RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



commissioners reported that at St. Oswald's there 

 were seven canons, all priests, ' by report of 

 honest conversation.' 1 Five of them wished to 

 continue in religion, only two desired to have 

 * capacities ' that they might get benefices. 

 Their household consisted only of eight servants. 

 The church was ruinous, though the house had 

 been lately repaired, and the priory was in debt 

 to the amount of 124 gi. It was dissolved 

 not long afterwards. The prior received a 

 pension of 15,* but the other canons had 

 nothing. 8 



In 1535 the clear yearly value of the posses- 

 sions amounted to ^90 ids. 2^d. 4 The property 

 included the manors of Pirton, Norton, and 

 Tulwell, rents in Gloucester and elsewhere, 

 the rectory of Minsterworth, and the chapels of 

 Churchdown, Norton, Sandhurst, and Compton 

 Abdale.* 



PRIORS OF ST. OSWALD, GLOUCESTER 



Humphrey, canon of Lanthony by Gloucester, 



"53* 



Anketil, occurs circa 1 1 55-9 7 



William, occurs 1230* 



William, occurs 1260* 



Richard, *. 1281 10 



Richard of Bathampton, 1281 n 



Guido, ab. 1289" 



Peter de Malburn, 1289, removed 1301 



Walter of Bingham, 1301, removed I3IO 11 



Humphrey of Lavington, 1310 



Walter of Bingham, removed 1 3 1 2 14 



John of Ayschwell, 1312" 



Richard of Kidderminster, 1312, removed 



1314" 



John of Ayschwell, 1314" 

 William Heved, 1352 

 Thomas Dick, 1398 

 John Players, 1404 

 John de Shipston, 1408 

 John Suckley, 1433 

 John Higins, 1434 

 John Inglis, canon of Cirencester, 1447 



1 DuhRn Review, April 1894, p. 276. 



' L. and P. Hen. fill, xiii, pt. i, p. 575. 



' Gasquet, Henry Vlll and the EngRsh Monasteries, 

 d. 1899, 181. 



4 yahrEccles. (Rec. Com.), ii, 487. Ibid. 



' Simeon of Durham Opera (Rolls Ser.), ii, 328. 



7 Round, Cat. of Doc. in France illustrative of the 

 History of Great Britain and Ireland, i, 377. 



Hut. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. i, 335. 



Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xiii, 128. He 

 is not the same as William occurring in 1230, for a 

 prior was deposed in 1251; cf. Ann. Men. (Rolls 

 Ser.), i, 146. 



' York Archiepis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 574. 

 11 Ibid. fol. 574. 



" Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xiii, 128. 

 " York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, i, fol. 45 J. 

 14 Ibid, ii, fol. 44. u Ibid. 



" Ibid. fol. 50 d. "Ibid. 



Nicholas Falkner, canon of Lanthony by 



Gloucester, 1491 

 William Jennings, 1530 



A seal of the twelfth century is in shape a 

 pointed oval, and represents a saint full length, 

 in vestments partly embroidered, lifting up his 

 right hand in benediction, in his left hand a 

 book ; before him a church with porch or tran- 

 sept, masoned walls, ornamental tiles or shingles 

 on the roof, and a cross at each gable end ; in 

 the field, on the left a crescent, on the right an 

 estoile. 18 



9. THE PRIORY OF LANTHONY 

 BY GLOUCESTER 



In or about 1108 Hugh de Lacy founded a 

 monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist for 

 Augustinian canons in the valley of the Hode- 

 nay, beneath the Hatteril Hills in Monmouth- 

 shire. 19 During the reign of Henry I this 

 monastery of Lanthony prospered greatly, and 

 the number of canons increased to forty. 30 Owing 

 to the disturbances which broke out immediately 

 after the death of Henry I the canons were 

 reduced to desperate straits ; a Welsh lord took 

 refuge in the monastery with his women-folk, 

 and enemies cut oft" the canons' supplies of food. 81 

 In dire distress they sent a messenger to Robert 

 de Bethune, bishop of Hereford, their former prior. 

 He invited the convent to take refuge with him, 

 and provided for their use a chapel, storehouse, 

 barns, and other offices. Some of the canons 

 chose to remain at Lanthony; 23 the greater num- 

 ber, under the prior, Robert de Braci, took refuge 

 with the bishop, and stayed with him for two 

 years at his expense. In 1136 at his request 

 Milo, earl of Hereford and constable of Glou- 

 cester, offered the canons a hide of land close to 

 the town of Gloucester. 1 * With the money which 

 they had brought from Wales, and with the 

 bishop's help, the canons at once began to build 

 a new church, and on 10 September, 1137,** it 

 was dedicated to the Virgin by Robert, bishop 

 of Hereford, and Simon, bishop of Worcester. 

 Buildings were ready for the habitation of the 

 canons, and the convent from Hereford entered 

 into possession of them. The new foundation 

 was called Lanthony Secunda to distinguish it 

 from the Welsh house, which was thenceforth 

 called Lanthony Prima. On the occasion of the 

 dedication Milo, earl of Hereford, confirmed the 

 gifts of his ancestors, Roger of Gloucester and 

 Walter the constable of the castle, and added 

 churches and lands for the support of the canons." 



" Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the British Museum, 

 i, 568. 



" Dugdale, Man. vi. 130. 

 "Ibid. 131. 

 "Ibid. 132. 

 M Ibid. 137. * Ibid. 136, 137. 



" Ibid. 132, 133. 

 "Ibid. 136. 



