Chapter 23

[79]Hutchinson, ii. 67.[80]Usus Cistercienses.[81]These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end, and were only observed until the temptation to break them had become sufficiently strong.—Seeante, pp. 33, 36.[82]Seeantepages 35, 36, 37.[83]See note in this vol.antepage 35.[84]Annales Cistercienses.[85]Morton, 200.[86]Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A. 121.[87]Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.[88]West’s Furness, 1774.[89]Mores Catholici, xi. 77.[90]Ibid.[91]Mores Catholici.[92]Mores Catholici.[93]See Account of theSchismalready given.[94]Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.[95]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.[96]Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.[97]Annales Cisterc.1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly from the original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.[98]In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and in those of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are pointed out, as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that given in the tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.[99]These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer applicable to Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully complained of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated; but to such instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the progress of Archæology can apply a final check.[100]From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of Gwent submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown, and its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration, the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in numerous controversies and processes of law.—County History.See also Letter from Cromwell, supra.[101]Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that of Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common name ofStriguil, orEstrigoel.[102]Thomas, p. 62.[103]Ibid. 63.[104]Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times past of the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For G. Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron, who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned. The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of vertue and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity.—Camden Silures, 634.[105]Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa miro fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset, quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera arte prævia transpenetraret.—Gyraldus Cambrensis.There is a hill near famed Caerleon,Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.—Wonders of Wales.[106]With regard to this tract Camden relates:—Beneath this lieth spred for many miles together aMersh, they call it theMoore, which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse; for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone, what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it, swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the like flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people withal.Camden, 635. See alsoNote supra, page 5. Neere to this place there remaine the reliques of aPriorie, that acknowledge those ofChandosfor their founder and patron.—Ibid.[107]County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.[108]Ibid.[109]Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that belonged to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the service of high-constableship.—Camden Silures, 634.[110]Seeante, page 32.[111]Mathernis “derived from Merthern Tuderic—or Martyrdom of Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours of martyrdom.[112]For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this place, I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend Father in God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great lover of venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his courtesie imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining Mathern, there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage, girt and short-trussed, bearing a quiver—(but head, hands, and feet were broken off)—upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a fragment of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital letters three inches long, erected byHaterianus, the lieutenant-general of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of Cilicia—Haterianus Leg. Aug. Pr. Pr. Provinc. Cilic.—The next yeere following hard by, was this table also gotten out of the ground, which proveth that the foresaid image was the personage ofDiana, and that her temple was repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old soldier, haply of a band of the Second Legion—T. Fl. Postumius Varus V. C. Leg. Templ. Dianæ restituit. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta, the name of Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he was made away by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an enimie; yet so as by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent.Pro Salute Augg. N. N. severi et Antonini [et Getæ Cæs.] P. Saltienus P. F. Mæciu Thalamus Hadri. Præf. Leg. II. Aug. C. Vampeiano et Lucilian.—Camden. Silures. Britan.pp. 637, 638.[113]Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.[114]See Speed’s Chronicle.[115]Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.[116]Ibid.[117]Pict. Hist. Book vi.[118]Ibid.[119]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.[120]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.[121]Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &c. See history of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.[122]Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.[123]On the 11th June, 1539.[124]Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit. Transact. vol. ii. 403.[125]In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the reign of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of Tinterne are thus given:—SPIRITUALIA DIOC. HEREF.£s.d.Porcio in ecclesia de Tudenham,368TEMPORALIA DIOC. LANDAF.Abbasde Tynterne habet Grang: de Asarto ubi sunt tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,100De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,006De silva cedua per annum,050De redd. assis,120De plantis et perquisitis,068De gurgite et piscar. in Weyt,1160De pastura vasti,042Item idem habet apud Rogenston quatuor caruc. terræ prec. cujuslibet,100De gardino et curilag,016De Molend. per annum,0150De pastura de vasto,0100Apud Marthog’m duas caruc. terr. et dimid. et novemdecim acr. prec. cujuslibet car.100Et prec. cujuslibet acr. de prædictis novemdecim acris,003De redd. assis ibidem,050In parochia de Magor de redd,030In parochia de Wundy,0134Et in eadem parochia novemdecim acr. terræ prec. cujuslibet,002Et ibidem quatuordecim acr. prati prec. cujuslibet,006Apud motam duas caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,1100De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,006In la Bredeme deme in paroch de magir. quinquaginta et duas acr. prati. prec. cujuslibet,006Ibid. in aedil. assis,0106Apud Penthleng. tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud Exellek sex caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud platelande tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud Hardstrete unam caruc. terr. prec.,140Ibidem viginti quatuor acr. ten. prec. omnium,060In villa de Sturggyl de redd. assis,040Apud Eriket unum molend foler prec.,068Ibidem ac redd. assis,0120Do molend,1100De una gurgite et dimid. per annum,200De sub bosco venet,0134De pannag,068De perquis cur,0134De melle vend,050De Fanneria,200Apud Penbo sexdecim acr. terr. prec. cujuslibet,006De redd. assis apud Uskam,014De Willielmo de Hereford pro quadem grang. de redd. assis,006De Johanne de Stonsœu’arl pro quadam grang.018De Landavenio triginta acr. pastur. prec. cujuslibet,003Summa£3850Abbas de Tynterne habet cens. reacc. prec. omium,7100De mult. duo mill. ducent. et sexaginta quatuor exitus omnium,37148De ovibus matricibus mill. exitus omnium,2500Summa£7048[126]Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna.Tynterna in Hibernia,}filiales domus deKingeswodde in Gloucestershire,}Tynterna.