A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



of three of these hospitals, namely Bawtry, Newark, and Plumtree (Notting- 

 ham), survived the various storms and are now doing good work. 



It will be found in the following accounts of the various religious houses 

 that there is an exceptional amount of interest pertaining to the history of 

 several of the monasteries. 



Thus Blyth Priory, in addition to the difficult problems connected with 

 its rule under the clashing authority of the Norman abbot and the Arch- 

 bishop of York, is of interest through its influence upon the trade of 

 Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire by reason of the tolls that it was empowered 

 to impose on all merchandise passing through the place by road or water. 



The great semi-foreign Cluniac priory of Lenton entirely overshadowed 

 the county town in matters spiritual, in the same way that the priory of 

 St. Andrew of the same order overshadowed Northampton. 



The story of the Premonstratensian abbey of Welbeck, on the verge of 

 the great forest district of Sherwood, includes various picturesque inciderrts, 

 such as the attack on those in charge of the assize rolls of the king's justices, 

 when being conveyed over bad roads from York to Nottingham, or the insis- 

 tence of the visitor of 1456 on being met at Papplewick, many miles south of 

 the abbey, lest he should lose his way in the forest. Welbeck, too, as is but 

 seldom remembered, was exalted in 1 5 1 2 by the joint action of both pope 

 and king into the supreme place over all the houses of White Canons in 

 England and Wales, who were no longer to be in any way subject to the 

 great mother house of Premontre. 



The special position and privileges of such houses as the Austin priory 

 of Newstead and the Cistercian abbey of RufFord, in the centre of Sherwood 

 Forest, have already been discussed to some small extent.^ 



Various visitations of the Nottinghamshire religious houses subject to 

 diocesan control, as well as those made by special visitors of exempt orders, 

 such as those of Cluni and Premontre, are set forth in the following accounts 

 of particular monasteries. Nothing that tells of evil or careless living is 

 shirked ; but the smallness of the number of grave charges, as compared 

 with the numbers of the inmates, and the frequency of visitations wherein 

 no laxity was discovered, compel every honourable and competent judge to 

 come to a distinctly favourable conclusion as to the life and work of the great 

 majority of the ' religious ' who dwelt in the monasteries of Nottinghamshire, 

 as well as to the determination on the part of those in authority to deal sternly 

 with careless or criminal living. 



Nor should it be forgotten that every order, whether under diocesan 

 control or not, had its own system of visitation. This comes to light in 

 Nottinghamshire in connexion with the order of Austin Canons and Newstead 

 Priory. 



As to the Comperta, or abbreviated charges of Legh and Layton, Crom- 

 well's notorious visitors of 1536, their outrageous accusations against the 

 reUgious of this county are instantly confuted by a study of thesubsequent 

 pension lists. For instance, the charges against Abbot Doncaster of RufFord 

 were perfectly appalling, and yet within a few months of this report being 

 tendered the abbot received a pension of £2.^, which was, however, almost 

 immediately voided by his appointment by the Crown to the rectory of 



' F.C.H. Notts, i, 373. 



80 



