RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



wall of the priory for its enlargement," and 

 granted him timber to build a chamber for 

 himself." 



For the rest, information about the priory 

 during the 13th century relates either to diffi- 

 culties with other religious bodies^* over con- 

 flicting liberties or to its additions of property. 

 The canons obtained in 1242 a second fair at 

 Royston to be held on the vigil and feast of 

 St. Thomas the Martyr,^* and in 1254 a weekly 

 market and annual fair at Chesterton.*^ Part 

 of the manor of Hamerton was acquired 

 c. 1221-2"; before 1251 they received the 

 manor of Eriswell in Suffolk from William de 

 Rochester,*' their patron,** who gave them 

 besides land in the neighbourhood of Royston *° ; 

 from Peter de Rochester they had the mill of 

 ' Beriton' with multure and fishery in Eriswell and 

 Coclesworth ^'' and a holding in Lakenheath, and 

 from two others land in East and West Reed ; 

 and c. 1255 a carucate of land in Chesterton 

 from Giles de Merk.^ Houses in Fleet Street, 

 London, were bequeathed to them in 1290 by 

 Richard de Staunford, clerk of the Exchequer, 

 to maintain a chantry in their church,^ a rent 

 of £^ i^f. in Royston was alienated to them 

 in 1292 by Isabella de Harleston,^ and land 

 and rent in Coddenham in 1293 by Geoffrey 

 Lenvyse.^ 



The priory was not badly off compared 

 with most religious houses in the county, 

 but its resources were perhaps hardly equal to 

 its responsibiUties, judging from the constant 

 disturbances within its area of administration.^^ 

 Some men of Bassingbourn about 1269 knocked 

 down the walls of Royston and broke the gates 2^; 

 and business at the Whitsuntide fair in 1292 



** Providing a new road was made on the prior's 

 land {Ret. Lit. C/aus. [Rec. Com.], ii, 10). 



12 Ibid. 



*' With the Templars in 1 199 (Rot. Cur. Reg. 

 [Rec. Com.], ii, 82), 1247 (Assize R. no. 318, 

 m. 1 2d.) and 1254 (.^bb^ev. Plac. 137) ; with the 

 Hospitallers {Rot. Cur. Reg. [Rec. Com.], i, 359); 

 and in 1247-8 with the Abbot of Westminster 

 (Assize R. no. 318, m. 5 d.). 



" Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 218. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1247-58, p. 378. 



" Abbrev. Plac. (Rec. Com.), 184-5. 



*' C«/. Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 360; Hund. R. 

 (Rec. Com.), ii, 196. 



" The son of Ralph de Rochester (Harl. MS. 704 1 , 

 fol. 7). 19 Ibid. 



^ Cal. Chart. R. 1226-57, P- 3^0. Probably 

 Barton Mills (Coppinger, Suffolk Rec. ii, 3 1 2). 



" Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 196. 



^^ Sharpe, Cal. of Wills proved in Court of H us ting, 

 London, i, 93. 



^' Cal. Pat. 1281-92, p. 476. 



^Ibid. 1292-1301, p. 28 ; Feet of F. Suffolk, 

 22 Edw. I, no. 25. 



^« KC.H. Herts, iii, 259. 



2«Cur. Reg. R. 189, m. 6, ijd. 



was suspended by rioters, among whom was 

 the lord of Newsells' steward." Some of the 

 convent indeed about 1308 came to close 

 quarters with a gang of robbers.^* The prior 

 and sub-prior, Robert de Bernwell, on this 

 occasion were set upon near Royston ; Bern- 

 well ran to the town, collected a band of men, 

 headed the pursuit and took an active part in 

 the affray, during which one robber was killed 

 and others wounded and captured. Without 

 any dispensation for this bloodshed, Bernwell 

 continued to exercise his priestly functions, and 

 was sent by the Bishop of London in 1308 to 

 the pope for absolution. 



The spirit of violence had infected the cloister. 

 At the same visitation the bishop found that 

 Ralph de Ashwell, another canon, in the course 

 of a quarrel had badly wounded Bernwell, 

 ' causing great scandal in many parts of 

 England.' Ashwell had also to go to the pope.^' 



John de Waldene confessed that he had 

 raised his hand against the late prior, and, 

 although he was thereby excommunicate, had 

 celebrated mass, and he therefore begged to be 

 sent to the papal court to obtain dispensation.^" 

 The bishop, however, suspected that Waldene 

 would have preferred the journey to the penance 

 already imposed for other misdeeds, so refusing 

 his request he sent him, as he had intended, to 

 the abbey of St. Osyth, there to be kept in prison 

 and to fast on bread and water twice a week.^* 



These cases give point to some of the episco- 

 pal injunctions,^^ viz., plotting among the 

 canons, revelation of the secrets of the house, 

 insults and quarrels were to be sharply checked 

 by the prior without respect of persons, and a 

 prison was to be built in a safe place in the house 

 for the punishment of delinquent canons. The 

 others, as might be expected, indicate general 

 carelessness and slackness in discipline, religion 

 and management. Money in Ueu of clothes 

 was not to be given to the canons ; the sick 

 were to be provided with suitable food ; silence 

 was to be kept according to the rule ; the 

 decrease in the number of the convent must be 

 remedied as soon as possible ; the prior on pain 

 of deprivation was to enforce a better observance 

 of the injunctions of the Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury and of the Bishop of London ; canons were 



" Chan. Inq. Misc. file 53, no. 4. 



2' Reg. of Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London (Cant, 

 and York Soc), 69-70. 



29 Ibid. 70. 



3" The bishop's letter to the pope's penitentiary 

 (ibid. 70-1). 



31 Ibid. 72-3. In January 13 10 the bishop 

 empowered the Prior of Royston to mitigate this 

 penance, but John was to have no dealings with 

 women, not to go out of the bounds of the priory, 

 and not to officiate in the church until further 

 orders (ibid. 1 17-18). 



32 Ibid. 174-5. 



437 



