HOUSES OF PREMONSTATENSIAN CANONS
7. THE ABBEY OF BEAUCHIEF (fn. 1)
The abbey of Beauchief, or 'De Bello Capite,'
was founded near Norton, for Premonstratensian
or White Canons, by Robert FitzRanulph, lord
of Alfreton and Norton, about 1175, and dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin, in
conjunction with the recently canonized St.
Thomas the Martyr. (fn. 2) Dugdale made the strange
mistake of stating that Robert FitzRanulph was
'one of the four knights who martyred the Blessed
Thomas of Canterbury, and afterwards founded
the monastery of Beauchief to expiate his crime.' (fn. 3)
The names, however, of the four knights are
well known through the unanimous testimony of
four eye-witnesses. The principal actors in the
eventful deed of 29 December, 1170, were
Brito, Moreville, Tracy, and FitzUrse. Dr.
Pegge has shown conclusively that the founder
had no connexion with the murder, though a
more recent attempt has been made to turn him
into an accomplice. (fn. 4)
Robert FitzRanulph, who was for several
years sheriff of the united counties of Derbyshire
and Nottinghamshire, was a generous founder.
In addition to a considerable area of land in the
immediate vicinity of the monastery, the bounds
of which are accurately defined in the foundation charter and included about 700 acres, he
bestowed on the house the churches of Norton
and Alfreton in Derbyshire, Wymeswold in
Leicestershire, and Edwalton in Nottinghamshire. It was for a long time supposed by those
who accepted Dugdale's statement that this was
an expiatory foundation connected with the
martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and
that the very name of Beauchief was derived
from the fair head or saintly crown of the
martyr. The wording, however, of the foundation charter at once upsets this theory, for the site
is therein described as 'locum qui dicitur Beuchef
in Doresheles.' (fn. 5) There can be no doubt that the
abbey was named after an adjacent fair headland
—sufficiently prominent for immediate recognition—which overlooked the dale. It was thus
styled by the Normans, on the same principle
that is observed in such place-names as Beauchamp, Beaumont, Beaudesert, or Beaurepaire
(now Belper) in this county. The early scribes
were as fickle as usual in their way of spelling
the name of the abbey; for there are at least
twelve variants in the chartulary—Beuchef,
Beuchyf, Beuchyffe, Beuchelf, Beuchiffe, Beauchef, Beaucheif, Beauchief, Beachiffe, Beacheef,
Baucheff, and Bewcheffe.
The abbey was originally colonized by five
canons who came from the abbey of Welbeck.
It was part of the elaborate system of Premonstratensian government to regard as father-abbot
the head of the house from which the younger
establishment sprang. The whole genealogy or
pedigree, so to speak, of the houses of White
Canons was always carefully preserved. In
visitations of Welbeck, Beauchief is several times
described as ecclesia nostra filialis. The following
is the descent of Beauchief:—Prémontré, 1120;
Licques (Normandy), 1131; Welbeck, 1158;
Beauchief, c. 1175. Beauchief herself never
sent forth a colony. Adam, abbot of Welbeck,
was the second witness to a somewhat extended
foundation charter that followed close after the
original one, which is recited in an inspeximus of
Edward I. (fn. 6)
William lord of Alfreton, the son of the
founder, gave to the abbey the mill of Cold
Aston in the adjoining parish of Dronfield;
Robert de Alfreton, the founder's grandson, who
flourished between 1242 and 1270, gave considerable lands in Norton and Alfreton, whilst
Ranulph, his brother, gave a bovate and a
half of land in Wymeswold. (fn. 7) The male line
of the Alfreton family came to an end with
Thomas, who died without issue in 1269. (fn. 8)
His sister Alice, one of his two coheirs, married
Sir William Chaworth, and brought to him the
Alfreton estate. Their son, Sir Thomas Chaworth, succeeding the Alfretons as patron or
advocate of the abbey, became such a substantial
benefactor of the canons that he is usually
spoken of as a founder. Dr. Pegge, in his
abstract of the chartulary, enumerates no fewer
than eighteen distinct grants made to Beauchief
by Sir Thomas. (fn. 9) In connexion with these
grants there are two points of particular interest.
