CHAPTER VI

MONASTIC BALANCE SHEETS

We shall take the remaining houses in alphabetical order, and it will be our endeavour to ascertain the details of their income and expenditure.

BREWOOD NUNNERY

The old market town of Brewood stood on the western border of the county, and for centuries the Bishops of Lichfield had possessed a manor there. On the Shropshire side of the town, and just beyond the county boundary, stood a Cistercian nunnery. On the Staffordshire side stood a Benedictine nunnery.

The latter was a small house containing in the sixteenth century four sisters only, and the record of its possessions in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[88] is very brief. It was apparently made by the same clerk as he who also drew up that of Dudley. The name of the Prioress was Isabel Launder. It shows income only and gives no disbursements. The house itself, with the demesne, provided the bulk of the total, viz., £6 15s. Chief rents in Brome (Staffs.) amount to £3, and besides these two items there are only small “alms,” amounting to 8s. 6d., a tenement in Horsebrook[89] (16s.) and a cottage in Kidderminster (2s.). The “alms” come from the following: William Woodhouse in Albrighton, John Gifford Kt., in Chillington, Sir -- Vernon in Tong, Roger Corbet Kt., in Dawley, and -- Blakemore in Bradeley.

When we compare this with the account given by the Commissioners at the Dissolution, we see at once from the latter that the _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ took no account of stores or stock in hand. When Thomas Gyfforde bought the place[90] he took over:

s. d. 1 qr. of wheat 6 2 1 „ „ munke-corn 8 0 1 „ „ oats 1 8 1 „ „ peas 2 8 10 loads of hay 15 0 1 horse 4 0

Little can be done to harmonize the two accounts of lands and rents, but possibly Thomas Pitt who paid 2s. for “a hole yeres rente” at the Suppression was the tenant of the cottage in Kidderminster, and John Penford of the tenement in Horsebrook. William Woodhouse, of Albrighton, appears, as William Wydowes, among those who were in arrears, as also does the bailiff of Tong, presumably the Vernon who is named in the _Valor_. In 1538 a grant in fee simple (by exchange) was made to Charles, Duke of Suffolk, of various Crown leases, including the Manor of Brome. Its annual value then was given at £3 10s., with 7s. rent.

The valuation made after the Dissolution (_Monasticon_, iv, 501) is in most respects identical with _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ so far as the same allotments appear, except that Brewood produces £1 2s. 4d. only instead of £6 15s. The following additions are given:

Blithebury--lands £3 12 0 Hampton, 1 messuage 13 4 Henyngton „ 8 0 Shardycote „ 6 0

The total valuation amounts to £10 8s. 3½d.

CROXDEN ABBEY

The Cistercian Abbey of Croxden stood in a secluded valley, away from the high road, about three miles from Rocester. Its history had been calm and uneventful. Its Chronicle has been preserved but contains little beyond merely domestic details, such as we should expect in the history of a house far removed from the noise of the world. It is an interesting example of the diary of one of the unimportant houses which never played a prominent part in national history but lived a humdrum life. It records some events of general interest, such as various incidents in the struggles in the reign of Henry III, and some of ecclesiastical interest, such as the adoption in the diocese in 1250 of the antiphon _salve Regina_ ordered by the Pope in 1239, the appointment of Bishops and Archbishops, and the summoning of the Cistercian Abbots to the General Chapters of the order at Citeaux. In 1274 Abbot Howton went to attend the General Chapter, and died at Dijon, being buried at Citeaux. In 1308 the Abbot refused to attend, and was deposed. But most of the information is solely concerned with the private fortunes of the secluded Abbey. We read of an unusually plentiful harvest in 1288, when sufficient carts could not be obtained, an earthquake shock in 1301 which terrified the monks in their refectory, the burning of the Abbey wood at Cheadle in 1303, a cattle plague in 1319, and a great storm in 1372 which flooded the church and blew the roof off the dormitory. The church was built by Abbot John of London, who had been Prior of Stratford in Essex, and was dedicated in 1253. He also built Chapter House, refectory, kitchen, dormitory, infirmary, etc. His successor, who was elected in 1268, built the Abbot’s House, and added to the library a great Bible in nine volumes. The west wing was built by John de Billysdon in 1288. It fell down in 1369 and had to be re-built. A London house was purchased by William de Over, who was elected in 1297, and who much increased the library. The first bell was hung in 1302. In 1313 the monks engaged Master Henry Michael de Lichfield to cast another to replace one which had been cracked. We are told he laboured throughout the summer and then his casting failed, but he succeeded by All Saints’ Day. From 1331 to 1334 much building, to repair the damage done by a great storm in December, 1330, is recorded. The Abbey pool was made in 1336, but ten years later it burst. The burials of the Verduns are carefully chronicled--John in 1274, Thomas in 1309, Matilda in 1312. On this latter occasion there was great pomp, and the Earl of Lancaster and other notables attended. Joanna, the last of the Verduns, was buried in 1334 before the high altar, the Abbots of Burton, Dieulacres, and Hulton being present.

Croxden’s prosperous time had been in the years when the wool trade had flourished. It was one of the houses which supplied the Flemish and Florentine merchants in the latter part of the thirteenth and the early part of the fourteenth centuries. When Edward II led his immense army to Bannockburn, Croxden provided supplies almost as great as Burton Abbey, and it also “lent” money to Richard II. But when its patronage left the Verduns it began to experience adversity.

In 1319, Alton Castle and the patronage of Croxden passed to the Furnivals. The new lord, Thomas de Furnival, levied many exactions on the Abbey. He insisted on daily distribution of alms, probably in the same spirit as the justices of Speenhamland in a later century--namely, to relieve himself of the necessity of maintaining his tenants. He required that his horses and hounds should be housed at the Abbey, and that his seven bailiffs should be entertained and fed once a week in a special room. There was naturally considerable friction, which was finally ended by a formal written agreement.

The outbreak of the French Wars made the Cistercians unpopular, and eventually they had to abandon their foreign dependence. Heavy exactions were levied on them. Corrodians were quartered on them without remorse. The Black Death added to their difficulties. It is mentioned in the Annals of Croxden as follows: In 1349 “there was a great pestilence throughout the whole world,” and in 1361, after almost a complete blank in the Chronicle, we read that “a second pestilence took place, and all the children that were born since the first pestilence took place died.” In 1369 a third visitation is recorded. In 1367 the affairs of Croxden were in such confusion that the Abbot of the parent house at Aunay had to send a special commissioner to visit it. He found debts to the extent of 152 marks, 8 shillings, and 11 pence. Bad harvests increased the difficulty, and Croxden had to sell much of its property. The insolvency which is found threatening so many of the religious houses at the beginning of the sixteenth century had evidently already begun.

In the breakdown of rule which accompanied the later years of the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses Croxden shared in the general disorder. There was trespassing by neighbours on its lands: there were complaints of trespassing on the lands of others by the monks and their men.

When the Commissioners for _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ came to Croxden they found Thomas Chawner was the Abbot. In the survey which was drawn up[91] the ecclesiastical income comes first and amounts to £8 15s. 4d. It consisted mainly of the tithes of grain and hay from the parishes of Alton in Staffordshire and of Tokeby in Leicestershire. These being paid in kind are computed to be annually worth £2 5s. 4d. and £4 respectively. The ecclesiastical rents also include the tithes of grain and hay “and other emoluments” from the parish of Norton in Leicestershire, which are reckoned to average £2 10s.

The fixed rents (_redditus assisus_) follow. These include a “pension” of 12d. from the parish of Cheadle which we have added to the former section. The remaining items, amounting to £1 7s. 10d., show revenue from lands and tenements in Walton, Cheadle, and Calton in Staffordshire, Ashbourne in Derbyshire, and Misterton in Northampton.

