RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Stowe had already been quitclaimed to John 

 de Rochford * ; and the place called Snels- 

 hall, with the chapel of Tattenhoe, was given 

 in the next year to the Benedictine priory of 

 that name. 2 In 1231 two of the daughters 

 of John de Bidun claimed the churches of 

 Wootton and Shelton in Northamptonshire. 

 The case was difficult to settle, as the last in- 

 cumbent of Wootton had been presented by 

 John de Bidun ; but while the abbot said he 

 was presented before the charter was made, 

 the heirs declared that he was presented after 

 the charter. The abbot vouchsafed to war- 

 rant two other daughters of John, but the 

 case was not settled at that time for want of 

 further evidence 3 : and it seems that it was 

 finally decided against the abbot, for he cer- 

 tainly lost the churches from this time for- 

 ward. Again in 1225 he lost the church of 

 Tombstone in Norfolk, because it was finally 

 proved that the de Biduns had no right in the 

 church at all, and could not grant it to the 

 abbey ; the last presentment, which had been 

 made by Sarah de Bidun, had been irregular. 4 

 In 1237 the abbot secured the church of 

 Lavendon against John de St. Medard s ; in 

 1272 the church of Lathbury was claimed by 

 Robert Raynel, 6 and again in 1281 by Andrew 

 de Gatesden. 7 The church of Kirkby must 

 have been lost some time during the same 

 century. 



In 1339 a quarrel arose with Simon of Nor- 

 wich, a near neighbour of the abbot's in Lav 

 endon. Simon complained that whereas he 

 had impounded certain cattle in his fee of 

 Lavendon for default of service, the abbot 

 had rescued the cattle, broken his close houses 

 and doors, assaulted him, and carried away his 

 goods. 8 A month later the abbot brought a 

 complaint against Simon for having prevented 

 his tenants coming to his court leet, impounded 

 his sheep, plotted against his servants so that 

 they dared not go out to till his land, buried 

 a boat with nets for taking fish in his fishery, 

 and compelled his men to swear that they 

 would no longer serve him. 9 



There are a few notices of protection 



1 Curia Regis R. 39, No. 5. 



1 They were secured to Lavendon in 1215 

 (Liber Antiqwts, ed. Gibbons, 76), and again in 

 1227 (Cal. of Chart. R. i. 42) : but passed to 

 Snelshall in 1229. The reason is at present un- 

 known. 



3 Bracion's Note Book (ed. Maitland), ii. 497-9. 



4 Ibid. iii. 97. 



Feet of F. 21 Hen. III. No. 2. 



Ibid. 56 Hen. III. 8 (bound in 55 Hen. III.). 



* Close, 10 Edw. I. m. lod. 



8 Pat. 13 Edw. III. pt. i., m. 23d, 2od. 



9 Ibid. m. i id. 



granted to abbots of Lavendon among others 

 to cross the seas for the general chapters at 

 Premontre. 10 In 1226 an abbot of this house 

 was the bearer of a special message from 

 Henry III., granting favours to the order, and 

 asking the benefit of their prayers at the com- 

 ing chapter. 11 The wars of the next century 

 made these gatherings difficult for English 

 monks to attend. A petition sent to the 

 pope in 1397 from Lavendon shows that the 

 house, never very rich, had fallen into great 

 distress. It was hard by the high road, and 

 there were constant demands upon it for hos- 

 pitality ; but its revenues had been sorely 

 diminished by the results of the Great Pesti- 

 lence : lands had become barren for want of 

 cultivation, labourers were few and wages very 

 high, and great exactions had been made from 

 religious during the wars, in spite of the bur- 

 dens they had to sustain in maintaining the 

 poor and infirm. The church of Aston in 

 Northamptonshire, not two miles from the 

 monastery, was appropriated at this time for 

 their support. 12 



At the time of the dissolution there were 

 ten or eleven canons in this house, 13 but as its 

 revenue was under 200 it fell under the first 

 Act of Suppression. The surrender was taken 

 some time before 28 July, 1536, when William 

 Gales, the abbot, received a pension of ^I2. 14 

 Perhaps some of the others may have received 

 benefices, but as the house was poor, no other 

 pensions were assigned. 



All Premonstratensian houses were free of 

 episcopal jurisdiction, and the benediction of 

 the diocesan was not necessary even at the 

 election of a new abbot : consequently there 

 are few entries relating to them in the Lincoln 

 registers. As Bishop Bokyngham wrote a 

 letter to the pope however in 1397 on behalf 

 of the canons of Lavendon, we may conclude 

 that he was prepared to endorse their plea of 

 poverty, and had no reason to disapprove the 

 house. 15 The general visitation of the whole 

 order in 1478 tells us very little of this abbey : 

 its report simply states that the Abbot of 

 Soleby was its father abbot, and that the 

 canons had four churches to serve ; no details 

 as to the order of the house are given. 16 



The original endowment of the abbey in- 

 cluded the site and adjacent fields, with 29 

 acres besides, and a park and a mill ; the 



10 Close, 5 Edw. III. m. 6d. 



11 Pat. 10 Hen. III. m. 2. 



" Cal. of Pap. Letters, v. 73. 

 13 Dugdale, Man. vi. 888. 

 i Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. 232, f. 22. 

 Cal. of Pap. Letters, v. 73 ; Line. Epis. Reg. 

 Memo. Bokyngham, 355. 

 i Sloane'MS. 4935, f. 44. 



385 



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