RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The encyclical letter from the abbey of West 

 Dereham, which follows the illumination, is a 

 warm eulogy of the deceased. The terms were 

 probably not entirely complimentar)^, or as a 

 matter of course, for Abbot Wygenhale was 

 evidently highly esteemed outside his convent. 

 When he attended the bishop in 1449 as vicar- 

 general, at the ceremony of making the priory of 

 Wymondham into an abbey, he is described by 

 John of Whethamstede, the chronicler of St. 

 Albans, as vir altae discrecion'ts et suorum gravitate 

 pollens} 



The tituH or descriptive endorsements that 

 can now be traced on the back of the roll are 

 those of the Austin house of Christ Church, 

 Hampshire; of the Premonstratensian abbey of 

 Titchfield, Hampshire ; of the great abbey of 

 Bury St. Edmunds ; of the Cistercian monastery 

 of Lowth Park, Lincoln ; of the Benedictine 

 abbey of the cathedral church of Worcester ; 

 and of the Austin house of St. James, North- 

 ampton. 



Bishop Redman's first visitation of West 

 Dereham occurred in June, 1475 ; he arrived at 

 the abbey at the dinner hour on the 26th, and 

 left for Wendling on the 28th. ^ The visitation 

 of 1478 extended from 28 to 30 June, when he 

 found everything in good order. The visitor 

 enjoined the presence of a deacon at the high 

 altar daily ; also that on recreation days the 

 brethren were to go out and return unless other- 

 wise ordered by the abbot : anyone leaving the 

 precincts without permission was to be punished 

 the same as an apostate. 



There was an abundant supply of all 

 necessaries, and the debt was but slight. In 

 addition to John Lynn, the abbot, and John 

 Harnes, the sub-prior, thirteen other canons 

 were present at the visitation.' 



On 23 July, 1482, William abbot of Welbeck 

 wrote to Bishop Redman to tell him of the 

 death of John Lynn alias Clerk, abbot of Dere- 

 ham, in which he pleaded the poverty of his 

 daughter-house of Dereham as a reason for 

 pressing on with the new election with all 

 possible speed, and asking that on this occasion 

 only he might proceed without delay in ordering 

 a new election, and in admitting and installing 

 the abbot elect.'' Accordingly at the next visi- 

 tation in August, 1482, the election of William 

 Maxey as abbot took place in the bishop's 

 presence. 



At this time he ordered that silence was to be 

 better observed. Nineteen canons, including the 

 abbot and prior, were present on this occasion.* 



The bishop's next visit was on 22 June, i486, 

 when he arrived at West Dereham at supper- 

 time. The house was formally visited on the 



Reg. Whethamstede, 151. 



Redman, Visit. (Bodl.), fol. 5. 



Ibid. fols. 13, 21. * Stowe MS. 4935, fol. 9. 



Redman, Visit. (Bodl.), fols. 33, 34. 



morrow, and he tarried there quietly oier 

 24 June for the solemn observance of the feast 

 of St. John Baptist, supping at Walsingham on 

 the 25th.* 



At a visitation just two years later, John 

 Martyn, abbot, William Maxey, the late abbot, 

 eleven other priests, and three deacons were 

 present. The visitor reported that the abbot 

 was provident and circumspect ; that the debt 

 of ;^200 at the time of his election had been 

 reduced to ^Tioo ; and that there was a good 

 supply of stores and cattle. 



George Lytylport, priest, was found in prison 

 for theft aiid other sins ; he was penitent, but 

 ordered to remain in prison until next general 

 chapter.' 



The next visitation was on 22 September, 

 1 49 1, when John Wysbech, abbot, William 

 Maxey, late abbot, nine other canons, and a 

 novice were present. The novice, William 

 Faryeley, had struck a brother and flung him 

 into the grate ; the visitor ordered him forty 

 days of bread and water, and then to be sent to 

 Halesowen ; but at the unanimous prayer of the 

 abbot and convent the last part of the sentence 

 was revoked.^ 



In 1494 the house was again visited, when 

 John Martyn (an alias of Wysbech), the ex- 

 abbot, and ten others attended. The visitor 

 reported well of the house.' Again, in October, 

 1500, the visitor was at this house, when John 

 Wysbech is entered as the abbot. The report 

 was quite excellent. 



The last recorded visitation took place 

 10 August, 1503 ; the same abbot and ex-abbot 

 were present, and fourteen other canons. Bishop 

 Redman found several insufficiently taught ; 

 therefore he recalled Brother Robert Watton 

 from the university, to be joined in office with 

 the prior, and diligently to teach his brethren. 

 Thomas Fychele was removed from the sub- 

 priorship for his negligence in his duty ; other- 

 wise the condition and discipline of the house 

 were good.'** 



Legh and Ap Rice, Cromwell's tools and 

 visitors, surpassed themselves in their comperta 

 as to this abbey, on which they reported in 

 1536 ; according to their preposterous return 

 the canons were all incontinent, and were ready 

 to confess themselves as such, longing to marry, 

 and believing that the king had been divinely 

 sent on earth to bring this about." John Ap 

 Rice, in whose handwriting these comperta were 

 drawn up, made earnest suit for a grant of this 

 house, which it was thus his interest to vilify. 

 In 1538 he petitioned Cromwell for the lands. 

 He pleaded that there was no fee attached to his 



' Ibid. fol. 64^. 



' Ibid. fol. 72. « 



^ Ibid. fols. 99, 100. 



■' Ibid. fols. 118,1 24. 

 'Mbid. fol. 1 10. 

 " L. and P. Hen. rill,x, 144. 



17 53 