The third group gives the rents from lands and tenements “at will”: in Alton (£5 4s. 1d.), Glaston[92] (£5 10s.), Cheadle (£8 6s. 4d.), Leek (“Puttels” and “Whitels”), Uttoxeter, Stafford and Oken (£11 6s. 11d.), in Staffordshire; Hartshorne, Derby, Doveridge (“Downebrige”), Longford, Langley, Ashbourne and Trusley (£4 6s. 8d.), in Derbyshire; Tokeby (£8), and Burton Overy in Leicestershire; Stamford, Mountstrell and Casterne in Northampton; Middlewich in Cheshire, and £1 6s. 8d. for certain tenements in London: total £56 5s. 9d.

It is noted that the following demesne lands are not let, but are reserved for the use of the Monastery; the demesne at Croxden (£16), certain lands at Musden Grange (£13 6s. 8d.), and at Cauldon and Oncott (£7 10s.); total, £36 16s. 8d.

Then follow the outgoings. First come the “fixed charges” (£2 10s. 10d.), among which the foremost item is £1 12s. 4d., paid as chief rents to the Earl of Shrewsbury for lands in Cauldon and Alton. Four shillings a year is paid to the “monastery” of Rocester; 4s. 6d. to the King for lands in Ashbourne; and payments are noted to the Lord Mountjoy, William Chetwen, arm., the heirs of John Blount, miles, and the royal bailiff of Totmonslow.

Ecclesiastical payments are next given: to Hulton and Burton Abbeys, the parishes of Uttoxeter and Checkley, the Archdeacons of Stafford and Leicester, and 13s. 4d. per annum to the “General Reformator of the Cistercian Order,” Henry VIII’s official, whose appointment was chronicled in the preceding chapter.[93]

Wages to lay officials conclude the account. The steward of Tokeby received 10s. and of Oken, 20s. The steward of Croxden, Ashbourne, and Cauldon was John Wistowe, gent., and was paid £1. The bailiff and rent collector in Leicestershire was paid £1 13s. 4d., and the collectors in Oken and Croxden with its members 10s. and £1 6s. 8d. respectively. The bailiff of Ashbourne and Cauldon was paid £1 a year.

When we attempt to compare this valuation with the first valuation made after the surrender, as given in _Monasticon_ we find that the latter omits various sources of income, as has already been mentioned is commonly the case. The valuation of the demesne at Croxden had decreased from £16 to £14 2s. 5d., but that of Musden Grange had risen from £13 6s. 8d. to £19 11s. 8d. Alton rents had risen from £5 4s. 1d. to £5 15s. 3d., and the value of the water-mill there from £2 5s. 4d. to £4. Rents in Tokeby in Leicestershire had risen from £8 to £11 9s. 4d., and the tithe there from £4 to £7. It appears as though the rents from lesser folk had been generally raised, but the richer people managed to keep down the valuation of their property. The total valuation for the property which is mentioned is £157 1s. 2d. When it is remembered that items amounting to some £15 are not included, this is a very large increase on _Valor Ecclesiasticus_. The following are not mentioned in the earlier valuation but appear in the later:

Great Gate and Denstone--rents £2 16 8 Ditto with Musden, Calder, and Trussley (tithes) 6 13 4 Great Gate and Ridding--messuage and wood 3 5 0 Crakemarsh Grange 3 0 0 Calton, fixed rents 3 6 Cauldon--rents 3 7 0 „ water-mill 1 0 0 Musdon, 3 messuages 3 12 0 Ellaston--rents 4 11 8 „ water-mill 1 6 8 Hunchedial 17 18 8 Puttels 1 4 East Norton, tithe 2 13 4 Caythorpe, „ 13 4

There are also a few other items of small amount.

DIEULACRES ABBEY

Dieulacres was another Cistercian house which had profited by the wool trade, and had done much to bring the Moorlands into cultivation. Its monks had improved the course of the river Churnet, which flowed down the valley, had effected a great scheme of drainage, including the building of a stone drain so huge as to give rise to an impossible story of an underground passage from the Abbey to the Church, and had constructed a raised paved road across the valley. They had been well endowed at the commencement, and had begun with the advowson of the Church at Leek and its chapels. They owned a London house. The Abbot’s court was sometimes attended by as many as three or four hundred persons. His gallows stood at the end of the town, and his fair was held at Leek annually for seven days at the Feast of St. Arnulph (July 28th). He was a county magnate of importance, and even so late as 1504 we find him stipulating in the lease of the Manor of Pulton that he was to be entertained there with twelve mounted companions twice a year. Such a position was dangerous, and it is not surprising to find that the Abbot sometimes carried things with a high hand. In 1379 it was alleged against the Abbot that he attempted “to perpetrate maintenance in his marches” (_in marchiis suis manutenenciam facere_) and to oppress the people. He had a band of twenty-one retainers, who are described as common disturbers of the King’s peace, living at the Abbey and doing all the mischief they can, lying in wait for travellers, assaulting, maiming, and even killing them. Some of them were captured on the definite charge of murdering John de Warton at Leek, and were committed to the Marshalsea, with Edmund de Draycot, Cellarer at Dieulacres, and William del Brugge, Vicar of Leek, who, with the Abbot, had harboured the murderers. But the Abbot managed to delay proceedings again and again, and finally no one was punished.[94] In 1413 a monk of Dieulacres, with a large number of armed men, raided a neighbouring park, and took by force much stone, the Abbot being privy to the deed. The Abbot in question was Richard Whitmore, and one of the armed men who led the expedition was Adam Whitmore, Knight. Abbot Whitmore was frequently engaged in quarrels with his neighbours, as was his successor, John Goodfellow. He once stole goods worth £40, and once engaged in a riotous attack on the Vicar of Ilam, who had given the tithes to a neighbour he disliked.[95]

When the Commissioners visited Dieulacres the Abbot was Thomas Whitney, and subsequent events showed he inherited the spirit and vigour of his predecessors.

The summary[96] is arranged like that of Croxden and Rocester. The ecclesiastical income is mainly derived from Leek and its chapels: £1 4s. from glebe, £18 3s. 8d. from tithes of straw and hay, £46 8s. from oblations, £10 from tithes of sheep and wool, and £6 from tithes of cattle. From Leek also comes £6 5s. 4d. in Easter dues. Besides these there are two items from Sandbach: £23 16s. tithes of straw and hay, etc., and 14s. 8d. from glebe.

Fixed rents include 5s. 8d. from Leek, 1s. 6d. from Thornley, 5d. from Stafford, and 11s. from Norbrook and Biscopham in Lancashire; other “lands and tenaments” produce £160 15s. A salt-pan at Middlewich, worth £3 yearly, is included.

The demesne is said to be reserved _ad usum hospicii monasterii_, and to have been estimated by the discretion of the Commissioners to be worth £8 18s. 6d. per year. “Perquisites” of the Court and other “casual [fees]” are estimated in a similar manner at £4.

The outgoings begin with a payment of £4 13s. 4d. to the Royal Exchequer at Chester, and include 2s. to the landlord of Field for lands there; £3 13s. 4d. to the Abbot of Shrewsbury for the Lancashire lands; 8d. to Lord Audley for lands in Longton, and 2s. to Thomas Butler, Kt., for lands in Biscopham. “Pensions, Procurations, and Synodals” are paid to the Archdeacons of Stafford (15s.) and Chester (7s. for Sandbach), and to the Abbot of Combermere (18s. 6d.).

