FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES1In view of the fact that the Abbey contained sixty monks, St. Albans was relatively slenderly endowed.Cf.below, p. 23.2The shrines of St. Osyth and St. Amphibalus, also at St. Albans, were scarcely less famous.3About twelve cells were founded; the most important being Tynemouth and Wymondham, in Northumberland and Norfolk respectively.4Gesta Abbatum I, p. 489.5Gesta Abbatum I, p. 307;II, p. 3. Still more oppressive was the enactment of a General Lateran Council under Innocent IV, by which the Abbot had to visit Rome, either in person or by proxy, once every three years. The cost of such journeys and the extortion of the Holy See were regarded as a heavy grievance. ‘Iste quoque Abbas,’ says the chronicler (Gesta Abbatum I, p. 312), referring to Abbot John of Hertford (elected 1235), ‘in novitate sua multis exactionibus fatigabatur et expensis, sed prae omnibus Romanorum oppressionibus novis et inauditis coepit molestari.’6See for example,Gesta Abbatum I, p. 397.7The economic history of the Abbey cannot fairly be so divided, and will therefore be treated in Section II from 1300–1539.8Mems. of St. Edmundsbury.Arnold. Vol.III, passim.9Gesta Abbatum II, p. 95.10Gesta Abbatum II, appendix, p. 469.11Gesta Abbatum II, p. 130.12Gesta Abbatum III, pp. 396–423.13Gesta Abbatum III, p. x.14St. Albans probably kept a ‘studium’ at Gloucester Hall from 1337. De la Mare, John Moote, Hethworth and Whethamstede were all considerable benefactors of the College, among their gifts being a chapel, library, and the rebuilding of the old wooden house in stone. For the relations of the Abbey and Gloucester Hall, see Daniel and Barker’sHistory of Worcester College, chapterIII.15Gesta Abbatum II, 406.16Living in England in captivity. He was a close friend of the Abbot, and spent much of his time at St. Albans.17The need of it had long been felt: the privilege had, in fact, been bought in two particular cases,viz., in 1235 for 300 marks, and in 1260 for 600 marks. The figures (as well as the new arrangement to pay 1000 marks in the future) indicate the growth of governmental extortion.18The almost chronic dearth at St. Albans in the early fourteenth century was a further misfortune. In 1314 the price of provisions in the town was excessive, and Edward endeavoured to fix it by Ordinance (Trokelowe, p. 89).19Cal. Papal Registers: Papal Letters II, 1305–1342, p. 75.20Cal. Papal Registers: Papal Letters II, 1305–1342, p. 75.21Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–1330, p. 84.22Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–1330, p. 362.23Gesta Abbatum III, p. 147, ‘per epidemias hominum et mortalitatem bestiarum facultates monasterii redditae sunt exiles.’ Also Walsingham,Hist. Ang. I, 273. ‘At that time,’ says Walsingham, ‘villages formerly very populous were bereft of inhabitants, and so thickly did the plague lay them low that there scarcely survived enough to bury the dead.... Many were of opinion that scarce a tenth of the population survived.’24Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1348–1350, p. 476.25Gesta Abbatum III, p. 146. A minor demand was liberty for the abbot-elect to receive benediction at the hand of whatever bishop he chose.26Gesta Abbatum III, p. 148. Summa taxae omnium bonorum.27Gesta Abbatum III, p. 171.28Cal. Papal Letters IV, p. 293. Sep., 1396.29The grant of the same privilege to the Abbey of Evesham in 1363 was used as a strong argument by de la Mare during negotiations.30Gesta Abbatum III, p. 143. In 1396, Bury St. Edmunds made a similar arrangement, the annual payment being fixed at £40 (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1396–99, p. 21). About a year later, following the example of St. Albans, Abbot Cratfield, of Bury St. Edmunds, made an agreement with Boniface IX identical with that of de la Mare (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1396–99, p. 406).31He tells, for instance, how in 1384, in the midst of an argument with the Duke of Lancaster, he threw his shoes and cap through the window. In 1387 a judge made difficulties about signing a document presented to him. His son said, according to Walsingham, that his father was knocked down and kicked as he lay.32Trokelowe, p. 167.33Gesta Abbatum III, lxxii.34The chronicle has survived in two forms,viz., Cotton MSS., Otho Cii (British Museum), and Bodleian MSS. 316 ff, 150–1, plus Harleian MSS. 6434. It has been printed inChronicon Angliae(Rolls Series).35The Royal MSS. E. ix (B.M.)