A HISTORY OF SURREY 



merits which they required for their own use 

 and had no duph'cates. It was found on ex- 

 amination that the abbey held the parish 

 churches of Chertsey and Egham with the 

 chapel of Thorpe, the parish churches of 

 Chobham, Great Bookham, Epsom and Hor- 

 ley. They had also the following pensions : 

 20S. from Ewell, 20s. from the vicarage of 

 Epsom, 8s. from Compton, 51. from Ash, 

 6s. 8d. from Weybridge, y. from Cobham, 

 lOJ. and 6 lbs. of wax from the vicarage of 

 Chobham, 3 lbs. of wax from Bisley, 50J. 

 from the prior of Merton for a portion of 

 tithes from Effingham, 15^. from the rector 

 of Chipstead for tithes of Pirbright and 

 Lovelane, and 13J. 4^. from the rector of 

 Esher. The exemplification subsequently 

 made was examined and compared with the 

 originals and passed by a public notary of the 

 Court of Canterbury.' 



A long and complicated series of negotia- 

 tions ' resulted in the acquisition by the abbot 

 and convent of the church of Stanwell ' in 

 proprios usus ' in 1422, the grant being con- 

 firmed by Henry VI. in 1433.* Several years 

 later Edward IV. granted a licence for the 

 appropriation of the church of St. Andrew, 

 Cobham, providing that a perpetual vicarage 

 should be founded and due provision made for 

 the yearly distribution of a competent sum to 

 the poor of the parish from the issues.* 



That the abbey of Chertsey, in common 

 with other monastic foundations, suffered 

 much from the diminution of its revenues 

 during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 

 is evident. In the December following the 

 election of Abbot John de Uske in 1370° 

 the bishop of Winchester wrote to the abbot 

 of Hyde that the king had excused the abbey 

 and convent of Chertsey from payment of the 

 triennial tenth." In the petition of the king 

 and abbot to the Bishop of London for the 

 appropriation of Stanwell church are assigned 

 various reasons for the poverty of the house : 

 that charges had considerably increased owing 

 to the concourse of people to the hospice and 



1 Eich. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 32, et seq. 



» The abbot and convent conceded to Heniv V. 

 the manor of Petersham, which he was desirous of 

 obtaining, and the advovyson of the church of 

 Ewell, reserving to themselves an annual pension 

 of 20/. out of the church, in exchange for which 

 the king granted to them an acre of land, and the 

 advowson of the church of Stanwell. 



=> Pat. I Hen. VI. m. 20, 21. 



* Ibid. 5 Edw. IV. pt. ii, m. 27. 



« A full account of the proceedings at the elec- 

 tion of this abbot is given in the Register of Bishop 

 Wykeham (Hants Rec. Soc. i. p. 27). 



» Ibid. ii. 123. 



the demands on hospitalit}-, which the monks 

 were unable to meet on account of lessened 

 resources. The abbey derived its sustentation 

 mainly from arable land, and this remained 

 sterile and uncultivated owing to the scarcity 

 of labour following on epidemics and pesti- 

 lences. The houses and buildings pertaining 

 to the monastery had been reduced to ruins 

 by violent storms, and had collapsed through 

 no neglect on their part, in consequence of 

 which their rents were much reduced.' In 

 1 42 1 Henry V. made them a grant of ;^I5 

 a year out of the great custom of London, 

 which was subsequently confirmed by Henry 

 VI.8 



It is natural to find the head of a large 

 and influential house like Chertsey filling an 

 important position in the county, and con- 

 temporary records frequently mention him as 

 chosen to fill offices outside this limit, and en- 

 joying the personal favour of the king. In 

 1058 Abbot Siward was made Bishop of 

 Rochester.^ Wulfwold was one of the six 

 abbots (four of them Englishmen) who en- 

 tered into a curious bond of confederation 

 with Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, and his 

 monks between 1072 and 1077." ^^° ^^^ 

 dismissed by William Rufus in 1092, and his 

 place taken by Ralph Flambard of ill fame ; 

 but immediately on the accession of Henry I. 

 Odo was restored to his former position." A 

 few years later Abbot Hugh was sent on an 

 embassy with Ralph, Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury and Herbert, Bishop of Norwich, from 

 the king to the pope, returning the following 

 year." In the same way the abbot of Chert- 

 sey was sent with Raymond, a monk of 

 St. Albans, in 1 198, by Richard I. to treat 

 with the pope." The abbey is said to have 

 been rebuilt in mo by Abbot Hugh," pre- 



' Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. z^d. 



8 Pat. I Hen. VI. pt. iii, m. 29. 



Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 187. 



'» They agreed to adopt the Benedictine rule 

 and to be in unity as if all their seven monasteries 

 were one monastery, and to be ' quasi cor unum 

 et anima una,' to sing two masses every week in 

 each monastery for all the brothers, on Monday 

 and Friday. The abbots also professed obedience 

 to God and to their bishop for tlieir common need, 

 that is, that each of them should perform, and for 

 his own account buy a hundred masses, and bathe 

 a hundred needy men, and feed them and shoe 

 them. And each to sing himself seven masses, and 

 for thirty days set his meat before him and a penny 

 upon the meat {Hist, et Cart. Mon. Glouc. [Rolls 

 Ser.], iii. iviii.). 



» ^nn. Mon. (RoUs Ser.), ii. 37, 40. 

 >=> Ibid. p. 45. ^ 



" Matt, of Paris. Hist. Minor. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 75. 

 >« Anglo-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i. 369. 



