A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



recently a fine brass on his tomb in Hemel 

 Hempstead Church, representing him in the 

 vestments of the priesthood, 1 it is now in the 

 chapel at Ashridge. 



We have it on the testimony of Harpsfield 

 that the Bonhommes of Ashridge were in very 

 deed what their name implies boni homines 3 : 

 nevertheless there are some serious flaws in 

 their record, as preserved in the episcopal 

 registers and elsewhere. It has been already 

 noticed that certain of the first chaplains of 

 the house, according to the chronicles of Dun- 

 stable, se habebant minus bene. 3 At the elec- 

 tion of Ralf of Aston in 1368, there was some 

 dispute and opposition, and a commission was 

 ordered to inquire into the matter ; the 

 rector was specially enjoined to reside, which 

 looks as if his predecessor had been at fault 

 in this respect. It is natural to suppose that 

 the revision of the statutes at the new foun- 

 dation in 1376 brought about a renewal of 

 religious fervour, and a fresh desire for the 

 careful observance of the rule. 4 It was the 

 rule of St. Augustine to which the brethren 

 of Ashridge were professed, with the addition 

 of a few customs proper to their house. They 

 were placed under the government of a rector, 

 instead of an abbot or prior, and he was to be 

 supported by a corrector. As the brethren 

 were all priests, their time was to be given 

 mainly to the divine office, to prayer and to 

 study ; a granger superintended the tem- 

 poral property of the house outside the limits 

 of the cloister, and a cellarer had charge of all 

 domestic affairs within the college. The life 

 of the brethren was to be strict and regular, 

 but not what would have been considered 

 then very austere, either in respect of fasting, 

 vigil or enclosure. They rose indeed, as all 

 religious were bound to do, for the midnight 

 office ; but it was the Use of Sarum they ob- 

 served s the ordinary office of secular 

 priests and they might retire again to rest 

 till prime if they desired. 8 They had ordi- 

 narily two meals in the day, and were not 

 altogether forbidden the use of linen for their 

 undergarments. Only a few women were 

 ever allowed to enter the cloister the foun- 



Todd, History of Ashridge, 25. 2 Ibid. 



3 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 6^d. 



4 Ibid. 274d. The statutes are printed also 

 in full in Todd's History of Ashr idge, 2-13. They 

 are the same as in the episcopal registers, except 

 that they have the names of Edmund Earl of Corn- 

 wall and his family among the benefactors to be 

 prayed for at the end of chapter. 



6 They were also bound to recite the office of 

 Our Lady. 



6 The time between lauds and prime might of 

 course be spent in prayer or study. 



der's wife, the queen, the mothers and sisters 

 of the brethren but with these they might 

 speak, so it were briefly, and in the presence 

 of a companion. Their profession, like that 

 of Augustinians generally, took the form of a 

 promise of obedience made to the rector per- 

 sonally : the novice knelt and placed his 

 hands between the rector's hands, saying : 

 ' I promise obedience to God, to Blessed 

 Mary, to thee, N., Rector of Ashridge, ac- 

 cording to the rule of Blessed Augustine and 

 the institutions of the Boni homines of this 

 place ; and that I will be obedient to thee 

 and to thy successors unto my life's end.' 



It was a simple and a moderate rule, and we 

 may hope that for the most part the brethren 

 continued faithful to its observance, and so 

 earned the character which Harpsfield gives 

 them. Towards the end of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, however, they seemed to have shared in 

 the general laxity that marked so many reli- 

 gious houses, as well as the life of the clergy of 

 that period. Bishop Smith visited the house 

 and laid certain injunctions upon the breth- 

 ren, but the record of these is not preserved. 7 

 At the visitation of Bishop Atwater in 1519 

 it was observed that silence was not well kept, 

 nor were the bells regularly rung. Complaint 

 was made that the rector and corrector 

 sometimes used bitter and opprobrious words 

 in the exercise of discipline ; they were 

 enjoined to use more self-restraint in this 

 respect. The bishop also ordered that the 

 younger brethren should be more diligent in 

 study, and should not give themselves to idle- 

 ness, to sport or to drinking : all were to sleep 

 in the dormitory according to rule, and the 

 accounts were to be more carefully kept. 8 It 

 seems that the last rector, Thomas Water- 

 house, and perhaps his predecessors, took 

 some pains to secure the observance of these 

 injunctions, and to improve the discipline 

 of the house. The last visitation report, 

 that of Bishop Longland in 1530, is very 

 instructive as showing the natural results 

 of such efforts of reform, and also the free- 

 dom of speech which was allowed on such 

 occasions, so that anything like grave scandal 

 would have been exceedingly difficult to hide. 



More than one of the brethren complained 

 that the granger was unfaithful in the exer- 

 cise of his office, and sold poultry and other 

 goods of the convent for his own profit. One 

 or two brethren complained that the seniors 



7 His visitation and injunctions are mentioned, 

 but with no details, in the course of Bishop At- 

 water's injunctions. 



8 Visitations of Bishop Atwater (Alnwick Tower, 

 Lincoln). 



388 



