A HISTORY OF 
Margaret Godfrey,’ elected 1487, died or 
resigned 1501 
Elizabeth Hervey,” elected 1501, died 
1524 
Agnes Gascoigne,® elected.1524, died 1529 
Elizabeth Boyvill,* elected 1529 
The seal of the abbey is found attached to 
the deed of surrender already mentioned. 
It is dark green, pointed oval, and represents 
Blessed Mary the Virgin standing with the 
Holy Child in her arms. St. Helen stands 
on the right, bearing the cross. An abbess 
kneels below, with crosier, and a nun on 
either side. 
Another seal (imperfect) bearing only the 
figure of St. Helen with the cross is attached 
to Harl. Ch. 44, D 35, and Campbell Charter, 
x. 9 (B.M.) 
3. THE PRIORY OF MARKYATE 
The priory of Markyate was founded in 
the year 1145, in a wood which was then 
part of the parish of Caddington, and be- 
longed to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, 
London.’ Ralf de Langford, who was dean 
at the time, granted the site at a rent of 35. 
annually ; adding to it afterwards another 
portion at a rent of 6s. As the house was 
built under the patronage of Geoffrey, six- 
teenth abbot of St. Alban’s, and endowed by 
him (though not with the goodwill of his 
convent) with tithes trom Cashio and Wat- 
ford,® it has sometimes been called a cell of 
that abbey; but this is scarcely a correct 
description of it, as the patronage remained 
always with the Dean and Chapter of St. 
Paul’s,’ and the nuns were never exempt from 
episcopal jurisdiction. There can however 
be no doubt that in its early days the priory 
was closely connected with St. Alban’s, though 
the history of its origin is somewhat involved 
in legend. It is said that a monk called 
Roger ® went out from the abbey some time 
during the reign of Henry I., with the con- 
sent of his abbot, to seek a place for a hermit- 
1 Lansd. MS. 963, f. 27b (Bishop Kennett’s 
extracts from Rolls de Rest. Temporalium). 
2 Ibid. f. 55. 
3 L. and P. Hen. VIII. (P.R.O.), iv. 404, 487, 
from Pat. 16 Hen. VIII. pt.i.and Linc. Epis. Reg., 
Longland, 241. 
4 L. and P. Hen. VIII, (P.R.O.), 6211, from 
Pat. 21 Henry VIII., and in Pension List after the 
surrender. 
5 Hist. MSS. Com. ix. 66, and Dugdale, Mon. 
iii, 368. The grant was confirmed by Alexander 
Bishop of Lincoln (Cott. Ch. xi. 8). 
6 Matth. Paris, Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Series), i. 95. 
7 Linc. Epis. Reg. (See Institutions of Prioresses). 
8 Matth. Paris, Gesta Abbatum (Rolls Series), i. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
age; and was guided to choose a spot in the 
woods near Caddington, not far from Watling 
Street. There he lived for some time in such 
solitude as he desired, until a damsel from 
Huntingdon, Christine by name, came and 
placed herself under his direction, believing 
that she had a similar vocation. He enclosed 
her in a shed close by his own hermitage, and 
fastened the door with planks in such a way 
that she could not open it herself, nor could 
she be seen by any passers-by ; and in this 
narrow dwelling she remained for four years, 
enduring with heroic courage heat and cold 
alike, and only released from her cramped 
posture once a day at dusk. At the end of 
this time her patience was rewarded by 
heavenly visions,® which convinced Roger 
that it was indeed her destiny to succeed him 
in his cell) When he died, and was carried 
to St. Alban’s to be buried ‘in a curved place 
on the south wall near the choir,’ it was 
natural enough that the abbot should take 
Christine under his special protection and 
patronage. A woman could scarcely live 
quite alone in a wood away from either town 
or church, but it was not difficult in the 
twelfth century to find a few others who were 
willing to embrace the stricter forms of the 
religious life; so Christine was soon sur- 
rounded by disciples. “The formation of the 
house into a priory under the Benedictine 
rule was probably due to the influence of St. 
Alban’s.?° 
97-105. These pages do not form part of the 
original narrative, but are added by Walsingham 
or the compiler of the Gesta Abbatum. 
® One of these, whether historical or not, is at 
any rate characteristic of the crusading age to 
which the real Christine belonged. She thought 
she saw her Lord standing before her and holding 
a golden cross; He bade her be of good courage, 
for they who would go to Jerusalem must needs 
bear the cross thither. 
10 Tf the dates in the story of Roger and Chris- 
tine are at all correctly given, it was some time 
before this was formally done. It is said that 
Christine acted as an adviser to Abbot Geoffrey in 
the beginning of the reign of Stephen; while the 
charter of foundation is dated 1145. Christine has 
the distinction of being the only Bedfordshire saint 
(and after all she was bornin Huntingdon !) There 
is a fifteenth century English life of her by Ros- 
carrok (printed from a MS. in Trinity College, 
Dublin) appended to John of Tynemouth’s Nova 
Legenda Anglia, ed. C. Horstman. It contains 
very little of interest, being chiefly an account of 
her life before she came to Markyate, of which the 
St. Alban’s chronicler apparently knew nothing : 
and of her contentions with her parents and would- 
be husband, after the manner of St. Frideswide 
and many other virgin saints. 
358 
