On November 29, 1386, there passed away during a meal-time[52] at his
manor house of la Neyte, near Westminster, our great builder, Abbot
Nicholas Litlington, to whom we owe the south and west sides of the Great
Cloister, the Little Cloisters, Jerusalem Chamber, the Abbot's Dining
Hall, and much besides of the present Deanery, and the great Missal.[53]
The vigour of Litlington's character can be realized from what we have
seen of the fight which he maintained through William Colchester for
the privileges of the Abbey, but Colchester must have witnessed a more
remarkable proof of the old man's pluck. In the _Liber Niger_ (f. 87)
there is a record to the effect that a threatened invasion of our
shores by the French King in 1386 caused the Chapter of the Convent to
come to the unanimous opinion that the old Abbot and two of his monks,
John Canterbery and John Burgh, should don full armour and proceed as
far as the coast, on the ground that it was lawful to do so for the
defence of the realm.[54] It is astonishing that Litlington should
have contemplated such an enterprise at his age, for we have a letter
in Norman French, not dated, but clearly referring to this period,
in which he excuses himself on the ground of "age et feblesse" for
not coming to the Abbey "en propre persone" to bring to the King the
famous ring of St. Edward. But Litlington's possession of armour cannot
be doubted. There remains a schedule[55] of his effects at his death,
which shows that those which passed into the hands of his successor
consisted chiefly of various accoutrements, and included six hauberks;
a helmet called a "pisanum"; seven others called basnetts with ventailles
or vizors; a "ketelhat"; a pair of steel gloves; some "leg-harneys";
fore-braces and back-braces; and four lance-heads.
[Illustration: THE PERSONAL EFFECTS OF ABBOT LITLINGTON.]
Though general opinion pointed to his election in Litlington's stead,
Colchester was in some danger of disappointment. He had spent so much
time abroad--a very large proportion of the preceding nine years--being
engaged all the time in a cause which brought him into collision with the
preferences of the Court, that it is not wonderful if the King desired
the election of another. We can thus easily credit the statement of
a Westminster chronicler,[56] whom the Dean of Wells believes to have
been the rival candidate himself, that, when the vacancy occurred, the
King wrote thrice to the Prior and Convent urging them to find their
new Abbot in Brother John Lakyngheth, the very Treasurer whom we have
seen in the act of paying to William Colchester the sums required for
his long journeys and his legal costs, perhaps with a keen satisfaction
at thus facilitating his rival's absence. But the Convent had made up
its mind, and within a fortnight[57] of Litlington's decease, Colchester
was elected Abbot by compromission; that is to say, the Brethren chose
a committee of five or seven of their number and entrusted to them
the choice of the best man. Richard II. was angry, and refused for a
while to receive the nomination. We have the request[58] of the Prior
and Convent to the King, written in French, but not bearing any date,
to give his consent to their choice of "daunz William Colchestre un
de lours commoignes en abbe et pastoure." The letter was written at a
time when Richard could be said to have "graciousement accroiez votre
roial assent al election auantdite," and when it was only necessary to
petition him to make formal announcement of it to the Pope. But there
was considerable delay also on the part of the Pope, who wanted to
quash the election and to appoint by "provision."[59] But the King's
ambassador intervened, and the bulls of confirmation were issued
September 1, 1387. Colchester was installed October 12, and made a great
feast to his friends on St. Edward's Day. His temporalities had been
restored September 10.[60] All this places Richard's attitude towards
him in some doubt, especially as, on November 10, the King, who walked
barefoot from Charing to the Abbey precincts, was there received by
Colchester and his Brethren vested in copes. Almost immediately there
arose a difficult question about sanctuary, as to which the reader may be
again referred to the _Polychronicon_.[61] Words almost fail the scribe
as he pictures the reverence and love of the King for the Church. "There
is not a Bishop on the bench," he says, "who displays as much zeal for
the Church's rights."
