A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



in St. Alban's shrine : for on this point there had 

 certainly been uneasiness.'' 



Warin's mitigation of the severity of the 

 rule was no doubt popular. Services were 

 shortened**; on fast days the monks were 

 allowed to sleep after dinner ** ; those who had 

 been bled were excused attendance at certain 

 services " ; the earing of meat was no longer 

 so restricted*'; Redboum was made a health 

 resort where the routine of the cloister could be 

 relaxed for a short time.** One or two altera- 

 tions were made in dress for greater decorum : 

 henceforth monks were not to serve at dinner 

 withou t their frocks when secidars were present *' ; 

 as soon as novices had received the tonsure 

 they were to wear the monastic habit •" ; boots 

 were to be worn instead of shoes, the fastenings 

 of which caused inconvenience.'^ 



Warin was zealous in maintaining the abbey's 

 Uberties. When Walter de Coutances, as Bishop 

 of lincoln (i 183-6), would have called the 

 monastery's exemption in question, the abbot 

 appealed to the king and thus stopped the 

 discussion.'^ For better assurance he pro- 

 cured in 1 188 a confirmation of the pact with 

 Lincoln from Clement III and other bulls con- 

 cerning the abbey's freedom.'' Warin seems 

 to have made a point of ingratiating himself 

 with King Richard and the queen mother '* 

 and succeeded,'* though not without expense. 

 John de Cella, the Prior of WalUngford, who 

 succeeded him in 1195, was a learned" and 



*' In Geoffrey's abbacy doubt was expreised by an 

 assistant worker on the shrine, but was allayed by the 

 saint appearing to Anketil and promising to reward 

 his labour {Gesta Abbat. i, 87). It is evident that the 

 question recurred at intervals, and was not settled by 

 the verdict against Ely following an inquiry made by 

 the pope's orders at the request of Abbot Robert de 

 Gorham (ibid. 175-6). Nor in truth, whatever Warin 

 hoped, was the triumph of St. Albans assured by the 

 Invention of St. Amphibalus. Discussion still went 

 on in the I 3th century, and it was a monk of Matthew 

 Paris's time who remained unconvinced until one 

 night he saw St. Alban issue from his shrine and 

 heard him declare who he was (ibid. 37). 



*< Ibid. 212-13. ^ Ibid. *° Ibid. 207-9. 



*' Monks who were delicate might eat meat in the 

 oriel fibid. 211). 



8* Ibid. "Ibid. 214. ='» Ibid. 



'1 Such 35 soiling the monks' hands (ibid. 211). 



'^ Ibid. 197—8. The king and bishop were then 

 visiting the abbey. 



'^ Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. vi, 43, 53-61. 



'■• Gesta Abbat. i, 216. He sent Richard a hand- 

 some present on his return to England (Matt. Paris, 

 Hist. Angl. ii, 47). 



'^ Roger de Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 212; 

 Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. ii, 403. 



'^ He could be considered a Priscian in grammar, 

 an Ovid in verse, and a Galen in medicine {Gesta 

 Abbat. i, 2 1 7). He had a marvellous memory, and 

 ^^•as able to repeat the whole psalter backwards (ibid. 

 232). 



devout man, but he had httle capacity for 

 temporal affairs which he committed largely to 

 others." Possibly his unlucky experiences in 

 building induced this course. Warin had left 

 100 marks ** to renew the front of the church, 

 which was accordingly pulled down. But mis- 

 fortune seemed to dog the work." The builder 

 first put in charge proved untrustworthy, and 

 when one of the brothers was given the superin- 

 tendence and a portion of the monastery's 

 income was set apart for the work, the rate of 

 progress was still very disappointing. The re- 

 building of the refectory was not attended by 

 so much difficulty and was finished in John's 

 abbacy; and a new dormitory"^"" was also begun. 

 A great deal of trouble was caused to the 

 abbey at this time by Robert Fitz Walter. As 

 the husband of Gunnora de Valognes he revived 

 the Valognes' claim to Northaw Wood and 

 persuaded a discontented and unscrupulous 

 monk, William Pygun by name, to attach the 

 conventual seal to a forged charter in his 

 favour.^ The abbot's desire to hush up the 

 matter saved Pygun from any punishment 

 but transference to Tynemouth Priory,^ and 

 perhaps operated to the benefit of Fitz 

 Walter, who received Biscott in return for 

 Northaw. Later there was a quarrel over 

 Binham Priory, a Valognes foundation,' and 

 Fitz Walter is said to have rehed again on a 

 forged document. Failing in his lawsuit, he 

 tried to take possession of the priory by force, 

 but the king sent to its relief. For John's help 

 the abbot and convent had to thank his hatred 

 of Fitz Walter. They had personally httle 

 reason to be grateful to him. At the beginning 

 of his reign, it is true, he had shown them 

 favour: on 28 May 1 199, the day after his 

 coronation, he visited St. Albans and made 

 offerings * ; in June he confirmed his father's 

 charter of Uberties* ; in August he granted them, 

 moreover, a weekly market in Barnet.* They 

 were not excepted, however, from the bad treat- 

 ment meted out to the religious generally during 

 the Interdict. On 29 March 1208 the custody 

 of the house was committed to a clerk named 

 Robert de London,' who appointed his own 



" Gesta Abbat. i, 218. »* Ibid. 215 



»' V.C.H. Herts, ii, 484-5. 



1"° To raise money for this building the convent 

 gave up its wine for fifteen years {Gesta Abbat. i, 220). 



1 Ibid. 221-4. Pygun had a grudge against the 

 abbot for refusing to receive his nephew as a monk. 



^ Here he had a horrible end. Retiring to the cloaca 

 one night to gorge himself undisturbed with food and 

 drink, he fell into a drunken sleep and so died (ibid. 

 224). 



5 Ibid. 226-8 ; y.C.H. Norfolk, ii, 344. 



* Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl. i, 8 1 . 



* Dugdale, Mon. ii, 231. 



* CaL Rot. Chart. 1 199-12 16 (Rec. Com.), lib. 

 ' Rot. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), 8ij. 



378 



