RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



promulgation of any sentence of interdict or 

 excommunication on any abbot or monk,' 

 and Alexander IV. enacted that the chrism, 

 holy oil, consecration of altars or churches, 

 and ordination of clerks should be undertaken 

 by the diocesan bishop, and forbad that any 

 chapel or oratory should be built within the 

 bounds of the parish save by the consent of 

 the abbot and diocesan.' 



During the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- 

 turies the abbey was engaged in many dis- 

 putes, the settlement of which, involving 

 litigation and papal arbitration, must have 

 greatly taxed its already diminishing resources. 

 Finally in the case of disputes involving but 

 slight issues the house resorted to less official 

 mediation * in order to save extortion.' ^ 



Up to the end of the thirteenth century 

 there was a marked absence of appropriation 

 in connection with this house. The taxation 

 roll of 1 29 1 shows that the annual value of 

 the various Surrey manors of the abbey 

 amounted to ;^ 135 19J. 8^.* There was in 

 addition an income of ^J os. "jd. from tem- 

 poralities in seven London parishes,^ and £^1 

 from the diocese of Salisbury.* The only 

 spirituality reckoned is a pension of ^^i 19^. 



1 Cott. MS. Vitel. A, xiii. f. 71. 



> Ibid. f. 72. 



3 These disputes had relation chiefly to tithes 

 and can be briefly enumerated. In 1 198 with the 

 rector of the church of Compton (Exch. K. R. 

 Misc. Bks. 25, f. 34). Early in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury Peter des Roches effected a compromise 

 between the abbot and the parishioners of Chob- 

 ham (ibid. f. 44-S), which, as in many other 

 instances, required adjustment later on. In 

 1228 a dispute was settled wdth the rector of 

 Cobham, who was also dean of the cathedral 

 church of Old Sarum (ibid. f. 52). In 1297 

 silence was imposed on the rector of Walton, and 

 the claim of the abbey upheld (ibid. f. 54d). In 

 1237 an amicable arrangement was made with the 

 priory of Newark as to tithes within the parish of 

 Chertsey (ibid. f. 53). Twice the abbey had to 

 settle with the abbey of Westminster as to rival 

 claims {flal. of And. Deeds, ii. B. 1853, and 

 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 57). In 1279 a con- 

 test took place with the rector of Fetcham (ibid, 

 f. 50), and in 1308 a dispute between John de 

 Rutherwyk and the rector of Chipstead was settled 

 by the arbitration of Philip de Barthon' (ibid. f. 36). 

 By a compromise in 1283 the parishioners of 

 Bisley agreed to pay 3 lbs. of wax yearly to the 

 abbey for right of sepulchre (ibid. f. 48). The 

 most heated dispute of all arose in 1405 between 

 Thomas de Colverdone and the vicar of Chertsey 

 as to the tithes of the parish church, it being one 

 with the conventual church (ibid. f. 55). 



* F(ype Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 206. 



5 Ibid. lib. 



« Ibid. 192. 



from a London church.' The monastery 

 probably began to realise the fluctuating nature 

 of the greater part of an income derived 

 mainly from land and subject to agricultural 

 depression, and sought to remedy this distress 

 by resort to appropriation. The Bishop of 

 Winchester in 1292 permitted the abbot and 

 convent to retain to their own uses the church 

 of Bookham which was of their patronage, 

 then void by the resignation of John of Lon- 

 don, the late rector, so that they presented a 

 suitable person to perform divine service there. 

 It was stated as a reason for this concession 

 that the funds of the monastery had of late 

 materially decreased by exactions, by pesti- 

 lences, and by inundations of water that 

 affected animals, flocks, and other property 

 of Chertsey. The grant which was con- 

 firmed by the Crown, recited the permission 

 granted to the abbey by Pope Clement III. 

 in 1 1 90 whereby they might retain in their 

 own hands the parish churches of Bookham, 

 Epsom, Ewell, Waltham, Horley, Cobham, 

 and Coulsdon, and the chapels of Chertsey 

 and 'Wetesdon.'^ In 1313 licence was ob- 

 tained from the king for the appropriation of 

 the churches of Horley and Epsom,* and in 

 1380 Richard allowed the convent to appro- 

 priate the church of Ewell,'" the three 

 churches being already of their advowson. 

 John de Benham obtained the church of 

 White Waltham, Berkshire, in 1348." 



In 1402, during the vacancy of the see of 

 Winchester, the Archbishop of Canterbury 

 ordered an inspection of the muniments of 

 the abbey of Chertsey, in order to ascertain 

 what spiritualities were held by the abbot 

 and convent and the genuineness of their 

 title, that an exemplification of the documents 

 might be made at the request of the brethren. 

 The petition of the convent sets forth that 

 whereas they held lands 'in various parts 

 of the world,' they possessed only the muni- 



7 Ibid. 2ob. 



8 Pat. 20 Edw. I. m. 11. Repeated bulls 

 from Rome show that alienation of the pro- 

 perty of the abbey was taking place. In addi- 

 tion to buUs of Alexander IV., addressed to 

 the Chancellor of Salisbury, of Gregory X. to the 

 Prior of Dorchester, and of John XXI. to the 

 Prior of Reading, revoking any such alienation, a 

 bull of Gregory X. deputes the Abbot of Dor- 

 chester to hear and determine the complaint of 

 the convent against the Rectors of Walton and 

 Bisley and the Vicar of Chertsey for the reten- 

 tion of tithes (Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. 25, fl. 8, 



9. 1°)- 



9 Pat. 6 Edw. II. pt. u. ra. 17. 



10 Ibid. 4 Rich. II. pt. i. m. 27. 



11 Abbrev. Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), vol. ii. i82d. 



57 