—the basis of Walsingham’sHistoria Anglicana.36See Maunde Thompson. Intro. toChronicon Angliae(Rolls Series).37Historia Anglicana I, p. 339.38The peasant armies in 1381 are said to have taken as their cry: ‘We will have no King named John.’39See Armitage Smith, John of Gaunt, pp. 169–171.40This is sufficient proof—if proof were needed—of the ‘independence’ of English chroniclers,i.e., they did not merely write what they were told.41Tout. Polit. Hist. of England, 1216–1377, p. 452: ‘The monks were jealously proud of their library to which almost every abbot found it expedient to contribute largely.’ In 1326 there was great indignation when Abbot Richard gave or sold nearly forty volumes to Richard de Bury, a famous lover of books, to promote the interests of the abbot at Court. The incident was not forgotten, and after de Bury’s death the books were bought back by the new abbot.42E.g.Higden’sPolychronicon, viii. 278.43The Scriptorium had been founded by Abbot Paul, circa 1077. Owing to the ignorance of his own monks he was compelled to fill it with hired scribes. Towards the end of the twelfth century a ‘historiographer’ was appointed, and from that time the systematic compilation of annals may be taken to date. From the peculiar character of the St. Albans script Sir T. Duffus Hardy concluded that Matthew Paris learnt the art of writing from a foreign schoolmaster. See Catalogue:Materials for History of Great Britain and Ireland III, xxv, xxxiv, cxxiii.44The same epoch left its impress upon the Abbey fabric. Much of it was rebuilt by Abbot Thomas, though unfortunately lapse of time and the restoration by Lord Grimthorpe’s munificence have left little except the great Abbey gateway. Some stained glass, wall-paintings and a rood screen of this date still remain, and in Abbot Whethamstede’s chapel there is a beautiful brass of De la Mare.45Chaucer: Prologue, &c. (Morris), lines 165–206.46Cf.p. 12 ante.47Viz.Essex, Hertford, Bedford, Bucks, Cambridge, Kent, Middlesex, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Northampton, Berks, Lincoln, and in London.48Gesta Abbatum II, pp. 157–8.49Another small outbreak in 1356 has escaped the notice of writers on St. Albans municipal history. SeeCal. Pat. Rolls, 1354–1358, p. 493. It was perhaps as a consequence of this that the Convent secured a licence (1357) to crenellate the dwelling-place of the Abbey.Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1354–1358, p. 574.50Whethamstede II, p. 324–5; for such services the villein commonly received besides his food a small wage.51Gesta Abbatum I, p. 453–455.52An unusually severe regulation.53It was highly desirable for the Abbot to maintain this distinction. In the King’s courts the villein had no case against his lord save for bodily injury. In practice it appears that the Abbot of St. Albans could inflict even bodily injury with impunity. See, for instance, the case of Nicholas Tybson, who, having been stripped, thrashed and wounded by the Abbot’s servants, brought an action for redress. The case was at once dismissed as a false appeal on the ground that Tybson was the born villein of the Abbot (Gesta Abbatum III, p. 39).54T. W. Page: ‘End of Villeinage in England’ passim. See, too, Petit-Dutaillis’ introduction to Réville, where the views of Stubbs and Thorold Rogers on this subject are exploded. The period 1349–1381, it is proved, was not marked (as they believed) by the reduction to serfdom of men emancipated before the Black Death, or the re-assertion on the part of landlords of labour services already commuted for money payments. On the contrary, the process of commutation (which had not advanced nearly so far by 1349 as Stubbs thought) proceeded at an increasing rate after 1349.55No manumissions occur in the records until more than a generation after the revolt: evidently the old system remained unprosperous but intact at St. Albans in 1381.56Réville:Le Soulèvement des Travailleurs d’Angleterre en 1381, p. xxv. See alsoGesta Abbatum II, p. 123 andIII, pp. 39–41,Whethamstede II, pp. 324 and 333. At the cell of Tynemouth in 1378 there is no trace of commutation in the manor rolls; the old system still exists in its entirety; see Gibson:History of Tynemouth, Vol.II, Appendix, p. cxxi.57Amundesham I, 163.58Whethamstede II, Intro., p. xxxv.59A few years earlier Abbot Heyworth had suppressed a similar rising at Barnet (Whethamstede I, 