APPENDIX

OF

DOCUMENTS AND INSCRIPTIONS.

APPENDIX.

No. I.-LETTER FROM CLEMENT ABBOT OF EVESHAM, TO
CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL.-CIRC. A.D. 1538.

Miscellaneous Letters, temp. Henry VIII; Series ii. vol. x. In Augmentation Office.
To the Right Hoñable & my singler good Lorde my Lord Pryvye Seale.
RIGHT Honorable and my moste singuler good Lorde, after my most humblie dutye
and most entier thanks for all your goodness showyd unto me. Theis be most in-
stantly to desire yow to contynewe my good Lord as long as I do not des've the
contrary, and yf I doo then I am contentyde to be ordred accordyng to my demerits.
So it is my good Lorde that abowt ij yeres passide a Gentylman one of the Kyng's
servandis called Mr. Wev' [Wever] brought the Kyng's gracs Lres of instance unto
me for certeyn pasturs called Powdon, at whych time in cōsideracōn that hit
pleasid you to accept a lytle fee of or Howse, I declaryd unto you by my frynds
Doctor Leigheton & Doctor Gwent that I colde in no wise spare the seyd Pasturs,
for hit is the chyff mayntenice of or Howsholde as well for the vision of or beoffs
[beeves] as mutton & other necessaries, and besowght yor advice & Councell for the
contentacyon of the seyde Gentylman; and notwtstanding that I did (accordyng to
your advice) make answere to or Sov'ayn Lorde's Lres that the pastures was such
that I could in no wise spare, wherew' the Kyng's Hyghnes was ryght well contentyd,
but ev' sens Mr Wev' hath boron me great grudge and hath imagenyd many weys to
have me deposed, and he hath seyd (as by the report of his s'vands which was spokyn
to my face) that he had auctie to put me downe and to make whom he wolde Abbott
here, as hit will more at large appere in a byll made of his Demeanure, which this
berer can showe your Lordship; and as I am enformed he doth not cease folowyng
his malice towarde me. Wherefore I beseche yow to cōtynewe my good Lorde, so
that I be not this wrongfully trowbled nor vexid by occasion of the seid Gentilmā:
and as conc'nyng the Priorye of Alcettur3 I will forme ev'y thyng accordyng as I
dide at large declare unto Master Richarde Cromwell at his late beyng here; be-
sechyng yor honor to accept this my rude Lre. and to delyv' me from the malicyous
suyts & vexac'ons wch the said Gentylman doth dayly Imagyu agenst me onely be-

1 Still known by this name, and situate in the parish of Church Honeybourne.

2 The "lytle fee" of Bribery, accepted even by the "vycar generall of the hole church of England!"

3 Alcester Priory, Warwickshire, subordinate to Evesham Abbey.

cause I wolde not grant hym the seyd Pastures. As knowes owre blessid Lorde, who ev' p's've your honor dayly to encrease to his pleasure. Amen. At Evesham the vii day of Octobre.

Oct vij.

By yowr bowndyn bedman

CLEMET, Abbott ther.

No. II. UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM PHILIP, ABBOT OF EVESHAM, TO CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL: A. D. 1539.

Misc. Lett. temp. H. VIII. ser. ii. vol. x. Aug. Office.

To the Right hon'able Lord Pryvey Seall and Vycar generall of the hole Church of England.

MY bounden dutye most humblye remembrid hit may please your good Lordshipe to to be adv'tiside, wherein tymes past I have declared unto your Lordshipe the contynuall suet of Master Wever for a pasture all waies heretofore occupiede by my p'decessors for maynten'nce of hospitalitie in our poure Monastery. And for as moch the said Master Wever hath purchased of late the king's most honerable Lres for the same unto me, beinge your most bounden Bedysman and only by your goodness p'ferryde to occupye the rome of Abbott here and having none other to whom I may have refuge but only unto your good Lordshipe, remembringe that I never hard any man yet repent by putting trust and hope in your goodnes, I was so bold to desire yor most favorable ayde in this my great necessitie firmelye trusting the King's Highnes, knowing by your Lordshipe our great necessitie will take this our stay in goode parte, and where of late I have receavid your Lordships Lres, comaunding me by the same that I sholde obeye all such order as Maister Doctor Leighe sholde take with me for our sell [cell] in Lancastershere callyd Penwortham. So it is my good Lord Master Doctor Leighe hath directed his Lres unto me comaunding me by the same to send for the Pryour there and all other my Bretherne to come home to Evesham, and that I sholde appoint other honest secular prystes to s'rve in ther places, and for bycause diverse meanys and suetis hath ben made unto me for a s'rvaunt of my Lord Chancelar's to have the said sell in farme, I know not what is meanyed by Master Docter Leighe his com̃aundment therein or what prejudice thereby myghte ensue to our pour Howse, I humblye desire your good Lordshipe to helpe hime nowe which knoweth not what to doo and hath none other refuge or trust but onelye in yo1 good Lordship as knoweth or savyor Christe, who ev' kepe and contynewe your good Lordshype in honor. From Evesham, the xxvi day of June.