[127]Archdale has preserved the following names and dates of some of the abbots:—John Torrell was the first; another John occurs in 1308; Roger Codd, 1346; David Furlong succeeded; Thomas Wyggemore, 1355; William Walsh, 1356; Thomas Young, 1471; John Power was the last abbot, he surrendered it in the 31st Henry VIII.The abbey itself is stated to have been rebuilt in 1447. It was granted, with all its lands and appurtenances, 27th August, 18th Elizabeth, in capite, to Anthony Colcleugh, at the annual rent of £26. 4s., Irish money.King John’s Charter is dated Hamstede, iii die Decembris—but no year.[128]King Henry the First’s Charter, authorising Roger de Berkeley’s gift of Ackeolt to the monks, will be found in the appendix to the Monasticon, with William de Berkeley’s letter to Pope Innocent, praying for his ratification of the grant of Kingswood, followed by five other charters, confirming the land at Kingswood, from Roger de Berkeley the elder, Roger de Berkeley the younger, and King Henry the Second. The last instrument given in the former edition of Dugdale, is a cession from Nicholas de Kingestone of certain land called Jonesham.[129]Monasticon and Baronage.[130]The following is a list of the pensions granted to the monks of this house at the dissolution:—“Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by us, John Tregonwell, Nicholas Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer; John Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the dissoluement of the late monastery of Kingswood, in Wiltes, for the abbote and monks thereunto, euery of them appoynted what they shall have by yere during their lyves, that is to say—li.s.d.Furst to William Bandlaie, late abbot there, by yere,i—to Thomas Redinge, prior there, by yere,vixiiiiiii—to John Wensbury, monke there, by yere,iiiixiiiiiii—to John Gethin, monke there, and curate of the parishe, by yere,iiijxiiiiiii—to William Wotton, grangitor there, by yere,iiijvjviii—to William Hughes, monke there, by yere,iiij—to John Sodbury, monke there, by yere,iiij—to Nicholas Hampton, subprior there,iiij—to William Pakker, monke there,iiij—to Nicholas Acton, cellarer there,iiijxiiiiiij—to Edward Ermingham, sexton there,iiij—to Thomas Orchard, monke there,iiij—to John Stonley, monke there, being no prest,xi”To this are annexed the signatures as above.[131]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.[132]Floquet, Hist. du Parl. de Norm., quoted in Mor. Cath.[133]Mor. Cath., quoting St. Ambros. Orat. lib. v.[134]Macaulay.[135]Ibid.[136]Macaulay’s History of England.[137]Bishop Godwin. See Pict. Hist. Eccl. Affairs.[138]Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation in England. See Pict. Histor. ii. 404. Hist. and Fate of Sacrilege.[139]Latimer’s Sermons. Hist. above quoted, vol. ii. 404.[140]It would be difficult in the present day to find much of the church property, thus alienated, in the hands of any descendant of those royal favourites on whom it was sacrilegiously bestowed.[141]Letter from Fitzwilliam to Cromwell, dated at Hampton Court, Sept. 12, 1537, and given in Pict. Hist. vol. ii. p. 405.[142]Latimer’s Sermons, &c., quoting Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 405.[143]See Letter from Coverdale to Cromwell in 1538.[144]Hist. Henry VIII.[145]Madden, Penalties, p. 49.[146]Page 77.[147]According to Hall, the following barbarous verses were set up in great letters upon the stake or gallows, to which the unhappy victim was bound:—David-Darvel-Gatheren,As saith the Welshmen,Fetched outlaws out of hell;Now is he come with spear and shield,In harness to burn in Smithfield,For in Wales he may not dwell.AndForestthe friar,That obstinate liar,That wilfully shall be dead;In his contumacyOf the Gospel, doth denyThe King to be Supreme Head.[148]See the facts in Hall, Stow, and Godwin, abridged in the popular History quoted above.[149]Warton, Monastic Influence on Poetry and the Fine Arts.[150]Brit. Monach., Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns.[151]Opus citat. Brit. Monach.[152]Fosbroke, in quotation of various ancient authors, p. 259.[153]Gregory had a whip with which he threatened the young clerks and singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes; they also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate beans.—Hawkins’s Music.Fosbroke, p. 273.[154]Knighton, a canon of St. Mary-le-Prè, has, to his own disgrace, recorded his bitter condemnation of the translation made by his contemporaryWickliffe:—“Christ intrusted his gospel,” says that ecclesiastic, “to the clergy and doctors of thechurch, to minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and several occasions; but this Master John Wickliffe, by translating it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the evangelical feast, is thrown about and trodden under feet of swine.”—Decem Script. Col. 2644.Such language, as an ingenious and learned divine has justly observed, was looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not with what satire it was edged against themselves.—Nichols’s Append. to the Hist. of Leicester, vol. i. p. 108. Fosbroke, p. 253.[155]Fosbroke, p. 252.[156]Fosbroke, p. 246.[157]Ibid. p. 247.[158]Conviv. Religios.[159]Cruditis. Fosbroke, p. 253.[160]Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. Fosbroke.[161]Fosbroke, quoting Parsons’ MSS. in the Bodl. Libr., Oxford.[162]One of the last important occasions, on which the abbey seal of Tinterne was used, was in ratifying an instrument, whereby the abbot and convent appointed Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of their manor ofAcle, or Oakley, in Norfolk, 6th Hen. VIII.[163]Taylor’s Index Monasticus Pref. ap. Brit. Monach. p. 229, note.[164]MS. Harl. 1051. Fosbroke, art. Cloister.[165]Monachus quidam Sagiensis cænobii de cella quadam in partibus Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in Walliæ finibus, super mare Milvordicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando discurrens, nesolusesset in via, quia, vae soli!—non socium sibi, sedsociam, elegit; ejus turpitudo, terque quaterque, turpiter deprehensa fuit. Adeo quidem, quod à Castellanis partium illarum demum captus et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ ribaldis exposita fuerit et garcionibus prostituta. Tales autem honores, et tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico pervenire solent.—MSS. Cott. Tiber B. 13. ap. Fosbroke, p. 271.[166]In the notes to Robert of Gloucester’sChronicle[vol. iii. § 8-9] we read:—“About this tyme the order ofCysteauxwas fyrst brought into Englande by one Walter, that founded the first abbey of that religion atRyuall.” The question, however, has been set at rest by the extracts already given from the Chronicles of Tinterne, in which the date of their appearance in Englande is fixed at the beginning of the twelfth century, regnanteHenrico primo.[167]Quidam monachi dicuntomnes esse monachos qui in paradiso erant, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum.[168]Mox ut mortuus fuero, cucullam Ordinis Cisterciensis mihi induite, et ne fiat me vivente, diligentissime cavete. MS. Roy. Lib. 7. A. III. ap. Fosbroke, 173.So—when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.[169]It appears, however, that the books so carefully transcribed in the monasteries were seldom understood, or even perused, by the higher clergy; for it is told that Lewis Beaumont, bishop of Durham, 1317, understood not a word of either Latin or English. In reading thebullof his appointment to that see—which he had been taught to spell for several days before—he stumbled upon the wordmetropolitice, which he in vain endeavoured to pronounce; and, having hammered over it a considerable time, at last cried out in his mother tongue, “Soit pour dite! Par Seynt Lowys, il ne fu pas curteis qui ceste parole ici escrit.”—Robert de Greystanes. Anglia Sacra, 1. 761., as quoted by Craik, 1. 137.

