RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



William Kirkby, 1 elected 1468, resigned 



H/S 

 William Pemberton, 2 elected 1475, died 



1499 

 William Eynsham, 3 elected 1499, resigned 



1501 

 Thomas Yorke, 4 elected 1501, resigned 



Thomas Broke, 5 elected 1503 

 Thomas Parker, 8 occurs at the dissolution, 

 1524 



Pointed oval seal of late fourteenth century 

 taken from an impression in gutta-percha 

 gilded, 9 represents the Blessed Virgin with 

 crown seated in a niche with tabernacle work 

 at the sides. The Holy Child with nimbus 

 is on her right knee, in her left hand she iolds 

 a sceptre fleur-de-lize. In base in a niche with 

 round-headed arch an ecclesiastic is kneeling, 

 turned three-quarters to the left, in prayer. 

 Legend : SIGILLU : COIE : DOMUS : BEATE : 



MARIE : DE : TYKFORD. 



HOUSES OF CISTERCIAN MONKS 



8. THE ABBEY OF BIDDLESDEN 



The Cistercian abbey of Biddlesden was 

 founded in the year 1147 * by Arnold de Bois 

 (or de Bosco), steward to the Earl of Leicester, 

 and one of the keepers of the royal forest. 

 The traditional account of its foundation, if 

 true, does not reflect much credit upon Ar- 

 nold. For the lands with which he endowed 

 it were a gift from the Earl of Leicester, to 

 whom they had escheated during the civil 

 war by the failure of the former tenant, 

 Robert of Meppershall, to do the homage and 

 service due for them 8 ; and it is said that 

 Arnold de Bois determined to found an abbey 

 there in order to avoid the difficulty of a dis- 

 puted tenure. When peace was restored, 

 Robert did indeed lay claim to the lands, and 

 impleaded Arnold ; but the monks paid him 

 ten marks, and persuaded him to grant them 

 a charter of confirmation. Matthew Paris 

 however speaks of Arnold as strenuus, facetus 

 et optimis moribus adornatus, so perhaps his 

 motives in founding the abbey have been 

 misrepresented. At any rate he received all 

 the honours of a founder, and was buried in 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Chadworth, 155. 



a Ibid. Inst. Rotherham, 106. 



3 Ibid. Inst. Smith, 365d. 



Ibid. 367. 



Ibid. 373. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 1137 (18). Thomas 

 Broke is given by Dugdale and Brown Willis as the 

 last prior, it is possible that he may be identified 

 with Thomas Parker, who occurs at the dissolution 

 of the house. 



7 Dugdale, Man. v. 364, from the Annals of 

 Peterborough. 



8 The land had changed hands two or three 

 times before this, being first granted by Robert of 

 Meppershall to Geoffrey de Clinton in return for 

 certain benefits and then restored to Robert again 

 as a dowry with a kinswoman of Geoffrey's. Ibid. 

 365-8. Robert's charter of confirmation is extant. 

 Harl. Chart., 85 c. 48. 



the conventual church before the high 

 altar. 10 



The first monks of Biddlesden were prob- 

 ably sent from the abbey of Gerondon in 

 Leicestershire, for the earliest charters were 

 made out to the abbot of that house ; but 

 after the custom of Cistercian foundations, it 

 became an independent abbey almost at once. 

 The original endowment was confirmed by 

 Robert, Earl of Leicester, by Stephen and 

 Henry II., by Theobald of Canterbury, and 

 Robert of Lincoln. 11 Many well-known names 

 in this county are reckoned amongst the bene- 

 factors of Biddlesden : William and Ralf de 

 Cheinduit, Roger and Miles de Bray, Roger 

 Foliot, Ralf de Pinkeney, Thomas de St. 

 Walery, and Beatrice, wife of the younger 

 William de Beauchamp. Their gifts were 

 bestowed for the most part during the twelfth 

 and thirteenth centuries. The church of 

 Ebrington in Gloucestershire was granted to 

 the abbey as late as I378. 12 But it was not a 

 wealthy house at any time, and its revenue 

 never rose much above 100. 



Little is known of its external history. In 

 1260 the vicar of Thornborough complained 

 to the abbot that he did not receive tithes 

 from the monastic lands in his parish ; and 

 the abbot, for the sake of peace, granted him 

 three acres out of these, being careful however 

 at the same time to assert the Cistercian pri- 



B. M. Seals, xxxv. 194. 



o Chron. Majora (Rolls Series), v. 487. 



" Harl. MS. 4714, 1-3. This chartulary is of 

 late date, but the originals of many of the charters 

 contained in it are extant, and prove it to be very 

 correct on the whole, with the exception of a few 

 obvious blunders, such as the date 1251 attached 

 to the charter of Henry II., witnessed by Thomas 

 Becket as chancellor. 



1J Ibid. z67d. The advowson was disputed by 

 a certain Henry Bemys and his wife until 1399, 

 when they finally surrendered their claim. Harl. 

 Chart. 84 F. 14, and 84 H. 23. 



365 



