RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



canons, John Burgh and Walter Adam, in 1401 

 of having procured his election through secular 

 power and simony.'* They denied the charge, 

 and cleared themselves before the bishop's 

 commissary by bringing beneficed clergymen to 

 testify to their life and conduct. 



Except as regards its temporal jurisdiction, ** 

 very little is heard of the house for a century. 



In 1517 two changes were made at the priory 

 by Bishop Fitz James at the request of Robert 

 White, the prior.^* To replace more easily the 

 service books now worn out, the adoption of 

 the Sarum use was authorized instead of that 

 of Bangor. The feast of the dedication of the 

 conventual church was at the same time trans- 

 ferred from 22 June to 19 October, because the 

 former date came too near St. John Baptist's 

 Day, the festival of the place. 



The church was then undergoing repairs, 

 which must have extended over some time, for 

 Thomas Gery in 15 17 left 40i-. for that purpose, 

 and in 1527 a bequest of ^fio was made by 

 William Lee to complete the chancel roof.'* 



When White died on i April 1534" a diffi- 

 culty arose between the convent and the Earl of 

 Oxford, who as owner of Newsells beheved he 

 had a voice in the selection of the prior. Richard 

 Bretten, one of the canons, he told Cromwell, 

 was canvassing the gentlemen and yeomen of 

 the district ostensibly to have a free election, 

 but really to get the post for himself " ; and 

 in Cromwell's statement that the king was 

 founder he could only see the result of Bretten's 

 intrigues." But Bretten was right on both 

 counts. The patronage of the priory had long 

 since passed from the lords of Newsells, and 

 belonged to the king as heir of the Mortimers '* ; 

 and the choice of the prior rested with the 

 convent. The congi d'Hire was given on 

 14 May,*" Richard Bretten was chosen, and 

 the king assented on 12 June to his election.*^ 

 The affair, however, was evidently not yet 

 settled. Bretten appears to have been absent 



" Lend. Epis. Reg. Bray brook, fol. 350. 



" The prior's claim to the market at Royston was 

 challenged in 1434 (Memo. R. [L.T.R.], Rec. Hil. 

 12 Hen. VI, m. 18), and a difficulty arose over the 

 alleged escape of a felon from Royston (ibid.). 



^ Lond. Epis. Reg. Fitzjames, fol. 1 1 7 d. 



" Kingston, Hist, of Royston, 56, 81, 84. 



"Add. MS. 5828, fol. 26 d. 



" L. and P. Hen. Fill, vii, 5 1 7. 



»« Ibid. 537. 



" Alice de Scales, who inherited Newsells from the 

 Rochesters, made over the patronage about the middle 

 of the 13th century to the Earl of Gloucester (Harl. 

 MS. 7041, fol. 8). At the division of the Gloucester 

 estates after Earl Gilbert's death in 13 14 it was 

 allotted to Elizabeth Lady Clare (ibid. fol. 6), and 

 passed by the marriage of her daughter and heir to 

 the Mordmers (Chan. Inq. p.m. 22 Ric. II, no. 34). 



«• L. and P. Hen. Fill, vii, 761(29). 



«l Ibid. 922 (26). 



when the acknowledgement of the royal 

 supremacy was made by the house, i July 

 1534,*' and although he was styled prior in 

 October, when he borrowed 20 marks for his 

 monastery ' in his great necessity,' ^ the royal 

 assent was given a second time in December."* 



The Earl of Oxford had called him unthrifty 

 and unfit for rule, and declared that he would 

 ruin the house, but his opinion is too biased to 

 be trustworthy, and the available evidence is all 

 in Bretten's favour. The commissioners who 

 received the surrender of the priory in 1537 

 pronounced the convent to be of very good 

 report and name and the building in very good 

 repair.*' 



At the dissolution of the house on 9 April 

 1537 Bretten received an annual pension of 

 ^16 i^s. 4^., but the other six canons were 

 dismissed with a small present.*' 



The goods were worth ,^132 13^. 6(i." and the 

 plate ^£30 35. 2\d. ** ; the lead was valued at 

 ^^28 and the three bells at {zg.^^ The income 

 of the priory in 1291 was about ^^61 '" ; in 1535 

 it was reckoned at ^^89 i6s. net,'^ perhaps a low 

 estimate, as its gross revenues in 1537 were at 

 least ^133."' 



*^ Dep. Keeper's Rep. vii, App. ii, 299. The 

 document was signed by the sub-prior and eight 

 other canons. 



*^ Kingston, op. cit. 53, note I. 



«* L. and P. Hen. Fill, vii, 1601 (23). 



*^ Transcript of Land Rev. Rec. bdle. 66, no. 3. 



** Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606, schedule. 

 The sum of /il 13/. ^d. was divided among the 

 canons, a priest and twenty-four servants. 



«' Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. ccclxi, fol. 67-68 d. This 

 amount, however, included the cloister and dormitory, 

 sold for j^24, a house next the porter's lodge for 

 j^20, and the future crops of the sown fields, 

 ^^50 9/. id. The stuff in the hall, buttery, pantry, 

 kitchen and bakehouse fetched ^8 S-f. The church 

 apparently contained nothing very valuable. The 

 stuff at our Lady's and St. Katharine's altars and in 

 the rood chapel brought in only I 2/., the organ in 

 the quire 40/., and another I is. There were several 

 suits of vestments, green baudekin, black worsted, 

 black camlet, shot silk, red velvet, a very old one of 

 damask, and another of tawny velvet and 9 copes, 

 but the highest price given for any was 30/. 



*8 Ibid. fol. 68 d.-69. A cross of silver-gilt 

 weighing 44 oz., a silver censer of the same weight, 

 2 silver chalices, parcel gilt, 1 2 silver spoons, a salt 

 with cover, parcel gilt, the garnishing of 2 great 

 mazer bands gilt and of 2 little mazer barids gilt. 

 There is also an account of goods and plate in K.R. 

 Church Goods J§, in which the value was estimated 

 lower. 



*9 Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. 



'"'Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 123, 14^, 18, 

 253, zU, 36, lob, 51, lib, 115, 129-^, 130, 2663' 

 269. The whole amount was ^71 14/. 5<z'.,but the 

 vicar of Coddenham was paid Xi° I3^- 4'^- 



" Falor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 289. 



" Mins. Accts. Hen. VIII, no. 1606. 



439 