[79]Hutchinson, ii. 67.

[79]Hutchinson, ii. 67.

[80]Usus Cistercienses.

[80]Usus Cistercienses.

[81]These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end, and were only observed until the temptation to break them had become sufficiently strong.—Seeante, pp. 33, 36.

[81]These rules, however, proved very ineffectual in the end, and were only observed until the temptation to break them had become sufficiently strong.—Seeante, pp. 33, 36.

[82]Seeantepages 35, 36, 37.

[82]Seeantepages 35, 36, 37.

[83]See note in this vol.antepage 35.

[83]See note in this vol.antepage 35.

[84]Annales Cistercienses.

[84]Annales Cistercienses.

[85]Morton, 200.

[85]Morton, 200.

[86]Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A. 121.

[86]Morton’s Monastic Annals, quoting Bibl. Cotton. Nero A. 121.

[87]Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.

[87]Nicolson’s Engh. Hist. lib. quoted by Morton.

[88]West’s Furness, 1774.

[88]West’s Furness, 1774.

[89]Mores Catholici, xi. 77.

[89]Mores Catholici, xi. 77.

[90]Ibid.

[90]Ibid.

[91]Mores Catholici.

[91]Mores Catholici.

[92]Mores Catholici.

[92]Mores Catholici.

[93]See Account of theSchismalready given.

[93]See Account of theSchismalready given.

[94]Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.

[94]Hist. Monast. Villar. apud Mor. Cath.

[95]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.

[95]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.

[96]Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.

[96]Annales Cistertienses, quoted by Morton, 209.

[97]Annales Cisterc.1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly from the original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.

[97]Annales Cisterc.1154, iv. 6. This varies but slightly from the original. See also Monast. Annals, p. 210.

[98]In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and in those of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are pointed out, as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that given in the tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.

[98]In the grounds at Hawkestone, the seat of Lord Hill, and in those of Fountains Abbey, some extraordinary hunters’-leaps are pointed out, as having been taken in the heat of the chase; but that given in the tradition of Lancaut, is one that will never be repeated.

[99]These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer applicable to Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully complained of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated; but to such instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the progress of Archæology can apply a final check.

[99]These objections, it is to be hoped, are no longer applicable to Tinterne Parva. The “desecration,” so justly yet playfully complained of, is a practice which cannot be too strongly reprobated; but to such instances of negligence or “economy,” nothing but the progress of Archæology can apply a final check.

[100]From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of Gwent submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown, and its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration, the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in numerous controversies and processes of law.—County History.See also Letter from Cromwell, supra.

