A HISTORY OF 
setting apart certain funds for the education 
of one of the canons at Oxford. The prior 
alludes to the poverty of his house, which was 
so great that were it not for the help of 
friends they would not be able to live decently 
and honestly, and religion would be diminished. 
Hitherto there had not been enough canons 
nor enough money to set apart one for special 
study ; but the prior now wished to do so 
(partly out of the profits of a chantry estab- 
lished by his own family), ‘ seeing the advan- 
tage of learning and the necessity of preach- 
ing, the priory being a populous place where 
a great number of people come together.’ 
All this certainly points to a satisfactory state 
of the priory under Thomas Marshall, and 
accords well with what we know of his 
character from other sources. 
Bishop Grey’s* injunctions are the only 
notice that we have of the internal history of 
the priory during the fifteenth century ; they 
do not indicate any special laxity, and only 
repeat the usual orders as to silence, singing 
of the divine office, the unlawfulness of eating 
and drinking after compline, going to Dun- 
stable or having visitors without permission. 
And so again at the very end, just before the 
dissolution, the silence of Bishop Longland,? 
and the king’s choice of the priory for the 
solemn announcement of his divorce from 
Catherine of Aragon, constitute an indirect 
evidence in favour of the house. On the 
whole the priory of Dunstable shows a very 
good record in the matter of discipline and 
order, with only a few lapses. 
The original endowment of the priory 
was, as already stated, the lordship of the 
tutions of Saint Benedict and the holy fathers,’ 
ordering one canon to besent tostudy. There is 
nothing of the sort in the rule of St. Benedict ; but 
the reference is interesting, as showing how well 
aware he was of the similarity of his own rule to 
that of the Benedictines. The Augustinian was 
commonly supposed to bea lighter rule; but in 
all the essential features of the common life it was 
the same. 
1 Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Grey, 197d. 
2 The bishop’s silence in this case is really signi- 
ficant, as he had received information from the 
‘honest people of Dunstable’ about the misdeeds 
of the Dominican prior of Langley Regis in 1528, 
and must surely have heard at the same time of the 
misdeeds of the canons, if they had been conspicu- 
ous. His statement about the house at Langley, 
that it was ‘in utter decay and but little religion 
kept,’ has indeed been thought to refer to Dun- 
stable Priory (S.P.C.K. Diocesan History of Lincoln, 
217); but the reference in the original letter is 
beyond all doubt (L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 4315). 
Henry VIII. visited Dunstable in 1525 (ibid. iv. 
2558). 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
manor and town of Dunstable? ; to which 
was added under Henry II. the lordship of 
Houghton Regis,‘ and under John, the king’s 
house and gardens at Dunstable.’ ‘The manors 
of Stoke and Catesby, and of Ballidon in 
the Peak,® are mentioned in the annals as the 
property of the priory during the thirteenth 
century. In 12917 the tithes of St. Peter 
and St. Cuthbert, Bedford, Dunstable, Stud- 
ham, Totternhoe, Chalgrave, Husborne Craw- 
ley, Segenhoe, Flitwick, Pulloxhill, Steppingley, 
Harlington, Higham Ferrers, Newbottle, Cub- 
lington, a moiety of Great Brickhill, Pattishall 
and Bradbourne belonged to Dunstable Priory,® 
with pensionsin other churches. ‘The tempor- 
alities at this time were only valued at a little 
more than £50 ; the annals of the house state 
the total income in 1273 as £107.° The 
knight’s fees attributed to Dunstable in 13167° 
were half a fee in Husborne Crawley and 
Flitwick, and another half in Pulloxhill, with 
some small fractions besides ; they are practi- 
cally the same in 1346 ** and 1428."? 
The valuation of the whole property of the 
priory in 1535 1° amounted to £344 135. 44, 
the first report of the Crown bailiff to 
£266 175. 63d., including the manors of 
Studham, Wadlow, Stokehammond, Gledley, 
Grimscote, Catesby and Shortgrave, and the 
rectories of Studham, Totternhoe, Pulloxhill, 
3 Harl. MS. 1885, f. 102. 
4 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i. 107. 
5 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 28. 
6 Tbid. 277, 278, 337. 
7 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 
8 The priory presented clerks to Rushden several 
times during the thirteenth century, and to North 
Marston, Bucks, until 1450, when this church was 
exchanged with Wedonbeck, which had previously 
belonged to the canons of Windsor (Linc. Epis. 
Reg., Memo. Rotherham, 1-7). St. Mary’s, 
Bedford, had been certainly confirmed to Dun- 
stable by Henry II. ‘ of the gift of Henry I.,’ but 
it had also at an earlier date been granted by William 
the Conqueror to Lincoln Cathedral. There were 
several suits between the prior and the dean and 
chapter on the subject, e.g. Cur. Reg. R. 24, 2 John, 
n. II in dorso: the presentation being finally 
yielded to the latter, and the former retaining 
only a pension of 20s. Even this pension was 
granted in 1334-5 to the dean and chapter (Inq. 
ad q. d. 8 Edw. III. n. 9). The church of St. 
Peter referred to here was the one called St. Peter 
Dunstable, which was pulled down in the sixteenth 
century ; the priory received a pension from the 
rector until 1336, when it was granted to the 
dean and chapter of Lincoln (Pat. 9 Edw. III. 
pt. i. m. 28). 
® Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 259. 
10 Feud. Aids, i. 21. 
11 Tbid. 24, 33. 12 Thid. 36, 43, 46. 
18 Valor Eccl. (Rec, Com.), 206 et seq. 
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