RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The king himself in his persistent attempts 

 to exact a second corrody from the convent in 

 1358 met with a resolute resistance.^* The 

 abbot, however, saw the wisdom of leaving no 

 room for future encroachments of this kind, 

 and in 1364 bought out the royal right to a 

 perpetual corrody,^" as in 1350 he had given the 

 king the advowson of Datchet Church in 

 exchange for the convent's obligation on the 

 creation of every new abbot to pay an annual 

 pension of looj. to a clerk nominated by the 

 Crown." It says something for the position 

 occupied by Alice Ferrers that she was the sole 

 person before whom Abbot Thomas gave way. 

 The relative of a former owner claimed some 

 land in Oxhey granted to the abbey by John de 

 Whitewell and his mother,^^ and to hold his own 

 made it over to feoffees, one of whom was Alice 

 Ferrers.^' From that time until she fell from 

 power the abbot let matters rest. He then 

 entered upon the land, and although he had 

 subsequently a long contest on the subject with 

 Sir WilEam de Windsor and his nephew he made 

 good his right. ^° 



The question of exemption had to be fought 

 more than once by Abbot Thomas. When the 



2' Gesta Abbat. iii, 100-12. The king, at the 

 solicitation of one of his servants called John 

 Gardiner, asked for him the office of warden of the 

 warren of St. Albans on the ground that it had been 

 held previously by William de la Marche, one of the 

 royal household, and must therefore be in the gift of 

 the Crown. The abbot proved that William had 

 not held the post, and the allowance which he 

 enjoyed had been given not because he was the king's 

 servant, but for a special service rendered to the abbey. 

 John Gardiner was a favourite of Edward III, and 

 aided by the counsels of his father-in-law William 

 Cheupayn, the king's jester, holder of the royal 

 corrody at St. Albans, he caused some trouble until 

 the Prince of Wales came to the abbot's aid (ibid. 



394-5)- 



^' The king received instead land in Abbots Lang- 

 ley (Anct. D. [P.R.O.], A 5461 ; Cal. Close, 1364-8, 

 p. 48). The corrody was to expire at the death of 

 William Cheupayn. 



''■'' The king's nomination was made 20 Jan. 1350, 

 the exchange on 14 May {Cal. Close, 1349-54, 

 pp. 153, 222). 



2* John de Whitewell, the abbey's steward [Gesta 

 Abbat. iii, 227), was a great benefactor to the house. 

 He and his mother had licence in 1372 to grant to 

 the abbot and convent five tofts, 2 carucates of land, 

 60/. rent, half a mill, meadow, pasture and wood in 

 Watford, Cassio, Oxhey, Walround, and the reversion 

 of a messuage, six tofts, 3 carucates of land in Kings- 

 bury, Childwicksay and Sandridge. In conjunction 

 with John Roland, Whitewell gave land and rents 

 in Cassio, Watford, Park and Rickmansworth, and 

 jointly with William de Bourton four messuages, a 

 dovecot, 1 29^ acres of land and rent in St. Albans 

 and Redbourn (Pat. 46 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 15). 



2' Gesta Abbat. iii, 227-9. 



80 Ibid. 234-57 ; V.C.H. Herts, ii, 457-8. 



Bishop of Lincoln asked to come to the obsequies 

 of Blanche Duchess of Lancaster at the abbey 

 in 1369 the abbot, suspicious of his intentions, 

 made his consent conditional on a written 

 acknowledgement of the monastery's privileges, 

 which the bishop very reluctantly conceded.^^ 



In 1380 De la Mare challenged the right of the 

 Bishop of Norwich to make the Frior of 

 Wymondham sub-collector of the clerical tenth 

 in his diocese. The bishop persisted in his claim 

 to the prior's obedience, but to no purpose '^ ; 

 and in August of that year the king granted 

 that neither the abbot nor the priors of his cells 

 should be collectors or assessors of any subsidy .^^ 



The proposed visitation by the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury of the Benedictine College at Oxford 

 in 1389 concerned all the exempt monasteries, 

 but Abbot Thomas was left to deal with the 

 matter, principally, no doubt, because of the 

 archbishop's affectionate regard for him.** The 

 archbishop, in fact, received and heard the 

 abbot's messenger with the utmost kindness and 

 in the end graciously yielded.*^ 



Yet, notwithstanding the abbot's successful 

 activity, it is more than hinted that fear or 

 favour blinded him sometimes to the monas- 

 tery's interests. For instance, he suffered a rent 

 of 33J-. ifi. due from the Earl of Salisbury, his 

 kinsman, for a house at Faul's Wharf, London, 

 to remain unpaid year after year ; and in his 

 time various rights granted by popes or kings 

 were first withdrawal, especially the fines and 

 amercements of the St. Albans tenants in the 

 marshal's and other royal courts.^' But it is 

 unlikely that he submitted without protest to 

 any injury to the abbey. He had once, at least, 

 in the case of the clerk of the market of the 

 king's hospice in 1364, claimed his privileges 

 and won.^' 



The insurrection of 1381*^ was the most 

 formidable difficulty encountered by Abbot 

 Thomas. Early in his rule the villeins may have 

 shown signs of disaffection. The charge brought 

 against the abbot in 1354 of permitting escapes 

 from his gaol is said to have been due to a 

 conspiracy on their part.'* 



'^ Gesta Abbat. iii, 274—5. '^'^^ bishop, though 

 angry at the time, laid aside his grudge when he met 

 the abbot and became his fast friend (ibid. 277). 



'2 Ibid. 123-34. 



8' Cal Pat. 1377-81, p. 532. 



^^ Partly, perhaps, because Simon de Southerey, 

 then prior, was a monk of St. Albans. 



'^ Thomas Walsingham, Hist. Anglkana (Rolls Ser.), 

 ii, 189-92. 



'• Gesta Abbat. iii, 417. 



" Ibid. 55-6. 



" See p. 198 above. 



'* Gesta Abbat. iii, 48-5 2. Attempts were also made 

 by individuals to raise their legal status by making 

 the abbot answer them in a court of law (ibid. 

 39-+I)- 



393 



50 



