HOUSES OF PREMONSTRATENSIAN CANONS
54. THE ABBEY OF NEWHOUSE OR NEWSHAM
The abbey of Newhouse was the first of this
order established in England, the founder being
Peter of Gousla, who held in Newsham 'one
knight's' fee of Ralf de Bayeux, and founded
the abbey, (fn. 1) and Ralf wishing to share in the
foundation enfranchised that fee. (fn. 2) The dedication of the house was to the honour of St. Mary
and St. Martial, and the date of foundation 1143. (fn. 3)
Ralf de Bayeux, as well as Peter de Gousla,
received the honours of a founder, being admitted
to the fraternity of the house; the absolutions
of the dead and other like offices were said for
him as for the canons. William de Romara,
earl of Lincoln, and Elias d'Albini were also
benefactors of the monastery. (fn. 4)
The canons of Newhouse were involved in a
long suit with the nuns of Elstow during the
twelfth century as to the advowson of the church
of Halton-on-Humber. The nuns claimed it
about 1170, and, in spite of the award given by
the abbot of Rievaulx and the prior of Bridlington, persisted in their suit till a bull from Pope
Alexander III ordered them to molest the canons
no further. (fn. 5)
In 1385 the canons complained of poverty due
to pestilence, barrenness of lands, and heavy
burdens of hospitality. Recent storms had almost
reduced the monastic buildings to ruins. (fn. 6)
Early in the sixteenth century the abbot was
involved in a suit with Sir Thomas Burgh, who
had violently possessed himself of a certain
grange, granted some time before to his father
by a former abbot for protection under a charge
of murder. Sir Thomas, however, declared that
the grange was his right for 'general council in
all lawsuits, which he had always given and
would still give,' and not in recompense for any
particular favour. (fn. 7)
The house was dissolved under the first Act
of Suppression, the abbot receiving £20 pension
and the ten canons the usual allowance for
secular apparel, with wages due. (fn. 8)
The abbey of Newhouse was a daughter
house of the abbey of Lisques, near Calais, and
itself the parent of eleven others, amongst which
Barlings, Tupholme, and Newbo were numbered; (fn. 9) and this position gave the abbots a good
deal of dignity within the order. They had
indeed to be consulted at the election of abbots
in all their daughter-houses, but they were also
chosen from time to time to represent the order
generally in important matters. There were no
less than five Premonstratensian abbeys in the
county of Lincoln, and it is not surprising to
find that provincial chapters w.ere frequently
held in this part of England—at Lincoln in
1310, 1459, 1476, 1485, and 1495; at Legbourne in 1489; at Grantham in 1492. (fn. 10) As
early as 1279 the abbot of Newhouse acted
jointly with the abbot of Hales Owen on affairs
of the order in Wales. (fn. 11) In the memorable
quarrel of the English abbots with Abbot Adam
of Prémontré as to the payment of subsidies
demanded by the mother-house, but forbidden
by the kings of England on pain of treason, the
Lincolnshire abbots played a prominent part. In
1311 the abbots of Newhouse and Croxton,
being visitors for the order in that year, used
their point of vantage for the purpose of collecting opinions from their brethren and concerting
plans of action. A canon of Newhouse, homo
solidus in ordine et lingua approbatus, was deputed to
receive the confidences of the English abbots and
report them to his superiors. (fn. 12) The same two
abbots, also in 1311, (fn. 13) sent a summons to all their
brethren of the midlands to contribute towards
the expenses of the appeal then lodged at Rome
against Abbot Adam's exactions and unfeeling
disregard of the dilemma in which he had placed
all the English houses of the order. Again, in
1346, another abbot of Newhouse was commissioned to reform the abuses of the order
throughout England, and received royal licence
to send £40 subsidy to Prémontré, but no more. (fn. 14)
Some similar commission about 1382 very nearly
brought a successor of his into serious trouble.
He was arrested and summoned before the king's
council on suspicion of a purpose to go beyond
seas and 'sue things prejudicial to the king.' (fn. 15)
In 1472 the abbot of Newhouse was censured
for not providing an abbot for the daughterhouse of Alnwick. (fn. 16) Just about this time (fn. 17) we
learn more in detail of the actual condition of
the house from the visitation reports of Bishop
Redman.