[100]From the time of Henry the Second, to whom the land of Gwent submitted, the royalty of Wentwood Chase was vested in the crown, and its privileges were ascertained in the Charta Forestæ of Henry the Third; but the rights of lords of manors, and free tenants, in times of general confusion, became involved and disputable. In the assumption of the Chase of Wentwood by the house of Somerset, after the Restoration, the recognition of ancient customs and privileges involved it in numerous controversies and processes of law.—County History.See also Letter from Cromwell, supra.

[101]Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that of Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common name ofStriguil, orEstrigoel.

[101]Striguil, or Strigul Castle, is quite distinct from that of Chepstow, with which it has been often confounded, under the common name ofStriguil, orEstrigoel.

[102]Thomas, p. 62.

[102]Thomas, p. 62.

[103]Ibid. 63.

[103]Ibid. 63.

[104]Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times past of the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For G. Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron, who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned. The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of vertue and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity.—Camden Silures, 634.

[104]Hard by are seene Wondy and Penhow, the seats in times past of the noble family of Saint Maur, now corruptly named Seimor. For G. Mareshall, Earle of Pembrock, about the yeere of our Lord, 1240, was bound for the winning of Wondy, out of the Welshmen’s hands, to aide William Seimor. From him descended Roger de Saint Maur, knight, who married one of the heires of L. Beauchamp of Hach, a very noble baron, who derived his pedigree from Sibyl, heire unto William Mareshall, that puissant Earle of Pembrock, from William Ferrars, Earle of Derby, from Hugh de Vivon, and William Mallet, men in times past highly renowned. The nobility of all these, and of others besides, as may be evidently shewed, hath met together in that right honourable personage, Edward Saint Maur, or Seimor, now Earle Hertford, a singular favourer of vertue and good learning, worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity.—Camden Silures, 634.

[105]Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa miro fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset, quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera arte prævia transpenetraret.—Gyraldus Cambrensis.There is a hill near famed Caerleon,Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.—Wonders of Wales.

[105]Rupis Aurea, eò quod aurei coloris saxa sole repercussa miro fulgore sunt rutulantia: nec mihi de facili persuasio fieri posset, quod frustratum dederit natura nitore saxis, quodque suo fuerit flos hic sine fructu, si foret qui venas ibidem, et penitima terræ viscera arte prævia transpenetraret.—Gyraldus Cambrensis.

There is a hill near famed Caerleon,Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.—Wonders of Wales.

There is a hill near famed Caerleon,Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.—Wonders of Wales.

There is a hill near famed Caerleon,Which, if the sun but dart a ray on,It shines like gold; hence Goldcliffe hight,But if there’s gold, ’tis not in sight.—Wonders of Wales.

[106]With regard to this tract Camden relates:—Beneath this lieth spred for many miles together aMersh, they call it theMoore, which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse; for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone, what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it, swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the like flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people withal.Camden, 635. See alsoNote supra, page 5. Neere to this place there remaine the reliques of aPriorie, that acknowledge those ofChandosfor their founder and patron.—Ibid.

[106]With regard to this tract Camden relates:—Beneath this lieth spred for many miles together aMersh, they call it theMoore, which, when I lately revised this worke, suffered a lamentable losse; for when the Severn sea, at a spring tide in the change of the moone, what being driven back for three daies together, with a south-west winde, and what with a verie strong pirrie from the sea troubling it, swelled and raged so high, that with surging billowes it came rolling and inrushing amaine upon this tract lying so low, as also upon the like flates in Somersetshire over against it, that it overflowed all subverted houses, and drowned a number of beasts and some people withal.Camden, 635. See alsoNote supra, page 5. Neere to this place there remaine the reliques of aPriorie, that acknowledge those ofChandosfor their founder and patron.—Ibid.

[107]County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.

[107]County Hist. vol. ii. p. 57.

[108]Ibid.

[108]Ibid.

[109]Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that belonged to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the service of high-constableship.—Camden Silures, 634.

[109]Neere Throgos, where we saw the wall of a castle that belonged to the high-constables of England, and was holden by the service of high-constableship.—Camden Silures, 634.

[110]Seeante, page 32.

[110]Seeante, page 32.

[111]Mathernis “derived from Merthern Tuderic—or Martyrdom of Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours of martyrdom.

[111]Mathernis “derived from Merthern Tuderic—or Martyrdom of Theodoric.” When a Christian chief, who, like Theodoric, fell in conflict with the Saxons, then pagans, he was admitted to the honours of martyrdom.

[112]For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this place, I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend Father in God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great lover of venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his courtesie imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining Mathern, there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage, girt and short-trussed, bearing a quiver—(but head, hands, and feet were broken off)—upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a fragment of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital letters three inches long, erected byHaterianus, the lieutenant-general of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of Cilicia—Haterianus Leg. Aug. Pr. Pr. Provinc. Cilic.—The next yeere following hard by, was this table also gotten out of the ground, which proveth that the foresaid image was the personage ofDiana, and that her temple was repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old soldier, haply of a band of the Second Legion—T. Fl. Postumius Varus V. C. Leg. Templ. Dianæ restituit. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta, the name of Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he was made away by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an enimie; yet so as by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent.Pro Salute Augg. N. N. severi et Antonini [et Getæ Cæs.] P. Saltienus P. F. Mæciu Thalamus Hadri. Præf. Leg. II. Aug. C. Vampeiano et Lucilian.—Camden. Silures. Britan.pp. 637, 638.