451–2).60Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol.I, p. 177.61SeeUtopia(Clarendon Press Edition), pp. 13–20.62It is unfortunate that the surveys of the Commissioners in 1535 for Hertford have perished. At the same time the condition of monastic estates was wonderfully similar, and St. Albans was probably no exception.63On the other hand classical learning became more esteemed. It is impossible not to see in the florid verses of Whethamstede and in his prose (loaded with classical allusion and metaphor) an early appearance of the Renaissance spirit in England. Verse and prose are alike worthless, but show a striving after something better than mediaeval monastic writing. The tendency becomes more marked in his work after his visit to Italy in 1423, where he was certainly influenced by the early Humanist movement.64The town of St. Albans was apparently something of a Lollard centre. Sir John Oldcastle lay in hiding there, and when in 1414 William Murlee (one of his followers) was hanged and burnt, the convent firmly believed that he had planned to put them every one to death (Walsingham:Hist. Angl. II, 298–299). See, too, the account of the proceedings at the Synod held by Whethamstede in 1429 (Amundesham I, 222–3): for commission to put down heresy (Amundesham II, 23). The Abbot’s bitterness extended to any departure from orthodoxy, and Pecock was an object of his special dislike.65E.g.He instituted and endowed ‘a common chest,’ to which resort was to be made only at times of great financial necessity. He also created the office of ‘Master of the Works,’ to whom he assigned regular funds with which the Master was to keep the Abbey buildings in repair and put up new structures when required.66Riley, for instance, thought it probable that Whethamstede was the Duke of Gloucester’s political adviser, and that his resignation of the abbacy in 1440 was due to the waning of ‘Good Duke Humphrey’s’ popularity before the rising star of Beaufort. ‘When ... the contending rivals had been alike removed by the impartial hand of death, we find him emerging from his comparatively obscure position as a pensioned monk of the Abbey, and on the first opportunity attaining the Abbacy once more’ (Amundesham II, liv).67‘His (Whethamstede’s) counsels,’ says Riley, ‘seem to have been sought with equal eagerness by the two great heads of the antagonistic parties of the politics of the times, the intriguing and ambitious Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, and his ... nephew, the Duke of Gloucester’ (Amundesham I, xv).68Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436–1441, p. 422.69The King is found nevertheless in 1549 spending Easter at the Abbey and lavishing gifts upon the Abbot.70Whethamstede I, 396. The St. Albans chronicles make a valuable contribution to political history for the years 1450–1461. For this the coincidence of two decisive battles being fought at St. Albans is responsible.71Newcome, p. 374. Clutterbuck:History and Antiquities of the County of Hertford I, Appendix I, pp. 527–46, for a copy of Edward IV’s charter.72For the growth of Episcopal hatred, seeAmundesham I, p. 73–82, 142–195, and 300–408.73Gesta Abbatum III, p. 472.74Amundesham I, 29, 31.75Amundesham I, 101.76Whethamstede I, p. 25.77Whethamstede I, p. 475.78Whethamstede I, XV.79It is a curious circumstance that the folio containing the account of his election has been torn out of the register.80MS. Cotton:Nero D.VII(British Museum), folios 25A-48A.Whethamstede I, 451. A different MS. from that of his Register (viz.MS. Arundel III, College of Arms), which contains the charges against him.81There are a few instances, however, during Albon’s rule.82E.g.Office of Seneschal of the Liberty bestowed upon several prominent political figures between 1474 and 1482 (seeWhethamstede II, xxx).83Whethamstede II, xxxii. Riley has examined such cases in detail. It appears that even his right of presentation of a Prior to the Cell of Tynemouth was alienated by Wallingford.84E.H.R. xxiv. 319–321: the Bull was promulgated in March, 1490. Mr. James Gairdner believes the curious omission in the Bull of any mention of Benedictine Houses due to the fact that there were so few exempt in England. More probably, I think, the omission was due to the Pope’s unwillingness to reverse a brief he had issued less than two months previously. In February, 1490, at the solicitation of Abbot Wallingford, Innocent VIII had addressed a brief to the Archbishop bidding him