RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



said on the anniversary of all who had annually 

 benefited the brethren, and ordained that at 

 the festivals of Christmas and All Saints 

 candles should burn on all the altars of the 

 church while Divine office was being cele- 

 brated at both evensongs, at nocturns, at lauds 

 and at masses.^ Additional ordinances made 

 at the general chapter of Citeaux held in 

 1238 decreed that commemoration should be 

 kept of the Blessed Benedict and Bernard at 

 vespers and at lauds throughout the order ; '^ 

 and, in 1257, that from henceforth there 

 should be twelve rasurae during the year, 

 whereas before there had never been more 

 than seven, and that the abbots should wear 

 copes and the ministers of the altar dalmatics, 

 a use which was in future followed.^ It was 

 decreed in 1255 that on the day of St. 

 Dominic, founder of the Order of Friars 

 Preachers, and on that of the ' Blessed Peter, 

 martyr of the same order,' there should be twelve 

 lessons read throughout the entire order,* and 

 similarly in 1259 ^^^^ twelve lessons should 

 be read on the day of St. Francis, founder 

 of Friars Minor, and on the day of Blessed 

 Robert the abbot, two masses in each convent 

 of the order.^ Waverley like all Cistercian 

 houses was exempt firom episcopal jurisdiction 

 and visited by commissioner's specially deputed 

 by the general chapter. In the year 1188 a 

 visitation of the English houses of the order 

 by deputies of the general chapter is recorded, 

 in the course of which the abbots of Tintern 

 and Bordesley were suspended." This is the 

 sole entry relating to such visitation, and in- 

 formation as to the number of the brethren 

 and the internal condition of the monastery 

 is lacking. At the time of the election of 

 Abbot Christopher in 11 87 it is stated that 

 there were 120 lay brethren and seventy re- 

 ligious in the house and about thirty plough 

 teams at work on the estates.'' 



The relations of the abbey with John's 

 successor seem to have been very friendly in 

 spite of his struggle with the Cistercian order 

 on the vexed question of aids to the king, 

 from the payment of which they still claimed 



1 Jnn. Mm. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 316-7. 



2 Ibid. p. 319. = Ibid. p. 349. 

 « Ibid p. 348. 6 Ibid. p. 351. 

 « Ibid. p. 345. 

 7 Ibid. p. 344. The ' conversi ' or lay brethren 



are frequently mentioned. ' The Cistercian family 

 was divided into two distinct parts, the monachi 

 and the conversi. ALL were equally monies in that 

 they had taken the three monastical vows of 

 poverty, chastity, and obedience, but the name 

 was reserved to the former who were what would 

 now be caUed the choir brethren.' Cistercian 

 Statutes, ed. J. T. Fowler, p. 95 n. 

 II 81 



exemption.* In 1225, when the estates of 

 the realm granted Henry III. a fifteenth of 

 all their movables in return for his confirma- 

 tion of Magna Charta and the Charta de 

 Foresta, the brethren of the order in Eng- 

 land agreed to contribute 2,000 marks of 

 silver ' as much for the sake of their liberties 

 as to gain the good will of the king.' " This 

 diplomatic concession under the name of 

 ' courtesy ' was frequently repeated, though 

 probably the exemption of the order as a 

 right was not yielded. The royal favour was 

 shown in a visit paid by Henry III. to the 

 abbey of Waverley in the same year. He 

 was received by the community on 16 

 December 1225 in solemn procession ; on 

 the morrow he entered the chapter-house, 

 and at his own request was admitted associate 

 of the order." The following year John de 

 Venuz, the king's forester, was directed to 

 allow the abbot of Waverley to take five oaks 

 out of his bailiwick ^^ ; a similar order was 

 given in 1231, permitting the abbot to take 

 timber out of his wood of Wanborough for 

 the building of his church,^' and again in the 

 year 1270 permission was granted to John de 

 Eton, sub-prior of Waverley, to take six oak 

 trees in Aliceholt forest for timber. Trans- 

 gressions against forest law,^' which came 

 before the king's cognisance seem to have 

 been treated with leniency and fines applied 

 to the use of the convent itself.^* In January 

 1226—7 letters of protection to last until 

 Easter 1228 were granted to the abbot.^° 

 Besides the visit of the king, on Palm Sunday, 



8 In 1242 Henry III. ordered the Archbishop 

 of York to call together the abbots of that order 

 in England and with persuasive words induce them 

 to comply with his request for assistance towards his 

 needs beyond sea. The archbishop's diplomacy 

 failed, however, the Cistercians stood upon their 

 rights and refused to contribute one year's wool 

 as was suggested, in consequence they were again 

 debarred from attending their general chapter. 

 Matt, of Paris. [RoUs Ser.], Chron. Major, iv. 

 234-5). Two years later, by way of reprisal, they 

 were forbidden to sell their wool, as they had re- 

 fused the king aid for Gascony (ibid. p. 324). In 

 1256, having again resisted all efforts to induce 

 them to yield, the king seized the occasion of their 

 returning from a general chapter to exact toll or 

 passage money. Many being unprepared for this 

 demand had to seU cowl and tunic m order to 

 satisfy the exaction (ibid. v. 587). 

 9 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 300. 



10 Ibid. p. 301. 



11 Close, 10 Hen. III. m. 29. 



12 Ibid. IS Hen. III. m. 14. 



13 Ibid. 9 Hen. III. ms. 6, 9. 

 1* Ibid. 30 Hen. III. pt. i, m. 9. 

 16 Pat. II Hen. III. pt. i, m. 9. 



II 



