A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



with robbery and plunder ; King Henry had 

 visited the abbey in 1225, and his successor, 

 Edward I, was there in 1276 and 1302, and 

 Ed ward II in 1324. Licence was obtained in 1338 

 for the erection of an embattled wall round the 

 abbey precincts, 33 but whatever protection this 

 may have afforded against more tangible enemies 

 it could not keep out the terrible Black Death, 

 which wrought great havoc here in 1350, the 

 abbot falling a victim and the material prosperity 

 of the house being greatly injured. 33 



Hamo de Offynton, who was elected early in 

 1 364, was a man of considerable character ; one 

 of his first acts appears to have been the exercise 

 of one of the most remarkable privileges of his 

 position, for, meeting on his way to London a 

 felon condemned to death by the king's court, he 

 liberated him, establishing from his charters his 

 right to do so, though his action was much dis- 

 approved by the king and his nobles. 34 In 1375 

 he was appointed visitor of the Benedictine 

 monasteries in the dioceses of Canterbury and 

 Rochester, but was foiled in his attempt to 

 visit the cathedral priory of Canterbury. 35 Two 

 years later he gained immortal fame by his gal- 

 lant defence of Winchelsea against the French, 36 

 so that upon the occasion of his sudden death 

 while administering the mass in 1382, he is 

 described as ' sub habitu monachico belliger 

 insignis.' 37 Though the most distinguished, Hamo 

 was not the first abbot to display a military 

 patriotism, as in 1338 we find the abbot of 

 Battle excused from finding men to guard the 

 coast line from his manor of Wye because he 

 had caused all his servants, and others as well, to 

 be arrayed and patrol the coast near Winchelsea. 38 



The Conqueror is said to have intended to 

 place in his votive abbey at least sixty monks 

 and further to increase their number up to 

 seven score, but how far his intention was 

 carried out is not known. In 1393 there appear 

 to have been twenty-seven brethren, 39 exclusive 

 of the officials, who were probably about six in 

 number, and in 1404 after the death of Abbot 

 Lydbury, the prior and thirty brethren (exclusive 

 of the representatives of their cells of Exeter and 

 Brecknock) took part in the election. 40 The 

 numbers, however, seem to have been temporarily 

 reduced not long after this by a devastating 

 attack of plague, for at the Benedictine chapter 

 at Northampton in 1423 the proctor of the 

 abbey of Battle was a monk of Rochester, who 

 explained that he had been appointed by them 



"Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 28. 

 "Cat. Papal Pet. 202. 

 54 Chron. Angfo (Rolls Ser.), 54. 

 K Hitt. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 339. 

 M Chron. Anglle (Rolls Ser.), 167. 



57 Higden, Polychron. (Rolls Ser.), ix, 1 7. 



58 Close, 12 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 33. 

 "Mins. Accts. bdle. 1251, No. I. 

 "Chich. Epis. Reg. Reade, fol. 83. 



to visit the houses of the order in Kent and 

 Sussex, because, since the last chapter, at which 

 the abbot of Battle was appointed visitor, very 

 many of the monks at Battle had died, and those 

 that remained were but newly professed and not 

 suitable for the work of visitation. 41 At the 

 same time the abbot of Reading said that he had 

 visited Battle and found the state of religion 

 there satisfactory. Another visitation was made 

 by Archbishop Warham, when nothing appears 

 to have been found amiss. There were present 

 on this occasion the abbot, prior, cellarer, pre- 

 ceptor (sic), sacrist, and sixteen brethren, one 

 other was lying in the infirmary and another 

 was on a pilgrimage to Rome. 42 An election was 

 held in 1490 by the prior and thirty brethren, 43 

 but at the time of the dissolution there were 

 only seventeen monks and a novice besides the 

 abbot. In accordance with the rules of the 

 order, the abbey was obliged to support at least 

 one of its members as a scholar at the university, 

 and in 1393 we find ^10 paid to a scholar 

 studying at Oxford, 44 while in 1502 several small 

 sums were expended in connexion with the two 

 ' scholars of this monastery,' half a mark being 

 given ' to the warden of Canterbury College in 

 Oxford, to show his goodwill to our brethren 

 studying there.' 45 



During his visitation of the southern monasteries 

 in October, 1535, Richard Lay ton came here 

 and declared to Cromwell that the abbot and all 

 but two or three of his monks were guilty of un- 

 natural crimes and traitors, further terming the 

 abbot ' the veriest hayne betle and buserde ' and 

 the arrantest churl, adding the sweeping con- 

 demnation, ' the black sort of devilish monks, I 

 am sorry to know, are past amendment.' 46 His 

 master, however, knew what value to attach to 

 his words, and Battle continued its existence as 

 one of the ' great solemn monasteries where 

 (thanks be to God) religion is right well kept and 

 observed,' the abbot remaining undisturbed until 

 27 May, 1538, when he surrendered the house 47 

 on a pension of ^zoo, 48 which he enjoyed for 

 some years, making his last will in December, 

 I546. 49 Sir John Gage reported to Cromwell 

 that the furniture and vestments were very poor, 60 

 his associate Layton expressing himself with more 

 vigour in a letter to Wriothesley : 



So beggary a house I never see, nor so filthy stuff. 

 I will not 20.r. for all the hangings in this house, as 

 the bearer can tell you. The revestry is the worst 



41 Reyner, Hist. Ord. S. Bened. App. 173. 



"Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Warham, fol. 253. 



"Chich. Epis. Reg. Story, fol. 87. 



44 M ins. Accts. bdle. 1251, No. I. 



"Mins. Accts. Hen. VII, No. 86 1. 



48 L. and P. Hen. nil, ix, 632. 



4 'Ibid. xiii (i), 1083. 



"Ibid. 



"Suss.Jni. Coll. vi, 65. 



M L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xiii (i), 1084. 



54 



