RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



to sign, it would prove very little against 

 them, and over against it may be set not only 

 Dr. London's approval of the house l which 

 might be a poor compliment but the favour- 

 able report of the local commissioners. 



The abbot received a pension of 40 ; the 

 cellarer, 6 ; the rest, eight in number, 

 5 6s. 8d. each ; and the old abbot, Richard 

 Benet, apparently kept his original pension of 

 twenty marks. 2 One of the monks, Richard 

 Taylor of Northampton, was still living in 

 1552 as Vicar of Thornborough, and had 

 never married. 3 



The original endowment of the abbey in- 

 cluded the vill of Biddlesden, 5 virgates in 

 Whitfield, and the manor of Maryland in 

 Syresham, Northants, as well as the advowson 

 of half the church of Houghton, Northants, 

 with lands and a mill in the same parish. 4 

 The manors of Charwelton and Preston Capes 

 in Northants were granted by William and 

 Ralf de Cheinduit at the end of the twelfth 

 century B ; the manor of Boycott, Oxon, was 

 the property of the abbey early in the thir- 

 teenth. 6 In 1379 tne church of Ebrington, 

 Gloucestershire, was granted to the monks by 

 William la Zouche of Harringworth in mem- 

 ory of his kinsman, William de Bosco 7 ; and 

 Sir Richard Corbett relinquished his rights 

 in the same church on condition that a cer- 

 tain number of masses should be said for his 

 soul. 8 In 1284 the Abbot of Biddlesden held 

 three fourths of a knight's fee in Dodford and 

 a share in one half of Thornborough 9 ; in 

 1302 he was returned as holding Dodford and 

 Stowe with the Abbot of Osney, and half the 

 village of Evershaw 10 ; in 1316 his lands were 

 the same as in 1 302, with the addition of one 

 third of Thornborough. 11 



In 1291 the temporalities of the abbey 

 amounted to 66 gs. $d. 12 The Valor Ecclesi- 

 asticus estimates its revenues at 125 4^. yd. 13 ; 

 the local commissioners in 1536 at 130 4_r. $d. 

 or 138 js. 6d. " ; the Ministers' Accounts 



1 L. and P. Henry VIII. xiii. (2), 422. 



2 Ibid. 



3 Exch. Mins. Accts. Bdle 76, no. 26. 



Harl. Chart. 84 H, 45-48, 85 c, 48, and Harl. 

 MS. 4714, ff. 1-3. 



6 Harl. MS. 4714, ff. 58, 5gd, 100, loid. 



Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 192. 

 i Harl. MS. 4714, f. 267d. 



8 Harl. Chart. 84, F. 5. Alms were still dis- 

 tributed to the poor in his name in 1535, and also 

 for Arnold de Bois. Valor Eccl. iv. 238. 



Feud. Aids, i. 79, 81. 



10 Ibid. i. 100. " Ibid. i. 108, 109. 



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

 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 238. 

 > Dugdale, Man. v. 365. 



of 1538 at 164 is. jd., including the manors 

 of Boycott, Oxon, and Dodford, Bucks, with 

 Charwelton, Preston and Gorall, Northants ; 

 and the church of Ebrington. 15 



LIST OF ABBOTS le 



Richard, 17 occurs 1151 



Alexander, 18 occurs 1157 and 1166 



Richard, 19 died 1192 



William, 20 deposed 1198 



Adam of Bath, 21 elected 1198, occurs till 



1209 



Maurice, 22 occurs 1219 and 1222 

 Henry," occurs 1226, died 1228 

 Thomas, 2 * occurs 1230 and 1232 

 Giffard, 25 resigned 1236 

 Walter, 28 occurs 1238 and 1240 

 Henry Mallore, 27 occurs 1241 

 Philip, 2 * occurs 1245 to 1250 

 William, 29 occurs 1254 to I2 57 

 Roger, 30 occurs 1259 and 1262 

 William Bisham, 31 occurs from 1264 to 1286 



15 Dugdale, Man. v. 368-9. 



18 This list is almost the same as that made out 

 by Browne Willis. As it is mainly a list of occur- 

 rences (only three elections appearing in the epis- 

 copal registers), it is an evidence of his general care 

 and accuracy, at any rate in dealing with his own 

 county ; and the verification of nearly all the names 

 and dates which he gives is a presumption in favour 

 of those which cannot so easily be traced. He 

 seems to have had a considerable acquaintance 

 with old wills, from which he may have obtained 

 some of these. 



Harl. MS. 4714, f. 2. 



18 Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, f. 157. 



Ann. Man. (Rolls Sen), ii. 248. 



so Ibid. ii. 251. 



21 Ibid. Called Adam of Bath in Harl. MS. 4714, 

 f. 33, and occurs with the date 1209 on f. isjd. 



22 Harl. MS. 4714, f. 26d : the second date is 

 given by Browne Willis. 



23 Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 157, 

 gives the date 1226, and adds ' Stephen of Canter- 

 bury died 1228.' The mistake may easily be traced. 

 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 109, has ' Eodem anno 

 obiit Stephanus Cantuariensis ; abbas de Bitles- 

 den,' etc. It was probably Henry who died in 

 1228, if he was abbot in 1226. 



" Feet of F. 16 Hen. III. 14. 



25 He was made abbot of Waverley in this year. 

 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 316. 



2" Harl. MS. 4714, f. 2od ; and Harl. Chart. 

 84 D, 32, have W. dated 1239 and 1240. 



" Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 157. 



28 Harl. MS. 4714, f. 20 ; Feet of F. 35 Hen. III. 

 no. 3. 



2 Feet of F. 39 Hen. III. no. 4, and 55 

 Hen. III. no. 4. 



so Harl. MS. 4714, ff. 6, lid. 



" The earliest reference, in Harl. MS. 4714, f. 

 338, is dated 1266 ; the latest, in f. 105, is 1286. 



367 