Thus it came to pass that King and Court alike poured upon the Abbey
the benefits of their generosity in spite of Colchester's election,
and in the case of the Court the gifts came quite as readily from
Richard's enemies as from his friends. Within three months of Colchester's
installation, on December 1, 1387, a deed[62] was executed whereby the
Abbot and Convent bound themselves to observe the anniversary of Thomas
of Woodstock, Richard's uncle and at that time his fierce enemy, and of
Eleanor de Bohun, his wife, in return for a splendid gift, which included
vestments of cloth of gold, broidered with their initials, silver-gilt
vessels for the altar, a silver-gilt thurible adorned with images of
the saints, and two silver candlesticks formed of angels bearing the
heraldic shields of the houses of Essex and Hereford.[63]
Richard's own gifts to the church during Colchester's time were even
more magnifical. On May 28, 1389, there was a royal grant, witnessed by
the Archbishop of Canterbury and many others, conveying to the Convent
a richly adorned chasuble of cloth of gold, two tunicles, three albs,
the orphreys bearing representations of the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary,
St. John Baptist, St. Edward the Confessor, St. Edmund the King, and
"a certain Abbess." In 1394, after the death of his beloved Queen,
Anne of Bohemia, came Richard's grant of L200 yearly to maintain an
anniversary for her, and for him when he should depart hence;[64] which
was followed in 1399 by his grant to the Abbey of manors and lands in
Middlesex, Bedfordshire, and Berkshire,[65] whence an equivalent in rents
would be derived in perpetuity. To this gift the Dean and Chapter owe
the advowson of Steventon, Berkshire, which they still retain. On the
other side, it may be admitted that Richard made use of the Abbey's
resources; we have his note of hand for a loan of L100, dated September
11, 1397.[66] To what extent he fostered that building of the Nave,
which our documents speak of as the New Work, has been told in detail
elsewhere.[67] It comes to this, that Colchester's effigy in stained
glass looks into the Nave from a window which probably dates from Henry
III.'s time, but it faces towards Purbeck pillars which were the work
of one of our Abbot's most zealous officers, Peter Coumbe. The portion of
the triforium above his window is also due to Henry III., but in his old
age Colchester may well have seen the workmen busy with the erection of
the corresponding section of the clerestory.
VII
THE ABBOT AT HOME
As before, if we want to know an Abbot's interests and his manner of
life at home, we shall go to the accounts of his stewards or Seneschals.
His rent-roll is less than Abbot Litlington's, and there are heavier
arrears. The country is greatly unsettled and it is not an easy
time for landholders. We possess a clear "statement[68] of the lands
and apportionments of the lord William by the grace of God Abbot of
Westminster," as audited in the year 1388. The total revenue when fully
paid has fallen to L617 16_s._ 1_d._, but there are arrears amounting to
L104 12_s._ 7_d._ However, if his receipts are less, his stock is still
plentiful; he possesses 58 horses and 19 foals; 351 heads of cattle;
2287 sheep and lambs; and 299 pigs. When he listened to his monks and
lay clerks singing the 144th Psalm, he had every reason to join in the
desire "that our garners may be full and plenteous with all manner of
store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in
our streets: that our oxen may be strong to labour"; and he knew his
times well enough to ask also that there may be "no complaining in
our streets."
We have six rolls of his Seneschals between 1388 and 1403, and we may
put together from these the facts that are to be gleaned about him.
At this time, at any rate, he was a man of good health. There is a
slight reference to an indisposition in 1389, and once there is a fee
of one shilling to a doctor for treating his "tibia," which seems to
have been a peculiarly vulnerable part of monkish anatomy. On the other
hand, he does not appear to have been as fond of field sports as his
great predecessor; at least in 1402-3 his steward bought 359 rabbits, 41
woodcock and a pheasant, which would hardly be necessary if his lordship
were in the habit of inviting the neighbouring gentry to help him keep
down his game. It is evident that his estates are being well managed.
We can tell, for instance, that in 1388-9, on his manors of Eybury,
Denham, Laleham and Pyrford, he sold 215 stone of wool at 1_s._ 9_d._
a stone. He made red wine at Islip, and his price for it was L2 12_s._
6_d._ a pipe. The needs of his own establishment were mainly supplied
from Denham and Pyrford, especially the former; for his accounts are
full of small payments to servants who had driven pigs from Denham
to la Neyte. In other words, when he was in town he did not patronize
the Westminster tradesmen, but he purchased supplies from himself as
over-lord of Denham. For these he paid his factor at Denham the current
price, so that the manor could give a good account of its takings at
the end of the year.