defend St. Albans against all attacks as an exempt House. Evidently Wallingford had an inkling of the impending reform and strove to anticipate Morton.85Wilkins Concilia III, p. 632; the translation is from Froude.86In 1484 Wallingford formally allowed Thomas Hethnes, keeper of the George Inn, to have a chapel for the celebration of the Mass by the Chaplains of ‘such great men and nobles and others as should be lodging at this hostelry’ (Whethamstede II, xxxiii; also p. 269), a clear indication of the decline of the one-time famous hospitality.87The history of these transactions is taken from an article by Mr. Gairdner (E.H.R. xxiv. 319–321) based upon Abbot Gasquet’s researches in the Papal archives.88Mr. Gairdner gives it as his opinion that the visitation was not carried out (seeLollardy and the Reformation, Vol.I, pp. 269–272, Vol.III, p. xxxi). He bases his view on a passage in the St. Albans obit book (Whethamstede I, p. 478), recording a victory of Wallingford over the Archbishop. This passage, it appears from what follows, was written not later than 1484 (seeWhethamstede I, p. 479), the convent solemnly affixing its seal to the narrative under the date ‘anno domini millesimo quadringentesimo octogesimo quarto, die, videlicet, mensis Augusti octava.’ Probably therefore the account refers to an earlier and unsuccessful attempt of the Archbishop to carry out a visitation (seeAppendix).89Letters and Papers I, No. 71.90Letters and Papers, 1519, No. 487.91Letters and Papers, 1519, No. 510.92Letters and Papers, 1521, No. 1843.93Letters and Papers, 1523, No. 3239.94Gasquet:Henry VIII and the English Monasteries, p. 27; the appropriation of the revenues of Prez and Tenby to his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich is natural; the revenues of the suppressed houses were too small to have been of any real assistance to St. Albans.95Savine:English Monasteries on the Eve of the Dissolution, p. 24 (Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History). The surveys of six counties are missing fromValor Ecclesiasticus.96Ibid., pp. 263–267.Cf.His conclusion that the monks maintained a population not more than four times their own number. Abbot Gasquet had stated it to be at least ten times as great.Cf., too, Hibbert’sThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, p. 210.97E.g.Whethamstede II, xxxi.98Cf.Morton’s letter to the Abbot, 1490.Whethamstede II, xxxiii.99Cf.Morton’s letter to the Abbot, 1485 (Whethamstede II, xxxiii).100Cf.Robert Aske’s remarks in 1536 with regard to the blessings the abbeys conferred upon the ‘poor commons’ (Gasquet’sHenry VIII and the English Monasteries, p. 225).101The printing press generally said to have existed within the Abbey was probably set up in the town by an anonymous master of the Grammar School about 1480. See an elaborate article in theVictoria History of English Counties(Hertford), Vol.II, pp. 47–56.102The school was refounded 1549; probably it never ceased actually to exist.103Already in 1528 Wolsey had suppressed a number of the smaller monasteries, among them the nunnery of St. Mary de Prez (on the ground that the inmates did not preserve good discipline) and the cell of Pembroke.104Adding ‘It were well to suppress the nunnery of Sopwell as you may see by the comperts’ (Letters and Papers, 1535, No. 661). The state of affairs would thus really seem to have been worse in the smaller houses than at St. Albans; but of Binham, on the other hand, there is direct evidence that, except that its numbers had grown smaller, it was in good condition (Letters and Papers, 1534, No. 574).105Letters and Papers, 1535, No. 1155.106Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 642.107Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 354.108Letters and Papers, 1537, No. 1209.109Monasticon II, p. 207.110From one of his letters to Cromwell it would appear that as early as January, 1536, Catton felt his position insecure owing to the complaints of his own monks. ‘Trusts greatly to Cromwell his position here being so intrikyd with extreme penury ... and most of all encumbered with an uncourteous flock of brethren.’ (Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 152).111The average decline in numbers has been calculated by Savine as one-fifth; so the proportion at St. Albans was high.112The three greater were: Canterbury (£2,423); Westminster (£2,409); and Glastonbury (£3,311) (Savine Appendix, p. 270–288).113Whethamstede I, p. 475–479.