Wages to lay officials are given as follows: William Damport, £1 6s. 8d., as steward of the courts, and a similar amount for his fee as “Collector or Receiver” of the rents in Le Frith and elsewhere in Staffordshire; 13s. 4d. to John Corden, collector in Leek, and £2 to Humfry Whitney, collector in Cheshire. It will be noticed that the last mentioned bears the same surname as the Abbot. In 1537 he received a 49 years’ lease of a salt-pan at Middlewich.

Other possessions named, besides those already mentioned, were situated at Heyton, Tentisworth, Esyng, Lowe, Longnor, Horton, Cheddleton, Pulford, Poulton, Duddleston, Chirton Cestria, Byveley, Yatehouses and Rudheth, Bagford and Hadford, Knutsford, Newbalt, and Rossall.

At the Dissolution the following lay officials received “fees and annuities”: Lord Derby, steward of the monastery and town of Leek, £2; Richard Grosvenor, Steward of Poulton, 26s. 8d.; Humfry Whitney, £3 6s. 8d.; William Davenport, £4; Robert Burgh, forester (amount not stated); John Gordon, bailiff of Leek, £1; John Aleynn, bailiff of Rossall, etc., 26s. 8d.; Richard Daun, late steward of the household at Rossall, etc., £3; and eleven others, one of whom was subsequently described as chamberlain to the Abbot.

In the post-Dissolution valuation there are only two omissions, which amount to £2 12s. The site and demesne had fallen from £8 18s. 6d. to £3 18s. 1d. Rents at Heyton had risen nearly £3, at Thoreby, £1 4s.; at Tettysworth, £2 8s. 5d.; at Middlewich, over £4; but in some places they had slightly fallen, and at Esyng they had dropped from £3 3s. 8d. to £1 5s. 6d. The value of the Frith had fallen from £35 16s. 3d. to £31 4s. 11½d., and the salt-pan at Middlewich from £3 to £1 16s. 8d. Perquisites of the Court at Leek had fallen from £4 to £1 17s. 9d. Perquisites of the Court are added at Heyton (8s. 9d.), the Frith (2s. 7d.), Lowe (4d.), and Poulton (6s. 8d.). Other additions are water-mills at Leek (£4 6s. 8d.) and Heyton (12s.). Rents in kind at Heyton--“_reddit’ mobil’ caponum_”--(10s. 6d.) and at Lowe (8s.); rents at Nether Tettysworth, etc. (£1 17s. 4d.), Newbold in Aslebery (£1), tithes at Gostree (£3 6s. 8d.), and Hulme (£6 13s. 4d.), rents at Aldelegh (£2 5s.). Rents in Leek remained practically unchanged, but the Rectory was raised nearly £20. The manor of Poulton remained at £25, but the tithes at Sandbach had fallen £10. Rossall Grange remained almost the same. Grants under the seal of the Abbot or Convent appear at the Frith (£24 14s. 2½d.); Tettysworth (£2 19s. 8d.) and Lowe (£14 6s.10d.); perhaps these are the ante-dated leases, which Abbot Whitney arranged, and which were divulged by John Whitney long afterwards, as will be related in due course. The valuation amounted to £285 14s. 6d.

DUDLEY PRIORY

Dudley Priory was a cell to the great Austin Priory of Wenlock in Shropshire, and its Prior at the visit of the Commissioners was John Webley.[97]

The bulk of its income came from places in the diocese of Lichfield. The house, with three demesnes adjoining, is valued at £7 10s. 8d., and it is stated that the Commissioner who made the valuation was Walter Wrottesley, Kt. A further sum of £3 10s. is made up from divers rents of lands and houses in Sedgeley, Omburn, and Woodford, the land at Omburn being described as arable (10s.). From Sedgeley also came tithes of grain worth £6 6s. 8d.; and tithes from Omburn and Trefull amount to £10. From Worcester diocese came a total of £9 0s. 8d., Dudley supplied fixed rents (£2 1s.), other rents (£1 6s. 8d.), and herbage and tithes therefrom (£2 10s.). The rest came from fixed rents in Churchill and pensions from Northfield.

Disbursements (£2 6s. 8d.) are shared between two officials, Edward Blount, gent. the steward (6s. 8d.), and John Coke, the bailiff (£2). The latter is stated to hold his office for life, and when Sir John Dudley obtained the possessions of the Priory at the Dissolution they continued to be charged with John Coke’s annual fee.[98]

The payment from the rectory of Northfield is returned as £2 6s., but in the Worcestershire return it appears as £2 6s. 8d. (p. 270), and no mention is made of the 10s. which the vicarage of Dudley paid (p. 275).

The valuation made after the Dissolution is given in _Monasticon_ (v, 84). It is described as follows: “_Compotus Johannis Dudley militis perceptoris Reddituum et Firmarum ibidem per tempus praedictum. Redditus et Firmae pertinentes nuper Cellae sive Prioratui de Dudley praedicta._” The site and demesne had risen in value to £8 3s. 2d. Rents in Dudley are £4 9s. 3d.-- a decrease from £5 17s. 8d.; in Sedgeley there was an increase to £1 2s. 8d. The tithes at Dudley had risen to £6 6s. 8d., and tithes “from divers parishes” amounted to £19 18s. 8d. £5 as the _firma_ of Trysull Grange is added. The total is given as £39 10s. 9d., but it has proved impossible to make it agree with the items which are given in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_. Outgoings are given as follows: Edward Blount, steward, and John Coke, bailiff, receive their fees as before; the auditor’s fee for writing the valuation was 2s.; and the Bishop’s visitation fee is 2s. for Dudley and 12d. for Omborne and Trysull.

It is mentioned that various leases had been granted by the Priory for life, and that 45½ acres of the pasture of the demesne in divers closes were in separate parcels. They were “occupied” by John Dudley, but unfortunately no valuation of them is given.

HULTON ABBEY

The Cistercian Abbey of Hulton had annexed the parish church in 1368, when it was stipulated that a suitable proportion of the profits should be reserved for a resident vicar. It had been prosperous in the golden days of the wool trade, and in 1310 had given Edward II’s army as much in the way of supplies as Burton Abbey; but its wealth had seriously declined. In later years it had possessed a pottery. The Abbot’s name when the Commissioners visited Hulton was John, but his rule ended shortly afterwards.

In the summary given in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[99] the income is given in detail from each manor and parish. The same arrangement is followed in the case of Trentham, Stafford, Stone, and Ronton.

The following are the particulars relating to the several manors:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Rents of | Chief | Court | Demesne | tenements | rents | perquisites | Water-mills £ s. d. | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | s. d. | s. d. Hulton Manor 6 0 0 | 9 15 0 | 6 0 | 3 4 | 5 0 Normacot Manor 5 18 0 | | | 2 0 | 6 8 Bradnop Manor 4 0 | 1 16 8 |11 6 0 | 3 4 | Cambryngham Manor | | | | (Lincs.) 3 6 8 | 12 17 1½ | | 3 4 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

At Hulton the rent came from twelve tenements held “_ad voluntatem_,” and in each case the demesne comprised arable, meadow, and pasture. At Rushton Grange there was also arable, meadow, and pasture, worth £4.

The remaining property was all in Lincolnshire: Fillingham (5 tenements and a cottage), £2 4s. 4d.; Coots (lands), 4s. 4d.; Willingham (part of a meadow), 16d.; and Lincoln (one cottage), 1s.

The temporal disbursements comprised payments to the Abbot of Dieulacres, the Prior of Trentham, and the Prior of Torksey; to the King for Fillingham; to Philip Dreycote, miles, chief steward of the Staffordshire manors (£1 6s. 8d.), and Richard Sutton, Kt., chief steward of Cambringham; and to the bailiffs--£1 to Thomas Leer (Hulton), 10s. to Laurence Ratclyffe (Bradnop), 10s. to Robert Asten (Normacot), £1 to William Rede (Cambringham). The Under Steward, Sir Richard’s deputy, was paid 13s. 4d.

