A HISTORY OF 
could scarcely support two monks. After 
reflection he decided to unite the cell with 
the parent abbey, and apply its revenues to 
other purposes. There were two things 
necessary before he could do this. He had 
to gain the consent of the patron of the 
house, Lord Grey de Ruthyn; and also to 
obtain a bull from the pope. Lord Grey 
signed a full surrender of all his rights in the 
priory in May, 1434 ;1 and the papal bull 
which had been asked of Martin V. was 
granted at last by Eugenius IV.? at about 
the same time. But it was an expensive 
matter to claim and use the bull; and while 
the abbot hesitated, and tried to find out 
from lawyers whether after all an ordinary 
prelate could not grant him the necessary 
licence, the king’s escheator stepped in and 
declared that the house had escheated to the 
Crown. A jury was summoned to inquire 
into the abbot’s title, which was probably ® 
proved without difficulty; for in a short 
time he was able to carry out the whole of 
his original plan. Lord Grey de Ruthyn 
was granted an anniversary, and a rent of 
20s. a year ;* the vicarage of Clophill was 
re-instituted a rectory, on condition that the 
rector should say mass three times a week 
for the soul of the founder, Robert d’Albini® ; 
and the income of the priory, amounting to 
£18 a year, was divided amongst the students 
from the abbey of St. Alban’s at Oxford, so 
that each might receive a pension of 135. 4d. 
annually,® and pray for their benefactor at 
mass. ‘These arrangements were completed 
before the death of John of Wheathampstead 
in 1464, and the priory disappeared so com- 
pletely that even its site was for a long time 
forgotten.” 
1 12 May, 13 Henry VI. in Cott. MS. Claudius, 
D i. f. 134b; Arundel MS. 34, f. 33 has 12 May 
6 Henry VI. 
2 A short summary of the whole story is given 
in Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. 33b. The account 
of John de Amundesham does not explain that the 
abbot finally released and used the bull, though it 
names the two popes. 
3 The narrative of John de Amundesham ends 
abruptly without giving the verdict (Aum. Mon. 
S. Albani [Rolls Series], ii. 105-12). 
« Ibid. 
6 Ibid. and Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. 33b. 
® A notice of the payment of this pension to the 
students and its purposeis found in the Appendix 
to J.de Amundesham (Ann. Mon. 8. Albani [Rolls 
Series], ii. 292). 
7 The reference in the inquisition of 1433 to 
* quoddam manerium vocatum Belewe in parochia 
de Clophulle in dicta comitate Bedf.’ fixes the site. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
The original endowment* gave to the 
priory the demesne land in the parish of 
Clophill afterwards called the manor of 
Beaulieu (including the hermitage, the 
church of Moddry and 15 acres for the 
service of the chapel of Cainhoe three times a 
week) ; the churches of Millbrook, Ampthill 
and Clophill ; the mill of Turnhall, the wood 
of Hazeldean, with other parcels of land and 
meadow, and certain rights of pasturage on 
the founder’s demesne. Cecily, mother of 
the founder, added the church of Milton 
Ernest ;° and Aumary de St. Amand a carucate 
in Wilshampstead for the service of the chapel 
of St. Machutus in the parish of Haynes 
(Hawnes).’° ‘The temporalities of the priory 
in 1291 were valued at £26 7s. 10d.; the 
spiritualities at £17 6s. 8d.,"" out of which 
four vicars’ stipends were to be paid. Only 
two small fractions of a knight’s fee in Clop- 
hill and Flitton are entered as held by the 
prior in 1302, and only one in 1346 and 
1428.1? At the time of the union of the cell 
with St. Alban’s the abbot stated its whole 
revenue at £18 ;** the jury at the inquisition 
valued the lands at £12.14 
No seal of this priory remains, so far as is 
known. 
Priors oF BEAULIEU 
Walter de Standon, elected 1233 ** 
Roger, elected 1237 *® 
Roger de Thebrugg, elected 12817” 
John of Stopsley, elected 1285 *® 
John of Stagsden, transferred 1296 *® 
William de Parys, elected 1296 *° 
Peter of Maydenford, elected 1299 ** 
8 Foundation Charters, Lansd. MS. 863, f. 83b. 
The church of Rinethella here and in Dugdale, 
Mon. iii. 274 is an evident misreading for Amethella, 
which is given quite clearly in Arundel MS. 34, f. 
32b, an earlier transcript of the first charter. The 
Lansd. MS. is a transcript of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. 
9 Cur. Reg. R., 58, n. 4. 
10 Cott. MS. Claudius, Di. f. 134b. The chapel 
of St. Machutus is said in Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. 
to have been the gift of Robert d’Albini. 
11 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 
12 Feud. Aids (P.R.O.), i. 13, 14, 33, 46. 
13 In his supplication to the pope. 
4 Cott. MS. Claudius, D i. f. 134b. 
16 Linc. Epis. Reg., Rolls of Hugh de Wells, 
16 Thid. Rolls of Grossetéte. 
17 [bid. Rolls of Sutton. 
18 Tbid. 
19 Tbid. Inst. of Sutton. 
20 Tbid. 102. 
2t Tbid. 104; Cal. of Pap. Letters, i. 601. 
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