[112]For the avouching and confirming of the antiquity of this place, I think it not impertinent to adjoin here those antique inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground, which the Right Reverend Father in God, Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaffe, a passing great lover of venerable antiquity, and of all good literature, hath of his courtesie imparted unto me. In the year 1602, in a meadow adjoining Mathern, there was found by ditchers a certain image of a personage, girt and short-trussed, bearing a quiver—(but head, hands, and feet were broken off)—upon a pavement of square tile in checkerworke; also a fragment of an altar, with this inscription engraven in great capital letters three inches long, erected byHaterianus, the lieutenant-general of Augustus, and proprietor of the province of Cilicia—Haterianus Leg. Aug. Pr. Pr. Provinc. Cilic.—The next yeere following hard by, was this table also gotten out of the ground, which proveth that the foresaid image was the personage ofDiana, and that her temple was repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus, an old soldier, haply of a band of the Second Legion—T. Fl. Postumius Varus V. C. Leg. Templ. Dianæ restituit. Also, a votive altar, out of which Geta, the name of Cæsar, may seeme then to have been rased, what time as he was made away by his brother Antonine Bassianus, and proclaimed an enimie; yet so as by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent.Pro Salute Augg. N. N. severi et Antonini [et Getæ Cæs.] P. Saltienus P. F. Mæciu Thalamus Hadri. Præf. Leg. II. Aug. C. Vampeiano et Lucilian.—Camden. Silures. Britan.pp. 637, 638.

[113]Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.

[113]Hist. of Engl. quoting Bishop Godwin.

[114]See Speed’s Chronicle.

[114]See Speed’s Chronicle.

[115]Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.

[115]Pict. Hist. of England: Ecclesiast. Affairs.

[116]Ibid.

[116]Ibid.

[117]Pict. Hist. Book vi.

[117]Pict. Hist. Book vi.

[118]Ibid.

[118]Ibid.

[119]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.

[119]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.

[120]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.

[120]Nat. Papers quoted in Hist. of England. Civ. and Mil. Transact. vol. ii. page 346. Pict. Hist.

[121]Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &c. See history of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.

[121]Headed in the North by Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, &c. See history of that year, 1539, in Pict. Hist.

[122]Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.

[122]Ellis’s Orig. Letters in Pict. Hist.

[123]On the 11th June, 1539.

[123]On the 11th June, 1539.

[124]Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit. Transact. vol. ii. 403.

[124]Wilkins’ Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit. Transact. vol. ii. 403.

[125]In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the reign of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of Tinterne are thus given:—SPIRITUALIA DIOC. HEREF.£s.d.Porcio in ecclesia de Tudenham,368TEMPORALIA DIOC. LANDAF.Abbasde Tynterne habet Grang: de Asarto ubi sunt tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,100De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,006De silva cedua per annum,050De redd. assis,120De plantis et perquisitis,068De gurgite et piscar. in Weyt,1160De pastura vasti,042Item idem habet apud Rogenston quatuor caruc. terræ prec. cujuslibet,100De gardino et curilag,016De Molend. per annum,0150De pastura de vasto,0100Apud Marthog’m duas caruc. terr. et dimid. et novemdecim acr. prec. cujuslibet car.100Et prec. cujuslibet acr. de prædictis novemdecim acris,003De redd. assis ibidem,050In parochia de Magor de redd,030In parochia de Wundy,0134Et in eadem parochia novemdecim acr. terræ prec. cujuslibet,002Et ibidem quatuordecim acr. prati prec. cujuslibet,006Apud motam duas caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,1100De prato ibidem quatuor acr. prec. cujuslibet,006In la Bredeme deme in paroch de magir. quinquaginta et duas acr. prati. prec. cujuslibet,006Ibid. in aedil. assis,0106Apud Penthleng. tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud Exellek sex caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud platelande tres caruc. terr. prec. cujuslibet,068Apud Hardstrete unam caruc. terr. prec.,140Ibidem viginti quatuor acr. ten. prec. omnium,060In villa de Sturggyl de redd. assis,040Apud Eriket unum molend foler prec.,068Ibidem ac redd. assis,0120Do molend,1100De una gurgite et dimid. per annum,200De sub bosco venet,0134De pannag,068De perquis cur,0134De melle vend,050De Fanneria,200Apud Penbo sexdecim acr. terr. prec. cujuslibet,006De redd. assis apud Uskam,014De Willielmo de Hereford pro quadem grang. de redd. assis,006De Johanne de Stonsœu’arl pro quadam grang.018De Landavenio triginta acr. pastur. prec. cujuslibet,003Summa£3850Abbas de Tynterne habet cens. reacc. prec. omium,7100De mult. duo mill. ducent. et sexaginta quatuor exitus omnium,37148De ovibus matricibus mill. exitus omnium,2500Summa£7048

[125]In the taxation of 1291, being the nineteenth year of the reign of Edward the First, the entries relating to the possessions of Tinterne are thus given:—

[126]Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna.Tynterna in Hibernia,}filiales domus deKingeswodde in Gloucestershire,}Tynterna.