1In view of the fact that the Abbey contained sixty monks, St. Albans was relatively slenderly endowed.Cf.below, p. 23.

2The shrines of St. Osyth and St. Amphibalus, also at St. Albans, were scarcely less famous.

3About twelve cells were founded; the most important being Tynemouth and Wymondham, in Northumberland and Norfolk respectively.

4Gesta Abbatum I, p. 489.

5Gesta Abbatum I, p. 307;II, p. 3. Still more oppressive was the enactment of a General Lateran Council under Innocent IV, by which the Abbot had to visit Rome, either in person or by proxy, once every three years. The cost of such journeys and the extortion of the Holy See were regarded as a heavy grievance. ‘Iste quoque Abbas,’ says the chronicler (Gesta Abbatum I, p. 312), referring to Abbot John of Hertford (elected 1235), ‘in novitate sua multis exactionibus fatigabatur et expensis, sed prae omnibus Romanorum oppressionibus novis et inauditis coepit molestari.’

6See for example,Gesta Abbatum I, p. 397.

7The economic history of the Abbey cannot fairly be so divided, and will therefore be treated in Section II from 1300–1539.

8Mems. of St. Edmundsbury.Arnold. Vol.III, passim.

9Gesta Abbatum II, p. 95.

10Gesta Abbatum II, appendix, p. 469.

11Gesta Abbatum II, p. 130.

12Gesta Abbatum III, pp. 396–423.

13Gesta Abbatum III, p. x.

14St. Albans probably kept a ‘studium’ at Gloucester Hall from 1337. De la Mare, John Moote, Hethworth and Whethamstede were all considerable benefactors of the College, among their gifts being a chapel, library, and the rebuilding of the old wooden house in stone. For the relations of the Abbey and Gloucester Hall, see Daniel and Barker’sHistory of Worcester College, chapterIII.

15Gesta Abbatum II, 406.

16Living in England in captivity. He was a close friend of the Abbot, and spent much of his time at St. Albans.

17The need of it had long been felt: the privilege had, in fact, been bought in two particular cases,viz., in 1235 for 300 marks, and in 1260 for 600 marks. The figures (as well as the new arrangement to pay 1000 marks in the future) indicate the growth of governmental extortion.

18The almost chronic dearth at St. Albans in the early fourteenth century was a further misfortune. In 1314 the price of provisions in the town was excessive, and Edward endeavoured to fix it by Ordinance (Trokelowe, p. 89).

19Cal. Papal Registers: Papal Letters II, 1305–1342, p. 75.

20Cal. Papal Registers: Papal Letters II, 1305–1342, p. 75.

21Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–1330, p. 84.

22Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327–1330, p. 362.

23Gesta Abbatum III, p. 147, ‘per epidemias hominum et mortalitatem bestiarum facultates monasterii redditae sunt exiles.’ Also Walsingham,Hist. Ang. I, 273. ‘At that time,’ says Walsingham, ‘villages formerly very populous were bereft of inhabitants, and so thickly did the plague lay them low that there scarcely survived enough to bury the dead.... Many were of opinion that scarce a tenth of the population survived.’

24Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1348–1350, p. 476.

25Gesta Abbatum III, p. 146. A minor demand was liberty for the abbot-elect to receive benediction at the hand of whatever bishop he chose.

26Gesta Abbatum III, p. 148. Summa taxae omnium bonorum.

27Gesta Abbatum III, p. 171.

28Cal. Papal Letters IV, p. 293. Sep., 1396.

29The grant of the same privilege to the Abbey of Evesham in 1363 was used as a strong argument by de la Mare during negotiations.

30Gesta Abbatum III, p. 143. In 1396, Bury St. Edmunds made a similar arrangement, the annual payment being fixed at £40 (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1396–99, p. 21). About a year later, following the example of St. Albans, Abbot Cratfield, of Bury St. Edmunds, made an agreement with Boniface IX identical with that of de la Mare (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1396–99, p. 406).

31He tells, for instance, how in 1384, in the midst of an argument with the Duke of Lancaster, he threw his shoes and cap through the window. In 1387 a judge made difficulties about signing a document presented to him. His son said, according to Walsingham, that his father was knocked down and kicked as he lay.

32Trokelowe, p. 167.

33Gesta Abbatum III, lxxii.

34The chronicle has survived in two forms,viz., Cotton MSS., Otho Cii (British Museum), and Bodleian MSS. 316 ff, 150–1, plus Harleian MSS. 6434. It has been printed inChronicon Angliae(Rolls Series).

