RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



over £^(i in fees to stewards and other officers 

 headed by the Earl of Derby, chief steward, with 

 ;^5 6f. 8iS?.'™ The abbey employed five receivers 

 and eleven bailiffs. Over ;^ii6 was allowed for 

 almsgiving and the support of the poor. By a 

 provision of John de Lacy the house was bound 

 to keep twenty-four poor and feeble folk. This 

 cost nearly £\(), the relief of casual poor coming 

 to the monastery over £62, and the residue came 

 under the head of alms on special occasions.''^ 



The abbey produced no chronicle. The 

 ' Liber Loci Benedicti de Whalley,' a miscel- 

 laneous register extending from 1296 to 1346, 

 includes two political poems of the early years of 

 Edward IIL"^' An account of the early history 

 of Whalley church is well-known under the 

 title of Status de Bkgbormhire}'''^'^ 



Abbots of Stanlaw and Whalley "' 



Ralph, first abbot, died 24 Aug. 1209 



Osbern 



Charles,"' occurs 1226-44 



Peter 



Simon,"* occurs Oct. 1259, died 7 Dec. 1268 



Richard of Thornton,"^ died 7 Dec. 1269 



Richard Norbury "* (Northbury), died i Jan. 



1272-3 

 Robert Haworth,'" resigned before 8 June, 



1292, died 22 April, 1304 

 Gregory of Norbury "* (Northbury), occurs 



1292, died 22 Jan. 1309-10 

 Eliasof Worsley,"' S.T. P., resigned ; died 13 18 

 John of Belfield, died 25 July 1323 



'™ The fees given to gentlemen who did not hold 

 abbey oiRces — referred to by Sussex in the letter quoted 

 above — may be seen in the 'compoti.' In 1 52 1 

 Lord Monteagle, Master Marney, Hugh Sherborne, 

 esq., John Talbot, and others received sums from £2 

 downwards ; Whitaker, op. cit. i, i z i . 



'" VahrEccl. v, 230. 



'"' Add. MS. 10374 ; Whitaker, op. cit. i, 155 ; 

 a Whalley lectionary is printed, ibid. 193-9. 



"'"CoaAr, 186. 



'" Where not otherwise stated the authority for the 

 following names and dates is the professedly complete 

 list of abbots in Cotton MS. Titus, F. 3, fol. 2 5 8, printed 

 (with some discrepancies in detail) by Whitaker {Hist. 

 of Whalley [ed. 4], i, 88 sqq), and [abbots of Stanlaw 

 only] by Ormerod (Hist, of Che s. ii, 398 sqq.). 



'" Cal. of Pat. 1225-32, p. 71 ; Coucher, 883. 



'" Ormerod, loc. cit. 



'" Ormerod is inclined to affiliate him to the family 

 of Le Roter of Thornton near Stanlaw. 



376 I Nocte circumcisionis ' ; Whitaker, op. cit. i, 

 88; 7 Kal. Jan.; Ormerod, loc. cit. '" Coucher, 810. 



"' Ibid. Summoned to the Parliament of 6 Jan. 

 1300 ; Whitaker, op. cit. i, 1 5 1. By an error with 

 regard to the feast of St. Vincent Martyr observed in 

 England the editors (ibid. 91) place his death on 

 9 June, 1309. 



'" He made his profession of obedience to Bishop 

 Langton on 12 April, 1310 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. 

 Langton, fol. 57^5. According to the Cotton MS. he 

 died at the monastery of Bexley, which may be iden- 

 tified with the Cistercian abbey of Boxley in Kent. 



Robert of Topcliffe,'^" resigned in or before 



1342, died 20 Feb. 1 350-1 

 John Lindley,^^^ D.D., occurs 1342-77 

 William Selby,'^^ occurs 19 March, 1379-80, 



and 25 April 1383 (?) 

 Nicholas of York,'^' occurs 1392, died 141 7 



or 1418 

 William Whalley,'^'' occurs 7 April, 14 18, 



and 5 Aug. 1426, died 1434 

 John Eccles,^*^ died 1442 or 1443 

 Nicholas Billington,'^' occurs c. 1445 and 



Aug. 1447 

 Robert Hamond '" 

 William Billington 



Ralph Clitheroe (or Slater),'*^ occurs 1464-7 

 Ralph Holden,^^' elected 1472, died 1480 



or 1481 

 Christopher Thornbergh,''" elected 1481, died 



1486 or 1487 

 William Read,'" elected 1487 ; died 13 July, 



1507 

 John Paslew,'^^ elected 7 August, 1507 ; 



executed 10 March, 1537 



The common seal of the abbey was round ; 

 in the middle the Virgin seated with the Child 

 on her left knee under a Gothic canopy ; on 

 each side of her a shield, that on the dexter bear- 

 ing 3 garbs with a star over it (Chester), the one 

 on the sinister a lion rampant (Lacy), over it a 

 crescent surmounted with a fleur-de-lys ; in a 

 niche beneath, the abbot with pastoral stafF.'^' 

 Legend : — 



S . COiiVNE . ABBIS . ET . COVENTVS 

 LOCI BNDICTI . DE . WHALLEY 



'^ Sub-prior in 1306 ; Whitaker, op. cit. i, 93, 9;. 



"• Ibid, i, 95. 



»'=Towneley MS. fol. 273, 324-6. The date 

 1323 must be an error. Previously vicar of Whalley. 



'*' Whitaker, op. cit. i, 1 00, from Inq. p.m. 



"* Ibid. ; Towneley MS. fol. 264. 



'''Whitaker, op. cit. i, 103, from Inq. p.m. 



''* Lich. Epis. Reg. Booth, fol. 451^ ; Pal. of Lane. 

 Plea R. 10, m. -jb. 



'"Whitaker (op. cit. i, 103) suggests that this is a 

 mistake for Harwood, but Hamond or Haymond is a 

 name which occurs at Combermere ; Ormerod, op. 

 cit. iii, 404). 



'" Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 4 Edw. IV, m. 22. Whita- 

 ker places him before the three preceding abbots. 



''' Part of 1479 fell in his seventh year (Whitaker, 

 op. cit. i, 104). 



'^ His fourth year extended into 1485 ; Towneley 

 Compoti, sub anno. 



'" His first year extended into 1488 ; ibid. ; Whit- 

 aker, op. cit. i, 105. 



'" Ibid. His execution took place in the thirtieth 

 year of his abbacy. Stow {Jnn. 574) reckons him 

 as the twenty-fifth abbot. He was between 60 and 

 70 in 1530 and his health was already broken ; Lanes. 

 Plead, i, 204-5. 



'" B.M. Cat. of Seals, i, 806. Figured in Whitaker, 

 op. cit. i, 201. See ibid, for the canting arms of the 

 abbey, three whales with croziers issuing from their 

 mouths. 



139 



