RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



give way for sorrow and despair of salvation, 

 losing peradventure both body and soul which 

 were greatly to be lamented.' He besought 

 the alderman to speak some good word for 

 the obstinate ones that they might be suflFered 

 and borne with.* Henry Man, proctor of 

 the house, which was the title of the third 

 official, was the leader of those who were 

 apparently ready to comply with the king's 

 wish. 



In June 1535 Robert Marshall, one of 

 the Sheen monks, wrote to Cromwell stating 

 that he had of late been at home in the 

 house of Sheen, and made inquiry whether 

 the king's commission sent by the Bishop of 

 Winchester for the king's supremacy was 

 declared among the brethren in their chapter- 

 house, and to strangers and others in church 

 every Simday and holy day. He asserted 

 that this had not been done, adding that 

 those of his brethren who were the king's 

 friends were shocked and greatly offended 

 with vicar and proctor. As a true subject 

 Marshall declared that he felt he must reveal 

 this matter to Cromwell. This was evidently 

 written during the absence of Prior Man.'' 



Writing to Cromwell on 8 August 1536, 

 Prior Man stated that his ' lordship ' had put 

 in the commission for the visitation of their 

 religion that the brethren should preach within 

 their monasteries. He understood this to mean 

 that their priors who might ride abroad should 

 preach also in other churches, but wanted 

 assurance on this point.^ 



In March 1538 Prior Henry showed him- 

 self amenable to Cromwell's wishes in the 

 matter of the advowson of Godshill.* 



On Easter Day 1538 one Dr. Cottys, a 

 secular priest, preached in the charter-house. 

 Sheen, a sermon which was said to be sinister 

 and seditious. A version of parts of it was 

 sent to Cromwell by Robert Singleton. ' To 

 be brief,' wrote Singleton, ' the sermon seemed 

 to be to blaspheme against the king and you 

 that be of his council, and to seduce the 

 people from the Son of Man to the abomina- 

 tion standing in the Holy Place.' ^ 



The Valor of 1535 showed that the clear 

 annual value of this well-endowed house was 

 ;^8oo 5j. 4i^. 



The house surrendered, through the influ- 

 ence of Prior Man, early in 1539. The 

 prior was assigned the great pension of ;^I33 

 bs. Sd., and small sums to eighteen of the 

 other monks.* The prior's complacency was 



1 L. and P. Hen. VIII. vii. 1091. 



2 Ibid. 959. ' Ibid. xi. 244. 



* Ibid. xiii. (i), 35, 422, 423. = Ibid. 819. 

 « Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. ccxxxiv. f. 3b. 



further rewarded by his being made dean of 

 Chester, and in 1546 he was promoted to be 

 bishop of the Isle of Man, retaining his 

 deanery in commendam. 



The site of this charterhouse was granted 

 in 1540 to Edward, Earl of Hertford, after- 

 wards Duke of Somerset ; and on his attainder 

 in 1552 to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, 

 who made the house his residence. But on 

 26 January 1557, Queen Mary replaced the 

 Carthusian monks in their house of Sheen, 

 making Maurice Chauncy their new prior, 

 and granting them a moderate endowment. 

 With the accession of Elizabeth however the 

 few religious houses that Mary had refounded 

 were again dissolved, and Sheen once more 

 became Crown property. 



Maurice Chauncy, the last prior of Sheen, 

 was one of the few religious of the London 

 charterhouse who purchased their lives of 

 Henry VIII. by compliance with his wishes, 

 and on its dissolution obtained a pension of 

 j^5. In his future penitence he deeply be- 

 wailed that he had not shared the crown of 

 martyrdom, and spoke of himself as ' the 

 spotted and diseased sheep of the flock.' The 

 Carthusians, who were for a short time 

 gathered together under Prior Maurice at 

 Sheen during Mary's reign, were the scattered 

 remnant of the various English charterhouses. 

 Several died during their brief sojourn at the 

 restored house, and the rest followed their 

 superior into exile on Elizabeth's accession. 

 Prior Maurice died at Paris on 12 July 1581; 

 two years later his history of the sufferings of 

 the Carthusians under Henry VIII. was 

 printed, of which Mr. Froude made so much 

 use in his graphic and sympathetic account 

 of their treatment.^ 



Priors of Sheen 



John Widrington, elected 1414 

 John Bokyngham, „ 1431 

 John Ives, occurs 1461 

 William Wildy, occurs 1474 and 1477 ^ 

 Johnlngilby, „ 1479-80' 



John Jobourn, „ 1504, resigned 



1534 

 Brian, elected 1534 

 Henry Man," occurs 1535-9 

 Maurice Chauncy, occurs 1557 



7 Gasquet's Monasteries, i. 203 ; ii. 405-6. ^^ 



8 Pat. 14 Edw. IV. pt. i. ms. 26, 25 ; pt. ii. m. 

 23 ; 16 Edw. IV. pt. i. m. 26 ; 17 Edw. IV. pt. 



ii. m. 31. 



9 Ibid. 19 Edw. IV. m. 25 ; 26 Edw. IV. pt. 



i. ms. 10, 2. 



10 L. and P. Hen. Fill viii. 585. 



93 