35The Royal MSS. E. ix (B.M.)—the basis of Walsingham’sHistoria Anglicana.

36See Maunde Thompson. Intro. toChronicon Angliae(Rolls Series).

37Historia Anglicana I, p. 339.

38The peasant armies in 1381 are said to have taken as their cry: ‘We will have no King named John.’

39See Armitage Smith, John of Gaunt, pp. 169–171.

40This is sufficient proof—if proof were needed—of the ‘independence’ of English chroniclers,i.e., they did not merely write what they were told.

41Tout. Polit. Hist. of England, 1216–1377, p. 452: ‘The monks were jealously proud of their library to which almost every abbot found it expedient to contribute largely.’ In 1326 there was great indignation when Abbot Richard gave or sold nearly forty volumes to Richard de Bury, a famous lover of books, to promote the interests of the abbot at Court. The incident was not forgotten, and after de Bury’s death the books were bought back by the new abbot.

42E.g.Higden’sPolychronicon, viii. 278.

43The Scriptorium had been founded by Abbot Paul, circa 1077. Owing to the ignorance of his own monks he was compelled to fill it with hired scribes. Towards the end of the twelfth century a ‘historiographer’ was appointed, and from that time the systematic compilation of annals may be taken to date. From the peculiar character of the St. Albans script Sir T. Duffus Hardy concluded that Matthew Paris learnt the art of writing from a foreign schoolmaster. See Catalogue:Materials for History of Great Britain and Ireland III, xxv, xxxiv, cxxiii.

44The same epoch left its impress upon the Abbey fabric. Much of it was rebuilt by Abbot Thomas, though unfortunately lapse of time and the restoration by Lord Grimthorpe’s munificence have left little except the great Abbey gateway. Some stained glass, wall-paintings and a rood screen of this date still remain, and in Abbot Whethamstede’s chapel there is a beautiful brass of De la Mare.

45Chaucer: Prologue, &c. (Morris), lines 165–206.

46Cf.p. 12 ante.

47Viz.Essex, Hertford, Bedford, Bucks, Cambridge, Kent, Middlesex, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Northampton, Berks, Lincoln, and in London.

48Gesta Abbatum II, pp. 157–8.

49Another small outbreak in 1356 has escaped the notice of writers on St. Albans municipal history. SeeCal. Pat. Rolls, 1354–1358, p. 493. It was perhaps as a consequence of this that the Convent secured a licence (1357) to crenellate the dwelling-place of the Abbey.Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1354–1358, p. 574.

50Whethamstede II, p. 324–5; for such services the villein commonly received besides his food a small wage.

51Gesta Abbatum I, p. 453–455.

52An unusually severe regulation.

53It was highly desirable for the Abbot to maintain this distinction. In the King’s courts the villein had no case against his lord save for bodily injury. In practice it appears that the Abbot of St. Albans could inflict even bodily injury with impunity. See, for instance, the case of Nicholas Tybson, who, having been stripped, thrashed and wounded by the Abbot’s servants, brought an action for redress. The case was at once dismissed as a false appeal on the ground that Tybson was the born villein of the Abbot (Gesta Abbatum III, p. 39).

54T. W. Page: ‘End of Villeinage in England’ passim. See, too, Petit-Dutaillis’ introduction to Réville, where the views of Stubbs and Thorold Rogers on this subject are exploded. The period 1349–1381, it is proved, was not marked (as they believed) by the reduction to serfdom of men emancipated before the Black Death, or the re-assertion on the part of landlords of labour services already commuted for money payments. On the contrary, the process of commutation (which had not advanced nearly so far by 1349 as Stubbs thought) proceeded at an increasing rate after 1349.

55No manumissions occur in the records until more than a generation after the revolt: evidently the old system remained unprosperous but intact at St. Albans in 1381.

56Réville:Le Soulèvement des Travailleurs d’Angleterre en 1381, p. xxv. See alsoGesta Abbatum II, p. 123 andIII, pp. 39–41,Whethamstede II, pp. 324 and 333. At the cell of Tynemouth in 1378 there is no trace of commutation in the manor rolls; the old system still exists in its entirety; see Gibson:History of Tynemouth, Vol.II, Appendix, p. cxxi.

57Amundesham I, 163.

