RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



taken and the cost was a heavy charge upon the 

 revenues of the house. In 1311 the abbot and 

 convent petitioned Bishop Reynolds to appro- 

 priate the church of Wotton to their needs. 1 

 They stated that the greater part of the church 

 was destroyed from the foundations on account 

 of its age and weakness, and that the rest 

 threatened ruin. They had already spent large 

 sums, and would be obliged to spend still more 

 on the new work. Hospitality in a port like 

 Bristol was a serious burden ; owing to the perse- 

 cution of powerful enemies their income had 

 been diminished by one-third for the last eighteen 

 years,* and they were heavily in debt. The 

 bishop sent a commissioner to inquire into the 

 matter, and he reported that the truth was well 

 known in Bristol. 8 Some years ago the poverty 

 of the house was so great that the canons, having 

 nothing to eat or drink, went out into the town 

 to borrow food or get it from charity. In 1313 

 the appropriation of Wotton was effected, and 

 about 30 was added to the revenues. 4 After 

 his visitation in 1320 Bishop Cobham ex- 

 pressed grave dissatisfaction. 1 He insisted that 

 the convent should give up keeping hounds, and 

 that the almoner should be removed from office 

 because his administration gave cause for scandal. 

 The bishop also ordered that an inquiry should 

 be made about one canon who was charged with 

 evil living, and another who was said to sow 

 discord among the brethren. He enjoined that 

 proper care should be taken of the sick in the 

 farmery, that a sufficient allowance of food 

 should be provided for the brethren, instead of 

 money to buy what they needed for themselves, 

 that the dorter should be roofed as quickly as 

 possible, and that the mass of the Virgin should 

 be celebrated with due solemnity. When Bishop 

 Wulstan de Bransford visited the house in 1339 

 he found, ' God be praised,' that its condition 

 was far more worthy of commendation than of 

 correction, but nevertheless he was constrained 

 to issue some injunctions.* It was unseemly 

 that the church should be ruinous (patere ruinii) 

 and he bade the sacrist see that a roof was put 

 on to it. He forbade the canons, both young 

 and old, to go out of the precincts without leave, 

 and insisted on regular attendance at divine 

 service. As reading without understanding 

 profited nothing, he said that the canons must 

 either speak Latin or French to each other. In 

 1341 the abbot secured exemption from attend- 

 ance at Parliament. 7 



There is no exact evidence of the mortality 

 at St. Augustine's, when the Black Death visited 

 Bristol in 1349. When William Coke was 



1 Wore. Epis. Reg. Reynolds, fol. 27 d. 



* Ann. Man. iv, 542. 



' Wore. Epis. Reg. Reynolds, fol. 76. 



4 Pope Nick. Tax (Rec. Com.) 220^. 



1 Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 68 J. 



' Ibid. Bransford, fol. 14 d. 



' Cat. of Pat. 15 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 13. 



elected in 1353, theconvent consisted of eighteen 

 canons, of whom fifteen were priests and three 

 subdeacons. 8 It is probable that several of them 

 died during the second visitation of the plague in 

 1361, for in 1363 Abbot Coke obtained a bull 

 from Urban V by which canons might be 

 ordained priests at the age of twenty-two.* In 

 1365 he resigned and was succeeded by Henry 

 Shellingford. On i April, 1366, Edward III 

 took the monastery under his special protection, 

 and entrusted the custody to Maurice of Berkeley 

 IV and three other commissioners. 10 He inter- 

 vened because it was likely that the poverty of the 

 house would compel the canons to disperse. The 

 abbots had resorted to disastrous financial shifts. 

 They had sold corrodies to persons of evil life 

 who were then living within the precincts ; they 

 had made bad bargains for the convent in the 

 leases which they had granted, and the expenses 

 of their households were excessive. The monas- 

 tery was heavily in debt. The commissioners 

 were ordered to collect and receive all the 

 revenues, make sufficient allowance for the 

 canons and a moderate number of servants, apply 

 the residue to the payment of debts and remove 

 all suspected persons from the house. Five 

 years later, on 26 October, 1371, Edward III 

 wrote to William of Lynn, bishop of Worcester, 

 attributing the misfortunes of the monastery 

 to the misrule of Abbot Henry Shellingford. 11 

 The king sent a mandate to the bishop to make 

 a personal visitation with the object of reforming 

 the house. At the same time the abbot, canons, 

 and servants were bidden to obey the bishop u 

 William of Lynn died in 1373, apparently with- 

 out fulfilling the king's mandate. Walter Legh, 

 prior of Worcester, acted during the voidance of 

 the see, and in 1374 issued a series of injunctions 

 for the better government of the monastery, by 

 which the arbitrary power of the abbot was 

 limited. 11 It was provided that five of the elder 

 and more discreet canons should be elected to act 

 as the abbot's council for the transaction of the 

 important business of the house. The obedientiars 

 were to be chosen from among the members of 

 the council and bound to render an account of 

 their administration at least once a year. The 

 abbot was to appoint seven canons to have the 

 custody of the common seal. Two or three 

 canons should be chosen by the abbot and 

 council to act as receivers and treasurers, and 

 the revenues should be expended by order of the 

 abbot and council. Two other receivers were 

 to be appointed in like manner to keep the 

 moneys due from the spiritualities. The abbot 

 and council were to appoint the secular officers. 

 Provision was also made for the supply of better 



Wore. Reg. SeJe Vac. (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 197. 



Nicholls and Taylpr, Bristol Past and Present, ii. 

 63, . I. 



10 Pat. 40, Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 36. 



11 Wore. Epis. Reg. Lynn, fol. 51. Ibid. 



11 Wore. Reg. Sede Yac. (Wore. Hist. Soc.) 318-20 



77 



