RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The convent at this time numbered thirty- 

 eight, including the prior. Like others, it had 

 decreased in the course of years. At the end 

 of the 1 2th century John de Cella had fixed the 

 maximum number of brothers at loo, unless 

 there was special reason to receive anyone 

 further.^*" Whether this number was ever 

 attained before the Black Death is doubtful ; 

 it certainly was not reached afterwards. In 

 1380 the community at St. Albans, not counting 

 the abbot and prior, comprised 52 professed, 

 2 novices and 2 lay brothers * ; there were 

 51 brothers besides the prior at the abbey in 

 1396,* 54 in 1401,' 46 in 1451,* 48 or 49 in 

 1476,* at least 54 in 1492,* and 48 with 6 others 

 at Oxford in 1529-30.' 



Boreman, who bought the site of the abbey 

 from Sir Richard Lee in November 1551 ® for 

 the grammar school he had been authorized to 

 establish,' made it over in December 1556 to 

 Queen Mary, no doubt for the refoundation of 

 the monastery,^* but nothing further is heard 

 of the project. 



The income of the abbey was reckoned in the 

 Valor of 1535 as 3£2,i02 ys. ifi. clear." Of 

 its extensive possessions the largest amount 

 lay in the county of Hertford, where in 1303 

 and 1401 the abbot held six knights' fees in 

 the hundred of Cashio.^ From the episode of 

 the fight at St. Albans in 1142, when King 

 Stephen captured William de Mandeville, it 

 appears that the holders of land by military 

 tenure under the abbey at that time had 

 quarters within the precincts to defend it when 

 necessary." The knights of St. Alban, it is 

 related, offered vahant resistance to the king 

 until he made satisfaction to the church 

 for its violation by his followers. One of the 

 knights sent by Abbot Roger in 1277 to Wor- 

 cester for the war against the Welsh was Sir 

 Stephen de Chenduit," while John de Gorham, 

 William Tolomer and Richard Baccheworthe 

 are mentioned among the six knights who went 



i<» Gesta Abbat. i, 234. 



' Cott. MS. Nero, D vii, fol. 81 d.-3 d. 



2 Gesta Abbat. iii, 425-6. Priors of cells are 

 excluded. 



3 Ibid. 480-1. 



* Reg. of St. Albans, i, 1 1-13. 

 » Ibid, ii, 145-6. « Add. Chart. 33687. 



" Aug. Off. Misc. Bk. cclxxiv. 



8 Palgrave, Anct. Cal. and Invent. (Rec. Com.), ii, 

 420. 



9 V.C.H. Herts, ii, 56-8. 

 Inclose, 3 & 4 Phil, and Mary, pt. ii, m. 13. 



The property was to be devoted to such pious uses 

 as Cardinal Pole should advise for the salvation of 

 Boreman's soul. 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 45 1- The sum total 

 only remains. 



" Fetid. Aids, ii, 425-7, 444. 



13 Matt. Paris, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 270-1. 



" Gesta Abbat. i, 435- 



41.1 



to Carlisle in 1 299-1 300 to do service for Abbot 

 John de Berkhampstead.^^ 



The convent, as has been already mentioned, 

 had their own possessions apart from the abbot. 

 The separation of property seems to have been 

 a gradual process. Before the Conquest one or 

 two estates" had already been allotted for 

 special purposes, but these were probably ex- 

 ceptions. In the early part of the 12th century 

 the abbot and convent seem to have received 

 their maintenance from the same property, the 

 revenues being divided between them in a fixed 

 proportion.^' Shortly afterwards, however, the 

 various offices of the obedientiaries began to be 

 endowed with separate estates. Thus Abbot 

 Geoffrey gave to the office of kitchener the 

 manor of ' Esole ' ** (St. Albans Court in 

 Nonington, Kent) and Abbot Ralph Gubiun the 

 manor of Shephall" (Herts.). The offices of 

 sacrist,^" hostillar, chamberlain, refectorer, in- 

 firmarer and almoner^ each received its own 

 estate, which was augmented from time to time. 

 An important readjustment of property was 

 made in 1363 by Abbot Thomas de la Mare.^ 

 The kitchener's office was then especially 

 needy ,^ for its income was ^181 and its expenses 

 £255 8 J. %d. The abbot reduced its charges 

 about 3^5 1 a year by relieving it of the pensions 

 payable to four scholars at Oxford and four 

 monks at Redbourn, and of the maintenance of 

 seven monks at the abbey ; while he increased 

 iis permanent revenues about the same amount 

 by an allotment of lands. He effected, too, 



1* Reg. of St. Albans, ii, App. D, 329. 



1^ Childwick for the food of the younger monks 

 {Gesta Abbat. i, 54), Westwick for the monks' table 

 (ibid. 64), Redbourn for their clothing (ibid. 5 2). 



1' Ibid. 74. There were fifty-three ' ferms ' of 

 46/. Of these fifty-two were divided between the 

 cellarers of the monks and ' curia,' the first receiving 



3 3/. and the other i p. Out of the monks' portion 

 3^. a week went to carriers who brought the food 

 from London and elsewhere. 



18 Gesta Abbat. i, 74. " Ibid. 107. 



2" For the property of this office see Cott. MS. 

 Jul. D iii. 



21 Lansd. MS. 375 gives an account of the almoner's 

 property. 



22 Cott. MS. Claud. E iv, fol. 25od.-2d. The 

 mutual payments of abbot and convent here recorded 

 are very interesting. Among others are the follow- 

 ing : the kitchener received from the abbot rent 

 from his manors called ' kitchener's ferm,' amounting 

 to /"75 13/., toll-corn from Sopwell mill, from the 

 abbot's kitchen a dish daily, from his cellarer daily 



4 gallons of ale, money in lieu of fowls and eggs, 

 altogether a sum of X96 a year ; the abbot received 

 from the kitchener an allowance of food priced at 

 /13 16s. Sd. a year, pittances worth £52 annually, 

 20 marks from Wingrave Church, and a mark for a 

 Christmas present. The infirmarer paid the abbot 

 yearly £12 16s. Sd., of which ^^lo was for wine. 



2' Thomas had had personal experience of the 

 difficulties of this office {Gesta Abbat. ii, 374-5)- 



