A HISTORY OF 
follow ; if the letter was written some time 
during the summer of 1536, there was a year 
and a half still before it was decided whether 
Henry Emery, supported by the Duke of 
Norfolk, or Thomas London, supported by 
Sir John Gostwick, was to be the last abbot 
of Warden. Letters from all of these parties 
are preserved amongst the State Papers, and 
give some idea of the order of events, though 
the story is at best a confusing one. 
The first letter! dated 16 July [1537], is 
from Henry Emery to the Duke of Norfolk’s 
treasurer. He alludes in it to a plan they 
had devised, whereby a secular steward should 
manage the pecuniary affairs of the monastery, 
and the abbot should have a regular allow- 
ance for his living, and also an opportunity of 
dealing with troublesome monks without in- 
curring suspicion. He adds that Sir John 
Gostwick had been at the monastery, and at 
first appeared to be his friend ; but now he 
had joined with his enemies and had a 
commission to sequester the goods of the 
house. 
The next letter,? dated 5 August, from 
Norfolk to Cromwell, states that the bearer, 
Henry Emery, has resigned in favour of Dan 
Thomas London of the same house; but 
London, in breach of the agreement between 
them, had ‘ procured the repair of Dr. Petre 
for the taking of his resignation.’ Cromwell’s 
favour was requested for Emery. 
On 23 August Dan Thomas London? 
wrote to Cromwell to ask if it was really 
by his authority that the ‘late deposed 
abbot, Father Emery,’ had returned and 
demanded the keys back again. Norfolk on 
3 October* again wrote to Cromwell to 
thank him for his kindness to his protégé, who 
was evidently reinstated, and Sir John Gost- 
wick also wrote,® in a letter undated, to thank 
him for his kindness to ‘the poor monk of 
Warden,’ who was probably London. The 
house was finally surrendered ® on 4 December 
by Henry Emery as abbot, and his convent. 
It is impossible in reading these letters to 
avoid the conclusion that all these different 
1 L. and P. Hen. VIII. (P.R.O.), xii. 264. 
2 Ibid. No. 452. 
3 bid. 572. 
4 Ibid. 828. 
8 Ibid. 576. This letter is placed by Dr. Gaird- 
ner just after the letter from London to Crom- 
well; but it is of course possible that it does not 
refer to London. But it seems likely that it does, 
and that the kindness referred to was the promotion 
of London to some living, as his name does not 
appear amongst the signatures on the deed of 
surrender. 
6 Ibid. 1171. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
persons had been working for their own ends, 
though it is difficult to see exactly what they 
were. The total impression left to us of the 
house in its last days is discreditable and un- 
satisfactory. 
The surrender ” is in the conventional form, 
the same as that of Elstow Abbey ; and con- 
tains the signatures of Henry Emery and 
thirteen monks, who probably all received 
pensions. The abbot in his first letter al- 
ready quoted speaks of fifteen monks and 
refers to another who had lately left the mon- 
astery.® In the thirteenth century, as has 
been seen, the numbers were much larger ; 
the thirty monks whom Fawkes de Bréauté 
dragged to Bedford Castle were not the 
whole convent; there may have been as 
many as fifty or sixty altogether. The prior 
and cellarer are often alluded to in early docu- 
ments; and the last abbot mentions an 
official called the ‘ custos ordinis.’ 
The originalendowment of the abbey com- 
prised all the assarts of Warden and Southill 
with the wood between those two vills, with 
permission to cut what wood was wanted for 
the use of the monastery, and including 
pannage and herbage, etc., granted by Walter 
Espec ; also the church of Old Warden ; and 
part of the wood of Middleho which the 
abbot of Ramsey granted. These grants 
were confirmed by Stephen, Henry II. and 
Richard I., and Henry III. added the right 
to assart or enclose the wood of Middleho, 
Hunts. Henry Braybrook and his wife 
granted lands in Westwarden, their son Wis- 
chard Leydet and his wife altogether forty-two 
acres of pasture.'° The income of the house 
in temporalities and spiritualities in 1291 was 
about £200."" The manor of Steppingley 
came into the possession of the abbey some 
time in the fourteenth century,'® and in 1387 
the granges of Ravensholt and Burdon 
(Cambs) were exchanged for the manor of 
Beeston.!* 
In 1284 the abbey had only one knight’s 
fee, held of the barony of Bedford, and two 
7 Deeds of Surrender (P.R.O.), No. 253. 
8 A young monk named Hugh, who had probably 
been sent out under the new regulations as being 
under twenty-four years of age. 
9 All these are found in the Inspeximus of Ed- 
ward I. (Exch. Trans. of Charters, No. 5). 
10 Add. MS. 24465, ff. 27, 27b, 28. A certain 
Ralph Fleet and his wife gave the monks of Warden 
land in front of St. Martin le Grand, London, for 
a hospice, at a rent of $s. a year. Date unknown 
(Dugdale, Mon. v. 373). 
11 Pope Nich. Tax (Rec. Com.) 
12 Add. MS. 24465, f. 30b. 
13 Pat. 10 Rich, II. m, 24. 
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