RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



he succeeded in gaining the approbation and 

 affection of his convent and was much lamented 

 at his death.^* 



The royal licence to elect was asked and 

 given immediately,^* and at the same time the 

 monks negotiated successfully for the custody 

 of the house while vacant. ^^ John Prior of 

 Hertford was chosen, most unexpectedly to 

 himself.^^ His was the first election since the 

 Council of Lateran had enjoined that exempt 

 abbots must be confirmed by the pope, but as 

 John was elderly and not strong, proctors were 

 sent in his place. ^' Reinforced by letters oi the 

 king and his friends, their request was granted. 

 The Bishop of London blessed the abbot, who 

 made profession of obedience to the pope, to find 

 that unwittingly he had bound himself to go 

 every three years in person or by proxy to 

 Rome. ' What should I do there ? ' asked the 

 abbot ; ' Make offerings, my friend,' answered 

 the bishop.** St. Albans, in fact, at one time 

 might have existed for little else. The demands 

 of the pope never ceased. Two Franciscans 

 visited the abbey as papal collectors in 1247,** 

 and in the same year the pope required a 

 contribution for the Earl of Cornwall.'" In 

 1254 the Bishop of Norwich came to St. Albans 

 to take the tenth granted by the pope to the 

 king for three years. '"^ The Bishop of Hereford, 

 Henry's agent at Rome, pledged the convent's 

 credit for 500 marks on the pope's behalf,'^ and 

 on 9 April 1256 papal letters were sent to them 

 to pay the money to certain merchants within 

 a month.*^ Failing to discharge their obligation, 

 they were placed under an interdict for fifteen 

 days,'* and of course did what they were ordered. 

 Any treatment was considered good enough 

 for them : the monks sent to do honour to the 

 Archbishop of Messina, the pope's envoy, in 

 1257 were virtually imprisoned in his house 

 until they paid what he wanted.'^ 



The monastery was also burdened through 

 papal provisions. St. Peter's near St. Albans 

 was claimed in 1252 by a papal nominee, but the 

 church was proved to be appropriated and 

 therefore not available.'' The struggle over 



"2 Gesta Abbat. i, 303. 



5* Cd. Vat. 1232-47, p. 95. 



'* Gesta Abbat. \, 306. 



^' Ibid. 312. The present he had brought for 

 the new abbot fell out of his clothes in the church 

 just after his own election. 



s'' Ibid. 307-8. 



'* Ibid. 309-10. 



" Matt. Paris, Chron. MaJ. iv, 599-600. 



'O Ibid, vi, 134-8. 



'1 Ibid. V, 451-2. 



«2 Gesta Abbat. i, 379-82. 



" Matt. Paris, Chrtm. Maj. v, 552. 



'* Ibid. 589-90. 



'5 Ibid. 614. 



"' Gesta Abbat. i, 331-7. 



Hartburn Church " (co. Northumberland) was 

 not so easily determined, since the appropriation 

 had been obtained only just before the rector's 

 death. The case was taken to Rome, and though 

 the abbot and convent gained their point, they 

 had to pay the claimant 25 marks a year until 

 they should give him a living worth 80 marks." 



Still the proctors of St. Albans reaped some 

 advantage from their stay at the papal court. 

 They secured the appropriation of the churches 

 of Wingrave (co. Bucks.) and Coniscliffe (co. 

 Durham) "• and many privileges,™ besides in- 

 dulgences for the benefit of their monastery. 



With the pope's example before him, it is not 

 surprising that Henry HI, devout worshipper 

 of St. Alban as he was, should have tried to 

 exploit the house for his own ends. In his less 

 important attempts he was successful,'^ but 

 when in 1258 he asked the abbot and convent 

 to be surety for him for a large sum, they 

 sheltered themselves behind the bull of prohibi- 

 tion of Pope Clement III,'^ and could not be 

 moved from their position.'^ 



The abbot had a hard task to resist the many 

 and varied encroachments on the monastery's 

 rights. Early in his abbacy he was harassed by 

 Ralph de Chenduit,'* who set him at defiance 

 and laughed at his sentence of excommunica- 

 tion.'* For years, too, he had contentions over 

 right to free warren with the tenants of St. 

 Albans," particularly with Geoffrey de Child- 

 wick, who, strong in influence at court, hunted 

 in the abbot's lands and maltreated his servants 

 with impunity." At last the abbot and convent 

 had to abandon the hopeless struggle and make 

 peace with him.'^ Geoffrey and Ralph had cost 

 them 2,000 marks.'* 



In 1249 there was another contest with West- 

 minster Abbey over Aldenham, which was not 

 settled until 1256.*" 



A stand had also to be taken more than once 

 for the abbey's privileges. The justices in 1254 



" Gesta Abbat. i, 346-50. 



'* Cal. Papal Letters, \, 333-4. 



" Gesta Abbat. i, 350-1. 



'" Ibid. 351-4. One declared that the abbey and 

 cells could not be bound to any merchants without 

 their common assent or the seals of their convents ; 

 another permitted them to use their liberties, statutes 

 of legates and nuncios notwithstanding. 



'1 Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. v, 240-1. 



''^ Ibid, vi, 60. 



^3 Ibid. V, 684-7. 



'* Ibid, iv, 262. 



'* Gesta Abbat. i, 319. 



" The abbot won his case against them in 1240 

 {Chron. Maj. iv, 50-4), but there was further trouble 

 in 1 248 (ibid, v, 27), the year in which he obtained 

 a charter of free warren from Henry III {Cal. Chart. R. 

 1226-57, p. 330). 



" Gesta Abbat. i, 315-17. 



'* Ibid. 319. " Ibid. 320. 



«« Ibid. 361-6. See V.C.H. Herts, ii, 150. 



381 