The spiritual income consisted of tithes (£18 10s.) and glebe (£2), from the parishes of Audley (£11) and Byddell (£4 10s.) in Staffordshire, and Cambringham (£2 10s.) in Lincolnshire.

The spiritual outgoings included £1 13s. 4d. to the Bishop of Lichfield, “_extra ecclesias de Audeley and Byddell predictas per idempnitate sua_,” and 6s. 8d. every third year for visitation fees; 10s. 4d. to the Archdeacon of Stafford for procurations; 7s. 6d. to the Archdeacon of Stowe (Lincs.); 6s. 8d. to the Bishop of Lincoln for synodals; 5s. 4d. to “the ... of Blessed Mary of Lincoln” as a pension. 3s. 4d. is also paid to the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield “_pro idempnitate_,” and 3s. 4d. to the Priory of Coventry for the same purpose.

There was a change of Abbots between the valuation in 1535 and October 1st, 1536, for on the latter date the Abbot who received a grant of exemption from the Act suppressing the Lesser Monasteries was Edward Wilkyns. The payment he had to make was £66 13s. 4d.[100]

In the valuation given in _Monasticon_ (v. 716) the rents at Hulton Manor only amounted to £1 16s., but additions were made of rents at Stoke, 6s.; Burdeslyme and Sneyd, £18 18s. 3d.; More, £1 18s., and Myxton Heyes (pastures), £5 16s. 8d., as well as at Northwich, 10s., and Bridgeworth, 2s. The water-mill at Hulton was omitted, but one was mentioned at More worth 14s. Rushton Grange had risen in value to £7 5s., but Normacot Manor had fallen to £2 1s., and the water-mill is not mentioned. The demesne at Bradnop Manor is not mentioned, nor are Cambryngham, Fillingham, Coots, Willingham, or Lincoln. No “perquisites of Courts” are mentioned. The valuation amounted to £67 3s. 4d.

ROCESTER ABBEY

The house of Austin Canons at Rocester was often called an Abbey, and its Abbot was William Grafton. It was a house with a history containing many points of minor interest. We see how the religious were able to turn the difficulties of others to their own advantage when we read that when Sir Hugh de Okeover’s unwavering loyalty to Henry III during the Welsh War and the Barons’ Revolt seriously impoverished him and he had to sell much of his patrimony, the neighbouring Abbot of Rocester was a ready purchaser of his lands.

The wool trade made Rocester prosperous for a time, and Edward I granted the Abbot a fair and a market. So late as the reign of Henry VI a second fair was obtained. The Manor of Rocester had been granted to the Abbey when the Chester Earldom was appropriated by Henry III as a provision for the heir-apparent. The house had once maintained two chantries, one at Halywell in Warwickshire and another at Lees in Staffordshire.

The prosperous days of the canons had ended even before the Black Death. In 1318 they alleged that the cattle plague and bad harvests had reduced them to such poverty that they had been obliged to go out and beg _quasi mendicantes_. But on Bishop Norbury’s personal visitation of Rocester Priory he found that heavy debts had been incurred through the attempt to obtain possession of the appropriation of Woodford in Northamptonshire. There were other abuses, too. He forbade the granting of corrodies and the keeping of _canes venatici_, but his injunctions were not observed.

It was in the time of Bishop Norbury that the interesting question arose about Easter Communions, which has already been mentioned.

The arrangement of the summary in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[101] is identical with that of Croxden, with an interesting addition which will be noticed presently. Ecclesiastical revenues include the tithes of straw (“garbas”) and hay in Rocester (with Waterfall and Bradley), Edensor, Kynston, and Woodford. The tithes in Rocester, etc., appear to be leased (_de firma_). The total is £46 13s. 10d.

The fixed rents were from lands in “Le Clownams” (Clownholme), Glaston, Great Meadow, and Rocester, and amounted to 13s. 1d.

Lands and tenements produced £40 8s. 8d. They were situated in Rocester, Swinscoe, Stanton, Combridge, Quickshill (“Quitsell”), Denstone, Alton, Waterfall, Foston, and Hognaston.

The value of the demesne lands is stated to be estimated, by the judgment of the Commissioners and others appointed by them, at £23 16s. _per annum_: they were reserved “_ad usum hospicii monasterii_.” From the Paper Survey we know they consisted of arable, 70 acres; pasture, 201 acres, and meadow, 20 acres.

The outgoings begin with the fixed payments: 1d. to the Earl of Shrewsbury for lands in Alton, £1 to William Bassett, Kt., for lands in Swinscoe, and 10s. to the King.

The ecclesiastical payments included fees to the Archdeacons of Derby (for procurations and synodals for the Church of Edensor) and Stafford (for Rocester and Kynston); £4 6s. 8d. for a chantry in Lichfield Cathedral; 6s. 8d. to the Rector of Kyngeley for the chapel at Bradley, and 10s. to the Rector of Blythfield for the Church of Kynston.

Only two lay officials are mentioned: Henry Pole, Steward of the Courts at Rocester (13s. 4d.) and John Needham, collector (£2).

Lastly comes an interesting section of “Annual Alms to the Poor,” which amount to £1 17s. 4d. At Easter four quarters of frumenty cakes were distributed (a quarter is reckoned to be worth 8s.); and at Hallowmas 8 dishes (“_fercula_”) of meat, 16 loaves, and 8 gallons of ale (“_servicia_”). These are the only doles mentioned in the Rural Deanery, and it is expressly stated, in accordance with the official instructions, that each is “_ex fundatione monasterii_.”

In the valuation made subsequent to the Dissolution we find the site and demesne had risen in value from £23 16s. to £36 8s. 10d. The Rectory of Rocester (£4) is added and also a fulling mill there (£2 6s. 8d.). Rents had slightly fallen at Waterfall and Swinscoe, but had risen £2 at Rocester, and 16s. at Quickshill and Denstone. Additions are, besides those already mentioned, perquisites of the Court at Rocester, 6s. 8d., tithes at Waterfall (£1 6s. 8d.), Calton (£1), and Quickshill and Denstone (11s. 8d.), and rents at Somersall--pasture--(10) and Scropton (£1 3s. 4d.). Kynston Rectory had fallen from £7 to £1. The omissions are small and amount to £6 only, but the total valuation was raised to £129 6s. 3d.

RONTON PRIORY

The Priory at Ronton had been built on assarted land, that is, land reclaimed and cleared from the surrounding forests. Its full name was _S. Maria de Exsartis_ or _Ste Marie des Essarz_, and in its precincts had formerly stood almshouses in connection with which we read of a gift of _unam assartam in campis de Flotesbroc_ (Flashbrook). No trace of them appears in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ or in any of the records of the Dissolution. The Priory was dependent on Haughmond Abbey in Shropshire, to which it made an annual payment. So long ago as 1246 this had been fixed by the Bishop at £5, and this amount was paid down to the time of the suppression. The Prior of Haughmond was supposed to visit Ronton every year, but no effective control was exercised. In the fourteenth century Bishop Norbury found much to censure at Ronton, and Bishop Blythe had recently (1530) refused to institute one of its canons who had been nominated to a vicarage, as he found him _indoctus et indignus_. In 1535 the Prior was Thomas Alton. _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[102] records that the temporal income came from Ronton and Heathhouse Grange (£13 11s. 8d.), the town of Ronton (£3 18s. 8d.), Clanford, Knighton, Ellerton, Bachaker, Hevedale, Hevehall, Watteley More, Seighford, Brucheford, Ellenhall, Billington, Orslow, Apeton, Launde Stockton, Aston and Cokysland, Walford, Gnosall, Halghton, Offley, Eccleshall, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Milwich, Whitgreve, Wodeyton, and Cowley in Staffordshire, besides 7s. 4d. from Stafford. The amounts are all small. From Shepey in Leicestershire came £4 8s. 8d.; from St. Mary’s Gild in Newport (Salop), 1s.; and from Grenburgh (Warw.), £4.

