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RELIGIOUS HOUSES finally, to do or permit any violence within the privileged precincts.'*" Even at this date sanctuary was no doubt claimed from time to time legitimate- ly enough, as in the case of Elizabeth, widow of Edward IV, and the two young princes, but very frequently in the later Middle Ages it be- came a real obstacle in the way of justice. As early as the time of Hawley's murder the custom was evidently unpopular, and when the arch- bishop of Canterbury, in the name of all the clergy of England, petitioned the king in Parlia- ment against the late violation, the lords replied that they had no wish to encroach upon the liberties of the church, but that grave abuses were occasioned by people taking sanctuary for debts they were well able to pay, and other peti- tions were presented against the immense range of misdemeanour which the general terms of the charters were construed to cover. Abbot Nicholas made a vigorous defence, and Richard II, while he acknowledged the losses and incon- veniences which had arisen, and pronounced that henceforth the immunity should not be construed to cover fraudulent debtors, still maintained all the privileges of the church touching cases of felony, and because of his great love for the abbey extended its protection to such debtors as had lost their wealth by fortune of the sea, rob- bery, or other mischief."' The abuses seem to have increased as time went on, for in 1474 Edward IV wrote to the archdeacon of Westminster, saying that he had heard that great resort was made to the sanctuary, and grave crimes and abominable excesses com- mitted there, and exhorting him to restrain and punish them ; ^ and in the reign of Henry VIII an extraordinary collection of criminals and fugitives of every rank and description were congregated at Westminster.'*' Yet it would seem that the system was even yet not wholly without supporters, for when attempts were made to abolish it by Act of Parliament under the later Tudors the bills were always defeated.'" Though the abbey does not appear to have suffered much from the rising of 13S1, there must have been consternation in the hearts of the monks when they heard that the rebels were attacking Lambeth Palace, and their fears were not allayed when the warden of the Marshalsea, flying before the insurgents, took refuge in the church on Saturday, 14 June. There he was found "° D. & C. Westm. ' Niger Quaternus,' fol. 139 a'. "' Rolls of Pari. (Rec. Com.), iii, 37a, 50^51 ; also Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), i, 391, where the author remarks that wealthy debtors had been received there ' ibidem laetos ducentes dies, in comessationibus et conviationibus,' while their goods were as safe as those of the lords of the liberty of Westminster. '" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, App. 191. '" L. and P. Hen. Fill, v. 1124. '" Com. Joum. i, 48-9, 73, 76, 79. by the mob a few hours later clinging to the pillars of St. Edward's shrine, and thence he was borne away to be beheaded in mid Chepe.'*^ In the afternoon, however, the young king, accompanied by a great train of nobles, kniglits, and citizens, came to the abbey, where he was met by a pro- cession of monks. At the door of the monastery Richard sprang from his horse, and in tears upon his knees kissed the cross, which was borne before the convent ; thence he proceeded to the shrine, where he knelt long in prayer before returning to meet the rebels at Smithfield.'*^ In 1382 Abbot Nicholas was one of the commis- sioners of the peace appointed to arrest and punish the insurgents.'*' Nicholas died at the close of the year 1386, leaving to the abbey a considerable quantity of plate ' because of the love which the prior and convent bear and have borne him.' The vessels were all marked with his initials, and he left money for repairing and replacing them.'** A document among the Westminster archives,'*" which has been attributed to this period, raises an interesting point as to his character. It is an English letter to the king from ' the senior and more part of the convent ' complaining of the ' gret waste and destruction ' which ' dayly encreceth ' through the ' misgovernaunce ' of the abbot. If this really refers to Litlington, and may be taken in conjunction with another entry '*" which complains of the dishonesty of the abbot in the matter of certain lead which he borrowed from the convent for roofing his new buildings, it throws a curious light on the protestation of affectionate loyalty between the abbot and his brethren, cited above, and on the ostentation with which Nicholas left his initials on his bequests of plate and on the buildings which he carried out with Abbot Langham's money. The ultimate impression left by these various indications of his character is that of a man of great vigour and business capacity, but at the same time worldly and vain-glorious. It is traditionally reported that in the last year of his life, when he was quite an old man, on the rumour of French invasion he bought armour and set out with two fellow monks to assist in the defence of the coast.'" The story, if it is true, bespeaks enter- prise and courage in a man of his age, but hardly that spiritual calm which would better befit the declining years of a venerable Benedictine abbot. It was, however, to Litlington's lavishness and love of splendour that Westminster owed the famous missal known by his name, and left by him to the high altar of the abbey.'^^ From "' Higden, Polychron. (Rolls Ser.), ix, 4. "« Ibid. 5. '" Cal. of Pat. 1381-S, p. 139. '" D. and C. Westm. 'Jewels,' 63. '" D. and C. Westm. 'Abbots,' 15. "" 'Niger Quaternus,' fol. 81. "' Diet. Nat. Biog. 15> Cott. MS. Claud. A. viii, fol. 69. 445