political character; being much employed in state affairs both at home and abroad, by Henry the Third. In 1241 he was made chancellor of England, and keeper of the Great Seal. And now, upon his occasional visits to his monastery, we may imagine the stir which his entry into the town would occasion among the inhabitants, to say nothing of the expectant monks,-when travelling in similar state to that described as usual with another ecclesiastical chancellor, in the reign of Henry II.; who in his journeys was attended by two hundred knights, esquires, young nobles, officers and pages, armed, dressed and mounted; while eight wagons followed, each drawn by five strong horses, conveying furniture and provisions for the way twelve pack horses, carrying money, books, and plate, closing the cavalcade.239 In 1242 abbot le Gras, being then in Gascony, was promoted by his royal master to the bishoprick of Lichfield and Coventry, although in opposition to the desire of many of the Lichfield monks. He, however, succeeded in obtaining the papal confirmation, but died prior to his consecration, at Riole, on the 5th of the ides of December, 1242.

40. Thomas de Gloucester, a monk of Evesham and prior of its cell at Penwortham, was next elected abbot. He was confirmed by pope Innocent IV. in 1243, and by his appointment was consecrated by the bishop of Ely; but from some cause not clearly defined, the abbot was unable to receive his temporalities from Henry III. till he had procured a mandate from the pontiff. This is the first abbot whom, after the decision against lay-investitures in the reign of Henry I.240 we find invested personally by the pope. The abbots here, now mitred, and pronounced "exempt" from subordination to

and the deacon within auswereth Quis est iste rex gloria? To whom the bishop replieth Dominis fortis, &c. But the third time, the door being unbolted, he enters in with a few of his officers, the clergy and people standing without, and saith Pax huic domui [Peace be to this house], and rehearseth the litanies. Afterward in the pavement of the church he makes a cross with ashes and sand, whereupon all the alphabet is written both in Greek and Latin letters. And then again doth he consecrate other holy-water with salt, ashes, and wine, and halloweth the altar, as also anoint the twelve crosses depicted on the walls, with chrysm."-Dugdale's Warwicksh. 1656, p. 491. 239 Retinue of Thomas Becket when Chancellor of England, as described by William Fitz-Stephen, in Blount's Fragmenta Antiquitatis.

240 At a council of the bishops, abbots, and nobles, held in the king's palace at London, August 1st, A.D. 1107.

all other bishops but the pope, could not impair this privilege by submitting to ecclesiastical investiture, even before the archbishop of the province. Thus were they henceforth compelled in the maintenance of their dignity, to journey each into Italy after election here, to receive from the hands of the pontiff the staff and ring of office, confirming by the court of Rome the abbot's homage to the king and his election by the convent. The heavy exactions levied upon these occasions by the papal court,-well known in history for its promptness in extortion,-soon proved to mitred abbots that their new privilege was dearly purchased.

During this abbacy, a cause long agitated respecting the exemption of the churches and chapels in this Vale, was determined by agreement, after an appeal to Rome. In these churches, excepting that of Abbot's Moreton, the bishops of Worcester were to claim no jurisdiction; but the abbots of Evesham might possess a chapel in their grange at that place, and celebrate service there. This abbot increased the altar furniture with copes and other richly embroidered vestments, and provided two marks yearly to furnish albs for the priests who officiated in the chapel of the blessed Virgin. He died on the 18th of the calends of January, 1255, and was buried, according to the register copied by Abingdon, in the midst of the body of the church. His successor was

41. Henry de Worcester, prior of Evesham, who was installed. on St. Ecgwin's day, 1256, and confirmed by pope Alexander IV. This abbot discharged a debt of fifteen hundred marks contracted by the monastery; assigned certain rents from Bretforton, for the performance of a daily mass, in atonement for any accidental negligence in the religious services of the convent; appropriated all offerings made at the holy cross to the fund for repairing the church fabric; increased the gorgeous vestments already provided for the service of the altar; and assigned from certain rents in Evesham, a yearly payment to the elemosinary for the assistance of the poor. During this abbacy, the original bell-tower was struck by lightning, as noticed on page 41. Abbot Worcester died on the ides of November, 1263, and was buried, according to the register copied by Mr. Abingdon, in the north wall of the body of the church. In the autumn of 1822, during the excavations made in this situation by Mr. Rudge, a stone coffin was discovered in the wall at the spot

marked in the plan opposite page 44; which, from none other being found near, was most probably that belonging to this abbot. From a paper in the Archæologia, we learn that upon removing the coffinlid the body presented the appearance of having lain undisturbed. It had evidently been habited in ecclesiastical attire, and the boots, which were leather, were in good preservation, the soles being what are now termed "rights and lefts." The right arm was laid upon a wooden crosier with a scroll-wrought head, and the left hand was placed beneath a chalice and paten of pewter. Upon the middle finger of the right hand was a plain abbatial ring of debased gold, terminated by an amethyst,241

The neces

From 1263 to 1266 the abbacy remained void. 242 sities of Henry III. and the exactions made from him by the pontiff doubtless combined to protract this vacancy, that the temporalities of the convent might, as was usual upon that occasion, remain at the disposal of the crown. During this interval of national commotion between the sovereign and his people, the battle of Evesham was fought; prior to which the convent admitted as its guests

242"Defuncto abbate Henrico vacavit ecclesia per multum tempus. Tandem circa festum sanctæ crucis in autumno, anno videlicet MCCLXVI. venit legatus Octobonus apud Evesham, et constituit monachis ibidem in abbatem."-Cott. Chron. Vesp. B xv.

