A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



not to wander about the town or enter the 

 houses of laymen without good cause, the prior's 

 leave being first obtained, nor eat and drink 

 except in the refectory, infirmary or the prior's 

 room ; women, especially those of the neigh- 

 bourhood, were not to eat within the precincts 

 nor enter the cloister and other places reserved 

 to the convent, unless the prior gave permission 

 in the case of women of good repute coming with 

 a proper escort ; the brothers were to eat and 

 sleep together and be present at the services 

 day and night ; no ofiice was to be committed 

 to a canon not instructed in his rule ; obedien- 

 tiaries and those receiving the goods of the 

 house must render accounts at least once a year, 

 and the prior must make known the state of 

 their afiairs and consult the most experienced 

 of the convent about expenditure. 



In 1 3 10 another canon had to seek papal abso- 

 lution for celebrating service while excommuni- 

 cated for violence.'* This man, Walter de 

 KelishuUe, had behaved hke one frenzied : he had 

 assaulted the prior and a clerk so as to draw blood, 

 attacked one of the convent with drawn sword 

 in the church, and dragged the sub-prior about 

 the room, tearing his clothes off his back. In 

 September he was consigned by the bishop to 

 St. Osyth's,'* with directions that he was to be 

 last in quire, cloister, chapter, refectory, and 

 dormitory, attend all the services, and celebrate 

 mass daily ; and except at the most important 

 festivals he was to have only bread, soup and 

 ale on Thursdays and Saturdays. The punish- 

 ment in this instance appears light for the 

 offence, and it would be interesting to know all 

 the circumstances. It is evident that Bishop 

 Baldock considered the prior most unsatisfactory. 

 Geoffrey Hakoun seems to have had a special 

 faculty for surrounding himself with undesir- 

 able familiars and servants. By an injunction 

 of 1308 Robert Cook was to be removed from all 

 office. Later '^ the prior was ordered to avoid 

 the company of John Loth, who was to be 

 deprived of office after rendering account, and 

 to remove the warden of Eastwood, putting in 

 his place a trustworthy person with the convent's 

 consent. He himself was forbidden under pain 

 of deprivation to alienate property without 

 urgent necessity, as he had done, or contract 

 heavy loans without the convent's assent ; and 

 in future he must neither receive nor spend 

 the issues of the priory save in the presence of 

 a canon deputed by the rest. 



In 131 1 Hakoun practically set the bishop at 

 defiance by procuring from the general chapter 

 of the order the reversal of his commands about 

 John de Waldene and the administration of 



^^ Reg. of Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London (Cant, 

 and York Soc), 125. 

 '^ Ibid. 133. 

 3»Ibid. 175-6. 



the conventual property ,*• and in April 13 13 

 was threatened with excommunication and 

 deprivation by the bishop if he did not observe 

 his injunctions, hitherto utterly neglected." 

 What happened in the end is not known. 

 Bishop Baldock died shortly afterwards, 

 and Hakoun remained in possession until 

 November 1314 and then resigned,'" possibly 

 under pressure, for the choice of a canon from 

 another house to succeed him hints at reform." 



Surrounding conditions probably made main- 

 tenance of discipline and management of pro- 

 perty particularly difficult here. The prior 

 complained in 13 13 that the gates and doors of 

 the priory had been broken and the bailiff of 

 his market assaulted,*" and in 1 3 14 that his 

 goods had been carried off.*^ 



The house continued to add to its possessions. 

 The manor of Reed was bought in 1303 from 

 Adam de Twynham*^; in 1354 ^^'^^ and rent 

 in Cockenhatch and Reed were acquired from 

 William de Norton ** and 70 acres in Cocken- 

 hatch from Michael de Spayne the next year ** ; 

 and grants of land in West Reed, Royston and 

 Buckland were made to the convent by Thomas 

 Palfreyman between 1358 and 1368,** partly to 

 maintain a lamp at the high altar of their 

 church and to endow a chantry and obit. The 

 prior and convent also received from William 

 Slyng and his wife Maud in 1363 a messuage in 

 Holborn worth %s. a year to find a candle at 

 high mass on Sunday before the high altar.^' 

 In 1385 they obtained licence to acquire pro- 

 perty in mortmain to the annual value of ;£io," 

 and in 1386 Wilham Koo gave them messuages 

 in Royston to half the amount.** Edmund 

 Earl of March, their patron,*' bequeathed 

 40 marks to the house in 1382-3 that a daily 

 mass might be celebrated for his soul for a 

 year.^" 



William Pynchbek, who had been made prior 

 in March 1398-9,^1 was accused with two of the 



'« Reg. oj Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London (Cant, 

 and York Soc), 146—7. 



•'' Ibid. 176. 



2* Leave to elect was given 5 Nov. 1314 {Cal.Pal. 

 13 13-17, p. 195). 



'^ Ibid. p. 202. 



*" Ibid. p. 62. « Ibid. 



*^ Cal. Close, 1 302-7, p. 92. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1354-8, p. 52. 



** Ibid. p. 191. 



« Pat. 32 Edw. Ill, pt. 

 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 20, 39 : 

 m. 8, 9 ; 42 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 12. 



*^ Cal. Pat. 1 361-4, p. 401. 



*' They paid 20 marks for it (ibid. I 385-9, p. 45). 



*8 Ibid. p. 238. 



*' See below. 



^ 'ii\cYio\%, Royal Wills, 109-16. Elizabeth Lady 

 Clare, by will proved I 360, left the priory 60/. and 

 two cloths of gold (ibid. 23-43). 



'* Lond. Epis. Reg. Bray brook, fol. 304-6, 



p. 229. 



40 



m. I 



Edw. 



26; 37 

 III, pt. ii, 



438 