One of these is the full liberty granted to the
canons of getting coals, drawing them and carrying them away, both for their own use and that
of their tenants, in their own lands and in the
waste grounds lying amid their lands within the
sokes of Norton and Alfreton. (fn. 10) It may here be
mentioned that by a subsequent deed of 1368,
the canons agreed to release the payment to them
of a rent of 13s. 4d. out of Alfreton manor,
which had been granted for forty years, in case
the coal mines failed during that period or ceased
to work. (fn. 11) The other interesting and exceptional fact that comes out in these Chaworth
donations is the granting of liberty to the abbot
and convent of cleansing (emundare) their lands
and the lands of their tenants from golds (goldae),
according to the custom of the manors of Norton
and Alfreton, and if they found any default in
the cleansing, they might take fines of their
tenants. (fn. 12) Dr. Pegge, misled by the strange
blunder of Du Cange, followed by other lexicographers who cite this charter, explains the term
goldae as meaning 'dams in water courses.' The
term has, however, undoubtedly a botanical
signification. (fn. 13) Corn-marigolds (chrysanthemum
segetum) are now popularly known as 'goldies'
by children both in the north and midlands.
John Fitzherbert, the great Derbyshire writer
on 'Husbandry' (1523), says: 'There be divers
maner of wedes as thistyls . . . darnolde,
gouldes.' And in another place, 'Golds is an
yll wede, and groweth commonly in barleye and
pees.' (fn. 14)
Both the son and grandson of Sir Thomas
Chaworth were to a small extent benefactors of
the abbey, and later descendants were commemorated by the canons as patrons.
In return for the co-founder's grants, it was
covenanted that an additional canon should be
maintained, whose special duty it should be to
act as chantry priest for the Chaworth family.
This is expressly stipulated in letters patent of
Edward I. On 1 November, 1301, licence was
granted to the abbey for the alienation to them
by Thomas de Chaworth of 10 tofts, 11 bovates,
and 58 acres of land, 16 acres of wood, and
58s. 6d. of rent in Alfreton, Norton, Greenhill,
Bradway, and Woodseats for the maintenance of
a canon chaplain to celebrate divine service in
the abbey for the souls of Thomas and Joan, his
wife, and their ancestors. (fn. 15)
Dr. Pegge, in his analysis of the chartulary,
gives a long alphabetical series of other benefactors of the abbey, particularizing their gifts. (fn. 16)
The more important were Sir Warner de Beeley,
the donor of Harwood Grange; Robert de
Eccleshall, the mill of Eccleshall; Gerard de
Furnivall, and his wife Maud Lovecot, pasture
in the forest of Fulwood and a share of Sheffield
mill; and Ralph Musard, father and son,
Hendley in Staveley.
On 24 August, 1284, the abbot of Beauchief
obtained protection until Christmas, when going
to attend a general chapter of his order; William
de Boteland and Thomas de Wilghesik were
appointed his attorneys. (fn. 17)
The keeper of the port of Dover was directed,
in September, 1327, to permit the abbot of
Beauchief, who was going to the chapter general
of his order, to cross the sea with four horses, and
to allow him 20 marks for the expenses of
himself and his household. (fn. 18)
In 1318 the abbot became involved in a dispute wherein he had evidently taken the law
into his own hands concerning a claim to certain
property. A commission of oyer and terminer
was issued on complaint by John le Cippere of
Nottingham, that William abbot of Beauchief,
Walter de Cotes 'the abbotes serjaunt,' William
son of Walter de Urton, and Robert le Gardiner
of Codnor, with others, brake his close at Riddings by Somercotes, co. Derby, felled his trees,
wrecked his houses, and carried away his timber,
trees, and goods. (fn. 19)
Godekin de Devele the younger and Roger de
Glapwell of Chesterfield, merchants, obtained
letters patent in June, 1333, to convey to the
staples and thence export at will, notwithstanding the ordinance of the staple, wools purchased
by them from the abbot of Beauchief before the
making of such ordinance. (fn. 20)
In March, 1332, William Daventry, who had
long served the late king, was sent to the abbey
to take the place, as royal pensioner, of John de
Malvern, deceased. (fn. 21)
One of the special points of interest pertaining
to the English Premonstratensian houses is that,
though strictly extra-diocesan, so many visitations
of many of them are extant, chiefly among the
manuscript stores of the Bodleian.
