A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



monk who wished to complain of his superior 

 or of his brethren had a right to appeal to 

 Cromwell and to be furnished with money 

 and means. The abbot told his monks that 

 he would shortly expound the rule in chapter, 

 but as he delayed a day or two the sub-chamber- 

 lain demanded a licence from him to complain to 

 Cromwell on that account, and because the abbot 

 had invited the prior and chanter to dinner. 1 

 One of the brethren, John Horwood, wrote a 

 treatise ' against the usurped power of the bishop 

 of Rome,' which he sent to Cromwell. He 

 could not endure ' the straitness of the religion,' 

 the customary abstinence, the frater, and other 

 observances, and was excused by Cromwell from 

 getting up for matins. 2 He also desired a capacity 

 to take a benefice without changing his habit. 

 On 7 December the abbot complained to Crom- 

 well of the disobedience of two of his brethren. 3 

 They had eaten meat on the first Thursday in 

 Advent, refused to do penance, and said they 

 would eat it on Friday if they could get it. The 

 appointment by Cromwell of Anthony Saunders, 

 the curate of Winchcombe, to preach to the 

 monks, was an obvious source of friction. On 

 3 February, 1535, he complained of the hind- 

 rances put in his way by the abbot, 4 and on 

 2 November he asked Cromwell to appoint a 

 convenient hour in the forenoon for him to read 

 to the monks. ' They will not come in due 

 time,' he wrote, 'they set so much by their 

 popish service.' ' There was no opposition to the 

 royal supremacy, which was acknowledged on 

 25 August, 1534, by the abbot and twenty-four 

 monks. 6 



The monastery was surrendered on 23 Decem- 

 ber, 1539- The abbot received a pension of 

 ^140 and forty loads of wood, the prior one of 

 8, nine monks had 6 13*. 4^. and seven 

 others received 6 each.' 



The clear yearly value of the property of the 

 monastery in 1 535 amounted to ^759 I if. 9^. ; 8 

 in the hands of the crown bailiff in 1540 it 

 brought in 945 3*. ii^d. The possessions of 

 the convent in Gloucestershire included the 

 manors of Winchcombe, Twyning, Sherborne, 

 Staunton, Snowshill, Honeybourne, Dry Mars- 

 ton, Adelmington, Bledington, Yanworth, Hazle- 

 ton, Rowell, Hailing, Charlton Abbots, Naunton, 

 Frampton, Coates, Sudeley, the hundreds of 

 Kiftesgate, Holford, and Greston, rents in 

 Winchcombe and Gloucester, the rectories of 

 Winchcombe, Twyning, Staunton, and Bleding- 

 ton, in Oxfordshire the manor and rectory of 

 Enstone, in Warwickshire the manor of Alne. 



L. and P. Hen. V111, ix, No. 3 14. 



Ibid. Nos. 321, 322. 



Ibid. No. 934. 



Ibid, viii, No. 171. 



Ibid, ix, No. 747. 



6 Def>. Keeper's Rep. vii, App. ii, 304. 

 ' L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, No. 1 39, iv. 

 8 Valor Ecclei. (Rec. Com.), ii, 461. 



7 2 



ABBOTS OF WINCHCOMBE 9 



Livingus(?), occurs 851 (?) 



Germanus, circa 969-75 



Godwine or Eadwine, 1044, died 1053 



Godric or Eadric, 1054-72 



Galandus, 1075 



Ralph I, 1077 



Girmind, 1095 



Godfrey, 1 122 



Robert I, 1138 



William, 1 152 



Gervase, 1157 



Henry, 1171 



Crispin, 1 181 



Robert II, 1182 



Ralph II, 1184 



Robert III, 1194 



Thomas, 1221 



Henry of Tudington, 1232 



John Yanworth, 1247 



Walter of Wickwane, 1282 



Thomas of Sherborne, 1314 



Richard of Idbury, 1315 



William of Sherborne, 1340 



Richard of Ipwell, 1352 



Walter of Winferton, 1359 



William Bradley, 1395 



John Cheltenham, 1423 



William Winchcombe, 1454 



Thomas Twining, 1474 10 



John Twining, 1477 



Richard Kidderminster, 1488 



Richard Mounslow, 1525 



A seal of the fifteenth century represents the 

 Virgin crowned, seated in a canopied niche, the 

 Child standing on her right knee, in her left hand 

 a sceptre (?) ; overhead, in a smaller niche, the 

 Trinity ; on each side, in a smaller canopied niche, 

 a saint full-length ; in base, under a round- 

 headed arch, Oswald, bishop of Worcester, half- 

 length, with mitre and pastoral staff, between 

 two shields of arms, a saltire for Winchcombe 

 Abbey ; below the shields the initial letters 

 W W for William of Winchcombe (1454-74). n 



The legend is : 



s' : AB[BAT]IS : ET : CONVET : DE : WYNC 



4. THE PRIORY OF STANLEY 

 ST. LEONARD 



In or about 1131 Roger of Berkeley II 

 founded on his manor of Stanley a small house 

 of canons which was dedicated to St. Leonard. 12 



9 The list, which is taken from Royce, Landboc live 

 Rfgistrum Monasterii Winchelcumba, ii, xvi xxxv (cf. 

 also Dugdale, Man. ii, 297-9), has been carefully 

 verified. 



10 Cal. of Pat. 17 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. n. 



11 Birch, Catalogue of Seals in British Museum, i, 809. 

 " Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Irons, viii, 1 97, The 



Earlier House of Berkeley. 