The demesne at Ronton produced £4 6s. 8d. arable, £6 5s. pasture, and £3 came from “_xxviii dey mathys prati ibidem_.” The total amount is £13 11s. 8d., and from the Paper Survey we know the acreage was as follows: arable, 79 acres; pasture, 121½ acres; meadow, 39 acres. At the town of Ronton 18s. 4d. came from two parcels of land and a water-mill.

Temporal outgoings consisted of payments to the Bishop for houses in Eccleshall and Knighton; Henry, Lord Stafford (Billington), John Gifford (Dulverne), and Thomas Gifford, Kt., “Lord” of Cariswall (Hevehall), Thomas Astley, Kt. (Shepey), the canons of Penkridge (Billington), John Harcourt, Kt. (Ronton), the Prebendary of Chyltrenhall in Gnosal (pastures in Gnosal), William Essex, Kt. (Walford).

The chief steward was John Harcourt (£2). Bailiffs are Reginald Carte (Grenburgh), Robert Vincent (Shepey), and John Hoggson (Ronton, etc.).

The spiritual income consisted of tithes only: £13 8s. 6d. from Seighford and £32 17s. from Grenburgh (Warw.).

Spiritual payments were as follows: Bishop £3 6s. 8d. triennially as visitation fees, 6s. 8d. annually from Grenburgh, and 4s. from Seighford; £5 to Haughmond Abbey.

The valuation of Ronton after the Dissolution (_Monasticon_, vi, 259) amounted to £116 16s. 9d. There were additions as follows: A salt-pan at Nantwich, £1 11s.; rents at Brichford, 9s. 4d.; Heathcote Grange, £3 16s.; tithes in Aston (Staffs.); Doddington and Cotton, £3 13s. 4d.; Oldall Grange, £1 4s.; Ronton Rectory, £4 13s. 4d.; Ellenhall Rectory, £3 12s. 8d. The omissions are Ronton, rents £3 0s. 4d.; water-mill, 18s. 4d.; Clanford, rents, £2 13s. 4d.; Hevedale, rents, £1 4s.; Orslowe, 12s.; Apeton, 8s.; Offley, 9s.; Cowley, 6d.; and Newport (Salop), 1s. Seighford Church is £6 5s. 2d. only, and there are tithes there worth £4 13s. 4d. Watteley More Grange, £2 13s. 4d., is added. Aston (Staffs.) and Cokysland has risen from 6s. 8d. to 19s. 4d., including 1s. for “_terra vasta_.” Grenburgh Rectory was £36 7s. instead of £32 17s. The remaining items are either unchanged or usually show a slight increase. The demesne remained practically unchanged, though in the Paper Survey it is £16 7s.[103]

ST. THOMAS’S PRIORY, STAFFORD

The Austin Canons of St. Thomas the Martyr, near Stafford, had often given striking illustrations of the worldly spirit which gradually infused itself in the “religious.” They were such keen men of business that their transactions were sometimes questionable. It has already been mentioned that when a verderer of the Forest of Cannock, in the latter part of the thirteenth century, laid himself open to the severe penalties of the Forest Laws and fled for his life beyond the seas, St. Thomas’s Priory did not hesitate to strike a bargain with him and to buy his manor. They possessed it at the Dissolution. They built a fine church and had a well-furnished house, fit to entertain Henry IV on his return from his victory at Shrewsbury. They were paid 26s. 8d. for their hospitality on the occasion.

In 1389 the Priory received from Robert de Ferrers an interesting grant from the revenues of the rectory of Weston. It was to vary with the number of Canons. There was to be an allowance of food (_pictancia_) from the kitchen every Thursday, and it was to be suitable to the season of the ecclesiastical year (_prout tempus_), and if the number of canons increased the allowance was to be correspondingly increased. Moreover, in 1409, the Bishop ordered that it was to be paid “_in Refectario seu Infirmaria prout tempus aut necessitas exquirit_.”[104]

In 1535 the Prior was Richard Whytwell. The Commissioners[105] found that at the Priory were lands--arable, meadow, and pasture--worth £2, and similarly at Arberton Grange, worth £10. At each of the manors was a demesne and usually a Court:

-----------+---------+-----------------+-------------+------------ Manor | Demesne | Rents of | Perquisites | Water-mill | | tenements | of Court | -----------+---------+-----------------+-------------+------------ | £ s. d. | £ s. d. | s. d. | £ s. d. Frodeswell | 2 0 0 | 6 17 7[106] | 1 0 | Penford | 4 0 0 | 5 18 7½ | 1 2 | Drayton | 1 6 0 | 5 18 2 | 6 | 2 0 0 Mere | 2 0 0 | 5 13 4 | 6 | Apeton | 1 9 8 | 3 4 2 | | Coton | 4 0 0 | 6 0 0 | | Penulton | 4 0 0 | 14 18 6 | | -----------+---------+------------- --+-------------+------------

[106] And 1 lb. pepper.

In each case the demesne is described as arable, meadow, and pasture. In Stafford the Priory had burgages, orts, and gardens worth £14. Other possessions were at Amerton, Drayngton, Grindley, Newton, Lee, Acton Trussell, Colton, Salt, Hopton, Shradycote, Whitgreve, Admaston, Rycerdysctote, Lichfield (a burgage, 6s.), Byssheton, Olton, Marchington, Bednall, Walton, Hanyate, and Swynneshed, in Staffordshire. Elsewhere are Ashbourne, Duranstrope, Quinton, “_villa de Wico Malbano_” (where £2 13s. 4d. comes “_de duobus domibus salinis_,” called “Salt Howses”), besides the Manor of Penulton already mentioned.

The temporal outgoings include the following:

To the King, 2s. for “Sute silver” from the Manor of Penford, 10d. from Arberton, 12d. from Salt, and 13d. from Pennulton; to the Bishop of Lichfield, 20s. 11d. for lands in Stafford, etc.; to William Chetyn, Kt., from Stafford and Salt, 4s. 10d.; Thomas Bagott, Kt., from Admaston, 3s.; George Gresley, mil., from Colton and Admaston; to Sir John Dudley, 3s. from Penford; to Rose Cleyton of Bushbury, widow, from Penford; to Richard Egerton, clerk, Master of St. John’s Hospital at Stafford, 4s. 4d.; to the Prior of Stone, 2s.; of Ronton, 2s.; of Croxden, 2s.; of Shene, 10s. 4d.; to the presbyters of the College of Stafford, 3s. 4d.; to the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem, 8d.

The chief steward was Earl Ferrers and his fee was £4. The steward of Pennulton, Alexander Ratclyffe, received £1. Thomas Crosse, deputy steward or custodian of the Manor Courts in Staffordshire, received 13s. 8d. The bailiffs were Otto Holond at Penulton, George Boughey at Frodswell, etc., Edward Whythell at Coton and Stafford, William Russell at Drayton, William Parry at Penford, Hugh Brenn’ at Mere, John Kelyng at Apeton. Their fees ranged from 33s. 4d. to 6s. 8d.

