nevertheless appears to have had a very high 

 character for the strict observance of the rule. 

 For one of those monks who obtained per- 

 mission from the good abbot of St. Albans, 

 Thomas de la Mare, to leave his own monas- 

 tery in search of a more perfect life, made 

 choice of this little house 3 as a place of holy 

 retirement ; perhaps finding its simplicity 

 and very real poverty more attractive than 

 the stately order of the great abbey in which 

 he was professed. The priory seems to have 

 maintained this character for some time. 

 When Bishop Gray visited it between 1431 

 and 1436 4 he had no serious fault to find 

 with anything he heard or saw. He encour- 

 aged the monks in spite of the smallness of 

 their numbers still to be regular in rising to 

 mattins ; and if there were not sufficient 

 voices to sing the office they were permitted 

 to recite it without note, yet devoutly and 

 distinctly, observing the pause in every verse. 

 If they were unable to go to the refectory to- 

 gether every day, they should do so at least on 

 Wednesdays and Fridays : in other words, the 

 fact that they were few was not in any way to 

 hinder the regularity of their life. The bishop 

 concluded by bidding them increase their 

 number as soon as possible on pain of con- 

 tempt, but it seems probable that their pov- 

 erty made this almost impossible, for in 1455 

 they had to petition for the suppression of the 

 vicarage of Padbury and its union with the 

 parish church 6 : and the sum total of their 

 revenue at the time of the dissolution of the 

 monastery was less than 50. 



The original endowment of the priory 

 comprised only certain lands in Wolverton 

 and Padbury, and the churches of Wolverton, 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Smith, 375d. 



' L. and P. Henry V11I. iv. (i) 536, etc. 



3 Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Ser.), iii. 416. 



* Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Gray, 202. 



6 Ibid. Memo. Chadworth, 41. The vicars had 

 constantly brought suits against the priory, think- 

 ing they had not a sufficient share in the fruits of 

 the benefice. 



Padbury, Stantonbury, Chalfont St. Giles' 

 and Stoke Hammond. 6 The church of Stan- 

 tonbury was granted at an early date to the 

 Cathedral at Lincoln, 7 and the church of 

 Chalfont St. Giles in the year 1259; the 

 latter was however reckoned among the bene- 

 fices belonging to the monastery in 1527. 

 The temporalities assigned to Bradwell in 

 1291 amount only to 10 19^. iod. s ; and 

 a survey taken in 1380 gave a total of 32 

 6s. 2d. a At the dissolution the total issues 

 of the house were stated to be 47 4*. id. l 



PRIORS OF BRADWELL 

 Nigel, 11 occurs 1189 

 Richard," occurs 1201 

 John, 13 occurs 1219 

 Richard, 14 resigned 1237 

 Simon de Kantia," elected 1237 

 John, 18 occurs 1253 

 Bartholomew, 17 occurs 1272 

 Robert of Ramsey, 18 elected 1280 

 John, 19 died 1320 

 Robert of Rowsham, 20 elected 1320 

 Robert Foliot, 21 died 1331 

 Simon of Elstow, 22 elected 1331, resigned 



1336 

 William of Lough ton, 23 elected 1336, died 



1349 



John of Billing, 24 elected 1349 

 John of Willen, 25 deprived 1361 



8 Dugdale, Mon. iv. 508-12. 



' Lipscomb, History of Bucks, iv. 348. 

 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.). 



9 Dugdale, Mon. iv. 510-11. The survey is 

 quoted from a valuation which Browne Willis saw 

 at Buckden, dated 1380; and in the Episcopal 

 register of 1380-1 a survey of the goods of the 

 monastery was ordered, of which this may be the 

 result (Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 235). 

 The prior of Bradwell in 1316 had only one third 

 of the village of Padbury. Feud. Aids, i. 109. 



10 L. and P. Henry Fill. iv. (3) 6788. 



11 Browne Willis, History of Abbies, ii. 15. 

 n Feet of F. (Rec. Com.), 200. 



is Feet of F. Bucks. 3 Hen. III. 2 and 6, and 

 Line. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Hugh of Wells, A 11. 



i Ibid. Rolls of Grosstete. 



Ibid. He had been sacrist of Peterborough. 



" Feet of F. 37 Hen. III. 4. 



17 Ibid. 56 Hen. III. 17. 



is Browne Willis, History of Abbies, ii. 15. 



Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Burwash, 325. 



20 Ibid. 



i Ibid. 338. He may be the same as Robert of 

 Rowsham. 



" Ibid. * Ibid. 349. 



" Ibid. Inst. Gynwell, 240. 



Browne Willis, History of Abbies, ii. 15. This 

 may be the same as John of Billing ; but as Willis 

 does not give his reference, it cannot at present be 

 proved that he has misread the name. 



351 



