A HISTORY OF 
the marriage between Henry VIII. and 
Catherine of Aragon to be null and void." 
In 1535 the prior, Gervase Markham, with 
twelve canons, signed the acknowledgment 
of the Royal Supremacy,’ and on 20 January 
1540-1, he surrendered his house to the king 
and received a pension of £60.° 
There were only thirteen at this time be- 
sides the prior; eleven canons and two lay 
brothers; in the early days there were pro- 
bably more, though never a very large num- 
ber. Between the years 1223 and 1275 only 
twenty-five admissions to the novitiate are 
recorded,‘ and thirteen deaths; but the 
entries were perhaps not always made with 
equal care, and the entrance of lay brothers 
was not noticed at all. Besides the religi- 
ous there were a number of other inmates of 
the priory ; a ‘new house for the carpenters 
and wheelwrights within the court’ was built 
in 1250°; there was accommodation also 
for the chaplains of the monastery, and for 
boarders who had bought corrodies, as well as 
pensioners in the almonry. The porter of 
the great gate was sometimes a secular,’ un- 
like the custom of Benedictine houses.® 
1 Rymer, Federa, vi. (2), 182-3. 
2 Ibid. 202. 
3 L. and P. Hen. VIII. xv. 1032 (333, 350b). 
4 In Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), 11. 
s They are mentioned however often in the 
annals: one was killed in defence of the rights of 
his brethren by the men of the prior of La Grave 
(ibid. 213), and one of them, ‘ Brother John the 
Carpenter,’ once invented a new mill, ‘nov struc- 
ture et exterius inaudite,’ which was to be drawn 
by only one horse ; but when they began to use it, 
four strong horses could scarce move it! (ibid. 402). 
6 Ibid. 183. Several other handicrafts were 
practised by the canons and their dependants. 
In 1255 a canon made three windows for Step- 
pingley church (ibid. 197), and in 1283 it is stated 
“we made a clock over the pulpit’ (ibid. 296). 
7 The porter in 1287 must have been a secular, 
as he was asked by the canons to buy a house and 
prevent the Dominicans extending their boun- 
daries (ibid. 338), and had an anniversary granted 
him after his death in 1291 (ibid. 371). 
~ The account of a disturbance caused by the 
quartering of some of the king’s falconers on the 
priory in 1276 gives a curious picture of the 
house in the thirteenth century. The king was 
staying in the neighbourhood, and his men were 
quartered partly on the townsmen of Dunstable and 
partly on the priory. In the evening the party 
from the priory went out after supper and joined 
their fellows in the town, and after wandering 
about in a riotous fashion, they returned to the 
priory. The monks, who had all retired for the 
night, were awakened suddenly in the dormitory 
by a clamour in the court. The falconers had just 
burst in (probably half intoxicated) after beating 
Z 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
There can be no doubt of the good order 
of the house during the time of Richard de 
Morins ; he would scarcely have been chosen 
twice to visit other houses unless he had ruled 
his own with care and diligence. During his 
forty years of office canons of Dunstable were 
at least five times elected priors to other monas- 
teries of the order—at Caldwell, St. Frides- 
wide’s, Ashby and Coldnorton.® Bishop 
Grossetéte visited the house once in 1236, 
not so much to inquire into the daily life 
of the priory as to investigate its title to 
several appropriate churches ; but he exacted 
an oath on this occasion from all the canons 
individually, and one of them fled to Wo- 
burn rather than submit to it® The 
bishop came again in 1248, while Geof- 
frey of Barton was prior ; when the cellarer, 
accused by many, fled before his coming to 
Merivale*!; but he does not seem to have 
found fault with the convent in general, and 
his next visit in 1250 was for purposes of his 
own.'?_ Archbishop Boniface came in 1253, 
but made no complaint.* In 1274 Bishop 
Gravesend sent a canon of Lincoln to visit 
Dunstable, who left his corrections in writing"; 
and in Advent of the same year he made a 
personal visitation.*® In November of 1279 
Bishop Sutton came and discharged his office 
‘strictly and without respect of persons.’ 
The sub-prior and certain others were re- 
moved from their charge, and forbidden to 
hold office in future, and certain ‘ less useful 
members’ of the household expelled; in May 
of the following year he deposed the prior, 
William le Breton, from all pastoral care.’ 
It seems most likely that these depositions 
were on account of mismanagement rather 
than for any personal failings; the great 
necessity and heavy debts of the house called 
for stringent measures, and William le Breton 
had shown himself (like Abbot Richard ot 
the porter and knocking down every one who re- 
sisted them : they even went so far as to kill one of 
the chaplains of the monastery, and handled some 
of the brethren so roughly that the prior had the 
great bell rung and summoned the townspeople to 
the rescue. They came very readily, having their 
own grudge against the falconers, and the prior had 
at last to defend his enemies against his friends, for 
fear of incurring the king’s displeasure (ibid. 273). 
9 See account of Caldwell Priory, and dna. Mon. 
(Rolls Series), ili. 144. 
to Tbid. 152. 
Ibid. 178. 
Ibid. 182. 
Ibid. 190. 
14 Thid. 264. 
18 Ibid. 267. 
16 [bid, 283. 
eee 
oO bt om 
374 
