RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



brothers) this forme to be kept as nere as we 

 can to the order of the heddhouse, as by let- 

 ters from thence to the same, and also by the 

 booke of their customes apperithe.' The father 

 was, in the chapter house, to lay before the 

 candidate the hardness of the order as in the case 

 of the monks. If the house agreed to receive 

 him, the lay brother was to be received with 

 the kiss of peace both by the monks and lay 

 brothers. When he had kissed them all the 

 father put on him a converse cowl. At the 

 end of high mass the prior, with the father 

 vicar, the proctor and the sexton (sacrist) 

 brought him up to the high altar where he 

 made his prayer. After the Feni Creator and 

 other prayers he was conducted to his cell. 

 At his profession the lay brother went up to 

 the high altar in his cowl and long cope, 

 after the offertory had been sung, and there 

 openly read his profession in English and re- 

 ceived the benediction lying prostrate.' 



By his will of 141 5 Henry V. left 1,000 

 marks for the completion of the house of Sheen, 

 repeating that he had endowed it for the sup- 

 port of forty Carthusian monks, and bidding his 

 executors see that the number was sustained.^ 



In the year 1416 an anchorage for a re- 

 cluse was founded, endowed with an annual 

 rent of twenty marks issuing out of the 

 manors of Lewisham and Greenwich ; the 

 first recluse or chaplain to occupy it was John 

 Kingstone.' 



An inspection and confirmation were 

 granted to John Ives, the prior, and the con- 

 vent of Sheen by Edward IV. in 1 46 1 of the 

 foundation charter and of the grant by Henry 

 VI. in 1442 of sixty-four acres of land in 

 Sheen, and that they might pray for the good 

 estate of the king and Cicely his mother and 

 for their souls after death, and the souls of 

 the king's father Richard, late Duke of York, 

 and his progenitors.* 



Licence was granted in June 1466 to the 

 prior and monks to make a subterranean con- 



1 The interesting ' Statutes of the laye Breth- 

 erns, Shene,' are set forth at length in English in 

 a small paper book of 126 folios among the British 

 Museum Add. MSS. 11,303. From them we 

 gather that the lay brothers at Sheen, as elsewhere, 

 had their houses apart from the monks' house, in 

 what was termed the Lower House ; that they 

 had there their own chapel, where mass was cele- 

 brated twice or thrice weekly, and where the 

 Blessed Sacrament was reserved, and that they 

 were not to be shorn clerkwise, or to learn grammar 

 or to sing, or even to be suffered to ascend to the 

 state of monks. 



^ Rymer's Fcedera, ix. 290. 



3 Winton. Epis. Reg. Waynflete, ii. f. 37. 



• Pat. I Edw. IV. pt. vi, ms. 15-18. 



duit from a spring called ' Welwey,' alias 

 ' Pickwelleswell,' to their house, and to repair 

 the pipes of the conduit when necessary. 

 Henry V. had granted them leave to make a 

 conduit from a spring called ' Hillesdenwell,' 

 but the supply of water was insufficient.^ 



In July 1474 licence was - obtained by 

 Prior William Wildy for the acquisition in 

 mortmain after inquisition, of land, tenements 

 and rents to the value of ^^50 yearly.* 



Edward IV. in 1467 granted to Queen 

 Elizabeth his consort the manor and lordship 

 of Sheen to hold for life, and she by letters 

 patent of i April 1479 granted to John 

 Ingilby, prior,and the monks of Sheen 48 acres 

 of land in West Sheen, parcel of the manor 

 to hold for her life. Whereupon the king 

 by letters patent of 25 May confirmed this 

 estate to the monks and granted it to them 

 in free alms for ever.'' 



In July 1480 Prior Ingilby, in conjunction 

 with Robert Houglot,Richard Newbryge, clerk, 

 and four others, obtained licence to found a 

 perpetual gild or fraternity for themselves and 

 other persons, both men and women. The 

 brethren and sisters were to elect from them- 

 selves yearly a warden for the governance of 

 the gild and the custody of its possessions ; 

 the fraternity was to have a common seal and 

 to be termed the Gild of St. Mary in Bag- 

 shot. Licence was also given to acquire in 

 mortmain lands and rents to the value of j^ 10 

 yearly, to find a chaplain to celebrate in the 

 chapel of St. Mary in Bagshot for the good 

 estate of the king and queen and of the 

 brethren and sisters of the gild, and for their 

 souls after death, and to do other works of 

 piety according to the ordinance of the 

 founders.^ 



On 4 August 1480 the priory obtained 

 licence for the acquisition in mortmain of 

 lands, tenements and rents to the value of 

 ;^ioo yearly.* 



It is related of one Godwin, a monk of 

 this convent, that in the latter end of March 

 1502 he murdered the prior of the house in 

 a cellar, but whether it was Prior Ingilby or 

 some other that succeeded him, and whose 

 name is lost, is uncertain.*" 



On Sunday, 1 2 January 1 5 1 o, Henry VIII. 

 was at the Sheen charter-house, and made an 

 offering of 33^. 4^." 



According to Stowe, the body of James IV. 



s Ibid. 6 Edw. IV. pt. l, m. 17. 



« Ibid. 14 Edw. IV. pt. ii, m. 22. 



' Ibid. 19 Edw. IV. m. 25. 



8 Ibid. 20 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 10. 



8 Ibid. m. 2. 



1° Manning and Bray, Bist. of Surr., i. 420 

 " L. and P. Hen. Fill. ii. p. 1449. 



9J 



