A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



ever to adopt the use of Sarum instead of the 

 original office of St. Augustine. 1 



Bishop Longland visited the house in 1530, 

 but the report of his visitation is incomplete. 

 The abbess, the chantress, the sub-chantress, 

 and seven other nuns assembled in the chapter 

 house to meet him. The abbess reported 

 Omnia bene ; the chantress drew attention to 

 the fact that there was no prioress. 2 None of 

 the other speeches are legible, but the pro- 

 ceedings do not seem to have been lengthy ; 

 there was probably little to remark upon, and 

 it seems that Bishop Atwater's injunctions 

 had been more effectual than Bishop Grey's. 

 The request of the local commissioners that 

 the house might be continued, in spite of its 

 small value, is sufficient evidence of the good 

 reputation which it had at the last in its own 

 neighbourhood. The report of the commis- 

 sioners states that there were nine nuns in the 

 house, all of whom desired to go into another 

 religious house. The household consisted of 

 thirty-seven servants, of whom two were 

 priests, twenty-one hinds, and fourteen wo- 

 men servants. 3 



The original endowment of the abbey 

 included the manor of Burnham with the 

 advowson of the parish church ; and land 

 appurtenant to the manor of Cippenham with 

 a mill, fishery and other rights. 4 To these 

 was added later the church of Dorney. 



In 1291 the temporalities of the abbey 

 amounted to 18 i6s. lid. ; the spiritualities 

 to 44 13-f. 4^., 5 out of which two vicars' por- 

 tions had to be paid. Between 1 284 and 1 346 

 the abbess held half the vill of Burnham and 

 half the hamlet " of Beaconsfield. The Valor 



Ecclesiasticus gives a clear value of 50 2s. 

 including the churches of Burnham and Dor- 

 ney, and the manors of Stoke Poges and Hol- 

 mer 8 ; the Ministers' Accounts amount to 

 126 $s. i%d. g 



ABBESSES OF BURNHAM 



Margery of Aston, 10 first abbess, elected 



1266, resigned 1274 



Maud of Dorchester, 11 elected 1274, re- 

 signed 1274 



Joan of Rideware, 12 elected 1274, died 1314 

 Idonea de Audley, 13 elected 1316, died 1334 

 Joan de Somerville, 11 elected 1334 

 Margery de Louches, 15 elected 1334, re- 

 signed 1339 



Joan of Dorney, 18 elected 1339 

 Agnes Frankleyn, 17 elected 1367, resigned 



1393 



Elizabeth Warde, 18 elected 1393 

 Alice Golafre, 19 elected 1403 

 Agnes Gower, 20 elected 1457 

 Agnes Sturdy, 21 occurs 1459 

 Joan Radcliffe, 22 resigned 1507 

 Margaret Gibson, 23 elected 1507, resigned 



1536 

 Alice Baldwin, 24 last abbess, elected 1536 



Red, pointed oval seal of the fourteenth 

 century attached to the Deed of Surrender, 

 dated 19 September, I539, 25 represents the 

 Coronation of the Blessed Virgin in a double 

 arcaded canopied niche pinnacled and crock- 

 eted. In base a shield of arms, on a chief 

 three lozenges between two initial letters S 

 and perhaps T. Legend : SIGILLVM CONVEN- 

 TVS [MONIJALIVM DE BVRNUAM. 





HOUSE OF PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANONS 



15. THE ABBEY OF LAVENDON 



The abbey of St. Mary and St. John Bap- 

 tist at Lavendon was founded, probably 

 during the reign of Henry II., by John de 

 Bidun, 7 who was sheriff of the county in 1 154. 

 The abbey was much troubled by law suits 

 during the first century of its existence, and 

 lost nearly all the churches with which the 

 founder had endowed it. The charters of 

 John de Bidun and other benefactors, as Sibyl 

 de Aungerville, Ralf Earl of Chester, Ralf de 



1 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Atwater, 68. 



4 Visitations of Longland (Lincoln). 



3 Browne Willis, Mitred Abbies, ii. 16. 



* Dugdale, Man, vi. 546. 



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



Feudal Aids, i. 79, 91, 114, 116. 



' Col. of Chart. R. i. 42 ; and Dugdale, Man. 

 vi. (2) 888. 



Bray, Richard de Beauchamp, were confirmed 

 by Henry III. in 1227: but the church of 



8 Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 221. 



8 Dugdale, Man. vi. 546. 

 10 Line. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend. 

 "Ibid. "Ibid. I3 Ibid. Inst. Dalderby, i87d. 

 14 Ibid. Inst. Burghersh, 331. 

 18 Ibid. Memo. Burghersh, 283d. 



18 Ibid. 355. This is probably the same as the 

 ' Joan Turner ' of Browne Willis's list. 



17 Ibid. Inst. Bokyngham, i. 413. 18 Ibid. ii. 409. 



19 Browne Willis gave her name as occurring circa 

 1 399 (from an unknown source). But she was dis- 

 pensed to hold this office (being the daughter of un- 

 married parents) only in 1403. Cal. of Pap. Letters, 

 v. 549. 20 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Chadworth, 35. 



ai Dugdale, M on. vi. 545 (from Browne Willis). 

 22 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Smith, 383d. 23 Ibid. 

 " Pat. 29 Henry VIII. pt.i.,m. 19. 

 P.R.O. Deed of Surrender, No. 37. 



384 



