RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



six days, and on 29 August for nearly six 

 weeks.** His offerings ** on these occasions 

 undoubtedly did not represent the whole ad- 

 vantage derived by the house : it was by 

 royal letters that John Cheyne this year was 

 induced to make terms with the abbot over 

 a rent from land in Chalfont St. Giles, which 

 he had refused to pay for ten years.'" The next 

 year Henry broke his journey north here on 

 7 May, and at his departure presented to the 

 abbey his best robe, redeemed by the treasurer 

 at once for 50 marks. 'i 



John de Hertford's days are recalled by the 

 king's visits and by the way the convent was 

 kept in touch with important outside move- 

 ments and affairs. To St. Albans in 1457 came 

 the Hungarian priest with news of the defeat 

 of the Turks by Hunyadi ™ ; at St. Albans 

 kindly hospitality was extended to the three 

 monks sent from Cluny in 1458 to petition the 

 king to restore to them the houses of their 

 order ™ ; and here in 1459 the pope's legate made 

 a short stay when on his way to seek the king's 

 support of the proposed Council at Mantua.'* 



This side of the abbey life seems to end 

 abruptly with the second battle of St. Albans, 

 17 February 1 46 1, and the terrible blow then 

 inflicted on the prestige of the monastery. The 

 abbot begged the king to save the town and 

 abbey from spoliation, but Henry's proclama- 

 tion forbidding the troops to plunder was un- 

 availing ; and if the queen had power to control 

 her forces she lacked the will.'^ The northerners 

 sacked the town, emptied the convent's granaries 

 and cellars, and departed leaving desolation 

 behind them. So complete was the destitution 

 that the monks had to separate for a time, and 

 the abbot, with a diminished household, betook 

 himself to the seclusion of Wheathampstead." 

 It is not surprising that the author of the 



«8 Cott. MS. Nero, D vii, fol. 74. 



^' The first and third time he gave a robe of 

 purple, and on the Feast of St. Alban a picture or 

 relief of the Virgin on gold ornamented with pearls 

 and precious stones (ibid.). 



"• Reg. of St. Albans, i, 308-1 1. 



'1 Cott. MS. Nero, D vii, fol. 74 d. The Registers 

 record no royal visits in 1458, and say of the visit in 

 1459 that it occurred at Easter, and that the king on 

 leaving the abbey went to London (ibid, ii, 323-5). 

 But there seems no reason to doubt the accuracy of 

 the Golden Book : its statement that the king was 

 on his way north 7-8 May 1459 agrees with the fact 

 that he was at Northampton on 14 May {Paston 

 Letters [ed. 1896], i, 437) ; and from the Registers 

 themselves it may be gathered (i, 317-18) that some 

 time during 1458 Henry was staying at St. Albans. 



'2 Reg. of St. Albans, i, 268-79. 



" Ibid. 317-22. 



'* Ibid. 330-6. 



" She herself took one of the monastery's jeweli 

 (ibid. 390-7). 



'^ Ibid. 399. 



Register welcomed the accession of Edward IV. 

 The abbot's first care in the new reign was to get 

 a re-grant of Pembroke Priory, which would 

 otherwise have been lost under the Act of 

 Resumption of 1461, and this he secured in 

 December " through the friendly offices of the 

 chancellor, George Nevill.'* In November 1462 

 he also obtained charters similar to those of 

 1440 and 1447.'* Wheathampstead, who had 

 probably been long in bad health, died in 

 January 1465 *" much regretted by the monks.*' 

 He had treated the convent generously in acquit- 

 ting them of a debt of over £220 ; and he appears 

 to have been considerate to his impoverished 

 tenants.*^ 



He made additions to the property of St. 

 Albans, which attest his thoughtfulness for the 

 abbey's welfare. '^ He also carried out his former 

 intention of building a Hbrary,**made a new bake- 

 house, apparently a model of its kind,*^ and put 

 stained glass in the cloisters." The chapel of 

 St. Andrew was entirely rebuilt by him,*' and 

 the ornaments of the church increased, notably 

 by some works of art in silver-gilt.** The 

 purchase of an organ, which from its cost, viz., 

 j^5o,*' was immeasurably superior to any instru- 

 ment hitherto set up at the abbey, illustrates 

 again Wheathampstead's cult of music. 



William Albone, the prior, whose election 

 had been proposed in 145 1, now became abbot.'" 

 He was a native of St. Albans, and was reputed 

 a gifted and cultivated man, generous in 

 character and works.*' As known and accept- 

 able to various great persons he had been en- 

 trusted by Wheathampstead in 1455 with the 

 negotiations for the exemption of St. Albans 

 from the Act of Resumption.^^ 



He seems to have been interested in learning : 

 in December 1465 he was asked to find a prior 

 for the Benedictine students at Cambridge ^ ; 



" Cal. Pat. 1 46 1 -7, p. 120. 



'* Reg. of St. Albans, i, 417. 



'8 Chart. R. 2 Edw. IV, m. 24, printed in Clutter- 

 buck, Hist, and Annq. of Herts, i, App. i. Other 

 charters are confirmed, but these are made anew 

 without reference to the original grants. 



*" Cal Pat. 1 46 1 -7, p. 386. 



*i Reg. of St. Albans, i, App. D. 



*2 Ibid. 



*^ They were made to avoid contests, such as 

 those with Chilterne and Flete. 



** Reg. of St. Albans, i, 423-4. 



*' Ibid. 424. In the opinion of many it was the 

 best in the whole kingdom. 



«"= Ibid. 427. 



*' Ibid. 



** Ibid. 425, 429. One which represented the 

 Saviour enthroned with saints on either side cost 



** Ibid. 432. 



9" Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 345. 

 SI Reg. of St. Albans, i, 475• 

 92 Ibid. 259. «3 Ibid, ii, 53-5. 



405 