And this careful accountancy went to quite practical lengths. For
instance, the Abbot was wont to receive during each year a large number
of "exennia," which, as we have seen, were complimentary presents
mostly offered in kind. It happens that there is a complete list of
these with the names of the donors for 1388-9. The clergy beneficed
on the estate, such as the rector of Islip, the vicar of Hurley, where
the Abbey had a daughter priory, the rectors of Oddington and Sutton
on the Gloucestershire property, and the vicar of Brailes in Warwickshire;
the heads of the affiliated convents, such as Hurley, Greater Malvern,
Deerhurst, and Pershore; the tenants, such as the miller at Pyrford;
the man who rents the church farm at Longdon; various monks of the
Abbey, such as John Stowe, who brings now a lamb as a peace-offering, now
the results of his skill with the line, a pike or an eel, and now that
which he has taken with his bow, a brace of bittern; and Peter Coumbe,
the Sacrist and warden of the New Work, who offers a swan and a brace
of pheasants. The gifts, in fact, are from all sorts and conditions
of folk. There is the King's larderer with his modest present of fish;
there is Master Thomas Southam, Cardinal Langham's lawyer, who now sends
the Abbot a pipe of red wine, the most costly of all the gifts, in the
hope, no doubt, of continuing to serve his present lordship in a similar
capacity; and, most pathetic of all, there are two women, who claim to
be of the Abbot's kin,[69] and who offer for his acceptance half a dozen
capons. But the point for us is the careful management of his affairs,
which appears in the fact that each of these eighty-three contributions
is entered by the Seneschal at its market-price. The pipe of wine
figures at L2 13_s._ 4_d._; the lamb at 8_d._; the six capons from
the poor relations at 2_s._; and the brace of bittern at 2_s._ 6_d._
Altogether these tributes towards his maintenance save the expenses
of the mansion by L14 11_s._ 6_d._, and a reference to his steward's
balance-sheet under the head of "outside receipts" shows this exact
sum entered as derived from the "exennia" of divers persons. Prudent
housewifery could scarcely go further. On the other hand, he does not
so treat the presents he receives from the great ones of the earth. When
a stag arrives from Windsor, or a buck from the Baroness Despenser,
the cash value of these compliments is not taken into the account;
there is merely an acknowledgment that certain recognitions in money
have been given to the bearers of the gifts.
It is natural to ask whether the accounts show signs of luxurious
habits. Certainly not in his furnishing. Thus, in 1401 he was adding to
the accommodation of his London mansion of la Neyte. For his new parlour
he obtained a cupboard for 10_s._, two chairs for 4_s._ 6_d._, six stools
for 4_s._ 4_d._, and a deal table for the same sum. I think (the word
is not quite clear) that he had a curtain provided for his study-window
at a cost of 1_s._ 8_d._; and there was a fireplace in his parlour,
for which his Seneschal laid out 7_d._ upon coal. Certainly not, again,
in wine and strong drink; for his outlay under this head was about a
sixth part of the sum which he spent upon corn and meat. Nor is there
any evidence that he used his position for the enrichment of poor
relations. It may be that we can detect a needy kinsman in one John
Colchester who was granted 3_s._ 4_d._ by my lord's command at la Neyte
in March, 1389, and it was quite possibly for a sister-in-law--the wife of
Thomas Colchester--that he ordered a diamond ring[70] at a cost of 40_s._
on May 31 of that year, perhaps because it was her birthday. When one of
his servants was sent to Colchester on some personal business of the
Abbot, the man was evidently not expected to comport himself as if his
master's resources were unlimited, for his total expenses were 2_s._ 4_d._
The Abbot liked to have one or two of the younger monks around him,
such as John Sandon and Thomas Merke, whom we have met, as Shakespeare
also met him, in the events that gather mysteriously round the end
of Richard II.'s reign. No doubt, they joined him at table in the new
parlour of la Neyte, but the only sign of further bounty towards them was
a gift of 6_s._ 8_d._ to them jointly for a treat--pro gaudiis--a term
which survives in the custom of applying the word "gaudy" to those College
entertainments to which at the moment Oxford is patriotically a stranger.
When the great man moved about, it was seemingly not with any great
train; otherwise it would hardly be necessary for the Seneschal to
give 1_s._ 8_d._ to a certain man for guiding my lord out of the forest
of Rockingham, as if the Abbot were too lonely to face the possible
appearance of Robin Hood with equanimity. But, of course, there were
exceptional circumstances when he would travel in the dignity of his
position. There was a formal visitation of the manors of Denham, Laleham,
Staines, and Pyrford in 1402-3, which cost over L6, and visits to Henry
IV. in the same year at Ware and Windsor and Berkhamstead, at an expense
of about L4. A short time after, the Abbot had to face a continental
journey, but L4 12_s._ is no great sum to enter as "the expenses of my
lord and his household in setting out for Calais with porterage and the
hire of a boat to take him to the ship, and also the expenses of John
Sandon and John Stowe [two monks] and part of the household on their
way back to London."
