ABBEY.] HENRY THE EIGHTH-THOMAS A BECKET. 77 -exasperated at that extraordinary man's opposition to the royal prerogativehe determined to execute vengeance on the bones and relics of Thomas a Becket.-The Martyr's tomb was broken open; and by an insane process, worthy of a Nero or a Caligula, a criminal information was filed against him as "Thomas Becket, some time Archbishop of Canterbury ;" and he was formally cited to appear in court, and answer to the charges. Thirty days were allowed the saint; but we need hardly inform our readers that his dishonoured relics rested quietly at Canterbury, and did not appear to plead in Westminster Hall. With due solemnity the court opened its proceedings.* The attorney-general eloquently exposed the case for the prosecution, and the advocates of the saint-who no doubt spoke less boldly-were heard in defence; and that being over, sentence was pronounced, that "Becket" had been guilty of rebellion, treason, and contumacy; that his bones should be burnt as a lesson to the living not to oppose the royal will; and that the rich offerings with which many generations of men, native and foreign, had enriched his shrine, should be forfeited to the crown as the personal property of the traitor. "In the month of August," continues the historian, "Cromwell, who must have smiled at the course pursued, sent down some of his commissioners to Canterbury, who executed their task so well, that they filled two immense coffers with gold and jewels, each of them so heavy that it required eight strong men to lift it." "Among the rest," says Godwin, "was a stone of especial lustre, called the Royal of France, offered by King Louis VII., in the year 1179; together with a great massive cup of gold, at what time he also bestowed an annuity on the monks of that church of an hundred tuns of wine. This stone was afterwards highly prized by the king, who did continually wear it on his thumb." A few months after, the king, by proclamation, stated to his people, that forasmuch as it now clearly appears Thomas Becket had been killed in a riot provoked by his own obstinacy and insolence, and had been canonized by the Bishop of Rome merely because he was champion of that usurped authority, he now deemed it proper to declare that he was no saint whatever, but a rebel and traitor to his prince: and that, therefore, he, the king, strictly commanded that he should not be any longer esteemed or called a saint; that all images and pictures of him should be destroyed; and that his name and remembrance should be erased out of all books, under pain of his majesty's indignation, and imprisonment at his grace's pleasure.† The rebenues of Tinterne Abbey, though far inferior to others of the same order, particularly those in Yorkshire, were still sufficient for the maintenance of the brotherhood, the repairs and decoration of the buildings, and the exercise On the 11th June, 1539. † Wilkins' Concilia, quoted in Hist. of Engl. Civil and Milit. Transact. vol. ii. 403. of hospitality, which formed so important a feature in the monastic code. The estimate recorded by Dugdale is probably under the mark; while that of Speed may possibly exceed, by a few pounds, the actual rental of the abbey lands. The former has computed it at £192. 1s. 3d., the latter at £252. 11s. 6d., sums which, taking into account the value of money in those times, give no mean idea of its annual resources. This sum, however, is exclusive of the daily tribute received from the pious hands of pilgrims, and the donations of many distinguished guests, who, from time to time, sat at the Abbot's table, or found refuge in its sanctuary. The details of the first endowments* of Tinterne Abbey, as well as various ABBEY.] REVENUES AND SEAL OF TINTERNE ABBEY. 79 later benefactions, down to the seventh year of Henry the Third, are contained in a charter of confirmation from William Marshall, grandson of Walter de Clare, the founder. "Herein," says Tanner, "were thirteen religious about the time of the dissolution, when the estates belonging to this monastery were rated at £256. 11s. 6d. in the gross, and £192. 1s. 44d. per annum, clear income." The site of Tinterne Abbey, with all the monastic buildings, was granted 28th Henry VIII. to Henry, Earl of Worcester. It is still the property of his descendant, the Duke of Beaufort. Leland, mentioning Tinterne Abbey in his Collectanea, says, "There was a sanctuary granted to Tinterne, but it hath not been used many a day." The common seal of this monastery is appended to an instrument dated in the 6th of Henry VIII., whereby the abbot and convent appoint Charles, Earl of Worcester, and Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, his son and heir apparent, chief stewards of their manor of Arle in Norfolk. The subject of this seal, of which only a mutilated impression in red wax remains, was the Virgin Mary and the infant Saviour, seated under an ornamented arch-in a niche underneath, was an abbot, with his crosier, on his knees praying. Nearly the whole of the legend is gone, the only part remaining being RII BEATE. William Marshall, the "vetus Marescallus," as he is called in blackletter chronicles-who married the daughter and heiress of Richard Strongbow-became the founder of a new Cistercian Abbey, near Wexford, in Ireland. Finding himself, once upon a time, in great peril during a voyage thither, he made a vow to the Virgin Mary, that if by her help he escaped shipwreck, and once more set foot on dry land, he would testify his gratitude by founding an abbey to her honour. The ship having got safe into port, he lost no time in commencing the pious work, to which, in compliment to her elder sister on the Wye, he gave the name of Tynterna de Voto. Daughters of Tinterne.