Part 3

As there was nothing exceptional in the disposal of the ex-prior's goods,[51] the incident may be fairly taken as an illustration of Convent life as Colchester lived it, and we may therefore go on to notice that, putting together the sum that Excestr' left in cash and that which was realized by the sale of some of these articles, the Convent was able to pay the cost of his illness and burial; the items ranged from 2_d._ for milk to 10_s._ for the fee of the brief-writer who wrote out the formal announcement of his death on one shilling's worth of parchment for the information of other Benedictine houses, and L4 13_s._ 4_d._ for a marble slab with a memorial inscription. As Excestr' died in 1397, we may think of Abbot Colchester as saying the last words over the open grave of his former neighbour in Little Cloisters.

VI

ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER

Our Archdeacon was not destined to remain such for any great time. 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.

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]