only four canons at the Priory;* and that these, and their four household servants, during this sequestration for their clothing, wages, and diet, were allowed per annum xxx lib.; and that the annual pension of the lord prior, reside where he would, was to be x lib.
In the year 1468, Prior Berne, probably wearied out by the dissensions and want of order that prevailed in the convent, resigned his priorship into the hands of the bishop.—Reg. Waynflete, tom. I., pars ima ., fol. 157.
March 28th, A.D. 1468. “In quadam alta camera juxta magnam portam manerii of the Bishop of Wynton de Waltham coram eodem rev. patre ibidem tunc sedente, Peter Berne, prior of Selborne, ipsum prioratum in sacras, et venerabiles manus of the bishop, viva voce libere resignavit: and his resignation was admitted before two witnesses and a notary-public. In consequence, March 29th, before the bishop, in capella manerii sui ante dicti pro tribunali sedente, comparuerunt fratres” Peter Berne, Thomas London, William Wyndesor, and William Paynell, alias Stretford, canons regular of the priory, “capitulum, et conventum ejusdem ecclesie facientes; ac jus et voces in electione futura prioris dicti prioratus solum et in solidum, ut asseruerunt, habentes;” and after the bishop had notified to them the vacancy of a prior, with his free license to elect, deliberated awhile, and then, by way of compromise, as they affirmed, unanimously transferred their right of election to the bishop before witnesses. In consequence of this the bishop, after full deliberation, proceeded, April 7th, “in capella manerii sui de Waltham,” to the election of a prior; “et fratrem Johannem Morton, priorem ecclesie conventualis de Reygate dicti ordinis Stf. Augustini Wynton. dioc. in priorem vice et nomine omnium et singulorum canonicorum predictorum elegit, in ordine sacerdotali, et etate licita constitutum, &c.” And on the same day, in the same place, and before the same witnesses, John Morton resigned to the bishop the priorship of Reygate viva voce. The bishop then required his consent to his own election: “qui licet
* If Bishop Wykeham was so disturbed (see “Notab. Visitatio”) to find the number of canons reduced from fourteen to eleven, what would he have said to have seen it diminished below one-third of that number?
