A HISTORY OF 
it would have secured to him the love of all 
his brethren and an honourable memory. 
The abbey was endowed by the founder 
with the manor of Woburn, and other parcels 
of land in the neighbourhood were added by 
various benefactors before 1162.1 The manor 
of Medmenham (Bucks), for building another 
abbey, was confirmed to the abbot in 1200-17; 
and in 1202 Hugh Malet granted the manors 
of Swanbourne and Mursley (Bucks) in pure 
and perpetual alms, with the church of Swan- 
bourn, to be held of him and his heirs for 
ever. The church of Chesham was in the 
gift of the abbey in the twelfth century,* and 
the churches of Birchmore, Whitchurch and 
Soulbury at a later date. In 1291° the tem- 
poralities of Woburn amounted to £121 105. 
8id., and the spiritualities may have added 
another £50. A taxation of the property of 
the abbey taken in 1338 valued it at £132 
19s. g¢a.° 
The abbots held in 13027 one knight’s 
fee in Eversholt, and smaller fractions in 
Potsgrave, Hare, Holcutt and Harlington ; 
in Buckinghamshire® one fee in Swanbourne 
and another in Stewkley, and a part of Dray- 
ton. In 1316° they held half of each of the 
three vills of Milton Bryan, Eversholt and 
Birchmore, with Woburn; in 1346 they 
held half a fee in Woburn, Milton Bryan and 
Pulloxhill’® ; in 1428 one fee in Eversholt 
and another in Holcutt, with one half in 
Milton Bryant, Hare and Pulloxhill**; the 
Buckinghamshire fees remaining much the 
same, except the one in Stewkley which had 
passed to the abbess of Fontevraud. ‘The 
valuation in 1535 of the whole property of the 
abbey was £391 18s. 2d. clear.'* The mov- 
able goods of the monastery, including plate, 
money, jewels, church ornaments, household 
and that may be to their edification. The Pope 
is either a good man or an ill; to the Lord he 
standeth or falleth. The office of a bishop is 
honourable. What edifying is this to rail? Let 
him alone.’); his care to avoid implicating his 
friend, Sir Francis Bryan ; his thought for his own 
nearest relations when he saw that he was in danger 
of death. 
1 Foundation Charter, Dugdale, Mon. v. 478. 
2 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i. pt. 1, 83; Rot. 
de Oblatis et Finibus (Rec. Com.), 90. Woburn 
paid 40 marks, as well as 10 marks for two palfreys as 
the price of this confirmation. 
3 Feet of F. (Rec. Com.), 198. 
4 Cott. MS. Julius, D iii. f. 123b and elsewhere. 
5 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 
6 Pat. 11 Edw. III. pt. 2, m. 8. 
7 Feud. Aids, i. 8. 
8 Tbid. 82. ® Tbid.21. 19 Ibid. 25, 33. 
11 Thid. 43, 46, 126, 127, 128, 129. 
12 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.) 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
stuff, corn, cattle, and debts owing to the house 
were valued in June 1538 at £509 175. 4d.; 
and at the survey of the lands taken at the 
same time a total of £450 145. 34d. in tem- 
poralities and £78 145s. od. in spiritualities 
was obtained.4® The report of the Crown 
bailiff four years later gave a total of £427 
8s. 3d., including the rectories of Birchmore 
with Woburn chapel, Soulbury, Chesham and 
Whitchurch in Buckinghamshire, and lands 
in Beds, Bucks, Oxon, Herts, Northants and 
London, and the manors of Eversholt, Pullox- 
hill, Grenfield, Westoning, Potsgrave and 
Swanbourne.4 
ABBOTS OF WoBURN 
Alan," first abbot, 1145 
William,'® occurs circa 1180 
Peter’” » 1202, died 1204 
Nicholas*® ,, 1208 
Richard'® ,, 1217, 1228, deposed 
1234 
Roger” of Fountains, elected 1234 
Adam of Luton,” died 1247 
Nicholas,” elected 1247 
Roger,?? died 1281 
Hugh of Soulbury,”* elected 1281 
William,* occurs 1286 
Robert de Stokes,?® elected 1297 
Henry,” elected 1312 
Thomas de Thornton,” elected 1336 
William Manepeny,” » 1396 
William Hawburth,?? » 1436 
John of Ashby,®° » 1458 
Robert Charlet,*! » 1463 
Robert Hall,” » 1483 
Thomas Hogeson,** occurs 1499 
Robert Hobbes** » 1529 
No seal of this abbey remains so far as is 
known. 
13 L. and P. Hen. VIII. xiii. (1), 1280. Dated 
29 June, 30 Henry VIII. 
14 Dugdale, Mon. v. 481; and MS. summary of 
Ministers’ Accounts, P.R.O. 
16 Dugdale, Mon. v. 301. 
1s Add. MS. 5827, 176b (Cole’s transcript of 
MS. notes of Browne Willis). 
11 Feet of F. (Rec. Com.), 198 ; Add. MS. 5827, 
176b (ref. to Gale, i. 182). 
18 Add. MS. 5827, 176b. 
19 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii, 108. 
20 Tbid. 140. a Tbid. 174. 22 Tbid. 
23 Thid. p. 287. 24 Pat. 14 Edw. I. m. 8. 
26 Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Sutton, 182. 
28 Tbid. Memo. Dalderby, 241. 
27 Tbid. Memo. Burghersh, 344. 
28 bid. Memo. Buckingham, 436. 
© Tbid. Memo. Alnwick, 31. 
20 Ibid. Inst. Chedworth, 46d. 
st Thid. 32 Tbid. Inst. Russell. 
33 Tbid. Inst. Smith. 
34 L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 6047. 
370 
