RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



wards the house, while remaining true to the 

 Cluniac rule, ceased to owe temporal allegi- 

 ance to the abbey of Cluny, or the priory of 

 La Charit^, and became a conventual chapter 

 electing its own superior. 



In 1401 a petition was addressed to Henry 

 IV. in favour of the priors of Crespi and 

 Dampierre about to visit the Cluniac founda- 

 tions in England.* Confidential instructions 

 were sent to the agents in respect of their 

 mission, and they were warned to be very 

 cautious at Bermondsey, and to seek the ad- 

 vice of Brother Thomas de Bermondsey 

 rather than of the prior, ' who knows noth ing.' ^ 

 Several years later the abbot refused to ac- 

 knowledge the jurisdiction of the prior of 

 Lewes, vicar-general of the order, when 

 cited by him for a visitation, and the king 

 supported his refusal and prohibited any at- 

 tempt to hold the visitation at Bermondsey.' 

 This occurred in 1432-4 and is the last re- 

 corded attempt of a formal visitation of Ber- 

 mondsey, although a statement drawn up as 

 to the numbers of the religious in houses of 

 the English and Scotch Cluniac foundations 

 at the beginning of the fifteenth century 

 seems to have formed part of a visitation re- 

 port. We learn from it that the constituted 

 number of the monks was then twenty-four, 

 that there were five masses celebrated daily, 

 three with music and two low masses, al- 

 though there were formerly six daily celebra- 

 tions. Hospitality, almsgiving, silence and 

 all other monastic obligations and duties, 

 as enjoined by rule, were well observed.^ 



The great conventual church so long 

 building had been dedicated in January 

 1338-9 in honour of St. Saviour with the 

 high altar in honour of St. Saviour, the 

 Blessed Virgin and All Saints. At the same 

 time had been dedicated three other altars by 

 Peter Bishop of Corbavia, who occasionally 

 acted as sufiiragan of London, Winchester and 

 Canterbury : the altar of Holy Cross, the 

 altar ' Drueth ' in honour of the Blessed Vir- 

 gin and St. Thomas the Martyr, and the 

 altar by the door of the monks' cemetery in 

 honour of St. Andrew, St. James and all the 

 Apostles.^ Prior Dunton had the nave of 

 the church covered with lead in 1387 and 

 placed new glass windows in the presbytery ; 

 the high altar and morning altar* he decor- 



' Duckett, Rec. Evid. of Cluny, p. 19. 



2 Duckett, Chart, and Rec. of Abbey of Cluny, i. 

 184. 



3 Ibid. ii. 37. * Ibid. ii. 209. 

 5 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii. 473. 



« In the year 1206 the body of Peter, the first 

 prior, was translated to the enlarged church, and 

 on the following Feast of St. Barnabas the morning 



ated with gilded reredoses.'' During the rule 

 of Abbot Thetford in 1430 the cloister of 

 the convent was re-roofed with slate.^ The 

 prospects of the priory seemed considerably 

 brighter during the successful rule of Prior 

 Dunton* ; he resigned in 1390 and was 

 succeeded by John Attilburgh, under whom 

 Bermondsey was erected into an abbey by 

 Pope Boniface IX. at the request of king and 

 prior. Almost immediately on his elevation, 

 however, John Attilburgh, the last prior and 

 first abbot of Bermondsey (1390-9), obtained 

 a dispensation in 1397 from Boniface IX. to 

 hold a benefice with cure, in addition to the 

 priory, in consideration of the great quantity 

 of money that he spent against schismatics 

 and rebels of the Roman church. He acted 

 as president of the chapter-general of the 

 order in England. In 1399 the abbot resigned 

 in order to become Bishop of Athelfeld."^" 

 On his resignation the convent granted him 

 a pension of 40 marks for food and clothing, 

 but subsequently refused payment, and the 

 matter was brought before the Roman Court.'' 

 Following on the election of his successor 

 Henry Tompston early in 1400,'^ the abbey 

 was found so over-burdened by the bad govern- 

 ment of the late abbot, that it was committed 

 to the custody of the king's delegates" and a 

 commission was appointed by the archbishop 

 to inquire into the charges made against John 

 Attilburgh of illicitly alienating the property 

 of his late charge," an order having been issued 

 for his arrest.'* The conduct of the ex-abbot 

 as delegate of the abbot of Cluny in England, 

 together with the Archbishop of Canterbury 

 and prior of Thetford," points to a rather 

 rough and overbearing disposition." 



altar was dedicated in honour of the Blessed Virgin 

 and All Saints {Ann. Mon. [Rolls Ser.], iii. 450). 

 ' Ibid. 481. 8 Ibid. 487. 



9 In 1384 Richard II. bestowed on the priory 

 tenements in two London parishes with annual 

 rent of 24/. Ibid. 481. 



10 Ibid. 483. " Pa-pal Letters, v. 77, 162, 349. 

 12 Pat. I Hen. IV. pt. v. m. 23. 



" Ibid. pt. vii. m. 29. 



" Reg. of Thomas Arundel, f. 399. 



16 Pat. I Hen. IV. pt. vii. m. lld. The order for 

 the arrest of the ex-abbot stated that he proposed 

 to go to foreign parts to seek for things prejudicial 

 to the king, his crown, and the abbey of Ber- 

 mondsey. 



" Ibid. 14 Rich. II. pt. i, m. 4. 



1' Pope Boneface IX. wrote to the Bishop of Lin- 

 coln ordering him to investigate the complaint of 

 the sub-prior of Northampton as to a visita- 

 tion by John, prior of Bermondsey, and Henry, 

 prior of ' Derby,' pretending that they were sub- 

 delegated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

 {Papal Letters, iv. 454-S-) 



10 



73 



