RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



life as in death she gave to Waverley.' '■ and 

 by will she bequeathed to the convent loo 

 marks to be laid out in lands out of the 

 proceeds of which two pittances should be 

 distributed yearly, one on her own anniver- 

 sary in February, and the other on the 

 anniversary of Lebert, her husband on 13 

 December.'' Also a lamp was to be pro- 

 vided to burn every night in the chapel of 

 the infirmary until after the celebration of 

 masses in the winter time, and in summer 

 time until after lauds.^ In 1362 John de 

 Netherhaven bestowed lands in Farnham 

 upon the abbey for the yearly celebration of 

 his anniversary in the conventual church.* 

 Bishop William Edendon, who died in 

 1366,^ and William of Wykeham in 1404,^ 

 each left the sum of ^f 10 to the abbot and 

 convent of Waverley to pray for the soul of 

 the donor. On 8 March 1339-40 the then 

 Bishop of Winchester, Adam Orlton, 

 issued a mandate proclaiming sentence of ex- 

 communication against certain evil-doers who 

 had injured and made away with the goods 

 and possessions of the abbey ; ^ and Bishop 

 Wykeham in January 1367-8 issued a general 

 sentence of excommunication against trespas- 

 sers on the house, manors or granges of the 

 monks of Waverley, in consequence of the 

 grave complaints of the abbot.^ The sen- 

 tence was repeated in 1375,* and in the 

 following month a monition against those 

 who withheld tithes from the convent was 

 published.^" A petition was addressed to the 

 abbot of Citeaux, father-general of the order, 

 in 1316, by Henry Woodlock, Bishop of 

 Winchester, requesting him to grant per- 

 mission for Robert de Redenhale and Amice 

 his wife, a virtuous couple, who had acquired 

 a perpetual corrody in the monastery of 

 Waverley, and had erected at their own ex- 

 pense certain houses outside the gate of the 

 monastery near to the chapel of St. Mary at the 



'■ Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.),ii. 353. 



^ With the money a tenement in Surbiton was 

 bought of Richard de Totteford and 29J. 6d. re- 

 served out of the rent for two pittances (ibid. 



P- 354)- 



3 Ibid. 



* Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. III. 2nd Nos. No. 13. 



"■ Surrey Arch. Coll. viii. 190. 



» Ibid. This great prelate made some stay at 

 Waverley early in the year 1376-7, when by the 

 machinations of John of Gaunt his temporalities 

 had been seized into the king's hand, and himself 

 forbidden the court. 



' Winton. Epis. Reg., Orlton, vol. i. f. 71. 



s Ibid. Wykeham, vol. ii. f. 2d. 



s Ibid. f. I28d. 



i» Ibid. f. I29d. 



convent gate, to end their days at the abbey." 

 The abbot and convent were probably will- 

 mg enough to extend a welcome to a nominee 

 of their perpetual patron and benefactor, who 

 had moreover himself shown generosity to 

 their house and other houses of the order, 

 and intended, according to the bishop, to be- 

 stow upon them eventually legacies of con- 

 siderable value. 



The entries relating to this foundation 

 during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 

 up to the dissolution are very scanty ; prob- 

 ably the abbey under wise management con- 

 trived to exist with lessened resources at least 

 as well as wealthier foundations. The clear 

 annual value of the house, according to the 

 Valor of 1535, amounted to ;^I74 is. -^^d., 

 the gross income being £196 135. 11^^. 



Cromwell was pressed by Sir William 

 Fitzwilliam and another correspondent to 

 favour the promotion of John, abbot of 

 Waverley, to the vacant see of Bangor in 

 August 1533." John Salcot, alias Capon, 

 abbot of Hyde, was however consecrated 

 Bishop of Bangor at Croydon on 19 April 

 1534. John, abbot of Waverley, was prob- 

 ably successor of Thomas Skevington as abbot 

 of Beaulieu. The last abbot of Waverley 

 was William Alyng. Dr. Layton was Crom- 

 well's agent in the visitation of the religious 

 houses of Surrey, Kent and Sussex. He 

 visited Waverley on 26 September, 1535, and 

 the following day wrote a letter to the visitor- 

 general, in which his views as to the in- 

 mates of the abbey were probably somewhat 

 prejudiced by the lack of entertainment shown 

 him by his hosts. The bearer of the letter, 

 the abbot himself, he admitted to be ' honest 

 but not one of the children of Solomon. 

 Every monk is his fellow and every servant 

 his master. . , . Yesterday, early in the 

 morning, sitting in my chamber in examina- 

 tion, I could neither get bread nor drink, 

 neither fire of those knaves (the servants) till 

 I was fretisshed, and the abbot durst not 

 speak to them. ... It shall be expedient 

 for you to give him a lesson and tell the poor 

 fool what he should do.' " The simplicity 

 and sincerity of the abbot is shown in the 

 touching letter he wrote to Cromwell on 

 9 June 1536:— 



To the right honourable Master Secretary to 

 the King. 



Pleaseth your mastership I received your letter 

 on the viith day of this present month and hath 

 endeavoured myself to accomplish the contents of 



11 Ibid. Woodlock, f. 193d. 



12 L. and P. Hen. VIII. vi. looi, 1006. 



13 Ibid. ix. 452. 



87 