Your most bownden Bedman

PHILLIPP, Abbott there.

No. III. ORIGINAL LETTER FROM THE ABBOT AND CONVENT
OF EVESHAM, TO CROMWELL LORD PRIVY SEAL.-CIRC. A.D. 1539.
A detached Paper in Chief Clerk's Office, Chapter House, Westminster.
To the right honorable Sr Thomas Crumwell, Knight, Lorde Crumwell, Lorde Privey
Seale, and Vicegerent of the Churche of England.

PLEASETH it your honorable Lordeship to have in remembraunce your pore Ora. tours the Abbott & Convent of the Monasterye of Evesham, in the County of Worcester, having no other comforte or refuge but onely unto your good Lordeship:

That whereas the King's gracious Majestye of his most excellent benignity and godly disposition, and for the greate zeale and continual princely love that his Highnes always hath borne to this his Churche of England, is mynded, lyke a most gracious Prince, to alter & change the Monasteries of this his Realm, as well for the true and sincere preaching and teaching of the Worde of God unto his pore loving subjects, as for the education and bringing up of Youth in virtue and true knowledge of the same, as also for the relieving and succoring of the pore, needy, lame, and impotent persons inhabiting the same his grace's realme: it may please your honorable Lordeship, of your aboundant goodnes, to tender your pore Oratours which most desirously covet and wish the true Word of God to be knowen, and also that Youth may be educate & norished in the knowlege and lerninge of the same; and further desiring the charitable succor and relief of the pore, needy, lame, and impotent people, as well in the towne of Evesham as in the countrey nigh thereunto adjoining: So that the said Monasterye, which is of the King's Grace's most noble foundation, [as endowed by Ethelred his predecessor] may be one of those Monasteries which his Grace doth so godly entend to dispose and reserve as to his princely wisdom and most gracious entent shall seem most decent and expedient, in consideration of the articles herein after declared that is to say, for that the said Monasterye is the meetest house in all the countrey there to be reserved for any such princely and godly purpose, as well for the pleasant scytuacion of the same in goodly wholesome air, as that it is scytuate in the town of Evesham aforesaid, through which towne there is great thoroughfare and passage to Wales, as for that the said Monasterye is a house of goodly lodging and building, well repaired with all necessary houses of office belonging to the same, meet to receive the King's most noble Grace and person, with his royal Court, at such tymes as shall please his Highnes to repair, or have recourse to the said parties: And the said Monasterye is scytuate within the principalitie of Wales and nigh where the King's most honorable Council of his Marches of Wales doth continue, and is in the ready way to receive and lodge all such noblemen as shall fortune to have cause to resort toward or froward the said Council, and also nigh adjoyning to the Shire of Warwick in the which there is no Monastery standing; and that the said Monastery is exempt from the Bishop, having a goodly jurisdiction in itself, in the hinderance and hurt of no person, and near immediate to the King's Grace as supreme Head of his Church of England: And that the same Monastery is and hath been always reputed a house of keeping of good hospitality, and hath good provision for the same; And is out of debt save onely to the King's Grace for part of the First Fruits, about the sum of £800, which is payable at sundry days yet to come: And that there is no such Monastery to all intent within the compass of 12 miles of the same. Furthermore, humbly advertising your Lordeship that the said towne of Evesham is well inhabited and likewise is well repaired at the onely cost and charge of the said Monasterye, wherein there is few Inns and not able to receive and lodge all such noblemen as shall repair and resort to the same towne, nor have any good provision for such purposes without the said Monasterye; And that within the same towne and the countrey nigh adjoining to the same be divers and many pore, needy, lame, and impotent people, which daily have succor and relief of the said Monasterye:

4 The general visitation of the monasteries, which led to the suppression of the smaller houses, began in the autumn of 1535, under the immediate direction of Cromwell one of whose most active agents was Dr. Legh.