Not a little of his petty expenses arose from the frequency with which he
was officially visited by persons of position who were not too proud to
receive a present of money, and would have resented its absence. They
were mostly content with much less than the 20_s._ imparted to the
Remembrancer of the King's Exchequer, but the gifts of 3_s._ 4_d._
mounted up when the Abbot must receive now a Herald and his boy, now
the Sheriff of Middlesex and his valet and his boy, now a messenger
with a summons to Parliament, now two criers from the King's Bench,
and all within a brief space of time.
But Abbot Colchester did indulge one luxury, whether out of a taste for
it or because it was the fashion of the time, I cannot say. He was fond
of being entertained, particularly by musicians; and his Seneschal's
accounts during these six or seven years are full of small payments to
such persons, from a boy who danced before my lord at Walsingham for
6_d._ to Henry the piper--fistulator--who was retained at Pyrford all
Christmas time for 14_s._ He could provide some of this enjoyment from
the resources of the Abbey, as when he made two clerks bring a pair
of organs from Westminster to Pyrford. His chief delight was to have
Master Percyvale and other of the King's minstrels, especially on great
festivals such as St. Peter ad Vincula, and he could listen to Percyvale
for the modest consideration of 2_s._ Evidently it came to be known that
he had tastes of this kind, for William of Wykeham's pipers journeyed
to Pyrford to strut their little hour before the Abbot; Henry Despenser,
the fighting Bishop of Norwich and doughty champion of Richard II.,
sent his minstrels to entertain my lord when he was at Birlingham;
the Duke of Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, kept a blind harper who
gave a performance at Denham; and the other visitors included the Abbot
of Eynsham's player--lusor--and the musicians of the ill-fated Earl of
Arundel. Even when he was resident for a space in Northampton for the
General Chapter of the Benedictine Order, he was sometimes entertained
by mummers.[71]
But it would not be fair to think of him as having no desires that
went down to the realities of things. For he lived in troublous times,
and he knew how Christian men should face the serious issues that
then emerged. His duty to the country and to the various properties
for which he stood in trust called him away from Westminster often,
and sometimes for prolonged periods. It is possible by means of the
accounts of his various bailiffs to follow his comings and goings;
for the receipts from the properties must be delivered to the Abbot in
person, and there is thus an entry of the cost of journeying to such
and such a place, wherever he happened to be, and generally of the cost
of one or two horsemen for safety's sake. But the Abbey and the welfare
of his Brethren were in his mind, and he kept a guiding hand upon their
spiritual concerns, particularly in times of trial. There is an instance
of this in a document,[72] which bears no date except August 31, but
which may be assigned with reasonable certainty to Richard II.'s troubled
reign. It is headed in another hand, "W. Abbot of Westminster to the
Prior of the same place"; but this is an error. The Abbot in a quite
exceptional way addresses himself to the officers or obedientiaries
without mentioning the Prior, and I incline to attributing the document to
the latest years of Richard II., because the Prior, John de Wratting,[73]
was then becoming unequal to his duties. It is true that our evidence
for this is dated 1405,[74] but, as Wratting was then over eighty, it
may hold almost as well for seven or eight years earlier. The Abbot's
message is as follows:--
"My beloved sons in Christ,
"The most serene Prince our lord the King has urgently required
of us that in this present time of dire necessity we should be
instant in prayer to the most High with all our hearts for the
good estate of King and country. For enemies without and rebels
within are confederate in their malicious plots to shatter the
peace of the realm. You therefore to whom (under us) belongs the
administration of government in our monastery we hereby urge and
enjoin that, considering what we say above, you should put a
limit upon the Brethren's walks abroad and upon their ridings
into distant parts--except of course in the case of the Monk
Bailiff--until God grants us more peaceful times. Call all and
singular your Brethren to Chapter and bid them from me to be
content with their usual recreation within the house and to give
themselves so much the more earnestly to meditation and prayer as
the distress and wickedness of the times become more pressing.
Go in solemn procession every fourth day round the bounds of the
monastery, and every sixth day through the vill of Westminster,
praying for a successful issue and for the common weal of
the King and the realm--petitions which are already earnestly
commended to the private prayers of all the Brethren. Summon
all the chaplains and clerks dwelling within St. Margaret's
parish to join you, and specially the clerks of our Almonry,
according to custom. Fare you well in Christ now and for ever."
The Abbot wrote from Denham; but his heart was with his Brethren in a
time of trouble.