58Whethamstede II, Intro., p. xxxv.

59A few years earlier Abbot Heyworth had suppressed a similar rising at Barnet (Whethamstede I, 451–2).

60Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, Vol.I, p. 177.

61SeeUtopia(Clarendon Press Edition), pp. 13–20.

62It is unfortunate that the surveys of the Commissioners in 1535 for Hertford have perished. At the same time the condition of monastic estates was wonderfully similar, and St. Albans was probably no exception.

63On the other hand classical learning became more esteemed. It is impossible not to see in the florid verses of Whethamstede and in his prose (loaded with classical allusion and metaphor) an early appearance of the Renaissance spirit in England. Verse and prose are alike worthless, but show a striving after something better than mediaeval monastic writing. The tendency becomes more marked in his work after his visit to Italy in 1423, where he was certainly influenced by the early Humanist movement.

64The town of St. Albans was apparently something of a Lollard centre. Sir John Oldcastle lay in hiding there, and when in 1414 William Murlee (one of his followers) was hanged and burnt, the convent firmly believed that he had planned to put them every one to death (Walsingham:Hist. Angl. II, 298–299). See, too, the account of the proceedings at the Synod held by Whethamstede in 1429 (Amundesham I, 222–3): for commission to put down heresy (Amundesham II, 23). The Abbot’s bitterness extended to any departure from orthodoxy, and Pecock was an object of his special dislike.

65E.g.He instituted and endowed ‘a common chest,’ to which resort was to be made only at times of great financial necessity. He also created the office of ‘Master of the Works,’ to whom he assigned regular funds with which the Master was to keep the Abbey buildings in repair and put up new structures when required.

66Riley, for instance, thought it probable that Whethamstede was the Duke of Gloucester’s political adviser, and that his resignation of the abbacy in 1440 was due to the waning of ‘Good Duke Humphrey’s’ popularity before the rising star of Beaufort. ‘When ... the contending rivals had been alike removed by the impartial hand of death, we find him emerging from his comparatively obscure position as a pensioned monk of the Abbey, and on the first opportunity attaining the Abbacy once more’ (Amundesham II, liv).

67‘His (Whethamstede’s) counsels,’ says Riley, ‘seem to have been sought with equal eagerness by the two great heads of the antagonistic parties of the politics of the times, the intriguing and ambitious Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, and his ... nephew, the Duke of Gloucester’ (Amundesham I, xv).

68Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436–1441, p. 422.

69The King is found nevertheless in 1549 spending Easter at the Abbey and lavishing gifts upon the Abbot.

70Whethamstede I, 396. The St. Albans chronicles make a valuable contribution to political history for the years 1450–1461. For this the coincidence of two decisive battles being fought at St. Albans is responsible.

71Newcome, p. 374. Clutterbuck:History and Antiquities of the County of Hertford I, Appendix I, pp. 527–46, for a copy of Edward IV’s charter.

72For the growth of Episcopal hatred, seeAmundesham I, p. 73–82, 142–195, and 300–408.

73Gesta Abbatum III, p. 472.

74Amundesham I, 29, 31.

75Amundesham I, 101.

76Whethamstede I, p. 25.

77Whethamstede I, p. 475.

78Whethamstede I, XV.

79It is a curious circumstance that the folio containing the account of his election has been torn out of the register.

80MS. Cotton:Nero D.VII(British Museum), folios 25A-48A.Whethamstede I, 451. A different MS. from that of his Register (viz.MS. Arundel III, College of Arms), which contains the charges against him.

81There are a few instances, however, during Albon’s rule.

82E.g.Office of Seneschal of the Liberty bestowed upon several prominent political figures between 1474 and 1482 (seeWhethamstede II, xxx).

83Whethamstede II, xxxii. Riley has examined such cases in detail. It appears that even his right of presentation of a Prior to the Cell of Tynemouth was alienated by Wallingford.

84E.H.R. xxiv. 319–321: the Bull was promulgated in March, 1490. Mr. James Gairdner believes the curious omission in the Bull of any mention of Benedictine Houses due to the fact that there were so few exempt in England. More probably, I think, the omission was due to the Pope’s unwillingness to reverse a brief he had issued less than two months previously. In February, 1490, at the solicitation of Abbot Wallingford, Innocent VIII had addressed a brief to the Archbishop bidding him defend St. Albans against all attacks as an exempt House. Evidently Wallingford had an inkling of the impending reform and strove to anticipate Morton.

