RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Between 1271 and 1276 the abbot and 

 convent petitioned Gregory X for his support in 

 effecting the appropriation of the church of 

 Fairford. In addition to the usual plea of the 

 heavy expense of hospitality, they urged that 

 the nave was in so dangerous a condition that 

 it could not be used for service, and that its 

 repair would be very costly. 1 Gregory X 

 granted the request. 



The condition of the house was unsatisfactory 

 when Godfrey Giffard visited it in 1279.* 

 Extravagance and maladministration roused his 

 indignation. He ordered that gluttony and 

 drunkenness should cease ; that the monks should 

 eat to live and not live to eat ; and that no 

 drinking should take place except in the frater. 

 The great obedientiars and other officers were 

 bidden to fulfil their duties with more care. 



Soon after the death of Giffard, which took 

 place on 26 January, 1302, the prior of Wor- 

 cester determined to exercise his rights of visita- 

 tion in the diocese during a vacancy. On 

 13 March, 1302, he was refused admission at 

 Tewkesbury,* because the monastery had been 

 visited twice within a year. 4 The prior of 

 Worcester at once excommunicated the abbot 

 and nine chief officers of the house. They 

 appealed to Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of 

 Canterbury, against the sentence, and the prior 

 wrote to the archbishop, asking him to preserve 

 his lawful jurisdiction. The official of the arch- 

 bishop inhibited the prior of Worcester from 

 proceeding with the excommunication of the 

 abbot and convent of Tewkesbury, and cited the 

 prior to appear before the Court of Arches, and 

 the sentence of excommunication was removed. 

 No resistance was made to the visitation during 

 the next vacancy in 1308. 



In 1314 a licence was obtained from Ed- 

 ward II for the appropriation of the churches of 

 Thornbury and Fairford.' Bishop Maidstone 

 allowed the licence for Thornbury to take effect 

 immediately, on the ground that, although the 

 monastery was amply endowed by Gilbert de 

 Clare, it was so much oppressed by misfortunes 

 and the attacks of enemies, that speedy succour 

 was needed.* There were outstanding debts, and 

 a fire had wrought havoc among the monastic 

 buildings. Indeed, the main interest of Tewkes- 

 bury in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is 

 in the progress of the new building. 



In 1332 the abbot and convent petitioned 

 John XXII to urge the bishop of Worcester to 

 act on the papal licence, which had been granted 

 more than sixty years before, for the appropria- 

 tion of Fairford, 7 and in 1333 Orlton consented. 



Wore. Epis. Reg. Orlton, fol. 54 d. 

 Ware. Epis. Reg. Gi/ard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 104. 

 Won. Reg. SeJe Vac. (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 62, 63. 

 Ann. Mon. iv, 551. 

 Cal. of Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 12. 

 Wore. Epis. Reg. Maidstone, fol. 7 d. 

 ' Ibid. Orlton, fol. 



In 1345 the abbot and convent were able, with 

 the aid of Hugh Despenser, to appropriate the 

 church of Llantrisant in the diocese of Llandaff.* 

 Out of its revenues twenty marks were assigned 

 for the keeping of his anniversary, and thirty 

 marks for a pittance for the monks.* In 1347 

 the number of monks in the house was thirty- 

 seven. 10 



When Henry Wakefield, bishop of Worcester, 

 made a visitation in 1378, he found much to 

 criticize. 11 No yearly statement showing the 

 financial position of the house was made by the 

 abbot to the chapter. Some of the obedientiars 

 were respecters of persons, sparing some and un- 

 duly chastising others. The monks were ill-fed, 

 the bread was poor and badly baked, the ale was 

 weak and very new. Sick brethren in the 

 farmery were neglected and had no doctor. The 

 education of the younger monks was neglected. 

 Relations and friends were badly served in the 

 hostelry, neither vessels, napkins, nor towels were 

 provided for their use ; the office of hostiller was 

 not filled, and the revenues of the church of 

 Ampney Crucis, which had been appropriated for 

 the purpose of hospitality, were diverted to other 

 uses. The bell-tower was in a dangerous condi- 

 tion. The bishop ordered the abbot to produce 

 the annual account without fail, to appoint a 

 doctor immediately, and a competent teacher 

 before Michaelmas ; to remove indiscreet obedien- 

 tiars and appoint others within a month, among 

 them an honest and discreet hostiller, to see 

 that everything was provided for the comfort of 

 guests before I August. It was to be the abbot's 

 duty to know that bread and ale of the quality 

 and quantity formerly provided for the monks 

 were baked and brewed by the servants, and as the 

 monks used to get capons, chickens, or pigeons 

 for supper, he was to see that their needs were 

 supplied. The bishop bade the sacrist repair the 

 bell-tower, so far as his means allowed, before 

 the feast of St. Andrew. It had become cus- 

 tomary for the monks once a year, on one of the 

 occasions when they were bled, to withdraw to 

 the Mythe for a change from Sunday to the 

 following Friday. The bishop decided that the 

 stay was too long, and said that the monks must 

 content themselves with their wonted comforts 

 at that time. 



The Despensers and Beauchamps, who in 

 turn succeeded to the honour of Gloucester, were, 

 like the De Clares, generous patrons of the 

 monastery, and some, at least, of the new build- 

 ing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was 

 at their expense. Henry VI granted the patron- 

 age of the alien priory of Goldcliff in Mon- 



' Cal. of Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. i ; cf. ibid. 17 

 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 27. 

 ' Dugdale, Men. ii, 62. 



10 Wore. Epis. Reg. Bransford, fol. 137. Forty 

 monb, including the priors of three cells, were present 

 at the election of Thomas of Legh. 



11 Ibid. Wakefield, fol. 133. 



