Hattie Abbey 
ANCIENT SEAL OF BATTLE ABBEY SHOWING 
THE MONASTIC CHURCH, NOW DESTROYED 
quicksand,” offering upon the high altar a 
piece of the Holy Sepulchre brought from 
Palestine by his Lion-hearted brother. This 
was in the year 1200. In 1212 and 1213 he 
came again, seeking in the quiet cloisters for 
the peace he sought in vain elsewhere. The 
visits of Henry III. delighted not the monks. 
Attended by a troop of knights he demanded 
a considerable contribution from the Abbot’s 
treasury for his contest with his barons. The 
battle of Lewes was then pending, and after 
his defeat the King sought refuge within the 
Abbey walls. At the beginning 
and end of his reign Edward I. 
came here, and Edward II. was 
entertained with much hospi¬ 
tality, and high was the feasting 
in the Abbot’s hall. The table 
groaned beneath the weight of 
the peacocks, bream, swans, 
herons,“fessants”, capons and 
twenty-score and four loaves 
from the Abbot’s kitchen. Ed¬ 
ward III. gave leave to the 
Abbot Alan de Retlynge to 
crenelate and fortify the Abbey. 
1 here were exciting times in 
the year 1377, and Abbot Hamo 
de Offyngton earned for him¬ 
self the proud title of the 
“saver ot Sussex and all Eng¬ 
land.” 1 he French had captured the 
Isle of Wight and were coasting towards 
Winchelsea, when the news of their threat¬ 
ened invasion reached the Abbot. He sal¬ 
lied forth with his vassals and men-at-arms, 
and hastened to defend the town. The 
French sent messengers demanding a ransom. 
The Abbot replied that it was early to think 
of buying what he had not yet lost. The 
French offered to decide the matter by single 
combat. “No,” said the Abbot, “I am a 
Religious, and only seek to defend and keep 
the peace of my country.” 1 he French said 
he was a craven, and began to attack the town; 
but so well did the Abbot’s men fight, that 
the invaders were driven into the sea, and the 
poor Prior of Lewes, their prisoner, was res¬ 
cued. “Ware the Abbot of Battel when the 
Prior of Lewes is taken prisoner,” said the 
men of Sussex for many a year afterwards. 
But soon the days of the Abbey were num¬ 
bered. On a sweet May morning in 1538, 
the commissioners of Henry VIII. came on 
their shameful errand of plunder, I hey 
came along the highways decked in the spoils 
of the desecrated chapels, with copes for 
doublets, tunics for saddle-cloths, and the 
silver relic-cases hammered into shields for 
their daggers. A few months later the 
Abbey buildings were granted to Sir Anthony 
Browne, a favourite courtier. As he was 
feasting in the Abbot’s ball on the night of 
his accession to the property, a solitary 
cowled figure appeared, and pronounced the 