In 1475 there were nineteen canons professed
besides the abbot, but no particular complaints
were made. It seems that the age and
increasing infirmities of the abbot, who resigned
three years later, prevented him from understanding fully the state of his own house and
giving a satisfactory report of it; (fn. 18) for in 1478
five of the brethren were charged with incontinence and apostasy, and two of these had
conspired to break into the cellarer's chamber
and do him some hurt. At the petition of the
resigning abbot, the abbot of Barlings, and the
whole convent, all seven were respited for a time
in hope of amendment. John Swift, abbot of
Barlings, was elected abbot in place of Thomas
Ashton. He was ordered to increase the number
of canons (then fifteen only, with two novices)
as soon as possible; to provide the ex-abbot with
a pension, a chamber of his own, and a canon to
say the divine office with him; and to supply one
of the brethren with food and fatherly affection. (fn. 19)
In 1482 one canon was again found guilty of
incontinence and apostasy; he was excommunicated a second time. The numbers had
increased by three. Injunctions were given as
to keeping of silence, 'the very key of the
religious life,' as to drinking after compline,
regular attendance in choir, and speaking in
chapter without leave; all faults were to be
corrected and punished, and no one was to go
out without a companion. (fn. 20)
In 1488 four canons were found guilty of
going out without leave, and on submission were
ordered to say the whole psalter within a week;
if the offence were repeated they were to have
forty days of penance gravioris culpae and seven
years' banishment. (fn. 21)
In 1491 one of the canons excommunicated
in 1478 was declared apostate for the third time.
Another had grievously sinned with a nun of
Irford. Yet the visitor pronounced the tone of
the house generally to be good, and the abbot
and canons were living in real harmony. (fn. 22) In
1494 two canons were slightly punished for
mistakes at mass, and another for unnecessary
adornment of his habit and for wearing slippers.
The numbers had then fallen to eleven. (fn. 23) In 1497
there were again seventeen, and in this year, as
well as 1500 and 1503, the report of the house
was extremely satisfactory. By the last visitation the abbey was in excellent order, both
temporal and spiritual, and the bishop expressed
his astonishment at the beauty and extent of the
new buildings which the abbot had been able to
erect. (fn. 24)
It is pleasant to record an improvement so
marked and so steady during the thirty years of
Bishop Redman's administration of the order,
and that at a time when the monasteries of
England are popularly supposed to have been in a
very bad way. There is no reason to suppose
that the standard thus attained was lost before
the dissolution; on the contrary, the little we
know is to the credit of the convent. The
last abbot but one was chosen by Archbishop
Cranmer as his suffragan, and at his death in
1534 Cranmer wrote himself to urge the
appointment of the sub-prior to the vacant post
—his own ' friend and old acquaintance.' (fn. 25)
It seems probable that at the dissolution the
canons of Newhouse for the most part took
refuge in other houses of the order; for in 1537
two young canons sent a petition to Cromwell,
in which they stated that, ' being under twentyfour years of age, they were dismissed from their
order ' when the house was dissolved: as if their
elder brethren had fared differently. (fn. 26)
The original endowment of the abbey of
Newhouse included a knight's fee at Newhouse,
and lands of William de Romara at Killingholme and Cabourne, with the churches of
Habrough, East Halton, one-third of Saxilby
and one-sixth of Brocklesby. (fn. 27) Other churches
were granted later. In 1303 the abbot of
Newhouse held half a knight's fee in Killingholme, the same in Melton and Ulceby,
one-third in Brocklesby, one-quarter in Keelby,
