A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
the priory in 1265 for nine years, returning 
to his own house in 1274*3; and in 1278 
the prior of Dunstable, William le Breton, 
visited and ate with the Dominicans.? In 
1282,? at the funeral of a female parishioner 
of Dunstable, who had desired to be buried 
in the church of the friars, the offerings were 
shared quite amicably by the two churches ; 
but in 1287‘ the porter of Dunstable was 
made to buy a house near the area of the 
Friars Preachers, so that they might not be able 
to enlarge their boundaries without the per- 
mission of the canons. Again in 1298 ® the 
bishop sent a mandate to the official of the 
archdeacon of Bedford to enjoin the canons 
of Dunstable to desist from forbidding and 
impeding the Friars Preachers from hearing 
the confessions of the people of that place ; 
but in 1311 ® it was the bishop who found 
that friars who presented themselves to be 
licensed as confessors were becoming too 
numerous. ‘Ten were offered to him on this 
occasion from Dunstable; this number is 
scarcely likely to include all the friars in the 
house, as some had probably received licences 
before. 
John Coton, the prior of the Friars 
Preachers at Dunstable, subscribed the ac- 
knowledgment of the royal supremacy on 
14 May 1534.1° Nothing is known of the 
order of the house at this time, but it is 
somewhat discredited by some scandal that 
had taken place there in connection with the 
provincial of the order, who was also prior of 
(King’s) Langley; but Bishop Longland’s 
letter, in which the affair is mentioned, is so 
allusive and obscure that it is difficult to 
understand what the scandal was, or whether 
any others than the provincial were involved 
in it.™ 
The house was surrendered some time be- 
fore 8 May 1539, when it was granted to 
one of the yeomen of the guard’? ; but as 
the deed of surrender has been lost, the exact 
date is unknown. The income of the house 
in 1535 was £4 18s. 8d.'® 
HOSPITALS 
15. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN, 
BEDFORD 
The date of the foundation of the hospital 
of St. John Baptist at Bedford is somewhat 
uncertain. It is dated 980 in the transcript 
of the foundation charter which was entered 
in 1399 in the episcopal registers at Lincoln,’ 
and 1280 in the Chantry Certificates of Henry 
VIII. and Edward VI. ;® the first date seems 
too early, and the second is certainly too late. 
Perhaps the correct date is 1180, for the first 
mention of the hospital is found in 1216,° 
1 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 261. 
2 [bid. 278. 
3 Ibid. 289. The body was first carried to 
Dunstable church, where the canons sang the 
requiem mass, and had the oblations, including 
eight candles, four of which they kept and gave the 
other four to the Dominicans, The chronicler of 
Dunstable explains here that two candles were 
given to the brothers, and two to the sisters ; this 
looks as if there were Dominican nuns there at the 
time, but no other trace of their existence has been 
found. 
4 Ibid. 338. 
5 Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Sutton, 217d. 
® Ibid. Memo. Dalderby, 19d. 
7 Ibid. Memo. Beaufort, 22d. The first figure 
in the date is cancelled and 980 written afterwards 
(Beds N. and Q. i. 193). 
8 Chant. Cert. (Beds), 1, 4. 
® Pat. 1 Hen. III. m. 3d. 
and not long after this Bishop Hugh de Wells 
ordained a vicarage for the church of St. John, 
which belonged then to the brothers of the 
hospital.'* 
The founder’s name was Robert de Parys; 
other benefactors being John and Henry St. 
John.® The original endowment was in- 
tended to support two or three religious 
brethren, of whom one should be master ; it 
was to be a house of charity, where all needy 
persons free born of the town of Bedford (but 
from no other place) who had become poor by 
misfortune rather than by fault might seek 
admittance and be maintained ; though none 
should be presented by the mayor and bur- 
gesses unless with the consent of the founder 
and his successors. ‘The brethren were to 
10 DL. and P. Hen. VIII. vii. 665. 
11 Bishop Longland’s letter says that he encloses 
* the detections of the most honest people of Dun- 
stable’ regarding the prior of Langley, who was 
also provincial of the order. It is therefore natural 
to conclude that the house of the Friars Preachers 
at Dunstable had been the scene of some particular 
scandal during some visit of the provincial, though 
it was not Dunstable but Langley that was ‘in 
utter decay? (L. and P. Hen. VIII. iv. 4315 [dated 
I June 1528]). 
12 Tbid. xv. 1032. 
13 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 210. 
14 A. Gibbons, Liber Antiquus, 20-5. 
18 Linc. Epis. Reg., Memo. Beaufort, 22d. 
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