Of these at the Dissolution[107] Earl Ferrers received a pension of 40s.; Ratcliffe, 13s. 4d.; Holland, 13s. 4d., Boughey, 20s., and Edward Whytell, 33s. 4d. There were also the following: Mr. Robert Browne, 15s.; Mr. Philip Chetwynd, 26s. 8d.; Hugh Baker, 20s.; William Harney, 10s.; William Bagley, 10s.; Richard Torner, baker, 10s.; James Cocke, 20s.; Thomas Stapleton, 10s.; and Richard Whytell, 20s. These were all, evidently, lay officials of the house, and doubtless some of them were the successors of those named in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_.

The spiritual income came from glebe and tithes at Stowe, Bushbury, Geyton, Berkyswiche, Weston, and Aldelem (Cheshire), tithes at Cariswall and Mere, Easter dues from Stowe, Weston, Geyton, and Berkyswiche. The glebe is particularised, and amounts to £6 6s. 4d.

Spiritual outgoings include £2 4s. to the Bishop for appropriated churches, and £3 6s. 8d. every third year for visitation fees; 3s. 6d. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £18 10s. to the Dean and Chapter; and 15s. to the Priory of Coventry.

No valuation subsequent to the Dissolution is given in _Monasticon_. The fine for continuance was £133 6s. 8d.[108] The house was comfortably furnished, and there were considerable quantities of stores and a fair amount of live stock, etc., as will be detailed later.

STONE PRIORY

The Austin Priory of Stone had had many struggles arising out of the encroachments of the “religious” on the sphere of the “secular” clergy. In the twelfth century it employed an agent to purchase livings and many troubles arose in consequence of his success.

In the competition for appropriations and tithes which went on between the religious houses there was keen rivalry. St. Thomas, Stafford, attempted in 1278 to obtain the Church of Stone, and sought to get Bishop Longsword on its side by submitting the matter to his arbitration. But Stone retaliated by appealing to the Dean and Chapter with a gift of 10 marks. In the same century there was a dispute between Kenilworth Priory, on behalf of its dependent house at Stone, and St. Remigius, on behalf of Lapley, about the tithes of Shefford. Ultimately, they were taken from Lapley and bestowed on Stone, but in 1368 there were further disputes about the same subject.

In the reign of Henry III there was strife between the parishioners and the Priory about the payment of tithes, and it was formally arranged that all parishioners, freemen and villeins alike, should pay the definite sum of two farthings a year, with “oblations” four times yearly.

The Canons of Stone trafficked largely in corrodies. From Edward I they obtained permission for a fair. They entered thoroughly into the affairs of the world. During the Barons’ War they were not above plundering the lands of those who were fighting: their cellarer was charged with breaking into the house of a man who was a prisoner in the hands of the Barons. The Priory suffered, however, from making itself too “secular,” and in the days of Bishop Norbury it was brought to the verge of bankruptcy by the frequent calls which were made on its hospitality by travellers on the King’s highway beside which it stood. It maintained its spirit of worldliness. In 1473 the Prior is found associating himself with one Sir Thomas Fyton, Kt., in disseising Richard Whalley of property in Darlaston, Anslow, and Aston, near Stone. Neither appeared to answer the charge, and their bail was forfeited. The Prior was fined £6, and the Knight £120, with £60 damages, he having taken the property _vi et armis_.[109] The Prior in the time of Bishop Smythe (1493–1496), whose name was Thomas Fort, acted as suffragan bishop in the diocese while the diocesan employed himself in political work.

The Prior at the time of the Suppression was William Smith. In the returns which he supplied to the Commissioners for _Valor Ecclesiasticus_[110] there are not many details of particular interest, though the old connection with Kenilworth is shown to be still maintained.

From the Manor of Stone came £27 13s. 2d., the items of which are of tenements with their appurtenances, £8 12s.; 26 cottages, £5 7s.; demesne arable, £3 6s. 8d.; pasture, £2 10s.; meadow, £2 1s. 4d.; a water-mill, £4; perquisites of the Court, 13s. 4d.; chief rents, £1 2s. 10d. £16 came from Stallington, and smaller sums from Stoke, Walton near Stone, Aston in fee of Walton, Burston, Shebridge, Stafford (5s. 8d.), Coppenhall, Wotton, Hilderstone, and Darlaston. Among these an orchard at Aston produces 4d., and Hilderstone, “_de crofto et orio_,” 2s.

Temporal outgoings included 1s. 8d. to Henry, Lord Stafford, and 5s. 1d. to the heirs of Henry Vernon, mil. The chief steward was Edward Aston, mil., and his fee was £1 5s. 8d.; his deputy, Thomas Moreton, received 13s. 4d. Walter Walkeden, the bailiff, received £1 6s. 8d.

Spiritual income came as follows: £40 from Stone, £8 10s. in tithes from Milwich, £2 from Swynnerton, £1 from Checkley, and £24 from Tyso in Warwickshire. The revenue from Stone was £8 in Easter dues; tithes, £28; lesser tithes called “White Tythes,” £1, and oblations to St. Wulphade, etc., £3.

Spiritual outgoings consisted of Episcopal visitation fees £3 6s. 8d. triennially and £1 6s. 8d. annually for procurations, etc.; 13s. 4d. to the Dean and Chapter; £2 to the Vicars of the Cathedral; 19s. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £9 to Kenilworth Abbey; and 13s. 4d. to Coventry Priory.

The payment of £9 to Kenilworth Abbey appears as £9 11s. 4d. in the _Valor_ of that Abbey, but there is no entry of the 2s. paid by the Priory of St. Thomas, Stafford (_V.E._, p. 111), or of the £2 3s. paid from the churches of Berkswich, Bushbury, and Weston (_V.E._, p. 129).

In the valuation after the Dissolution (_Monasticon_, vi, 233), Coppenhall and Darlaston are omitted, but Myford, 3s.; Fulford, 8s.; Tittensor (tithes), £2 13s. 4d., and Burston (tithes), 10s. 4d., are added; also a fulling-mill at Stone worth £1 6s. 8d., and Madeley Rectory, £9 6s. 8d. Decreases are the demesne at Stone (to £5 0s. 4d.), rents in Stafford (3s. 4d.), Stone Rectory (£39 10s.), Tyso Rectory (£22), Milwich Rectory, £4. The rents at Stone had increased to £49 8s. 10d., at Stallington to £23 6s. 8d., at Walton to £6 0s. 4d., at Stoke (with Aston, Darlaston, and Burston) from £3 16s. to £7 11s. 6½d., at Shebridge to £2, at Walton to £8 0s. 5d., and at Hilderstone to 5s. The Court perquisites at Stone Manor had also risen to £1 6s. 8d.; this with the decrease in the value of the demesne and the enormous increase in rents shows that a considerable part of the demesne had been let. The total valuation is £199 19s. 1½d.

TRENTHAM PRIORY

The Priory of Trentham had always been an aristocratic house, intimately connected in its early days with the Earls of Chester and later with the Earls of Lancaster, their successors. It had, of course, been involved in the struggles of its patrons. In the early days of Stephen, during one of the periods when Earl Ralf was on Matilda’s side, he allowed her (1139) to nominate the Prior of his house at Trentham. The Prior was declared to be appointed _tam largitione quam presentacione venerabilis Domine nostre Matilde_.[111]

During the rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster Prior Richard de Lavynden died (1321). Lancaster promptly asserted his claim to the presentation, forcibly entered the house against the wish of the Canons--or so they subsequently asserted when Lancaster fell--and insisted on the election of Richard de Dulverne. Dulverne petitioned the King, immediately after Lancaster’s execution, to allow his election. Edward II assented, on receiving a fine of forty marks, but asserted that the right of preservation had “always” belonged to the Crown.[112] Edward II also enforced his claim to nominate to corrodies at Trentham with vigour and harshness, and _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ shows that the claim was still maintained in the reign of Henry VIII. But the royal patronage of Trentham did not avail to protect the Priory in times of disorder. In 1428 Prior Thomas had his goods plundered by Richard Twigg of Ashbourn, who also laid in wait to kill him, so that he had to keep a bodyguard of defenders.