[126]Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna.

[127]Archdale has preserved the following names and dates of some of the abbots:—John Torrell was the first; another John occurs in 1308; Roger Codd, 1346; David Furlong succeeded; Thomas Wyggemore, 1355; William Walsh, 1356; Thomas Young, 1471; John Power was the last abbot, he surrendered it in the 31st Henry VIII.The abbey itself is stated to have been rebuilt in 1447. It was granted, with all its lands and appurtenances, 27th August, 18th Elizabeth, in capite, to Anthony Colcleugh, at the annual rent of £26. 4s., Irish money.King John’s Charter is dated Hamstede, iii die Decembris—but no year.

[127]Archdale has preserved the following names and dates of some of the abbots:—

John Torrell was the first; another John occurs in 1308; Roger Codd, 1346; David Furlong succeeded; Thomas Wyggemore, 1355; William Walsh, 1356; Thomas Young, 1471; John Power was the last abbot, he surrendered it in the 31st Henry VIII.

The abbey itself is stated to have been rebuilt in 1447. It was granted, with all its lands and appurtenances, 27th August, 18th Elizabeth, in capite, to Anthony Colcleugh, at the annual rent of £26. 4s., Irish money.

King John’s Charter is dated Hamstede, iii die Decembris—but no year.

[128]King Henry the First’s Charter, authorising Roger de Berkeley’s gift of Ackeolt to the monks, will be found in the appendix to the Monasticon, with William de Berkeley’s letter to Pope Innocent, praying for his ratification of the grant of Kingswood, followed by five other charters, confirming the land at Kingswood, from Roger de Berkeley the elder, Roger de Berkeley the younger, and King Henry the Second. The last instrument given in the former edition of Dugdale, is a cession from Nicholas de Kingestone of certain land called Jonesham.

[128]King Henry the First’s Charter, authorising Roger de Berkeley’s gift of Ackeolt to the monks, will be found in the appendix to the Monasticon, with William de Berkeley’s letter to Pope Innocent, praying for his ratification of the grant of Kingswood, followed by five other charters, confirming the land at Kingswood, from Roger de Berkeley the elder, Roger de Berkeley the younger, and King Henry the Second. The last instrument given in the former edition of Dugdale, is a cession from Nicholas de Kingestone of certain land called Jonesham.

[129]Monasticon and Baronage.

[129]Monasticon and Baronage.

[130]The following is a list of the pensions granted to the monks of this house at the dissolution:—“Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by us, John Tregonwell, Nicholas Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer; John Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the dissoluement of the late monastery of Kingswood, in Wiltes, for the abbote and monks thereunto, euery of them appoynted what they shall have by yere during their lyves, that is to say—li.s.d.Furst to William Bandlaie, late abbot there, by yere,i—to Thomas Redinge, prior there, by yere,vixiiiiiii—to John Wensbury, monke there, by yere,iiiixiiiiiii—to John Gethin, monke there, and curate of the parishe, by yere,iiijxiiiiiii—to William Wotton, grangitor there, by yere,iiijvjviii—to William Hughes, monke there, by yere,iiij—to John Sodbury, monke there, by yere,iiij—to Nicholas Hampton, subprior there,iiij—to William Pakker, monke there,iiij—to Nicholas Acton, cellarer there,iiijxiiiiiij—to Edward Ermingham, sexton there,iiij—to Thomas Orchard, monke there,iiij—to John Stonley, monke there, being no prest,xi”To this are annexed the signatures as above.

[130]The following is a list of the pensions granted to the monks of this house at the dissolution:—

“Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by us, John Tregonwell, Nicholas Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer; John Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the dissoluement of the late monastery of Kingswood, in Wiltes, for the abbote and monks thereunto, euery of them appoynted what they shall have by yere during their lyves, that is to say—

To this are annexed the signatures as above.

[131]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.

[131]Mores Cathol., quoting Epist. lib. iv. p. 17.

[132]Floquet, Hist. du Parl. de Norm., quoted in Mor. Cath.

[132]Floquet, Hist. du Parl. de Norm., quoted in Mor. Cath.

[133]Mor. Cath., quoting St. Ambros. Orat. lib. v.

[133]Mor. Cath., quoting St. Ambros. Orat. lib. v.

[134]Macaulay.

[134]Macaulay.

[135]Ibid.

[135]Ibid.

[136]Macaulay’s History of England.

[136]Macaulay’s History of England.

[137]Bishop Godwin. See Pict. Hist. Eccl. Affairs.

[137]Bishop Godwin. See Pict. Hist. Eccl. Affairs.

[138]Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation in England. See Pict. Histor. ii. 404. Hist. and Fate of Sacrilege.

[138]Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation in England. See Pict. Histor. ii. 404. Hist. and Fate of Sacrilege.

[139]Latimer’s Sermons. Hist. above quoted, vol. ii. 404.

[139]Latimer’s Sermons. Hist. above quoted, vol. ii. 404.

[140]It would be difficult in the present day to find much of the church property, thus alienated, in the hands of any descendant of those royal favourites on whom it was sacrilegiously bestowed.

