RELIGIOUS HOUSES 
HOUSES 
6. THE PRIORY OF DUNSTABLE 
The Augustinian priory of Dunstable was 
founded by King Henry I. about the year 
1132, and endowed by him at the same time 
with the lordship of the manor and town in 
which it stood! Tradition says that the 
same king was also founder of the town, and 
had caused the forest to be cleared away from 
the point where Watling and Icknield Streets 
crossed each other, on account of the robbers 
who infested the highway.? However this 
may be, he certainly granted to the priory all 
such liberties and rights in the town of 
Dunstable as he held in his own demesne 
lands. His charter was confirmed by Henry II.,° 
who also granted to the prior and convent the 
lordship of Houghton Regis; and before the 
reign of Richard I. a great many of the 
churches of the neighbourhood had been 
granted to the priory by different benefactors,* 
as many as thirteen, besides the chapel of 
1 Foundation Charter, contained in the In- 
speximus of Richard II. (Harl. MS. 1885, f. 102). 
The date is fixed between 1131 and 1135 by the 
name of Robert, Bishop of Hereford, among the 
witnesses: he succeeded 1131 (Flor. of Wore. 
[Engl. Hist. Soc.], ii. 92). 
2 Dugdale, Mon. vi. 238. 
3 Harl. MS. 1885, f. 102. The churches given 
below are all contained in this charter : those of SS. 
Peter, Mary and Cuthbert, Bedford, are there 
stated to be the gift of HenryI.; St. Cuthbert’s 
in another place (ibid. f. 73b) is stated to be the 
gift of Abel, son of Roland. The confirmations 
of nearly all these churches by different twelfth- 
century bishops and archdeacons are contained in 
ff. 20-4 of the same chartulary. 
4 The churches of St. Peter (Dunstable), St. 
Mary and St. Cuthbert in Bedford, in the time of 
Henry I. ; the church of Cublington, Bucks, of the 
gift of Hugh, son of Jocelyn; Segenhoe and 
Totternhoe, with Higham Ferrers and half the 
church of Pattishall, Northants, by Simon de 
Wahull and his son Walter ; North Marston, Bucks, 
of the gift of Thurstan of Hunderigg; Flitwick, 
Husborne Crawley, and the chapel of Ruxox, of the 
gift of Philip de Saunvill; Chalgrave, of the gift 
of Roger Loring, with the consent of Simon de 
Beauchamp; Aspley Guise (finally assigned to 
Newnham Priory), of the gift of Roger de Salford; 
Pulloxhill and Harlington, of the gift of John and 
William Pirot ; Steppingley, of the gift of Richard 
of Steppingley; Studham, of the gift of Alex- 
ander of Studham; and half the church of Ches- 
ham, Bucks, of the gift of the abbot of Woburn. 
Henry II.’s own gift of the lordship of Houghton 
Regis is alluded to in Rot. Chart, (Rec. Com.), 
5 John, m. 24. 
OF AUSTIN CANONS 
Ruxox, in the county of Bedford, with Cub- 
lington, North Marston and half Chesham, 
Bucks, and Higham Ferrers with half Pattis- 
hall, Northants. Several of these gifts were 
disputed before the century was out,° but most 
of them were retained by the priory through- 
out its existence. 
Bernard, the first prior of the house, was 
closely associated with the introduction of 
Austin Canons into England, for he had 
accompanied his brother Norman (afterwards 
prior of St. Botolph’s, Colchester, and then of 
Holy Trinity, London) to Chartres and Beau- 
vais, in Anselm’s time, to learn the rule of 
St. Augustine, with a view to introduce it 
into England.® 
At the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, in the year 1202, Richard de Morins, 
a canon of Merton,’ became prior of Dun- 
stable, and with his election the priory entered 
upon the most interesting period of its history. 
It was probably he who began the annals of 
the house, and perhaps wrote part of them 
with his own hand® ; he was evidently a man 
of very varied interests, and considerable 
capacity for affairs. Before he had been prior 
a year he was dispatched on the king’s busi- 
ness to Rome® ; and it was probably owing 
to his influence that the lordship of Houghton 
Regis, with other gifts, were confirmed to the 
priory in 1203.'° So far as we know, he only 
went abroad once again, when he attended 
the Lateran council of 1215, and remained 
afterwards in Paris for a year to study at the 
University ;'* but the annals show that he 
maintained all through his life a keen interest 
in the affairs of Europe and the East. In1206'? 
he was made a visitor for all the religious 
5 Harl. MS. 1885, ff. 20-4. Hunter, Feet of F. 
5> 47- 
8 See ‘The Origin of St. Botolph’s Priory, 
Colchester,’ by J. H. Round (from whom this 
reference was obtained), in Essex Arch. Trans. 
(new ser.), iii. 270. 
7 He was not made a priest until the Embertide 
following his election, and said his first mass on 
St. Michael’s Day (dun. Mon. [Rolls Series], iii. 
28). 
Luard, Introduction to Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), 
iii. There are a good many references to events 
at Merton Priory, e.g. Ann. Mon. iii. 44, 128 
(notices of priors of Merton entering stricter 
orders), etc. 
9 Ibid. 28. 
10 Ibid. ; Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i. pt. 1, 107. 
11 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), ili. 46. 
12 Thid. 29. 
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