RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



ing ; women, it was alleged, were allowed freely 

 into the abbey. In addition * Dan Will Christ- 

 church' had his tale of personal injuries torecount; 

 he had been imprisoned by the abbot for his ill- 

 speaking, dismissed from the monastery, and the 

 prior of Monmouth had been given twenty nobles 

 to receive him in his priory where he had been 

 very ill-handled.*^ It would be rash to accept 

 these statements without more reliable evidence, 

 but they were sufficient to draw down on the 

 abbey the officials of the High Commissioner, 

 and abbot and monks were forbidden to go out- 

 side the bounds of the monastery. Great incon- 

 venience naturally resulted, and on 2 September, 

 1535, a letter was written to Cromwell request- 

 ing in the interests of the house that the abbot 

 might hsve liberty to ride abroad to attend to 

 the affairs of his monastery 'as you have allowed 

 the abbot of Sherborne,' adding, ' the abbot 

 sends you his fee of 5 marks sterling.' *^ 



The King's Commissioners were instructed 

 to induce superiors to surrender their houses 

 promptly and willingly in the hope of securing 

 liberal treatment for themselves. In December, 

 1538, Sir Thomas Arundel wrote to Cromwell 

 that the abbot of Cerne, in spite of persuasion, 

 was making efforts to obtain the continuance 

 of his house, and with that object in view was 

 prepared to offer ' His Majesty' 500 marks and 

 'your lordship ' ^100.*' The doom of the house 

 could not be averted, however, and on 15 March 

 following (1539) the abbot, with the prior and 

 fifteen of his brethren surrendered the abbey to 

 the king in the person of John Tregonwell, the 

 commissioner,'* the abbot subsequently receiving 

 a pension of ^Tioo, the prior ;^io, one brother 

 j^8, another ^7, the sub-prior and nine of the 

 inmates sums ranging from ^b 131. ^d. to 

 ^^5 65. 8i^., and three remaining brethren 40J. 

 each." 



Abbots of Cerne 



^Ifric, appointed about 987, on the re- 

 foundation of Cerne as a Benedictine 

 monastery '^ 



Alfric Puttoc, occurs 1023" 



Withelmus, occurs 1085 '' 



Haimo, deposed ii02 for simony*' 



" L. and P. Hen. VIU, viii, 148. 



" Ibid, ix, 256. '' Ibid, xiii (2), 1090. 



*' Among the fifteen two are entered as students. 

 Ibid, xiv (1), 523. 



■'' Ibid. 



'•^ This was the author of the Homilies, who began 

 as a monk of Abingdon, was successively abbot of 

 Cerne and St. Albans, and fin.illy archbishop of Can- 

 terbury. 



" Dugdale and Hutchins give this without 

 reference. 



" Hutchins cites this from the Annals of Lanercost, 

 Hist, (if Dorset, iv, 22. 



"^ W.ilter of Coventry, Op. (Rolls Ser.), i, 121. 



William, occurs 1 1 2 1 ^ 



Bernard, became abbot of Burton in 1 160 " 



Robert, occurs 1166*- 



Dionysius, occurs 1206,^' resigned 1220 



R., elected 1220 " 



William de Hungerford, elected 1232 ** 



Richard de Suwell or Sawel, elected 1244,** 



died 1260 

 Philip, elected 1260'' 

 Thomas de Ebblesbury, elected 1274 ^* 

 Gilbert de Minterne, elected 1296,^' died 



1312 

 Ralph de Cerne, elected 1312,'" died 



1324 

 Richard de Osmington, elected 1324'^ 

 Stephen Sherrard, elected 1356 '^ 

 Thomas Sewale, elected 1361,'^ died 1382 

 John de Hayle, elected 1382,^* died in same 



year 

 Robert Symondsbury, elected 1382'* 

 John Wede, elected 1411,'^ died 1427 

 John Winterborne, elected 1427,'' died 1436 

 John Godmanston, elected 1436,"* died 145 I 

 William Cattistoke, elected 145 1,'' died 



1454 

 John Helyer, elected 1454,*" resigned 1458 

 John Vanne, elected 1458,'^ died 1471 

 Roger Bemyster, elected 1471,*^ died 1497 

 Thomas Sam, elected 1497,^^ '^'^'^ 1509 

 Robert Westbury, elected 1510,"^ died 



1524 

 Thomas Corton, elected 1524,*' surrendered 



his abbey 1539 



'" He was a witness to the foundation charter of 

 Plympton Priory (Devon). Dugdale, Mon. vi, 21. 



" He is said to have then been a monk at Glouces- 

 ter, and to have previously quitted Cerne on account 

 of the great disorders of the house. Ann. Mon. (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 187. 



" Red Bk. of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i, 2 1 2. 



^' Pat. 7 John, m. 5. 



" Ibid. 4 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 



" Ibid. 16 Hen. Ill, m. 7. 



"^ Ibid. 28 Hen. Ill, m. 7. 



" Ibid. 44 Hen. II, m. i. 



'' Ibid. 3 Edw. I, m. 36. 



" Ibid. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 15^. 



'" Ibid. 6 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 8 ; Sarum Epis. Reg. 

 Simon of Ghent, pt. 2, fol. 1 21. 



" Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. 2, m. 19. 



" Sarum Epis. Reg. Mortival, fol. 103<j'; Pat. 30. 

 Edw. Ill, pt. 3. 



" Sarum Epis. Reg. Wyville, ii (Inst.), fol. 294. 



'* Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. I, m. 35. 



' Ibid. pt. 2, m. 22. 



"Ibid. 12 Hen. IV, pt. I. 



" Ibid. 5 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 16. 



" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, iv, 23. " Ibid.. 



'" Sarum Epis. Reg. Beauchamp, ii, fol. 23. 



" Pat. 37 Hen. VI, pt. i, m. 12. 



«= Pat. 49 Hen. VI. 



'^ Sarum Epis. Reg. Langton, fol. 99. 



^ L. and P. Hen. Fill, i, 822. 



«= Ibid, iv, 436. 



57 



