1412.
18 Kal. May.
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 106) |
To the Augustinian abbot and convent of St. Osyth's in the diocese of London. Indult for the abbot and his successors to wear the mitre ornamented with pearls, gems and gold, and the ring, tunic, dalmatic, sandals and other pontifical insignia;
and in the monastery and its subject priories, and in parish and other churches belonging to them, as also in other churches to which they may go for celebrating masses and marriages, or for funerals or anniversaries or other cause, to give solemn benediction at mass before the Pax Domini, when they celebrate in person or are present; to do so after mass, vespers and matins, and at table; when, wearing their insignia, they go to the altars to celebrate mass, and when they leave them; and in solemn processions; provided that no bishop or papal legate be present. Exposcit restre devocionis. |
11 Kal. April.
St. Peter's Rome.
(f. 112d) |
Perpetual exemption—at the recent petition of prior Edward and the convent of the Benedictine priory of St. Neots (de Sanctoncoto) in the diocese of Lincoln, containing that its founders ordained that its prior and monks should be Frenchmen; that the abbot and convent of Bek Herlewyn in the diocese of Rouen should appoint them, visit them as a dependent cell, and receive from them a yearly pension of 30s. English; that during the French wars the pension has been paid to the king of England; that in course of time, on account of alienations by abbots of Bek Herlewyn and by the priors and monks, by reason of the foreign rule (peregrina regimina) of the said abbots, priors and monks, ignorant of the English language, the priory goods, formerly of no small value, have been so much wasted that they are utterly insufficient; that upon the death of William de Sancto Vedasto, monk of the said monastery [of Bek Herlewyn], prior of the priory, a Frenchman, all the French monks except two have, during the reign of king Henry, betaken themselves to France, since which the priory has been in the hands of prior Edward and a few English monks; and that king Henry, considering the impossibility, owing to the hostility between the peoples of the two realms, of French monks residing, has granted by letters patent that in future the priors and convent shall be English and shall hold their priory and its possessions without any yearly burden or rent to the king—of the priory and its inmates from the abbot and convent of Bek Herlewyn, saving the right, if any, of the latter to the said pension, subjecting them instead to the bishop, and ordaining that in future they may be of any nation, and that on the resignation or death of the present prior the convent may elect one of themselves or other of their order, of any nation, as prior, and that the bishop may confirm the election. Ad fut rei mem. Provida sedis apostolice. (De mandato.) |