-In addition to what has been already mentioned of the two daughters,* or offshoots, of Tinterne on the Wye, we collect the following particulars: Tinterne Abbey, in the County of Wexford." This abbey was situated on the shore of Bannow Bay, in the barony of Shelburne, three miles north-east of Duncannon Fort. William, Earl of Pembroke, as already mentioned, being in great danger and peril at sea, made a vow to found an abbey in that place where he should first arrive in safety; and the place was the bay in question. He accordingly performed his vow, dedicated his abbey to the Virgin Mary, filiales domus de Monaster. de Eleemosyna paternalis domus de Tynterna in Hibernia, Tynterna. Kingeswodde in Gloucestershire, S Tynterna. endowed it, and settled a convent of Cistercian monks in it, whom he brought from Tinterne in Monmouthshire. Archdale gives the particulars of the Earl of Pembroke's endowment of this house, from King. The whole, however, was not completed in the earl's lifetime, for Dugdale has given King John's charter confirming the bequest of thirty carucates of land to this abbey in the earl's will."* Kingswood Abbey.-" ROGER DE BERKELEY received by gift of William Rufus certain lands, upon condition that he should confer them upon some monks or canons; but being prevented by death, he bequeathed them to William de Berkeley† his nephew, upon the same terms. And of which William, I find that he bestowed upon the monks of Tynterne, in Wales, a certain Desart near Berkeley, called Kingswood, there to found an abbey of the Cistercian Order; and that Maud the Empress, daughter to King Henry the First, confirmed that grant. The convent was built, but during the troublous reign of Stephen they removed to Haselden; but thence, on the return of peace, they were expelled by the proprietor, and again took up their abode at Kingswood. Reginal D. S. Walerick repenting, invited them back to Haselden; but, after a time, the place being found very inconvenient for lack of water, they were removed by him to Tetbury, Kingswood all this time being left as a mere grange of the monastery. Of this the heir of the founder complained, and required that the convent should return thither, according to the conditions upon which it was given by his ancestor. A general chapter of the whole Order, however, decided against him, and determined that Kingswood should remain as a mere farm belonging to the convent of Tetbury; but that mass should always be sung at Kingswood, privately, by one monk, who was to have for his labour twenty-seven marks and a half. But after this, by another general chapter of that Order, it was agreed that the Abbot of Waverley, in Surrey, should rebuild Kingswood with the consent of the founder, and confirmation of the King; which being done without the privity of the *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. † 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. ABBEY.] OFF-SHOOTS OF TINTERNE-KINGSWOOD ABBEY. 81 convent at Tetbury, and Abbot of Tynterne, who opposed the same. Upon a meeting of divers other abbots at Kingswood, it was concluded, that the monks placed at Kingswood should be recalled, and that place reduced unto the state of a grange to Tettebiry, as it was before." These transmutations, however, were not yet concluded: "for Tettebiry being found a narrow place, too little for an abbey, and having no fuel but what was brought from Kingswood, which was far distant, Bernard de S. Walerick came to accord with Roger de Berkley, the founder of Kingswood, and therefore, obtaining a grant from him of forty acres of land adjoining to Kingswood, translated those monks from Tettebiry thither, and called it Kingswood, as a name of most note."* Such were the vicissitudes of this abbey. In a According to Pope Nicholas' taxation, the spiritualities of this monastery amounted in 1291 to the annual sum of £6. 4s. 4d.; the temporalities to £47. 17s. 2d.; making a total of £54. 1s. 6d. There is no valuation of Kingswood in the general ecclesiastical survey of the 26th Henry VIII., though Tanner says it was valued at that time, according to Dugdale, at £244. 11s. 2d. per annum; according to Speed, at £254. 11s. 2d.; clear, £239. 19s. 7 d. MS. record in the whole at £254. 5s. 10d. A survey of this house, taken in the 29th Henry VIII., is preserved in the appendix to the Monasticon Anglicanum. There is also a minister's 'accompt' of it in the Augmentation office, 32nd Henry VIII.; but its possessions are there answered for, in gross, at the sum of £245. 8s. 8d., the whole of its estates being then on lease to Sir Nicholas Peyntz, Knt., under the seal of the Court of Augmentations, dated 10th March, 29th Henry VIII., for a term of twenty-one years at the above rent. In the second year of Queen Elizabeth, the site of this house was granted to Sir John Thynne, Knt. The register of Kingswood Abbey was in the possession of John Smith, Esq. of Nibley, in the county of Gloucester. The common seal represented the Blessed Virgin crowned, holding in her arms the infant Jesus, and standing between two elegant pilasters, surmounted by a canopy; the field diapered; in base, under an arch, the half figure of a monk praying; the legend much flattened, so that no more of it can be read than S.COF CONVENTUS . DE KINGEWOD. An impression of this seal on red wax is appendant to a conventual lease, temp. Henry VIII., in the Augmentation office.† Monasticon and Baronage. The following is a list of the pensions granted to the monks of this house at the dissolution : wood, 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 there, by yere, i "Here cumeth such stipends as is thought necessary and expedient by us, John Tregonwell, Nicholas Furst to William Bandlaie, late abbot li. 8. d. Peyntz, Knight; John Peyntz, Esquyer; John Freeman; and Edward Gosewike, commissioners appointed for the dissoluement of the late monastery of Kings - to Thomas Redinge, prior there, by yere, vi xiii iii M VOL. II. |