A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



services were shortened that greater devotion 

 might ensue " ; charities of drink on festi- 

 vals between Michaelmas and Easter '' were 

 abolished, but permitted instead on Sundays 

 from Easter to Alichaelmas ; the period of rest 

 for those who had been bled was extended, and 

 privileges of recreation were restored that John 

 de Berkhampstead had withdrawn on account 

 of their abuse " ; in pittances to sick brothers 

 suitability to the needs of the recipients was 

 alone to be considered, and not price as 

 hitherto.'^ 



In spite of Maryns's last injunctions the 

 electors made a bad choice. Still the mistake 

 is not surprising : as cellarer '® Hugh de Evers- 

 den had had a training in administration, and 

 as a favourite of the king he might be expected 

 to benefit the house. He was a tall, handsome, 

 pleasant man.*" On his election he is reported 

 to have said that the brothers might have 

 chosen a wiser and more learned man than 

 himself but no better fellow.^ Unfortunately 

 in an Abbot of St. Albans qualities other than 

 social gifts u'ere needed. 



Hugh's small knowledge of Latin made him 

 shrink from a visit to the pope, so he sent 

 proctors to obtain his confirmation. The result 

 was but double expense. His deputies, after 

 staying a long while and making many presents, 

 returned with the message that Hugh must go 

 himself. He went, and to make up for de- 

 ficiencies in learning gave so lavishly that he 

 drew praise even from the greedy papal court. *^ 

 Such generosity was hardly in keeping with the 

 state of the house, which in October 1309 had 

 to be protected from the consequence of its 

 inability to pay its debts. ^ 



Hugh, who had a special devotion for the 

 Virgin Mary, seems at once to have set about 

 the completion of the chapel in her honour 

 begun long before.** He also renewed the 

 quire stalls, in this work receiving help from 

 the king, for Edward, hearing while on a visit 

 to the abbey in March 1314 ^'^ that it had been 



" Gesta Abbat. ii, loi-z. 



'^ On account of the shortness of the days (ibid. 

 103). John de Cella had abolished misericordes of 

 drink (ibid, i, 235), but apparently they had been 

 reintroduced. 



" Ibid, ii, 104-5. 



^* Ibid. 103-4. 



'' As cellarer he held the manorial courts of 

 Codicote from 1304 to November 1308 (Stowe MS. 

 849, fol. 26-31). 



^ Gesta Abbat. ii, 113. His head, probably a 

 portrait, is sculptured in the arcade he built on the 

 south-east part of the nave. 



81 Ibid. *^ Ibid. 1 13-14. 



8' Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 194. 



^ Gesta Abbat. ii, 1 14-15. 



85 Trokelowe and Blaneforde, Chron. et Annales 

 (Rolls Ser.), 83. He offered to St. Alban a gold cross 

 set with gems and containing relics. 



3 



his father's intention to restore the quire, gave 

 100 marks and timber for that purpose.'* This 

 was but one of many favours to Hugh " and 

 the monastery. The abbot was appointed in 

 April 1309 to survey the Templars' manors 

 south of the Tweed, then in the king's hands ** ; 

 in May 131 1 he received licence to acquire in 

 mortmain property to the value of ;^ioo *° ; in 



131 2 the abbey's charters were confirmed *" ; in 



1313 one of its liberties was defined for its 

 advantage *i ; in April 13 14 its privileges were 

 declared unannulled by disuse.'- From a writ 

 to the Exchequer in February 13 14 it appears 

 that the king had given the abbot and convent 

 jf 100 and lent them ^300 '^ ; and in November 

 1325 he granted them a respite for two years 

 of all debts due to him.** 



Edward's friendship for Hugh is shown even 

 more plainly in the affair of Binham Priory. 

 The abbot, on the authority at first perhaps of 

 a papal faculty,*^ had extorted large sums from 

 the cells. If his demands were refused, he 

 threatened to quarter himself on the house or 

 its manors for a protracted period, and the 

 prior yielded to avoid a worse evil." At last 

 the Prior and convent of Binham revolted," 

 and with the aid of their patron, Robert de 

 Walkefare, in 13 19 excluded the abbot from 

 visitation.** William de Somertone, the prior, 

 appealed in person to the pope, and the abbot 

 was summoned to Avignon to answer him. 

 Here the king intervened. Hugh, apparently 

 ready to obey the pope, started, but at Dover 

 was arrested by Edward's orders and made to 

 desist from his journey, much to his satisfac- 

 tion.** Through the king's help too he was 

 enabled to take the rebellious monks prisoners 

 to St. Albans *"" and get hold of Somertone and 

 his papal bulls, which of course were not seen 

 again.^ It seems a curious anti-climax that the 



*^ Cal. Close, 1313-18, p. 53 ; Gesta Abbat. ii, 



123-4- 



*' It is said that there would have been no limit 

 to the riches and honours Hugh could have obtained 

 had it not been for his modesty (Gesta Abbat. ii, 1 19). 



*' Cal. Pat. 1307-13, p. 112. 



** Ibid. p. 346. 



*" Cal. Chart. R. 1300-26, p. 204. 



*i Ibid. p. 216. 



*2 Ibid. p. 245. 



*3 Cal. Close, 1313-18, p. 38. 



** Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 193. 



'* Cal. Papal Letters, ii, 75. 



*^ Gesta Abbat. ii, 130. 



*7 V.C.H. Norfolk, ii, 344. 



^^ Gesta Abbat. ii, 130; Cal. Close, 1318-23, 

 p. 140. 



*' Gesta Abbat. ii, 133, 135-8. He was forbidden 

 to leave the realm by royal writ 26 March 1320 

 [flal. Close, 1318-23, p. 226). 



1"" Cal Close, 1318-23, p. 271 ; Gesta Abbat. 

 ii, 131. 



1 Gesta Abbat. ii, 140. 



86 



