A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



John Horwood, 1 occurs 1388, died 1410 

 William Horwood, 2 elected 1410 

 John Wells, 3 elected 1492, died 1503 

 Thomas Wright, 4 elected 1503, resigned 



1504 

 Robert Boston, 5 elected 1504, resigned 



I5IS 

 John Ashby," last prior elected 1515 



Pointed oval seal, one side of which is 

 chipped, attached to a charter ' bearing the 

 date 1209, represents the prior standing on a 

 corbel holding a book. Legend, partly de- 

 faced, runs : . . . ILL' PRIORIS DE BRADEWEL. 



3. THE PRIORY OF SNELSHALL 



There is no record of the existence of this 

 priory earlier than 1219 8 ; and the charter of 

 confirmation granted by Henry III. in 1228 

 names Ralf Martel as the founder, and donor 

 of the demesne land with the chapel of Tat- 

 tenhoe. Several smaller benefactions were 

 confirmed at the same time, but they are not 

 connected with any well-known names. The 

 priory was dedicated to St. Leonard, and it is 

 probable that it was never intended to sup- 

 port more than about half a dozen monks. 

 Like the other Benedictine houses of this 

 county, it has very little history. A visita- 

 tion of Bishop Burghersh, dated 1321," de- 

 scribes it as so poor that the monks had 

 scarcely the necessaries of life, and had to 

 beg even for these ; an indulgence was 

 granted at this time to those who should 

 contribute to their support. Again in 

 I49O 10 the prior of Snelshall was presented 

 to the archdeacon for not paying tithes 

 to Shenley Church for lands which lay 

 in that parish. In 1529 Bishop Longland 11 

 visited the house and evidently found 

 some irregularity amongst the two or 

 three monks who remained. He ordered the 

 prior, William Maltby, on pain of deprivation, 

 to observe the purpose of the foundation and 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Repingdon, 444. 



* Ibid. 



3 Browne Willis, History of Abbies, ii. 15. He 

 had been prior of Snelshall. 



* Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Smith, 3yid. 

 6 Ibid. 375d. 



6 Ibid. Inst. Atwater, 4od. He seems to have 

 been alive in 1529. L. and P. Henry VIII. iv. 

 6033. 



> Harl. Chart. 84 D. 19. 



8 Chron. of priory of Dunstable (Hearne ed.), ii. 

 680. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Burghersh, 3gd. 



10 Dugdale, Man. iv. 233 (from visitations of 

 Bucks). 



1 1 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Longland, ig6d. 



to see that others did the same : and enjoined 

 him also within ten days to dismiss all women, 

 married or unmarried, from the precincts of 

 the monastery, 12 retaining only two of more 

 than forty-eight years and of unexceptionable 

 character as servants. There were to be 

 three brothers in the house besides the prior, 

 and no strangers were to be entertained except 

 in the way of hospitality. 



In 1535, after the passing of the first Act of 

 Suppression, the local commissioners reported 

 that there were only three monks in the house, 

 two priests and one only a novice, and none of 

 them guilty of immorality ; that there were 

 eight servants also living in the monastery, as 

 well as the prior's father and mother, who had 

 brought all their goods with them, and hoped 

 to spend their old age there. The house was 

 said to be ' wholly in ruin ' : but it was not in 

 debt. 13 



William Maltby, the prior, with two monks 

 had signed the Acknowledgment of the Royal 

 Supremacy in the same year. 14 At the sur- 

 render of the house, which must have been 

 before 28 July, 1535, he received an annual 

 pension of $. ls 



The original endowment of the priory by 

 Ralf Martel comprised the land on which it 

 stood, with ' husbote and haybote ' in the 

 woods of Tattenhoe, sufficient for fuel and 

 building purposes, and of underwood enough 

 for making bread and beer, and quittance of 

 pannage for hogs. The chapel of Tattenhoe 

 was also granted to the monks with a virgate 

 of land, and some small parcels of land in the 

 neighbourhood and in Northamptonshire. 18 

 The temporalities of the priory in 1291 

 amounted to .8 14^. 8^. l7 ; the chapel of 

 Tattenhoe seems only to have been worth 

 l$s. 4</. A taxation of 1383 only amounted 

 to 6 igs. $d. besides the chapel. 18 The 

 commissioners of 1535 reported the clear 

 value of the monastery to be iB is. I id. ; on 



11 This does not necessarily imply that there had 

 been scandal, but only that there had not been 

 proper care to avoid scandal. Bishop Longland 

 was not in the least afraid of making plain and 

 simple accusations when necessary. The local 

 commissioners of a few years later report quite 

 simply ' Monks three, incontinent none.' 



13 Browne Willis, Hist, of Abbies, ii. 36, 7. 



14 P.R.O. Acknowledgment of Supremacy No. 

 105. 



15 Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. 232, f. 29. The pension 

 was to begin from 28 July, so that the house must 

 have been dissolved before that date. 



16 Cal. of Chart. R., i. 67, and Dugdale, M on. iv. 



235- 



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

 is Dugdale, Man. iv. 233. 



352 



