RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



times from devastating floods during the reign 

 of Henry III. In 1233 inundations occurred 

 throughout England, and great injury was done 

 to the property of the convent ; bridges and 

 stone walls were carried away by the flood, 

 which rose in places to a height of 8 feet.* 

 Another inundation occurred on 28 November 

 1265, when all the offices of the abbey on the 

 lower site were submerged and the monks had 

 to take refuge in the church, treasury and hos- 

 pice for the night, several days elapsing before 

 the buildings could be cleansed from the 

 deposits of mud.^ 



The abbot of Waverley was summoned 

 in December 1264 with other barons and 

 prelates to consult with Simon de Montfort 

 on the aflfairs of the kingdom, the king having 

 been taken prisoner by the barons,' and he 

 was also among those summoned to attend 

 Parliament held at Westminster in the Sep- 

 tember following the death of the great leader 

 in 1265. The abbot and convent probably 

 showed themselves favourable to Simon de 

 Montfort and his party, for they incurred the 

 displeasure of the king about this time ; they 

 received however a pardon for their ' trans- 

 gressions ' from Prince Edward, which was 

 confirmed by the king on the departure of 

 the prince to the East, with a mandate that 

 they and their men should not be molested or 

 disturbed.* 



During the reign of Edward I. the abbot 

 of Waverley seems to have attended the 

 general chapter of the Cistercian order with 

 regularity. In June 1277 the then abbot, 

 Hugh, received protection till All Saintstide 

 for this purpose,^ and again in 1280,® 1281,'' 

 and 1285,° he crossed the seas probably with 

 the same object. His successor. Abbot Philip, 

 had licence in like manner to cross the seas 

 in 1288.' In connection with this security 

 it is recorded that in May 1277 the king 

 granted letters of acquittance to the abbot of 

 Waverley for the sum of ;^262 Os. lod. that 

 had been paid by him at Winchester as a 

 * courtesy ' from the abbot and other abbots 

 ot the Cistercian order,*" and a year later 

 another acknowledgment was made of a 

 further sum of ;^638 6s. 8d. in part payment 

 of a 'courtesy' of ;^i,000 granted to the 



1 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 312. 



2 Ibid. pp. 368-9. 



3 Rymer, Fcsdera (Rec. Com.), i. pt. i, 449. 

 * Pat. S3 Hen. III. m. 12. 



5 Ibid. 5 Edw. I. m. 14. 

 « Ibid. 8 Edvir. I. m. 9. 

 ' Ibid. 9 Edw. I. m. 7. 

 8 Ibid. 13 Edvif. I. m. 20. 

 ' Ibid. 16 Edw. I. m. 10. 

 '» Ibid. 5 Edw. I. m. 15. 



king by the whole order in England." In 

 1282 the abbot and convent received a 

 licence to appropriate in mortmain lands of 

 their own fee to the value of 1005.*^ The 

 abbot of Waverley wrote in 129 1 to Edward I. 

 to petition that the house, now in grievous 

 poverty owing to the failure of crops for the 

 last year or so, might be taken under his 

 protection and placed in the custody of Hugh 

 Despenser, Earl of Winchester, for two 

 years.*' 



Notwithstanding the favour and security ** 

 enjoyed by the abbey at this period, sundry 

 suits were brought against the brethren in- 

 volving their liberties. In 1280 they were 

 summoned respecting their alleged obligation 

 to attend the king's court at Alton. Judg- 

 ment was given in their favour on the ground 

 that neither the abbot nor his predecessor had 

 done suit at the court since the charter of 

 King John freed them of all such suit and 

 service.*^ In another suit brought by the 

 Crown against the abbey for the possession of 

 land at Essendon, which the abbot and con- 

 vent claimed by a grant of King John, the 

 king's advocate contended that the land in 

 question was not contained in the charter 

 produced by the abbot, and judgment was 

 stayed until further inquiry could be made.*° 

 In 1283 a protracted suit commenced between 

 the abbot and convent of Waverley and Peter 

 de Sancto Mauro, archdeacon of Surrey,respect- 

 ing certain small tithes. The dispute lasted 

 fifteen years, and after various appeals was 

 finally settled by the Bishop of Winchester to 

 the satisfaction of both parties, each side pay- 

 ing its own costs.*'' In 1303 the sheriff of 

 Surrey distrained the abbot for scutage towards 

 the war in Scotland ; the abbot claimed that 

 his lands were held in frankalmoin by virtue 

 of the charter of King John, and orders were 

 sent to the barons of the exchequer to grant 

 acquittance to the abbey if the plea could be 

 substantiated.*^ By a successful suit in 131 6 



11 Ibid. 16 Edw. I. m. 13. 



12 Ibid. 10 Edw. I. m. 13. 



13 Anct. Pet. 13716. 



1* An order sent to the abbot in January 1278-g 

 with directions as to the goods deposited in the 

 abbey by Benedict, a Jew of Winchester (Close, 

 7 Edw. I. m. 10), shows the use that was made of 

 monasteries as repositories for valuables. 



16 Plac. de quo War. (Rec. Com.), 770. The 

 charter of John confirming to the abbey its hber- 

 ties and freedom from all secular service had been 

 exhibited before the king's justices itinerant at 

 Guildford the previous year (ibid. 747). 



16 Ibid. pp. 812-5. 



17 Ann Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii. 400-1. 



18 Madox, Hist, of the Exch. i. 670-1. 



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