A HISTORY OF DORSET 



Bexington, sometime monk of Bindon, and bro- 

 ther Maurice, also sometime monk of this place 

 by relatives of the deceased. A commission of 

 oyer and terminer was issued in February and 

 again in July, 1296, but the matter proceeding 

 too slowly for their taste the plaintiffs appear to 

 have taken the law into their own hands, with the 

 result that another commission was appointed 

 the following March to investigate the complaint 

 of the abbot against a number of persons who 

 had come to the abbey and imprisoned him and 

 carried away his goods.'' What the upshot was 

 we do not know ; the abbot in the same month 

 received a grant of protection from the king and 

 the matter dropped."^ Ill-feeling, however, seems 

 to have remained in the district, and a complaint 

 by the abbot in 131 5 of trespass and assault on 

 the part of William de Whitefield, knt., and 

 others provoked from the accused knight and his 

 adherents a counter-charge that the abbot and 

 monks had trespassed in his meadow and assaulted 

 his men, both sides at the same time claiming 

 to be under the royal protection.'" 



The troubles of the community came to a 

 climax in the early part of the reign of Ed- 

 ward III, and the causes mainly contributing 

 to the state of affairs then disclosed are clearly 

 expressed in the king's letter of 21 May, 1329, 

 appointing the abbot of Beaulieu, Hugh de 

 Courtenay and Hugh Poynitz custodians of 

 the king's abbey of Bindon, lately taken into 

 custody in consequence of the grievous dissension 

 which had arisen on the question of the removal 

 of the abbot, resulting in the carrying away 

 of the goods of the house by a large mob of 

 people, the withdrawal of many of the monks, 

 and the cessation of divine ofBces and alms 

 founded there by the king's ancestors.'^ The 

 custodians appointed were empowered to collect 

 the revenues, recover the goods carried away, 

 and after reserving a reasonable sum to its 

 maintenance, to apply the residue to the dis- 

 charge of its debts and the best interests of the 

 house.^^ On 28 July of the same year John 

 Mautravers the younger and William de White- 

 field, knt., were appointed to the custody of the 

 abbey, ' now grievously burdened with debt for 

 want of good rule ;' '' in December the following 

 year, 1330, the custody was transferred to Hugh 

 de Courtenay, both the elder and the younger, 

 and the abbot of Ford.'^ The exact date of 

 the deposition of Abbot John de Monte 

 Acuto, who appears to have so grievously abused 

 his trust, cannot be found, but as his succes- 

 sor, according to the episcopal registers, was 



"Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 12, i7</. ; 25 Edw. I, 

 pt. I , m. 17 d. 



" Ibid. 25 Edw. I, pt. I, m. 13. 



'" Ibid. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 4</. ; 9 Edw. II, 

 pt. I, m. 29 d. 



" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 18. " Ibid. 



" Ibid. 3 Edw. Ill, pt i,m. 18. " Ibid. m. 21. 



H 



blessed by the bishop in September, 1332,'* 

 a species of interregnum may have ensued be- 

 tween the early part of 1 33 1 and that date ; for in 

 January of the former year the king ordered a 

 commission of inquiry into the complaint of the 

 abbot that brother John de Monte Acuto, 'bearing 

 himself as a monk of the house,' with a number 

 of adherents had invaded the abbey, driven aw.iy 

 cattle and sheep to the value of j^yoo, carried 

 away books, chalices, and other ornaments of the 

 church as well as charters, deeds, and muniments, 

 and breaking open a chest had carried away the 

 seal of the abbey with which divers bonds had 

 been sealed, &c., to the prejudice of the house.'' 

 In March William de Warenna and John 

 Fraunceys were ordered to arrest John de 

 Monte Acuto, an apostate monk fugitive from 

 the Cistercian abbey of Bindon, and on 29 April 

 the chief culprit together with another apostate 

 monk, John de Wille, was arrested while wan- 

 dering about the country, sometimes in secular 

 and sometimes in regular habit to the contempt 

 of his profession, and ordered to be taken back 

 to the abbey.'' Unfortunately, John seems to 

 have obtained a certain following in the neigh- 

 bourhood and even among the inmates of the 

 house, and a letter, amongst various communi- 

 cations addressed about this time to the king by 

 the brethren,'' petitions that whereas Brother 

 John de Montagu by favour and power had 

 been made abbot of Bindon, and for the 

 destruction he had wrought had afterwards been 

 deposed by the abbot of Ford, 'son visitour,' and 

 ' for his great sins ' had been placed by the 

 chapter-general under perpetual ward, but by 

 favour of his keepers had escaped, the king will 

 order the abbots of Beaulieu and L .... to take 

 him into safe custody that he may not again 

 escape, and that scandal may not thence arise to 

 the order through his being at large.** 



" Sarum Epis. Reg. WjTiUe, ii (Inst.), fol. 17. 

 It may be that a temporary appointment was made, 

 for in October, 1 33 I, a commission was appointed on 

 complaint by William, abbot of Bindon, that William 

 de Stoke and others had assaulted and imprisoned him at 

 Great Crawford (Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 15 d). 



'« Pat. 4 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 7 </. ; 5 Edw. Ill, 

 pt. I, m. 32 d. 



" Ibid. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 21, g d. 



" Unfortunately these letters, which with the official 

 records give a very vivid picture of the state of the 

 monastery, are all undated. They abound in com- 

 plaints of the insolvent condition of the house, of 

 the misdeeds ' dun mauveis abbe, frere John de 

 Montague, qui a grand droit fust oste e depose ' (Anct. 

 Pet. 1 1943) and of entreaties to Edward III to 

 come to the relief of his almoners the monks, ' qui 

 sent en dispersion ' (Anct. Pet. 1829-31). 



'' Anct. Pet. 1830. The patent rolls record that 

 the late abbot having made good his escape, certain 

 men were appointed on i August of that year (13 31) 

 to retake him and conduct him back to the abbey 

 to be chastised according to the rule of his order. 

 Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. z6 d. 



