RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



were not sufficiently consulted nor held in 

 due honour by the rector ; nor did the 

 juniors reverence or bow to them as custom 

 required. Others however were ready to bear 

 witness that the chief complainant was dis- 

 obedient, impatient, and wont to contend with 

 the rector. Another simply stated his opinion 

 that the rector's rule was beneficial to the 

 college. 1 There were smaller complaints as 

 to eating and drinking between meals ; that 

 a woman had once spent two nights in the 

 monastery ; that a brother had once been out 

 in secular habit. 



The injunctions show a real grasp of the 

 situation. The brethren are exhorted to live 

 in virtue, in concord and in charity, and to be 

 pure alike in heart and body. They are 

 gently reminded that the reform of all dis- 

 orders lies with the rector and corrector, and 

 that complaining serves no good purpose. All, 

 under pain of contempt, are to abstain from 

 eating and drinking between meals without 

 reasonable cause ; those who do so without 

 licence of the rector or corrector shall fast 

 upon bread and water. The rector and cor- 

 rector are to see that all women are kept 

 outside the cloister ; they are to repress all 

 murmuring by prudent government. The 

 accounts are to be shown yearly to four senior 

 brethren ; the granger and cellarer are to 

 give a faithful account of their stewardship. 

 Licences to go out are to be rarely given, and 

 the juniors are never to go alone. 2 



In 1538 one of the brethren of Ashridge 

 incurred some danger by rash words spoken 

 against ' Mr. Dr. Petre ' 3 probably in con- 

 nection with the dissolution of some neigh- 

 bouring houses 4 and a letter was sent up to 

 Cromwell by Sir John Russell on his behalf, 

 saying that he was but a simple man, and that 

 what he did was for lack of discretion. It is 

 probable that no proceedings were taken 

 against him ; but the danger of such words 

 at that time was a very real one. 6 



1 The phrase constantly recurs in these reports, 

 and is a mere formal expression of approval ' Rec- 

 tor utilis est collegio.' Sometimes the opposite 

 statement is found, as at Missenden ' Dominus 

 Johannes Johns non est utilis monasterio.' 



2 Visitations of Bishop Longland (Alnwick 

 Tower, Lincoln). 



a L. and P. Henry VIII. xiii. (i) 931. 



4 Dr. Petre took the oath of Supremacy at Woo- 

 burn in 1 5 35, and may have taken it at Ashridge also. 



6 This letter is dated 5 May, 1538 ; and it was 

 on II and 12 May that Dr. Petre, with Legh and 

 Williams, heard the depositions of the monks of 

 Wooburn, preliminary to their trial for treason. In 

 the same month Friar Forrest was hanged and 

 burnt. 



The Deed of Surrender, now lost, probably 

 acknowledged that the brethren with unani- 

 mous consent gave up their house to the king. 

 Tbe'fast- entry in their register, for which the 

 rector was probably responsible, speaks their 

 mind more truly. Hoc anno nobilis domus de 

 Asscherugge destructa fuit et fratres expulsi 

 sunt in die S. Leonardi. Hoc anno deca-pitatus 

 fuit ille eximius haereticus et proditor Thomas 

 Cromwell, qui causa fuit destruccionis omnium 

 domorum religiosorum in Anglia? 



The original endowment of the house in- 

 cluded the manors of Ashridge, Pitstone 

 (Bucks), Little Gaddesden and Hemel Hemp- 

 stead (Herts), with the advowson of the 

 church of Hemel Hempstead. Before his 

 death the founder added the manors of Am- 

 brosden and Chesterton (Oxon), with their 

 churches. 7 The church of Pitstone with 

 Nettleden chapel was appropriated in I38i, 8 

 and that of Ivinghoe in 1420. 9 



From 1302 until 1346 the Rector held one 

 quarter of a knight's fee at Ashridge, half a 

 fee in Hemel Hempstead, a quarter of a fee in 

 Flaunden, and half a fee in Little Gaddesden. 10 



The temporalities of the house in 1291 were 

 valued at jz $s. yd". 11 ; in 1535 its clear in- 

 come was 416 i6s. 4</. 12 The Ministers' 

 Accounts give a total of 467 3/. J\d., in- 

 cluding the manors of Aldbury, Ambrosden, 

 Chesterton, and Hemel Hempstead, and the 

 churches of Hemel Hempstead, Pitstone, 

 Ambrosden, Chesterton and Ivinghoe. 13 



RECTORS OF ASHRIDGE 



Richard of Watford, 14 first rector, elected 



1283, resigned 1297. 



Ralf of Aston, 15 elected 1297, resigned 1336 

 Richard of Saretta, 18 elected 1336, died 1346 



8 Todd, History of Asbridge, 25. 



7 Dugdale, Man. vi. (i) 515-6 ; Todd, History 

 of Ashridge, 2-9. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 224. 

 ' Ibid. Memo. Fleming, 2 1 yd. 



10 Feud. Aids, i. 102, III, 128, 424. The manor 

 of Pitstone is reckoned as half a fee in 1284. Ibid. 



77- 



11 Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.). 



Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), iv. 227. 



13 Dugdale, Man. vi. (i) 517. The annual sti- 

 pend for the rector's household was 110 6s. 8d. ; 

 and 8 annually was reckoned for the support of 

 each brother. 



i* Todd, History of Ashridge, 23. 



is The episcopal register clearly states that 

 William of Harrold (whom Todd calls the second 

 rector) was informally elected, and Ralf of Aston 

 collated in his place. Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. 

 Sutton, 121. 



i Todd, History of Ashridge, 23 : his death is 

 recorded in Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Bek, 113. 



389 