one-quarter in Nettleton, one-sixth in Hardwick and East Wykeham, with smaller fractions in Hundon (in Caistor), Crosby, Stapleford, Glentworth. (fn. 28) In 1346 the return was
much the same; (fn. 29) in 1428 again almost the same,
with half a knight's fee also in Huttoft. (fn. 30) In
1534, however, the clear annual value of the
abbey was only £99 2s. 10½d. (fn. 31) The Ministers'
Accounts of 1536 amount to £182 11s. 0½d.,
including the rectories of Brocklesby, East Halton,
Killingholme, Kirmington, Glentworth, Saxilby. (fn. 32)
Abbots of Newhouse
Gerlo, (fn. 33) first abbot, 1143-60
Amblardus, (fn. 34) occurs 1177
David, (fn. 35) occurs 1177-83
Gervase (fn. 36)
Adam, (fn. 37) occurs 1199
Lambert, (fn. 38) occurs 1200-03
Walter (fn. 39)
Geoffrey, (fn. 40) occurs 1219
Osbert, (fn. 41) occurs 1226-30
Thomas, (fn. 42) occurs 1242-75
John de Cave, (fn. 43) occurs 1278-94
Thomas de Hedon, (fn. 44) elected 1296, occurs
to 1310
Ralf, (fn. 45) occurs 1327
Alan, (fn. 46) elected 1334, occurs to 1354
Robert of Thornton, (fn. 47) elected 1355
William of Teleby, (fn. 48) occurs 1377-83
Hugh, (fn. 49) occurs 1395-1419
Henry of Limber, (fn. 50) elected 1420, occurs to
1435
Robert, (fn. 51) occurs 1446-62
Thomas Ashton, (fn. 52) occurs 1475, resigned 1478
John Swift, (fn. 53) elected 1478, resigned 1497
William Sawndalle, (fn. 54) elected 1497, occurs
to 1503
Thomas, (fn. 55) resigned after 1503
John Max, (fn. 56) occurs 1518
Christopher Lord, (fn. 57) occurs 1522 and 1529, died
1534
Thomas Doncaster or Harpham, (fn. 58) last abbot,
elected 1534
The twelfth-century pointed oval seal of Newsham (fn. 59) represents St. Martial, bishop of Limoges,
patron saint of the abbey, full length, with
mitre and vestments partly embroidered, lifting
up the right hand in benediction; in the left
hand a pastoral staff. From the left hand a long
maniple of morse hangs down.
SIGILLV - CONVEN[TVS - SCI - MARCIA]LIS - APL'I
DE NEVHVSA
An early thirteenth-century pointed oval seal (fn. 60)
represents St. Martial, with mitre, standing on a
corbel, in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. In the field on each side an
elegant scroll of conventional foliage, and on
the right a mullet, on the left a crescent.
SIGILL': ECLESIE: SCL: MARCIAL': D': NEVHVS
Another thirteenth-century seal (fn. 61) represents
St. Martial with mitre, seated on an ornamental
throne, the sides of which terminate in animals'
heads and necks, beneath a trefoiled canopy;
lifting up the right hand in benediction, in the
left hand a pastoral staff. In the field on each
side a crescent between a group of four pellets
en losange above it, and a mullet and three pellets
fesse wise below it. In base, under a carved
arch with the foiled openings in the spandrels,
the abbot, half length, in prayer, to the right.
S'ECCL'LE: SCI - MA . . . . IS: APL'I: DE:
NEVHV . . . .
The borders are beaded.
A small pointed oval counter-seal of a thirteenth-century abbot (fn. 62) represents the abbot
standing on a carved corbel, in the right hand
a pastoral staff, in the left hand a book. The
field replenished with an estoile of six points
between two groups of small pellets, on the left
a crescent between two corselets, and as many
groups of pellets on the right.
✠ S': ABBATIS: DE: NEVHVS
An early thirteenth-century seal of Abbot
Osbert (fn. 63) represents on the pointed oval, obverse,
the abbot standing on a carved corbel, in the
right hand a pastoral staff, in the left hand a
book. In the field on each side a small quatrefoil.
✠ SIGILL': OSB'TI: ABBATIS - ET: CONVENTVS:
D': NEH'
The reverse, a small heptagonal counter-seal,
bears a dexter hand and vested arms, crossing
from the base, holding a pastoral staff. In the
field on the left an estoile of seven points.
✠ SECRETVM: ABATIS: [D': IVE]HVS
The border is cabled.
The pointed oval seal of a later abbot (fn. 64) represents two saints standing in a double-arched
niche, with carved canopy and narrow central
shaft. In base, under a carved round-headed
arch, the abbot, half length, with pastoral staff,
in prayer, to the left,
. . . . . . II - ABBAT . . . . . .