85Wilkins Concilia III, p. 632; the translation is from Froude.

86In 1484 Wallingford formally allowed Thomas Hethnes, keeper of the George Inn, to have a chapel for the celebration of the Mass by the Chaplains of ‘such great men and nobles and others as should be lodging at this hostelry’ (Whethamstede II, xxxiii; also p. 269), a clear indication of the decline of the one-time famous hospitality.

87The history of these transactions is taken from an article by Mr. Gairdner (E.H.R. xxiv. 319–321) based upon Abbot Gasquet’s researches in the Papal archives.

88Mr. Gairdner gives it as his opinion that the visitation was not carried out (seeLollardy and the Reformation, Vol.I, pp. 269–272, Vol.III, p. xxxi). He bases his view on a passage in the St. Albans obit book (Whethamstede I, p. 478), recording a victory of Wallingford over the Archbishop. This passage, it appears from what follows, was written not later than 1484 (seeWhethamstede I, p. 479), the convent solemnly affixing its seal to the narrative under the date ‘anno domini millesimo quadringentesimo octogesimo quarto, die, videlicet, mensis Augusti octava.’ Probably therefore the account refers to an earlier and unsuccessful attempt of the Archbishop to carry out a visitation (seeAppendix).

89Letters and Papers I, No. 71.

90Letters and Papers, 1519, No. 487.

91Letters and Papers, 1519, No. 510.

92Letters and Papers, 1521, No. 1843.

93Letters and Papers, 1523, No. 3239.

94Gasquet:Henry VIII and the English Monasteries, p. 27; the appropriation of the revenues of Prez and Tenby to his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich is natural; the revenues of the suppressed houses were too small to have been of any real assistance to St. Albans.

95Savine:English Monasteries on the Eve of the Dissolution, p. 24 (Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History). The surveys of six counties are missing fromValor Ecclesiasticus.

96Ibid., pp. 263–267.Cf.His conclusion that the monks maintained a population not more than four times their own number. Abbot Gasquet had stated it to be at least ten times as great.Cf., too, Hibbert’sThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, p. 210.

97E.g.Whethamstede II, xxxi.

98Cf.Morton’s letter to the Abbot, 1490.Whethamstede II, xxxiii.

99Cf.Morton’s letter to the Abbot, 1485 (Whethamstede II, xxxiii).

100Cf.Robert Aske’s remarks in 1536 with regard to the blessings the abbeys conferred upon the ‘poor commons’ (Gasquet’sHenry VIII and the English Monasteries, p. 225).

101The printing press generally said to have existed within the Abbey was probably set up in the town by an anonymous master of the Grammar School about 1480. See an elaborate article in theVictoria History of English Counties(Hertford), Vol.II, pp. 47–56.

102The school was refounded 1549; probably it never ceased actually to exist.

103Already in 1528 Wolsey had suppressed a number of the smaller monasteries, among them the nunnery of St. Mary de Prez (on the ground that the inmates did not preserve good discipline) and the cell of Pembroke.

104Adding ‘It were well to suppress the nunnery of Sopwell as you may see by the comperts’ (Letters and Papers, 1535, No. 661). The state of affairs would thus really seem to have been worse in the smaller houses than at St. Albans; but of Binham, on the other hand, there is direct evidence that, except that its numbers had grown smaller, it was in good condition (Letters and Papers, 1534, No. 574).

105Letters and Papers, 1535, No. 1155.

106Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 642.

107Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 354.

108Letters and Papers, 1537, No. 1209.

109Monasticon II, p. 207.

110From one of his letters to Cromwell it would appear that as early as January, 1536, Catton felt his position insecure owing to the complaints of his own monks. ‘Trusts greatly to Cromwell his position here being so intrikyd with extreme penury ... and most of all encumbered with an uncourteous flock of brethren.’ (Letters and Papers, 1536, No. 152).

111The average decline in numbers has been calculated by Savine as one-fifth; so the proportion at St. Albans was high.

112The three greater were: Canterbury (£2,423); Westminster (£2,409); and Glastonbury (£3,311) (Savine Appendix, p. 270–288).

113Whethamstede I, p. 475–479.

Back to Index Next