The Prior in 1535 was Thomas Bradwall. According to _Valor Ecclesiasticus_,[113] the main part of the temporal income came from the Manor of Trentham (£39 6s. 6d. out of £83 19s.). There were demesne lands worth £26, arable, meadow, and pasture, and a water-mill. The remainder was chief rents (18s. 8d.), 11 tenements, another water-mill, and 16 cottages “_cum pertinentibus_” in Trentham (£11 15s. 10d.), and the perquisites of the Courts (12s.). The remaining property in Staffordshire was at Longton, Kybbulston, Blurton, Cokenage, Newstead, Hanchurch, Cleyton Gryffin, Chaldon, Mere juxta Caryswall, Elkeston, and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The proceeds from Longton include 4 barbed arrows, and there was a water-mill worth 30 shillings at Chaldon. In Warwickshire Fenny Compton produced £2 and in Leicestershire Gaddesby produced 13s. 4d.

Outgoings included 11s. 6d. to the King for lands, etc., in Newcastle, and 2s. 6d. for lands in Chaldon; 4s. to the Bishop of Lichfield; 3s. 6d. to the heirs of Robert Sheffield (Newcastle and Clayton Gryffin); 4s. 4d. to the heirs of Henry Vernon (Kybbulston). William Chetwyn is chief steward (£1) and his deputy is Thomas Ironmonger (13s. 4d.). The bailiffs were Henry Bredehurst (Franchises of Trentham, 13s. 4d.), and Richard Gynne (Elkeston, 13s. 4d.). Laurence Bradwell was receiver and was paid £2.

Henry Akers had a corrody of £2 a year _ex dono regis_.

The spiritual income came from the parishes of Trentham (£12 3s. 4d.) and Barleston (£6 14s. 4d.) in Staffordshire, Barkeley in Leicestershire (£5 13s. 4d.), and Sutton in Derbyshire (£12 13s. 4d.). The amount left to Sutton was £4 16s. 8d. From Trentham came Easter dues, £3; tithes of grass, £6 13s. 4d.; tithes of sheep, £2 10s.; and oblations, 10s. From Barlaston came Easter dues, 13s. 4d., tithes of grass and hay, £5 0s. 8d.; tithes of sheep, 13s. 4d.; oblations, 3s.; lesser tithes (called “White Tythes”), 3s.

The payment from Barkeley is described as “_extra ecclesiam predictam appropriat’ monasterio Prat’ Leic’_”; and that from Sutton was from glebe and tithes of grass.

The spiritual payments included 10s. synodals from Trentham and 10s. 7d. synodals and procurations to the Bishop of Lichfield; 13s. 4d. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £3 17s. 4d. every third year to the Bishop as visitation fees; £2 13s. 4d. to the Priory of Tutbury for Sutton, and £1 to the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem for the same church. 7d. annually is paid to the heirs of Lord Mountjoy out of the glebe at Sutton. The 16s. 8d. paid by Hulton Abbey (p. 107) does not appear in the receipts, nor the 20s. from Dalbury (p. 167).

The valuation after the Dissolution (_Monasticon_, vi, 397) amounted to £156 8s. 10d. Omissions are the rents at Kybbulston, Blurton, Cokenage, Newstead, Hanchurch, and Mere. Additions are rents at Wyttemore, 4s.; Meyford, 1s.; Schebrige (crofts), 4s.; Wall Grange, £6 13s. 4d., Bradborne, £1 1s. 8d. At Trentham Manor the demesne and mill had increased to £32 15s. 10d., and rents had increased to no less than £44 13s. 1½d. Trentham Rectory also had increased to £15 15s. 4d. Rents at Longton had increased to £2 8s. 6d., at Chaldon to £3 6s. 8d., at Newcastle to £7 10s. 4d., at Clayton Gryffin to £14 10s. 2d. Perquisites of the Court are 7s. 10d. Barleston Church had fallen in value to £2. The other items are practically identical.

TUTBURY PRIORY

Tutbury was another house which had always had aristocratic connections, and its history had been influenced by its proximity to Tutbury Castle, one of the great houses of the Dukes of Lancaster. Its dependence on St. Peter-sur-Dive was ended in consequence of the French Wars, though Lancaster had some difficulty to enforce his authority.

On a vacancy occurring in 1337 in the headship of the Priory Henry Earl of Lancaster claimed the presentation, alleging that the Prior who had just resigned had been appointed on his nomination. The monks claimed the right of election, and asserted that the last Prior, though he had been nominated by Lancaster, had been rejected and another elected, whose election, however, had been set aside by the Abbot of the parent house of St. Peter-super-Divam. Against this exercise of authority on the part of the parent house they had appealed to Rome. The suit was still pending, and they alleged that the Prior had only resigned through conviction that judgment would be given against him. But they could not deny that Lancaster was patron of the house, and he won his case, and his nominee was ordered to be admitted by the Bishop.[114]

The new authority was not more effective than the foreign had been, and Bishop Norbury found at Tutbury general disorder, incontinency, addiction to hunting, and even a military spirit. It is to be feared that the Kings valued the control they had acquired over the houses with foreign connections mainly for its financial advantage. Henry IV gave his Queen Joan charges on the revenues of Tutbury and we have already seen that the claim to nominate to a corrody there was enforced as late as 1532.[115]

In 1535 the Prior was Arthur Meverell. He had only just been appointed. His predecessor had died in the January of the very year the Commissioners visited the Priory, and the Earl of Shrewsbury had immediately written to Cromwell begging the preferment for the Sub-Prior, “Dn. Arthur Meverell.” Even before the late Prior was dead, a recommendation of Meverell for the post soon to be vacant had been sent in, and an unknown hand has endorsed it: “He was my godfather, and I knew him a comely grave man.”[116] The Bishop wrote to Cromwell on May 7th: “I beg you will not be displeased in the matter of the Prior of Tutbury. I have your letters wherein you desired me not to meddle therein. But now your pleasure known the bond shall be substantially made and the penalty sent to you with all diligence”; and on May 28th: “I sent to the Prior of Tutbury to repair to you.”[117] Dn. Arthur Meverell was, apparently, to judge from his later history, one of the “divers abbottes that could be perswaded or were ... for the purpose placed ... [and who subsequently] made surrender of their houses and conveied them to the Kinge by order of lawe, and had competent pencions.”[118]

The summary of Tutbury is arranged in counties; firstly, the temporal income from Derbyshire, then that from Staffordshire; then comes the spiritual income: annual “pensions” from various counties grouped together (£25 11s. 4d.), and tithes arranged in counties. The outgoings are arranged under the headings of “pensions,” fixed rents, annual fees, and alms.

The temporal income from Derbyshire was £141 14s. 3d. and from Staffordshire, £29 4s. 1d.; £38 11s. 5d. from Doveridge and £8 from the demesne lands called Doveridge Holt there; demesne lands (£5) at West Broughton, and Tutbury (“Chapel Yard,” £3 16s. 10d., and “Prior’s Holmes,” £2 6s. 8d.); perquisites of the Courts at Doveridge, Matherfield, Kirkbroughton, and Marston, 16s. 8d.; lands, etc., at Somersall, Osmaston, and Edulneston, Wotton, Ednaston, and Holington, Kirkbroughton, Duffield (John Prince), Norbury (called “the lands of the demesne”), Fenton, Brailsford, Overton, and Matherfield. At Mulneston is a mill worth (with lands) £2 0s. 9d.

