A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
houses of the diocese of Lincoln (except those 
of the exempt orders), by the authority of the 
papal legate ; in 1212 he was appointed by 
the pope to preach the cross* in Bedfordshire, 
Hertfordshire and Huntingdonshire, and in 
the same year was commissioned to make an 
estimate of the losses suffered by the clergy 
and the religious in the diocese through the 
exactions of John.? In 1223° and 1228* 
he was made visitor to his own order, first in 
the province of York, and afterwards in the 
dioceses of Lincoln and Coventry ; and last of 
all, in 1239,° when he must have been quite 
an old man, he helped todraw up and submit to 
the pope an account of the difficulties between 
the Archbishop of Canterbury and his suffra- 
gans on the subject of visitation. During 
his term of office, in the year 1219,° he 
secured the right of holding a court at Dun- 
stable for all pleas of the Crown, and of sitting 
beside the justices itinerant at their visits to 
the town: a privilege which brought him 
into less happy relations with the townsmen, 
and may have helped to hasten their revolt 
against his authority in 1228.7 He also 
successfully established the right of his house 
to Harlington church in 1223.8 The priory 
was twice visited by King Henry III. during 
the time of Richard de Morins: once after 
the siege of Bedford Castle,® and again in the 
midst of the troubles connected with the 
burgesses, whom he attempted to pacify, at 
the prior’s earnest request.'° 
1 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 4o. They placed 
collecting boxes in all the churches. 
2 Ibid. 38. 
3 Ibid. 80; the abbot of Darley being his 
coadjutor. 
4 Ibid. 112; with the prior of Newnham. 
8 Tbid. 149. 
6 Ibid. 54. 
7 Ibid. 105-22. The details of the quarrel 
belong to the general ecclesiastical and political 
histories of the county. 
8 T[bid. 80, 85. Richard Pirot, a feudal tenant 
of the Albinis of Cainhoe, claimed it against 
him on an assize of darrein presentment. It was 
common ground to both parties that Richard’s 
grandfather, Ralf Pirot, had given the church 
to Dunstable Priory temp. Henry II., but Richard 
claimed that this had been done after Ralf had 
divested himself of his lands and become a monk 
at Woburn, which the prior denied (Bracton’s 
Note Book, iii. 454). The prior was successful 
(ibid. 80). His claim to Aspley Guise is dealt 
with under Newnham Priory: the details of 
both suits were kindly supplied by Mr. Round. 
® Henry III. was at Dunstable on 20 August 
1224 (Pat. 8 Hen. III. m. 4). 
10 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 119. It is prob- 
able that Stephen visited the priory near the end 
In spite of the losses under King John and 
the difficulties with the burgesses, the priory 
seems to have enjoyed greater prosperity at 
this time than at any later period of which 
we have a clear account. In 1213 the con- 
ventual church was dedicated by Bishop Hugh 
de Wells, a great concourse of earls and 
barons, abbots and priors, assisting at the 
ceremony.' The lordship of Houghton Regis, 
though lost for a while in 1212, was recovered 
in 122617; and the gift of the church of 
Bradbourne in the Peak,!? with its chapels and 
lands,!* provided a maintenance for three 
canons,!® and formed a kind of cell to the 
priory, besides increasing its income. The 
death of Richard de Morins in 1242'® was 
followed immediately by heavy losses. In 
1243, 800 of the sheep belonging to the 
priory in the Peak district died,*” and a suc- 
cession of bad seasons led to great scarcity ; 
Henry de Bilenda, the cellarer, upon whom 
so much depended, was incapable or untrust- 
worthy, and in 1249 fled to the Cistercians 
at Merivale, rather than render an account of 
his stewardship."® By 1255 the canons not 
only had no corn to sell, but not enough for 
themselves ;*® they had to buy all their food 
at great expense, for two years after 
this ; 2° so that the Friars Preachers, when they 
arrived in 1259," were even less welcome 
than they would have been at any ordinary 
time. When Simon of Eaton became prior 
in 1262, he found the house 400 marks in 
debt, and all the wool of the year already 
sold.” 
But in spite of the pressure of debt and 
poverty, which was not diminished during his 
term of office, the prior was as much inter- 
ested as his predecessors had been in the course 
of public events. Like most of the clergy 
and religious of the period, he was in sym- 
pathy with Simon de Montfort, whom he 
looked upon as the champion of the Church ; 
of his reign, signing there the confirmation of 
Luton church to St. Albans (Cott. MS. Otho, 
D iii. f. 118b). 
11 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 42. 
12 Thid. 29, 100. 
13 By Geoffrey de Cauceys (ibid. 29). 
14 Half the manor of Bradbourne with the chapels 
of Ballidon and Tissington- went with the church 
(Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.], 255). 
16 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), ili. 149. 
16 Tbid. 158. 
17 Tbid. 163. 
18 Tbid. 178. 
19 Tbid. 199. 
30 Thid. 205-10, 
a Tbid. 213. 
23 Tbid. 221. 
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