RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Marmoutier ; but at last he obtained from the 

 abbot both the return of Lanzo and the promise 

 that in future the abbey would elect one of their 

 best monks to the post of prior of Lewes. 



The endowments of the priory grew apace, 

 the founder giving the tithes of all his lands with 

 special rights in his fisheries and market of Lewes, 

 and adding the church and manor of Castle Acre 

 in Norfolk where he proposed to found a monas- 

 tery, as was afterwards done, to be under that 

 of Lewes. After his death in 1089 his succes- 

 sors, earls of Surrey and Warenne, continued to 

 enrich the house of St. Pancras. To attempt to 

 deal fully with all the grants is impossible. The 

 second earl of Warenne gave or confirmed to 

 the monks all the nine churches of Lewes, and 

 nine or ten other Sussex churches, eleven in 

 Yorkshire, including those of Halifax and Wake- 

 field, seven in Norfolk, St. Olave's in South- 

 wark, and others elsewhere. In addition to 

 these Ralph de Chesney, at the time of the 

 dedication of the priory church (c. 1095), gave 

 five more churches in Sussex, and Walter de 

 Grancurt four in Norfolk. An idea of the 

 ecclesiastical patronage exercised by this priory in 

 Sussex may be gathered from the map facing p. 8, 

 and their temporalities were on a corresponding 

 scale, so that in 1291 the Sussex property of the 

 house was valued at 22 J us. 2d. y and that in 

 other counties at ^560 13*. 8</., making a total 

 of ^788 4*. iod. 2 Certain manors and churches 

 were alienated from time to time, but others 

 were also obtained, and by the time of the disso- 

 lution the priory's income stood at ^1,091 gs.6%d., 

 from which ^171 5*. had to be deducted for 

 outgoings. 3 



The priory of St. Pancras was most fortunate 

 in having as its first head Lanzo, a man of pre- 

 eminent piety, whose noble example made his 

 monastery of Lewes famous as an abode of 

 spiritual excellence and its monks models of 

 devotion, courtesy, and charity. 4 For thirty 

 years the saintly prior ruled the convent, dying 

 on Easter Monday, 1107, after a brief illness, 

 completing in his death that pattern of affection- 

 ate and devout humility which he had consistently 

 upheld in his life.' His successor, Hugh, ap- 

 pears to have continued the tradition of the 

 priory for devotion, charity, and liberal hospit- 

 ality, 6 and was selected in 1123 by Henry I to 

 be first abbot of the king's new foundation at 

 Reading, 7 whence he was promoted to the arch- 

 bishopric of Rouen in 1130,* his successor at 

 Lewes following him in the abbacy of Read- 



1 Taxatio (Rec. Com.), passim. 



3 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 332. 



4 W. Malmesbury, Gesta Pontif. (Rolls Ser.), 207. 

 6 Suss. Arch. Coll. iii, 194. 



6 See charter of Bp. Ralph, Cott. MSS. Vitell. E.x. 

 fol. 182. 



7 Flares Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 49. 

 ' Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 222. 



6 5 



ing in that year. 8 Another Prior Hugh, a man 

 of great piety and honour, was elected to Read- 

 ing in 1 186, 10 and raised to the abbacy of Cluny 

 in ngg. 11 He was therefore abbot at the time 

 of the great dispute between Cluny and the earl 

 of Warenne over the patronage of the priory. 



Lewes Priory was apparently vacant early in 

 1 200, and the abbot of Cluny appointed one 

 Alexander thereto. Hameline, earl of Warenne, 

 refused to accept this nomination, claiming that 

 the patronage of the priory lay with him ; and 

 in this he was apparently supported at first by 

 some of the monks, who maintained that with 

 the exception of paying 100 shillings yearly to 

 the abbot they were independent of the mother- 

 house, and had the right of free election. 13 

 On an appeal to the pope a decision was 

 given in favour of the abbot, and the monks 

 were ordered to obey his nominee. The earl 

 not only appealed against this decision, but 

 violently seized the priory's possessions in York- 

 shire and Norfolk, and even placed armed guards 

 at the gate of the priory to prevent the monks 

 from sending messages to Cluny ; all pilgrims 

 and travellers desirous of enjoying the hospitality 

 of the priory were cross-examined to find out if 

 they were carrying letters from the abbot before 

 they were allowed to enter, and when the abbot 

 put the church of Lewes under an interdict the 

 earl retorted by threatening to starve the monks 

 if they observed the interdict. The archbishop 

 of Canterbury and the bishops of Chichester and 

 Ely were appointed by the pope to decide the 

 case, and the abbot of Cluny himself came over 

 to England and met the representatives of the 

 monks and of the earl, and apparently agreed to a 

 truce until the question should be settled by law ; 

 but when the abbot, accompanied by the commis- 

 sioners' representatives to see that he did nothing 

 to predjudice the earl's case, came to Lewes and 

 Castle Acre he was ignominiously repulsed by the 

 earl's men. This happened a second time, but 

 at last the papal commissioners succeeded in in- 

 ducing both sides to accept a peace with honour. 13 

 Even then the abbots of Battle and Roberts- 

 bridge, appointed to instal Alexander as prior, 

 were turned back by Warenne's men ; but shortly 

 afterwards, in June I2OI, the quarrel was brought 

 to an end. 14 The terms of the agreement were 

 that in future when a vacancy occurred the monks 

 and the earl of Warenne should send representa- 

 tives to Cluny to announce the fact, and the 

 abbot should then nominate two suitable candi- 

 dates, of whom the earl's proctors should choose 

 one, who should at once enter upon the office of 

 prior. 1 * This arrangement continued to hold 



' Rec. ofCluni, i, 58 n. 



10 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 244. 



11 Ibid. 252. 



" Rec. ofCluni, \, 86-92. 



u ' Fuit pax ad honorem utriusque partis.' 



14 Rec. ofCluni, i, 99. " Ibid. 92-3. 