The temporal outgoings included £2 0s. 8d. in fixed rents and £18 13s. 4d. in annual fees. The former comprised 5s. “Sheriff’s Geld” for Wetton; 2s. 4d., chief rents in Tutbury; 3s. 4d., “Palfrey Money” in the Hundred of Apultre, and £1 10s. to the Keepers of Needwood Forest at the Feast of the Purification. All except the last item went to the King.[119]

Annual fees comprised £3 6s. 8d. to the Chief Steward, George, Earl of Shrewsbury; £1 6s. 8d. to Henry Pole, Clerk of the Manor Courts; £2 to Francis Basset, Auditor, and £2 to Humfry Meverell, receiver of the bailiffs, Roland Heth (the franchises of Tutbury and West Broughton) paid £2, and the others £1 6s. 8d. each as follows: William Hyll (Wetton), Ralf Wodcoke (Matherfield), Richard Lane (Edlaston and Osmonston), William Wetton (Adnaston and Hollington), Thomas Wyllot (Marston and Duffield), Henry Mylward (Doveridge).

The spiritual outgoings comprised 13s. 4d. to the Bishop for the appropriated church of Broughton; £6 13s. 4d. to the Dean and Chapter for the church of Matherfield; £8 2s. 2d. to the Archdeacon of Derby (Richard Strete) for Kirkbroughton and Marston (procurations and synodals); £5 to Thurston Courtnay, Vicar of Tutbury; £6 13s. 4d. to Robert Gaunt, Vicar of Kirkbroughton; and 15s. to the Archdeacon of Stafford for procurations for Matherfield and Tutbury.

The alms were £2 given to the poor at Corpus Christi, by ancient foundation, and £1 given on the anniversary of the death of the founder.

The valuation subsequent to the Dissolution, as given in _Monasticon_ (iii, 399), is impossible to compare with that of _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, the items and allotments being so grouped and apportioned that they do not correspond with the earlier arrangement in the great majority of cases. New rents appear at Doveridge to the amount of nearly £48, and the demesne there has risen from £8 to £25 7s. Doveridge Rectory is increased exactly £2. At Wetton, demesne is given worth £8 16s., rents £36 16s. 10¾d., and the Rectory, £8 6s. 8d. Matherfield Rectory was only worth £4 10s. in tithes. The tithe at Sudbury is called “St. Mary’s Tithe,” and appears at only half its former value. Sales of wood and perquisites of the Court are mentioned at Churchbroughton, Edelston, Calton, Wetton, Shirley, Hollington, Esteleke (Leics.), Hatton, Tutbury, Langley, and Doveridge, but in every instance the amount is stated as _nulla_. _Redditus mobiles_ are mentioned at Wetton (£4 4s.), and Doveridge (13s. 6d.). At Hollington £15 13s. 4d. is given as “payment in lieu of pigs” (_Pens’ sive Porc’_) and at Wymondham the tithes of pigs appear as having been leased at a rent of £1 9s. 8d. [_Firm’ Porc X^{mae} ad Firm’ dimiss’_). The total valuation was £358 2s. 0¾d.

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It will be noticed that no friaries have been mentioned: the Diocesan Returns of _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ entirely omit them. The reason is possibly to be found in the remark which is made under the heading of “House of the Friars Minors at Coventry”[120]: “Brother John Stafford being examined upon oath, says that they have no lands or tenements nor any other possessions or revenues spiritual or temporal of any annual value, but only the licensed alms of the neighbourhood and the uncertain charity of the people.” That no attempt was made to estimate the worth of such “alms and charity” may be taken as indicating a certain amount of sympathetic regard for the friars.

We know, however, that the Black Friars at Newcastle-under-Lyme received rents to the amount of £2 per year. At Stafford the Austin Friars had rents bringing in £2 11s. 8d. and the Grey Friars £1 6s. 8d. The latter had some timber and growing corn, six “lands” in the common fields, a close and an orchard, and a meadow which had been given them recently by Robert Quytgrave, gent., for a yearly obit. Half of it was let at 20s. annual rent. At the Dissolution Quytgrave asked for the return of the gift as, he alleged, the bargain had not been kept.

There are other omissions which are more surprising. Woods were extensive in Staffordshire yet they are unmentioned in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_ in all the Staffordshire houses with the single exception of Burton-on-Trent. Even in the post-Dissolution valuation of Tutbury Priory woods are only mentioned in order to record that they produce no revenue. Yet the earlier history of the houses shows that they possessed large tracts of woodland which should have yielded a profitable income. The Black Friars at Newcastle, we learn from Bishop Ingworth, had a “proper wood,” leased to Master Broke. The value of mills, whether water-mills for grinding corn, or fulling-mills, for fulling or milling cloth by beating it with wooden mallets and cleaning it with soap or Fuller’s earth, is often small, and there is no mention of any revenue from tolls or markets. A recent Act of Parliament (21 Henry VIII, c. 13) had forbidden the monks to engage in trade, and they appear to have complied with its behests. The revenue from salt-pans is small: perhaps for the same reason. Water-mills are mentioned at Burton (2), Bromley Hurst, Derby (belonging to Burton Abbey); Alton, Cauldon, and Ellaston (belonging to Croxden); Hulton, Normacot, and More (belonging to Hulton Abbey); Ronton; Drayton (belonging to St. Thomas’s, Stafford); Stone; Trentham (2), and Chaldon (belonging to Trentham Priory; and at Mulneston belonging to Tutbury Priory. The three at Hulton were only worth in all £1 5s. 8d. a year, and that at Ronton was only worth 18s. 9d. a year. The three belonging to Croxden produced at most £6 6s. 8d. a year, and the one at Tutbury £2 0s. 9d. On the other hand, the one at Stone was worth £4 a year, and the two at Burton were worth no less than £12 a year.

Fulling-mills are only found at Rocester and Stone, and their annual value in each case is small, £2 6s. 8d. and £1 6s. 8d. respectively, so that in Staffordshire at any rate it could not be said that the monasteries competed to any large extent with lay industries. Salt-pans are only mentioned in the case of Dieulacres (£3) and Ronton (£1 11s.). It is strange that no mention is made of the Pottery Works at Hulton Abbey, and the Tannery which the same house had possessed at the time of Pope Nicholas IV’s _Taxatio_ (1288) had also disappeared. In the _Taxatio_ four mills had been taken into account in the valuation of Burton Abbey, one each in those of Croxden, Dieulacres, and Stone, and two each in those of Hulton, Ronton, St. Thomas’s Priory, and Tutbury.

The revenue from Courts is also small. It is as follows:

£ s. d. Burton Abbey 3 6 8 Dieulacres Abbey 4 0 0 Hulton Abbey 12 0 Rocester Abbey 6 8 (in post-Dissolution Valuation). St. Thomas’s Priory 3 2 Stone Priory 13 4 (£1 6s. 8d. in post-Dissolution Valuation). Trentham Priory 12 0 Tutbury Priory 16 8 (_nulla_ in post-Dissolution Valuation).

It is difficult to account for the smallness of these figures. It is idle to say the monks withheld all the information they possessed when we find the Valuers after the Dissolution deliberately stating that the revenue from all the Courts which had belonged to Tutbury was nothing. Perhaps the Court profits were in many cases included in other items, but more probably the explanation is to be found in the feeling of insecurity which must have been general throughout the whole period with which we are dealing. The shadow of the impending Dissolution must have been for some time darkening the land, and tenants would not readily take new tenancies, with the accompanying admission fees, in the general uncertainty. It shows that there had been few changes of tenants or of tenures during recent years.