There are also signs that in normal times he was exercising an effect
on the organization of conventual activity. In his roll for 1393-4 the
officer called the Warden of the Churches made entry that he had paid
to Peter Coumbe, as Sacrist, the sum of 32_s._, at the rate of 4_s._ for
each of the Abbey's eight principal feasts, "in accordance with the
recent ordinance of the lord William now Abbot."[75] It is an intimation
that the Abbot was already making his influence felt, and was encouraging
his Brethren to regard the solemnities of divine worship[76] as the
chief care of their monastic life.
VIII
THE ABBOT ABROAD
But though we may realize that Abbot Colchester loved his Convent and
cherished it, we still have to think of him as being often compelled to
wander far from it. True, he had spent so much time in Rome before his
election, that he was able to escape in 1390 the triennial visit _ad
limina_ which was normally expected of an Abbot. He was represented
on that occasion by John Borewell, an active and efficient monk, who
had succeeded him in the Archdeaconry in 1387; he was also represented
by the gifts of himself and his Brethren on the occasion of the year of
Jubilee, which are carefully recorded in the _Liber Niger_ (f. 92). But
that exemption did not avail to keep him at home, for we are told that on
December 14, 1391, he set out for the Continent on the King's business,
the King being responsible for his travelling charges and his safe
conduct.[77]
[Illustration: ABBOT COLCHESTER'S SEAL.]
In 1393 he was commissioned by the Pope to join the Bishop of Salisbury
and the Abbot of Waltham in an inquiry into the statutes and customs of
the Collegiate Chapter of the Chapel in Windsor Castle, and to correct
and reform these, where they seemed to need it.[78] John de Waltham,
Bishop of Salisbury, and our Abbot were there associated not for the
first time or the last. Two years later the Bishop died, and was buried
by Richard's desire in the Confessor's Chapel. Waltham was a successful
favourite, without claim to royal sepulture, and we may assume that
Colchester and the Convent were among the many who protested. It is,
perhaps, not unfair to assert that "the Abbey was well considered for
this," or that the monks' "scruples were overborne by gifts of money and
vestments."[79] Yet it is a fact that, whereas the Bishop was buried
in 1395, the indenture tripartite,[80] which dealt with the use to be
made of the gifts, was not drawn up till July 15, 1412. It recites
that the Bishop, who had served the Kings of England from his boyhood
in their Chancery and in other and higher offices, was buried among
the tombs of the Kings;[81] that at the sight of his bier--we must,
no doubt, think of Abbot Colchester as standing by--Richard II. had
given to the Abbey a rich "Jesse" vestment valued at 1000 marks, and
that the executors had added another vestment valued at L40 and 500
marks in money. Colchester and the Convent covenanted to observe the
Bishop's obit--September 18--which we know they did to the last. They also
admitted into their company one of the Bishop's executors, Ralph Selby,
Archdeacon of Buckingham, giving him precedence next to the Prior with
corresponding privileges, and granting him, in 1402-3, a yearly pension
of L4. This does not support the notion of the Convent's hostility to
John de Waltham; at the same time it occurs too late to be reckoned
as a bargain entered into for the purpose of securing to the Bishop
a posthumous honour which they were unwilling to accord, even when
Richard II. asked for it.
I pass by Colchester's part, if he took any, in Richard's journey to
Ireland in 1399;[82] for our records throw no light on what did not
concern the Convent. There appears to be no doubt that he was confederate
with the Earls of Rutland, Huntingdon, Kent, and Salisbury, who were
at first confided to his safe-keeping by Henry IV.; that he took part
on December 17, 1399, in a secret gathering of the conspirators within
the Abbey; that he was arrested, and sent first to Reigate and then,
January 25, 1400, to the Tower; and that he was released, after a trial
there held on February 4.[83] He had, of course, received Henry IV. when
he made his progress to Westminster on October 12, 1399, and had taken
part in the coronation on the following day.[84]
But inside the Convent there was an evident desire to eschew
partisanships, as any one can realize who reads Roger Cretton's bare
and impartial record in the _Liber Niger_.[85] I therefore pass from
public questions and take up an otherwise undated letter[86] of the Abbot,
written from Cologne on October 10, to two important Westminster monks
whom we have already had before us, Peter Coumbe and John Borewell.
It reveals Colchester's close interest in Abbey affairs, however far
away he might be, and it is even somewhat peremptory in tone. For he
had referred to them some detail of monastic business, and says that
he is daily awaiting their answer, in order that he may take action
accordingly. The Convent, he adds, is to receive with due honour a
relation of the Bishop of Lincoln, remembering that his lordship has
always been gracious to them in matters of conventual concern.