A HISTORY OF 
suits, and she had similar dealings with Newn- 
ham Priory’—all with reference to the ad- 
vowsons of churches. At another time there 
were difficulties with St. Alban’s Abbey.? 
Matthew Paris® relates the story of the ab- 
bess of Elstow and the sword : how, at the 
time of the pulling down of St. Paul’s church 
by Fawkes de Bréauté, she took the sword 
out of the hand of the image of St. Paul in 
her own church, and declared that she would 
not restore it until he avenged himself upon 
the common enemy. At the beginning of 
the fourteenth century, in the year 1306, a 
rather interesting suit was begun between the 
abbess at that time, Clemence de Balliol, and 
the brethren of St. Leonard’s Hospital. The 
latter had been erecting new buildings on 
either side of the pathway which led from 
Elstow to Bedford, and obtained permission 
in consequence to close it, and make another 
which should pass round instead of through 
the hospital. This the abbess objected to, 
on the ground that the old way was more 
direct and convenient for her people. The 
two paths were carefully measured, and it 
was decided, against the abbess, that the new 
way was not appreciably longer than the old. 
But she was still dissatisfied, and the brethren 
seem to have been hindered from carrying 
out their plans for another two years, when 
they obtained letters patent from the king 
for the closing of the path. 
In 1337 Elizabeth Morteyn, who was 
then abbess, claimed the ‘ third penny’ from 
the town of Bedford, in virtue of an alleged 
grant from Malcolm (IV.), King of Scotland ; 
the case was carried before Parliament, and 
the burgesses were successful in proving that 
Malcolm never had any lordship in the town.® 
Six years earlier a previous abbess was sum- 
moned to show by what title she claimed view 
of frankpledge and ‘judicialia’ in Elstow, 
Wilshampstead, Maulden, and Kempston: 
she was obliged to confess that her administra- 
tion had been lax, and could only secure her 
1 Harl. MS. 3656, f. 70. 
2 Harl. Ch. 43, A 44 (1231; a bull of Gre- 
gory IX.; the dispute was about certain tithes, 
and the archdeacon of Bucks was ordered to settle 
it). 
3 Matth. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Series), iii. 
87. The abbess at this time was most probably 
Mabel. Fawkes de Bréauté held 8 acres of land 
of the abbess of Elstow (Close, 8 Henry III.) 
4 The whole story is set out by Wigram, Chron- 
icles of the Abbey of Elstow, 93-8, with an account 
of the measurements, from Chan. Ing. p.m. 34 
Edw. I. 226, the final settlement being found in 
Pat. 2 Edw. II. p. 2, m. 13. 
5 Rolls of Parl. ii. 96. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
rights by the payment of a fine.° It was 
only a short time after this that the parish 
church of Elstow, as well as the tithes of both 
rectories, were finally appropriated by the 
monastery, under the sanction of Bishop Bek ; 
and ‘to avoid the inconvenience caused by 
the chanting of psalms in the nave of the 
monastery,’ the chapel of St. Helen, which 
stood in the churchyard, was to serve in 
future as a parish church.” From this time 
forward little is known of the external his- 
tory of the house, except that it was much 
patronised by seculars, whom the bishops 
never could succeed in keeping out for any 
length of time. Not long before the dissolu- 
tion an attendant of Elizabeth of York, wife 
of Henry VII., was professed there.® 
This house was constantly visited by the 
Bishops of Lincoln ; and the records of their 
injunctions from time to time show us some- 
thing of its internal history. The first notice 
of this kind is in a letter, dated 24 June 1270, 
from Bishop Gravesend to Walter Giffard, 
Archbishop of York.® A sister of the latter, 
Agatha Giffard, was prioress of Elstow at the 
time, and had been at fault (as had the abbess 
also) ‘through connivance or remissness’ in 
some scandal that had lately occurred. What 
it was the bishop does not say ; only he re- 
marks ‘ from that house more frequently than 
from any other false reports of disgraceful 
acts are brought to us’; and he is evidently 
‘putting the case as mildly as he can, so as 
not to offend the archbishop. 
In 1300 the nuns of Elstow, as well as 
many others, were enjoined to observe the 
statute De Claustura Monialium of Boniface 
VIII.*° This statute was aimed no doubt at 
6 Wigram, Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow, 104 ; 
from Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.) 
7 Cal. of Pap. Letters, iii. 196; and Linc. Epis. 
Reg., Inst. Bek. 102 (1345). The chapel had 
been built by a certain Ivota; and a chantry 
attached in 1334 (Linc. Epis. Reg., Inst. Burghersh, 
273). 
8 Beds N. and Q., i. 197, from Nicholas, 
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York, ‘ de- 
livered to Thabbesse of Elnestowe by thands of 
John Duffyn for the costes and charges of litle 
Anne Loveday at the making of her nonne there— 
£6 135. 4d.” (Dated 3 August 1502) 
® Wigram, Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow, 74, 
where the letter is given at length, from Hist. 
Papers and Letters trom the Northern Registers (Rolls 
Series). Whatever the scandal was, it cost the 
prioress no serious loss of credit, for in 1280-1 she 
was very nearly elected abbess (Wigram, Chronicles 
of the Abbey of Elstow, 79, where the letter of 
Bishop Oliver Sutton reporting on the election 
is given in full), 
to Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Dalderby, 9, 11. 
354 
i 
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