P

Symon de Montfort, the general of the popular force, together with the king, whom Leicester then retained as his prisoner. 243 After the earl's defeat, his mangled remains were interred-as we shall hereafter prove within the choir of the abbey church: and in the following year Ottobon, as papal legate, visited the monastery and appointed as the new abbot

42. William de Whitchurch, who had been a monk of Pershore, but was at this time prior of the monastery at Alcester. After his election he was confirmed by pope Alexander IV. This abbot assisted by the abbot of Winchcomb, presided at a convocation of Benedictine abbots and priors, held at Oxford in 1271.244 He purchased the manor of Bengeworth, with all its lands and tenements, from William de Beauchamp earl of Warwick, and otherwise increased the possessions of the convent. Among these he assigned to the sacristan a yearly rent of seventy shillings,-which may now be deemed equivalent to as many pounds-to furnish one wax light to burn continually in the church in honor of St. Wistan and other saints, and also a lamp to burn nightly before the cross.245 From this we may form some estimate of the expence attending the ancient ceremonials of monastic worship. The provision made by this abbot for the celebration of his anniversary, exhibits the augmenting increase of bequests made for this purpose by successive abbots. The amount of rents devoted in perpetuity to this purpose by De Whitchurch was seventy shillings. Of this sum twenty shillings were to be appropriated to the refreshment of the convent at each anniversary of his obit, and fifty shillings were to be on the same day expended in bread, from whence the almoner was to give one loaf to as many poor as applied, till the whole was distributed. 246 During this abbacy a pardon was obtained from Edward I. by the

243 William de Nangis, in Nichols' Leicestershire, vol. i.

244 Worcester Annals in Anglia Sacra, vol. i. page 498.

245 Confirmavit et sexaginta et decem solidos annui redditus de novo incremento fratris Reginaldi de Inteberge tunc sacrista Eveshamiæ, ad sustentationem unius cerei die noctuque ardentis in honore Sancti Wlstani et aliorum sauctorum, et unius lampadis de nocte ardentis in pulpito coram cruce, assignavit prædictum annuum redditum officio sacristæ ad sustentationem prædictorum."-Acts of Abbots, Harl. MS. 3736.

246 De Anniversario Willielmi Wythechirche Abbatis Eveshamiæ, in Cotton. MS. Vespasian E xvii. Dugdale, ii. 35.

convent for having, according to Nash, purchased the manor of Chedworth without license from the king. 247 Abbot Whitchurch

died on the third of the nones of August, 1282, and was buried, according to the register in Abingdon, in the midst of the body of the abbey church. His successor was

43. John de Brokehampton, monk of Evesham, who was confirmed at Rome by pope Martin IV. The monastery during his presidency seems to have been free from incumbrance and the increase of its revenue must have been great; judging from the extensive acquisitions made by purchase or donation in his time. To enumerate a portion only, the manors and advowsons of Saintbury and Willersey were acquired by him, as also the fee of Aston Somerville, and windmills at Poden in Honeybourne, and at Willersey. Eight granges were also entirely built by him upon as many manors belonging to the abbey. 248 These were originally spacious tithe barns or granaries, but at a later period residences were attached to them, with hall, chapel, stabling and appurtenances, fit for the temporary retirement of the abbots: after the Dissolution several of these became family seats for the new owners of abbey-property in the neighbourhood. At Evesham he built the abbot's hall, chapel, chamber, and appurtenances, as well as other chambers, and a range of stabling westward of the monastery. The church at Norton was rebuilt by him, as well as the chancels of those at Honeybourne, Willersey, and Hampton. During this abbacy the convent appears to have sustained some undue exaction; for in the twenty-fifth of Edward I. letters patent addressed to the bailiffs, were issued specially to protect the possessions of this monastery, and to continue in force till the feast of All-saints following.249 During the same abbacy the estates of the monastery are assessed in the service of nearly five knights' fees, to be performed by nine armed deputies, mounted on "nine barbed horses;" while the lands of the bishoprick are assessed at only three knights' fees, to be performed by six

247 Nash's Worcestershire, vol. i. page 407.

248 "Et octo grangias [fecit] sumptuosas sicut apparent per maneria."-Harleian MS. 3763.

249 Tested by the Lord Treasurer, at Westminster, 6th March, 1296-7. Preserved in a bag of "Miscellanea" in the Chapter-house.