[140]It would be difficult in the present day to find much of the church property, thus alienated, in the hands of any descendant of those royal favourites on whom it was sacrilegiously bestowed.

[141]Letter from Fitzwilliam to Cromwell, dated at Hampton Court, Sept. 12, 1537, and given in Pict. Hist. vol. ii. p. 405.

[141]Letter from Fitzwilliam to Cromwell, dated at Hampton Court, Sept. 12, 1537, and given in Pict. Hist. vol. ii. p. 405.

[142]Latimer’s Sermons, &c., quoting Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 405.

[142]Latimer’s Sermons, &c., quoting Blunt’s Sketch of the Reformation. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 405.

[143]See Letter from Coverdale to Cromwell in 1538.

[143]See Letter from Coverdale to Cromwell in 1538.

[144]Hist. Henry VIII.

[144]Hist. Henry VIII.

[145]Madden, Penalties, p. 49.

[145]Madden, Penalties, p. 49.

[146]Page 77.

[146]Page 77.

[147]According to Hall, the following barbarous verses were set up in great letters upon the stake or gallows, to which the unhappy victim was bound:—David-Darvel-Gatheren,As saith the Welshmen,Fetched outlaws out of hell;Now is he come with spear and shield,In harness to burn in Smithfield,For in Wales he may not dwell.AndForestthe friar,That obstinate liar,That wilfully shall be dead;In his contumacyOf the Gospel, doth denyThe King to be Supreme Head.

[147]According to Hall, the following barbarous verses were set up in great letters upon the stake or gallows, to which the unhappy victim was bound:—

David-Darvel-Gatheren,As saith the Welshmen,Fetched outlaws out of hell;Now is he come with spear and shield,In harness to burn in Smithfield,For in Wales he may not dwell.AndForestthe friar,That obstinate liar,That wilfully shall be dead;In his contumacyOf the Gospel, doth denyThe King to be Supreme Head.

David-Darvel-Gatheren,As saith the Welshmen,Fetched outlaws out of hell;Now is he come with spear and shield,In harness to burn in Smithfield,For in Wales he may not dwell.AndForestthe friar,That obstinate liar,That wilfully shall be dead;In his contumacyOf the Gospel, doth denyThe King to be Supreme Head.

David-Darvel-Gatheren,As saith the Welshmen,Fetched outlaws out of hell;Now is he come with spear and shield,In harness to burn in Smithfield,For in Wales he may not dwell.

AndForestthe friar,That obstinate liar,That wilfully shall be dead;In his contumacyOf the Gospel, doth denyThe King to be Supreme Head.

[148]See the facts in Hall, Stow, and Godwin, abridged in the popular History quoted above.

[148]See the facts in Hall, Stow, and Godwin, abridged in the popular History quoted above.

[149]Warton, Monastic Influence on Poetry and the Fine Arts.

[149]Warton, Monastic Influence on Poetry and the Fine Arts.

[150]Brit. Monach., Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns.

[150]Brit. Monach., Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns.

[151]Opus citat. Brit. Monach.

[151]Opus citat. Brit. Monach.

[152]Fosbroke, in quotation of various ancient authors, p. 259.

[152]Fosbroke, in quotation of various ancient authors, p. 259.

[153]Gregory had a whip with which he threatened the young clerks and singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes; they also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate beans.—Hawkins’s Music.Fosbroke, p. 273.

[153]Gregory had a whip with which he threatened the young clerks and singing boys, when they were out, or failed in the notes; they also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate beans.—Hawkins’s Music.Fosbroke, p. 273.

[154]Knighton, a canon of St. Mary-le-Prè, has, to his own disgrace, recorded his bitter condemnation of the translation made by his contemporaryWickliffe:—“Christ intrusted his gospel,” says that ecclesiastic, “to the clergy and doctors of thechurch, to minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and several occasions; but this Master John Wickliffe, by translating it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the evangelical feast, is thrown about and trodden under feet of swine.”—Decem Script. Col. 2644.Such language, as an ingenious and learned divine has justly observed, was looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not with what satire it was edged against themselves.—Nichols’s Append. to the Hist. of Leicester, vol. i. p. 108. Fosbroke, p. 253.

[154]Knighton, a canon of St. Mary-le-Prè, has, to his own disgrace, recorded his bitter condemnation of the translation made by his contemporaryWickliffe:—“Christ intrusted his gospel,” says that ecclesiastic, “to the clergy and doctors of thechurch, to minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to their exigencies and several occasions; but this Master John Wickliffe, by translating it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy, and those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the evangelical feast, is thrown about and trodden under feet of swine.”—Decem Script. Col. 2644.

Such language, as an ingenious and learned divine has justly observed, was looked upon as good reasoning by the clergy of that day, who saw not with what satire it was edged against themselves.—Nichols’s Append. to the Hist. of Leicester, vol. i. p. 108. Fosbroke, p. 253.

[155]Fosbroke, p. 252.

[155]Fosbroke, p. 252.

[156]Fosbroke, p. 246.

[156]Fosbroke, p. 246.

[157]Ibid. p. 247.

[157]Ibid. p. 247.

[158]Conviv. Religios.

[158]Conviv. Religios.

