RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the brethren and vain chatter might be avoided, 

 and the better care of the sick in the farmery. 

 In 1276 Hayles was reckoned among the more 

 prosperous houses of the Cistercian Order in the 

 south of England, and paid 14 13*. \d. out 

 of the ' courtesy ' granted to Edward I, which 

 was the same amount as that given by the house 

 of Bordesley in Worcestershire, and more than 

 either Kingswood or Flaxley contributed. 1 



A gift from Edmund, earl of Cornwall, proved 

 to be a constant source of revenue on account of 

 the attraction which it offered to pilgrims. In 

 1267 he purchased from Florey V, count of 

 Holland, a relic which was authenticated under 

 the seal of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, afterwards 

 Pope Urban IV, as some of the blood of Christ. 1 

 On 14 September, 1270, he gave a portion of 

 this relic to Hayles. A polygonal apse of five 

 chapels vas added to the church to contain the 

 shrine of the relic,* and the new work was dedi- 

 cated by Gifiard, bishop of Worcester, in 1277.* 

 In 1277 Earl Edmund petitioned the bishop of 

 Lincoln to appropriate to Hayles the churches of 

 Hemel Hempstead and Northley, of which he had 

 given the advowsons,* and Northley was appro- 

 priated in 1304.* It is probable that the well 

 endowed churches of St. Paul and St. Breage in 

 Cornwall were also his gift. In 1 300 he granted 

 his manor of Lechlade to Hayles at a fee farm 

 rent of 100 marks. 7 When the manor reverted 

 to the crown after his death in 1301, Edward I 

 increased the rent to jiOO. 8 Hayles derived the 

 greater part of its income from the profits of the 

 wool-trade, and about the beginning of the four- 

 teenth century twenty sacks a year were sold on 

 an average, at prices varying from i o to 7 marks 

 a sack, according to the quality.* However, 

 until the middle of the fifteenth century, the 

 financial condition of the monastery was very 

 unstable, and its history is a record of difficulties 

 and of efforts to overcome them. The expenses 

 of Lechlade were so heavy that it was useless to 

 the monks, and they were obliged to give it up. 10 

 They had licence to exchange it in 1318 with 

 Hugh Despenser the elder for the manor of Sid- 

 dington by Cirencester and a rental of 10 marks 

 in Chelworth, Wiltshire. 11 In 1 3 1 7 they received 

 a licence from Edward II to acquire in mortmain 

 lands and rents not held in chief, to the value of 

 IO a year, 11 and before 1318 they had possession 

 of the manor of Great Wormington in Gloucester- 



1 Harl. MS. 6603, fol. 384 (B.M.). 

 ' Brut, and Glouc. Arch. Sor. Tram, xxiii, 277 ; Harl. 

 MS. 3725, fol. 13 v. (B.M.). 

 1 Ibid. 278. 

 4 Dugdale, Man. v, 687 ; Harl. MS. 3725, fol. 15. 



* Line. Epis. Reg. Dalderby, Institutions, fol. 145. 



Ibid. 



7 Cart. R. 12 Edw. II, No. 17. ' Ibid. 



' Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Com- 

 merce, i, 634 (ed. 1905). 

 'Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 1 06. 

 " Cal. of Pat. 12 Edw. 11, pt. i, m. 23. 

 " Ibid. 10 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 30. 



shire. 18 In 1324 Hugh Despenser granted the 

 advowsons of the churches of Longborough and 

 Rod borne, 14 and the abbot and convent saw an 

 opportunity to add to their revenues. In 1325 

 they set forth their distress in a long petition to 

 Thomas Cobham, bishop of Worcester, urging 

 him to appropriate Longborough to them. 11 The 

 burden of it was that unless they could increase 

 their income they must diminish the number of 

 their brethren, and withdraw some of that 

 hospitality which they had hitherto maintained 

 ' according to the laudable custom of the king- 

 dom of England.' Their buildings had been left 

 unfinished by the founder and his son, they 

 had not the promised rental of 200 a year, 

 Lechlade had proved unprofitable, other endow- 

 ments were in distant dioceses, and they had 

 great difficulties in collecting their revenues. In 

 the years of the great famine," from 1314 to 

 1321, they had suffered heavily from sterile lands 

 and murrain among cattle, and in 1325 Bishop 

 Cobham consented to the appropriation of Long- 

 borough. In 1345 Abbot Thomas complained 

 that Sir Walter Dastyn and others broke into his 

 close and houses at Wormington, drove away 

 horses, oxen, sheep, and swine which were 

 worth 100 marks, and assaulted his men and 

 servants. 17 



In 1347, at the request of Edward prince of 

 Wales, Edward III granted a licence for the 

 acquisition of lands and rents to the value of 

 ,20 a year, 18 and in 1392 the abbot and convent 

 had secured them. 19 There is no indication of 

 the effects of the Black Death in 1349, but 

 when the pestilence recurred in 13612 many 

 of the monks and lay brothers died. 10 The 

 abbots of Hayles had often found some difficulty 

 in collecting the revenues which accrued to the 

 convent as rectors of the churches of St. Breage 

 and St. Paul in Cornwall. It was usual for the 

 abbot to send two of his monks to serve the 

 churches and to receive the profits for his use.* 1 

 In 1337 the king's aid was invoked against 

 persons who threatened and assaulted their men 

 and servants and carried away their goods. 18 Later 

 in the fourteenth century the abbot leased the 

 churches at a rent of 1 2O marks a year. 13 In 

 1395 there were arrears of 140 marks, and the 

 tenants of the abbot were outlawed for non- 

 payment. 14 When in 1386 Hayles was in sore 



u Ibid. 12 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 17 d. 

 14 Ibid. 17 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 6. 

 " Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 106. 

 "Harl. MS. 3725, fol. ai. 

 " Cal. of Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 9 J. 

 "Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 17. 

 "Ibid. 1 6 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 17. 

 " Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Sot. Trans, xxii, 259. 

 " Cal. of Pat. 6 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 2 ; cf. other 

 references in Cal. of Pat. 

 "Ibid. II Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 21. 

 " Ibid. 19 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 36. 

 14 Ibid. 



97 '3 



