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Edingdon Monaster?/. 



of modesty. The Rector to be vigilant over the flock committed to his 

 care: the brethren not to be vagabond and idle, but diligently occupied 

 in good works. From Easter to the Feast of the Exaltation of the 

 Holy Cross (14 th Sept.), a short sleep to be allowed after dinner. After 

 the sleep, regular chanting, except on fast days. Then in chapter 

 everyone to confess any open irregularity and do voluntary penance. 

 If he neglect, the Cor-rector to punish him. After the punishment, 

 prayers for benefactors and the departed : then certain special prayers 

 for the founder, the King, the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of 

 Sarum, John de Edyndon, the founder's brother: also for Adam de 

 Orleton, late Bishop of Winchester, and Gilbert de Middleton, 1 

 Archdeacon of Northampton. When a brother dies the chapter 

 bell to be struck (pulsetur) : the brethren to go to the infirmary and 

 minister to any sick : the body to be washed and wrapped in its 

 habit : then to be watched by half the quire before matins, and the 

 other half after matins. The funeral on the following day. When 

 the founder dies, his Obit and that of his father, mother, and brother 

 to be observed with all due solemnity. 



The number of brethren, clerks, and priests in the house to be as 

 many as the revenues will support without difficulty. No corrodies 

 to be charged upon the monastery. All the brethren to wear grey 

 tunics (tunicas griseas) with scapulars of the same shorter than the 

 tunic, and with hoods of competent size. Also to have cloaks of 

 the same colour down to their feet. The Rector and brethren to 

 have decent large round capes of grey when they go any distance : 



1 He had been Prebendary Rector before the change to Warden and Chantry. 

 The place from which he took his surname was probably Middleton Cheney, near 

 Banbury, Co. Oxon : with which the Westbury families of Paveley and Cheney 

 were connected. In the Calendar of Patent Rolls, is a notice of his being in 

 danger of deprivation of his estates as a rebel ; and he had a good deal to lose: 

 for in " Fasti Eccles. Sarisb. " Canon W. H. Jones says " Gilbert of Mid- 

 dleton was well endowed with prebends, holding them, at one and the same 

 time, at St. Paul's, Lincoln, Sarum, Chichester, and Hereford. In 1312 he was 

 ' Firmarius ' of the Church of Bradford (on Avon), under the Abbess of Shaston. 

 In 1321 the King granted him that he should not be disturbed in any of his 

 benefices." Well-endowed Prebendaries not being generally of a turbulent or 

 rebellious temperament, one is curious to know something more of the disloyal 

 doings of this singular plural man. 



