RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



helmet and holding a mace. Outside these, 

 tabernacle work. In base, under a four-centred 

 arch, ornamented with quatrefoiled ball-flowers, 

 St. Pancras, kneeling to the left, receiving martyr- 

 dom by the sword of an executioner. Behind 

 the saint a scroll inscribed : s' PANCRATI.' On 

 the masonry at each side of this arch a shield of 

 arms : left chequy, WARENNE ; right quarterly, 

 i, 4, a lion rampant, FITZALAN ; 2, 3, WARENNE. 

 On the plinth or string-course below the canopied 

 niches and above the arch the inscription : 



MARTIRIALE DECVS TRIBUIT MICHI CESARIS IRA. 



Legend : 



SIGILLUM C5MUNE PRIORIS ET CONUENTUS 

 MONASTERII SANCTI PANCRATII : DE + LEWES. 



Reverse: A carved Gothic chapel standing 

 on cliffs with waves at their bases, and having 

 three niches on the front, one at the right hand 

 side, a turreted spire, ornamented roof, and a 

 cross at each gable end. The four niches con- 

 tain each a saint, full-length. Those in the 

 middle of the seal are : left, the Virgin crowned, 

 the Child on the right arm ; right, St. Pancras, as 

 a priest, tonsured, in the vestments of a Cluniac 

 prior, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the 

 left hand a book. Those at the sides are : 

 left, St. Peter, with keys ; right, St. Paul, with 

 sword. Along the plinth the inscription : 



MARTIR PANCRATI PER TE : SIMUS : RELEUATI. 



In the field over the chapel small stars, and on 

 each side is a pierced cinquefoil. Inner edge 

 engrailed. 116 Legend : 



DULCIS : AGONISTA : TIBI : gUERTIT : DOMUS 

 ISTA I 



PANCRATI ! MEMO ! PRECIBUS : MEMOR : 

 ESTO i TUO 



The following seals of priors are known : 



STEPHEN (1219). Pointed oval: The prior 

 seated on a throne, reading a book, to the left. 

 In the field on the left a crescent. 117 Legend : 



-f- SIGILL' STEPHANI PRIORIS sci PA . . . n 



JOHN DE THYENGES. Pointed oval : The 

 prior, holding a book, standing in a niche with 

 pointed trefoiled arch, crocketed and pinnacled, 

 supported on slender shafts. On each side in 

 the field a small square panel, divided into a 

 chequer of four pieces in allusion to the armorial 

 bearings of WARENNE, the founder. 118 Legend: 



S'FRIS IOHIS PORIS LEWENSIS. 



JOHN DE MONTE MARTINI. Small circular 

 (f in.) : St. Pancras kneeling to right, soldier 

 with uplifted sword behind him (probably a re- 

 duced facsimile of the early conventual seal 119 ). 

 Legend : 



[SEJCRETUM . . P'ORIS LE[WENSIS] 



HUGH DE CHYNTRIACO. Oval : Prior stand- 

 ing in an elaborate gothic niche. li0 Legend : 



FRIS . VGONIS 



DE 



JOHN DE CAROLOCO, attached to a deed by his 

 predecessor Peter de Joceaux. 121 Oval : In a 

 carved niche, Christ (?), seated, right hand up- 

 lifted, a small cross in left hand ; below, a monk 

 kneeling to left. Legend : 



S. FR. IOHIS. DE CAILO .... 



JOHN ASHDOWNE. Oval : In a gothic niche ; 

 an upright figure draped about the middle and 

 holding a staff in each hand. 122 Legend : 



. LEWEN . 



HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS 



8. THE ABBEY OF ROBERTSBRIDGE 1 



The Cistercian abbey of St. Mary was founded 

 in the vill of Robertsbridge within the parish of 

 Salehurst in or about 1176 by Alvred de St. 

 Martin, sheriff of the rape of Hastings and 

 'dapifer ' to Richard I, who married Alice widow 

 of John count of Eu. Besides the site of the 

 abbey and the adjoining lands he bestowed upon 

 the monks estates in Ewhurstand Sedlescombe, and 

 land lying between Winchelsea and 'Cliveshend,' 



16 B.M. Ixxii, 87, 88. 

 "' B.M. Ixxiii, 89. 



18 B.M. Ixxii, 90 ; the letters o R of ' prioris' and 

 E N of ' Lewensis ' are conjoined. Beaded borders. 



19 P.R.O., S.B. 10 1. 



m Ibid. 67. 

 in 



110 Ibid. SC. 66. 



Cat. Robertsbridge Charts. No. 398*. 



and other lands belonging to the Ewhurst prebend 

 of Hastings college. These gifts Seffrid II, bishop 

 of Chichester (1180-1204), confirmed so far as 

 was in his power, taking the abbey and its posses- 

 sions under his protection. 2 The Countess Alice 

 associated herself with her husband in his foun- 

 dation, and her son Henry count of Eu so 

 liberally followed in her steps that the abbots of 

 Citeaux and Clairvaux, by the advice of Denis 

 abbot of Robertsbridge, conferred upon him and 

 upon his mother's soul the benefits of the Order. 3 ' 

 Other benefactors added their gifts of lands and 

 rents, the most prominent being the families of 



1 Dugdale, Man. 666-8; Suss. Arch. Coll. viii, 141- 

 76 ; Archaeologia, xlv, 427 sq. ; Cal. of Chart, of R. 

 Abbey preserved, at Penshurst, privately printed by 

 Hugh Penfoldin 1878. 



1 Archaeolo&a, xlv, 458. ' Cal. Chart. No. 7. 