[159]Cruditis. Fosbroke, p. 253.

[159]Cruditis. Fosbroke, p. 253.

[160]Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. Fosbroke.

[160]Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. Fosbroke.

[161]Fosbroke, quoting Parsons’ MSS. in the Bodl. Libr., Oxford.

[161]Fosbroke, quoting Parsons’ MSS. in the Bodl. Libr., Oxford.

[162]One of the last important occasions, on which the abbey seal of Tinterne was used, was in ratifying an instrument, whereby the abbot and convent appointed Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of their manor ofAcle, or Oakley, in Norfolk, 6th Hen. VIII.

[162]One of the last important occasions, on which the abbey seal of Tinterne was used, was in ratifying an instrument, whereby the abbot and convent appointed Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of their manor ofAcle, or Oakley, in Norfolk, 6th Hen. VIII.

[163]Taylor’s Index Monasticus Pref. ap. Brit. Monach. p. 229, note.

[163]Taylor’s Index Monasticus Pref. ap. Brit. Monach. p. 229, note.

[164]MS. Harl. 1051. Fosbroke, art. Cloister.

[164]MS. Harl. 1051. Fosbroke, art. Cloister.

[165]Monachus quidam Sagiensis cænobii de cella quadam in partibus Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in Walliæ finibus, super mare Milvordicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando discurrens, nesolusesset in via, quia, vae soli!—non socium sibi, sedsociam, elegit; ejus turpitudo, terque quaterque, turpiter deprehensa fuit. Adeo quidem, quod à Castellanis partium illarum demum captus et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ ribaldis exposita fuerit et garcionibus prostituta. Tales autem honores, et tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico pervenire solent.—MSS. Cott. Tiber B. 13. ap. Fosbroke, p. 271.

[165]Monachus quidam Sagiensis cænobii de cella quadam in partibus Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in Walliæ finibus, super mare Milvordicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando discurrens, nesolusesset in via, quia, vae soli!—non socium sibi, sedsociam, elegit; ejus turpitudo, terque quaterque, turpiter deprehensa fuit. Adeo quidem, quod à Castellanis partium illarum demum captus et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ ribaldis exposita fuerit et garcionibus prostituta. Tales autem honores, et tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico pervenire solent.—MSS. Cott. Tiber B. 13. ap. Fosbroke, p. 271.

[166]In the notes to Robert of Gloucester’sChronicle[vol. iii. § 8-9] we read:—“About this tyme the order ofCysteauxwas fyrst brought into Englande by one Walter, that founded the first abbey of that religion atRyuall.” The question, however, has been set at rest by the extracts already given from the Chronicles of Tinterne, in which the date of their appearance in Englande is fixed at the beginning of the twelfth century, regnanteHenrico primo.

[166]In the notes to Robert of Gloucester’sChronicle[vol. iii. § 8-9] we read:—“About this tyme the order ofCysteauxwas fyrst brought into Englande by one Walter, that founded the first abbey of that religion atRyuall.” The question, however, has been set at rest by the extracts already given from the Chronicles of Tinterne, in which the date of their appearance in Englande is fixed at the beginning of the twelfth century, regnanteHenrico primo.

[167]Quidam monachi dicuntomnes esse monachos qui in paradiso erant, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum.

[167]Quidam monachi dicuntomnes esse monachos qui in paradiso erant, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum.

[168]Mox ut mortuus fuero, cucullam Ordinis Cisterciensis mihi induite, et ne fiat me vivente, diligentissime cavete. MS. Roy. Lib. 7. A. III. ap. Fosbroke, 173.So—when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.

[168]Mox ut mortuus fuero, cucullam Ordinis Cisterciensis mihi induite, et ne fiat me vivente, diligentissime cavete. MS. Roy. Lib. 7. A. III. ap. Fosbroke, 173.

So—when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.

So—when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.

So—when the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;But when the devil got well, the devil a monk was he.

[169]It appears, however, that the books so carefully transcribed in the monasteries were seldom understood, or even perused, by the higher clergy; for it is told that Lewis Beaumont, bishop of Durham, 1317, understood not a word of either Latin or English. In reading thebullof his appointment to that see—which he had been taught to spell for several days before—he stumbled upon the wordmetropolitice, which he in vain endeavoured to pronounce; and, having hammered over it a considerable time, at last cried out in his mother tongue, “Soit pour dite! Par Seynt Lowys, il ne fu pas curteis qui ceste parole ici escrit.”—Robert de Greystanes. Anglia Sacra, 1. 761., as quoted by Craik, 1. 137.

[169]It appears, however, that the books so carefully transcribed in the monasteries were seldom understood, or even perused, by the higher clergy; for it is told that Lewis Beaumont, bishop of Durham, 1317, understood not a word of either Latin or English. In reading thebullof his appointment to that see—which he had been taught to spell for several days before—he stumbled upon the wordmetropolitice, which he in vain endeavoured to pronounce; and, having hammered over it a considerable time, at last cried out in his mother tongue, “Soit pour dite! Par Seynt Lowys, il ne fu pas curteis qui ceste parole ici escrit.”—Robert de Greystanes. Anglia Sacra, 1. 761., as quoted by Craik, 1. 137.


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