were not sufficiently consulted nor held in due honour by the rector ; nor did the juniors reverence or bow to them as custom required. Others however were ready to bear witness that the chief complainant was dis- obedient, impatient, and wont to contend with the rector. Another simply stated his opinion that the rector's rule was beneficial to the college. [1] There were smaller complaints as to eating and drinking between meals ; that a woman had once spent two nights in the monastery ; that a brother had once been out in secular habit.
The injunctions show a real grasp of the situation. The brethren are exhorted to live in virtue, in concord and in charity, and to be pure alike in heart and body. They are gently reminded that the reform of all dis- orders lies with the rector and corrector, and that complaining serves no good purpose. All, under pain of contempt, are to abstain from eating and drinking between meals without reasonable cause ; those who do so without licence of the rector or corrector shall fast upon bread and water. The rector and cor- rector are to see that all women are kept outside the cloister ; they are to repress all murmuring by prudent government. The accounts are to be shown yearly to four senior brethren ; the granger and cellarer are to give a faithful account of their stewardship. Licences to go out are to be rarely given, and the juniors are never to go alone. [2]
In 1538 one of the brethren of Ashridge incurred some danger by rash words spoken against ' Mr. Dr. Petre ' [3] probably in con- nection with the dissolution of some neigh- bouring houses [4]and a letter was sent up to Cromwell by Sir John Russell on his behalf, saying that he was but a simple man, and that what he did was for lack of discretion. It is probable that no proceedings were taken against him ; but the danger of such words at that time was a very real one.[5]
The Deed of Surrender, now lost, probably acknowledged that the brethren with unanimous consent gave up their house to the king. The last- entry in their register, for which the rector was probably responsible, speaks their mind more truly. Hoc anno nobilis domus de Asscherugge destructa fuit et fratres expulsi sunt in die S. Leonardi. Hoc anno deca-pitatus fuit ille eximius haereticus et proditor Thomas Cromwell, qui causa fuit destruccionis omnium domorum religiosorum in Anglia [6]
The original endowment of the house in- cluded the manors of Ashridge, Pitstone (Bucks), Little Gaddesden and Hemel Hemp- stead (Herts), with the advowson of the church of Hemel Hempstead. Before his death the founder added the manors of Am- brosden and Chesterton (Oxon), with their churches.[7] The church of Pitstone with Nettleden chapel was appropriated in 1381, [8] and that of Ivinghoe in 1420. [9] From 1302 until 1346 the Rector held one quarter of a knight's fee at Ashridge, half a fee in Hemel Hempstead, a quarter of a fee in Flaunden, and half a fee in Little Gaddesden.[10]
The temporalities of the house in 1291 were valued at £72 5s. 7d. [11]; in 1535 its clear in- come was £416 16s. 4d. [12] The Ministers' Accounts give a total of £467 3s. 7½d., in- cluding the manors of Aldbury, Ambrosden, Chesterton, and Hemel Hempstead, and the churches of Hemel Hempstead, Pitstone, Ambrosden, Chesterton and Ivinghoe.[13]
Rectors of Ashridge
Richard of Watford, [14] first rector, elected, resigned 1297.
Ralf of Aston,[15] elected 1297, resigned 1336
Richard of Saretta, [16] elected 1336, died 1346
- ↑ The phrase constantly recurs in these reports, and is a mere formal expression of approval' Rector utilis est collegio.' Sometimes the opposite statement is found, as at Missenden' Dominus Johannes Johns non est utilis monasterio.'
- ↑ Visitations of Bishop Longland (Alnwick Tower, Lincoln).
- ↑ L. and P. Henry VIII. xiii. (i) 931.
- ↑ Dr. Petre took the oath of Supremacy at Wooburn in 1535, and may have taken it at Ashridge also.
- ↑ This letter is dated 5 May, 1538 ; and it was on II and 12 May that Dr. Petre, with Legh and Williams, heard the depositions of the monks of Wooburn, preliminary to their trial for treason. In the same month Friar Forrest was hanged and burnt.
- ↑ Todd, History of Ashridge, 25.
- ↑ Dugdale, Mon. vi. (i) 515-6 ; Todd, History of Ashridge, 2-9.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 224.
- ↑ Ibid. Memo. Fleming, 217 yd.
- ↑ Feud. Aids, i. 102, III, 128, 424. The manor of Pitstone is reckoned as half a fee in 1284. Ibid. 77.
- ↑ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.).
- ↑ Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 227.
- ↑ Dugdale, Mon. vi. (i) 517. The annual stipend for the rector's household was 110 6s. 8d. ; and 8 annually was reckoned for the support of each brother.
- ↑ Todd, History of Ashridge, 23.
- ↑ The episcopal register clearly states that William of Harrold (whom Todd calls the second rector) was informally elected, and Ralf of Aston collated in his place. Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Sutton, 121.
- ↑ Todd, History of Ashridge, 23 : his death is recorded in Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Bek, 113.
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