A HISTORY OF 
Philip de Broi,! one of the canons, whose 
name has become famous in connection with 
the quarrel between Becket and the king. 
This man was accused of homicide, and 
cleared himself by oath ; but the evidence was 
so much against him that Simon Fitz Peter, 
the king’s justiciar, summoned him to a new 
trial, On receiving the summons, Philip 
broke out into such angry words and insults 
against the justiciar that the king considered 
his own authority slighted in the person of his 
delegate ; and the archbishop, fearing that a 
very severe punishment would follow, inter- 
posed and passed sentence upon the offender 
in his own court. This sentence—the loss 
of his prebend, and further some penance for 
two years only—was considered by the king 
as a glaring instance of the failure of the 
ecclesiastical courts in dealing with serious 
crimes ; it contributed something towards the 
estrangement between him and the arch- 
bishop,” and also made it advisable for the 
canons to change their-place of residence. 
This story has quite good authority, but it 
has probably no casual connection with the 
foundation of Newnham Priory. The change 
from secular to regular canons was going on 
in many religious houses at this time ; the 
scandal of Philip de Broi can only at the 
most have hastened an event already inevit- 
able. All that Simon de Beauchamp says? is 
that prudent and religious men had often 
counselled him to turn the gifts and endow- 
ments of his ancestors to a use more productive 
of reverence to God and honour to true 
religion, and that he was at last convinced of 
the wisdom of their advice. He names the 
king, Henry II., Pope Alexander III., Blessed 
Thomas the Martyr and Bishop Robert of 
Lincoln as having given their consent.* 
The transference of all the endowments of 
the secular canons to William, first prior of 
Newnham, was solemnly made in the church 
1 Mr. Round is of opinion that he was related 
to Robert de Broy, a feudal tenant of Simon de 
Beauchamp in 1166. He is called ‘ nobilis genere’ 
by William of Canterbury in Materials for the Life 
of St. Thomas (Rolls Series), i. 12. 
2 The story is told with some variations in 
Materials for Life of St. Thomas (Rolls Series), i. 12, 
13, iii. 45; and Ralph de Diceto, Ymag. Hist. 
(ibid.), i. 213, under the date 1164. 
3 Harl. MS. 3656, f. 14b. 
« The death of Robert de Chesney in 1166 fixes 
the decision of Simon to that year at the latest : 
nor could it have been very much earlier, partly 
because of the consent of Archbishop Thomas, and 
partly because of the age of Simon, who could not 
have been born earlier than 1146. His mother’s 
first husband, Geoffrey de Mandeville, died 1144. 
BEDFORDSHIRE 
of St. Paul in the presence of many witnesses2 
The old canons were six in number : Nicholas 
archdeacon of Bedford, was one of them.® 
They probably kept some portion of their 
prebends for the term of their lives ; perhaps 
being presented to or left in possession of 
churches in the gift of the house. The 
priory was specially rich in churches: four- 
teen are named in the first charter of Simon 
de Beauchamp, and eleven of these were still 
the property of the house in 1535. Simon’s 
endowment was a generous one ; his mother 
and other benefactors added to it,” but his own 
title to the name of founder is unquestionable. 
During the first century of their existence 
the canons of Newnham had a good deal to 
endure. They had first to suffer from the 
violence of Fawkes de Bréauté, who with the 
consent and approval of King John actually 
pulled down the greater part of the church 
of St. Paul to strengthen the fortifications of 
Bedford Castle ; he was probably an oppres- 
sive neighbour all the time he lived there, 
until the capture of the castle in 1223 by 
Henry III. The losses of the canons were 
partly made good to them by the gift of the 
church of Tinden, and by a present of stones 
from the dismantled castle.® 
It was in the same year (Easter term 1223) 
that the priory was involved in a very in- 
teresting suit for the church of Aspley Guise. 
There were three claimants in the field, 
namely Fawkes de Bréauté and the priors of 
Dunstable and of Newnham. The last parson, 
Nicholas, has been presented by Roger de 
Salford, who held a knight’s fee of Simon de 
Beauchamp in 1166. ‘This Roger had then 
given the advowson to the church of Dun- 
stable, his charter being confirmed by Simon 
de Beauchamp and by Robert Bishop of 
Lincoln (1147-66). The prior of Newnham 
6 Simon’s third charter (Harl. MS. 3656, f. 16). 
The same parties are named as consenting; and 
one of the witnesses is ‘Count Alberic, my uncle’ 
—Aubrey de Vere, his mother’s brother. 
8 The others were named William, Philip, 
Gilbert, Richard and Ralf. The foundation 
charter of Chicksand promises the church of Haynes 
“after the death of Philip de Broi’ ; the churches of 
Southill, Salford and Aspley certainly belonged to 
the old canons (Harl. MS. 3656, ff. 18, 49b; ibid. 
1885, f. 24). 
7 Leland represents Countess Roais as the prime 
mover, and her son only confirming the act of his 
mother : but the charters give exactly the opposite 
impression. 
8 Pat. 1 Henry III. m. 13; Matth. Paris, Chron. 
Majora, iii. 87. Close 8 Henry III. makes the 
stones of the castle a recompense for furnishing 
mangonels, etc., for the siege. 
378 
