RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



sumably a relative of King Stephen, whose 



charters refer to him as nepos meus} Abbot 



Aymer returned the knight-service of the 



house in 1166 as three knights and the 



knights' fees held of it as four.^ Martin, 



prior of Thetford, was appointed abbot 



during the lifetime of his predecessor, 



Bertan, in 11 97, and is said to have been 



uncanonically elected. An incident which 



occurred at his installation heightened this 



impression of illegality among the monks. 



Just as the abbot was entering the 



church in procession, the servant who was 



holding the pall fell to the ground and died.^ 



Abbot Alan was one of the signatories to the 



re-issue of Magna Carta in 1225.* In 1273 



Edward I. addressed a mandate to Abbot 



Bartholomew bidding him attend at Kingston 



on the following Monday and see to the due 



observance of the king's prohibition of a 



tournament, which it was proposed to hold 



on that day. If not able to go personally, he 



was to send the sub-prior and cellarer or two 



discreet monks.^ 



The administration of the successor of 

 Abbot Bartholomew was marked by great in- 

 crease of the estates held by the abbey, and 

 much improvement of their property and 

 buildings, due to the energy and administra- 

 tive ability of John de Rutherwyk (1307-46). 

 Much space is devoted in the chartulary of 

 the monastery to an account of the improve- 

 ments and additions of the abbot, whom it 

 described as ' religiosissimus pater, prudeniissi- 

 mus et utilissimus dominus.' His attention 

 was not confined to territorial undertakings 

 alone. In 131 1 he presented the conventual 

 church of Chertsey with red velvet vestments,^ 

 and a few years later had the tabula hanging 

 above the high altar painted,'' and bought 

 images of St. Catherine and St. Margaret and 

 a new pastoral staff.' By his care also the 

 chapel at Chobham ® and the chancel at 

 Epsom church were repaired,^" and a new 

 chancel built at Egham." With the excep- 

 tion of the year 1335, during the whole of 

 his rule, which lasted nearly thirty-nine years, 

 the abbot's ardour as a landlord suffered no 

 check. In that year a spirit of discontent 



1 Cott. MS. Vitel. A. xiii. f. 57. 



2 Red Book of the Exch. (Rolls Ser.), i. 198. 

 ' Wharton's AngUa Sacra, i. 303. 



4 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), i. 232. 



5 Pat. I. Edw. I. m. 15. 



6 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 174. 

 ' Ibid. f. I77d. 



8 Lands. MS. 435, f. 108. 



9 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 179. 

 i» Lands. MS. 435, f. 140. 



" Ibid. f. 133d. 



seems to have manifested itself among the 

 brethren, for a complaint was made contain- 

 ing among other things that the abbot had 

 acquired many possessions, the value and ex- 

 tent of which they were unable to estimate. 

 * The abbot,' it is stated, ' being not a little 

 troubled in his mind ceased from such acquisi- 

 tion, and rested that year from the labours of 

 his body and the fatigues of his heart.' *^ 



John de Rutherwyk seems to have met 

 with favour from Edward II. and his queen. 

 In 1308 he obtained a pardon from the 

 Crown for a debt of j^io of his predecessor,*' 

 and in 1310 a licence to acquire lands and 

 rents to the value of £^o}^ In the same 

 year the king notified the barons of the Ex- 

 chequer that by request of ' notre treschere 

 compagne,' the Queen of England, he had 

 pardoned the abbot of Chertsey the service 

 which he owed the king for the war in Scot- 

 land, and that this release is to be inscribed 

 on the rolls of the Exchequer.*^ In connec- 

 tion with the same war, the following 

 December the king acknowledged his in- 

 debtedness to the abbey for j^22 Js. 6d. for 

 5 quarters of wheat and 100 quarters of malt, 

 being part of the supplies levied by the king 

 for the war.*' In July 1322 Edward II. 

 called upon the abbot to admit a married 

 couple as royal life pensioners, sending to 

 them John de Ardern of Chobham, who had 

 long served the Crown, together with Agnes 

 his wife. They were to receive as much as 

 Gunnora de Windsor, then deceased, had for 

 her maintenance at the late king's request.*'' 

 A relative of the abbot's, William de 

 Rutherwyk, who had granted to the monas- 

 tery all his goods and chattels in Egham and 

 Thorpe, also received a life pension with 

 Alice his wife.*' 



The rule of Abbot John was marked by 

 the erection of two chantries within the con- 

 ventual church. In 131 8, in return for the 

 sum of ;^ 1 00 granted by Philip de Barthon', 

 archdeacon of Surrey, the abbot arranged that 

 a monk should be specially deputed to cele- 

 brate masses at the altar of Holy Cross for 

 the good estate of their benefactor, and for 

 the souls of Richard his brother, his parents 

 and all the faithful dead ; and that the 

 two brothers, Philip and Richard, should be 

 had in remembrance by the brethren in all 

 their masses, and their names inscribed on 



12 Ibid. f. 156. 



i3 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 173. 



i« Pat. 3 Edw. 11. m. 24. 



16 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 173. 

 le Pat. 4 Edw. 11. pt. i. m. 6. 



17 Close, 16 Edw. II. m. 34d. 



18 Exch. K. R. Misc. Bks. 25, f. 232. 



59 