In 1278, John, abbot of Newhouse, was commissioned to act as English visitor for the lord
abbot of Prémontré. Beauchief was visited early
in May, when the abbot of Newhouse took with
him, as assessors, his brother abbots of Welbeck,
Dale, and Newhouse. On the occasion of this
visit the Abbot Ivo was absolved from the care of
the pastoral office which he held over Beauchief,
in accordance with his own desire and petition.
Thereupon, in the presence of the visitors, the
canons unanimously elected Roger de Foulstowe,
their prior, as their father and pastor. (fn. 22)
The record of the next visitation that is
known tells of coming disorders. In 1458, the
abbot of Shap, as visitor or commissary of the
abbot of Prémontré, was exacting general contributions from the various houses of the order in
England, although this was contrary to English
statute law. On his announcing his visit to
Beauchief, Abbot John Downham wrote to his
father-abbot of Welbeck requesting his advice
and direction as to these levies:—
Honours and worshippes with all dew filiall recommendations be unto youer holy and honorabull fadyrhode besechynge you to pardonne me att I am so
longe frome youre worthy presence whilk is sore
agaynes my wyll.
Pleas yow to wite oure vysitur hathe at he wyll
visyte hus in haste, and in hys wrytenge charges hus,
in vertue of holy obediaunce, that we schall make
redy tallias or contribuciones to oure place pertanynge,
as wel of yerys past as of this present; whilk, as I
conceyve, is expressle agaynes owre constytucyones,
without a generall chapyter had. And I am credubly
informede, odyr places where he hath bene hath wythsayde hym therein.
Wherefore I beseke your sayde fadyrhode, how ye
thynk I schulde be demende herein of youre sage and
sadde counsell, and in whatt wyse yee be demende
yourselfe therein; for in lyke wyse wold I demene
me, and be it youre commandement. In whilk and
all odyr perteyninge to our ordur, I schall be obedyente as ryght and conschyaunce requyreth, with feare
of Almyghty God, whom I beseke youe to preserve in
honoures to his lovynges longe to endure. Wryten
at Bewchef the vii day of December.
This resistance of the exaction of foreign dues
seems creditable to Downham, but from what
shortly afterwards transpired, it becomes pretty
clear that the abbot's real resistance was to any
searching visitation. The house of Beauchief
was at this time divided into two parties, Downham the abbot and Skipton the prior, with
sixteen of the canons, opposed any serious
visitation on the quasi-patriotic ground that it
was of foreign ordering, and meant foreign
exaction; but John Swift, another of the canons,
and future abbot, led the rest of the house (five
in number) in opposition to Downham. On
1 February, 1461-2, Swift wrote to the fatherabbot of Welbeck, a quaintly-worded letter, half
English, half Latin, imploring his interference,
as there were many irregularities and nothing
whatever amended since the last visitation,
although the abbot had sworn to do so. (fn. 23) On
receipt of this letter, the abbot of Welbeck
endorsed it—Johannes Swyft, ut opinor proximus
abbas, which was doubtless intended as a hint to
the commissary-general, to whom he wrote
begging for his prompt interference. Richard
Redman, the energetic commissary-general of
the English houses of the order, and abbot of
Shap (who afterwards became bishop successively
of St. Asaph, Exeter, and Ely), lost no time in
coming to the rescue. On the last day of February, Redman, accompanied by the abbot of
Welbeck and the prior of St. Agatha, held a
thorough visitation at Beauchief, with the result
that Abbot Downham was found guilty on
abundant sworn testimony both from within and
without the monastery, of perjury, incontinence,
rebellion, wasting the convent's goods and other
notorious crimes. On being found guilty Downham resisted the discipline of the order, offered
armed resistance with swords and staves, and by
force made his way out of the monastery, associating with him seven canons who joined in his
apostasy. Whereupon Downham and his abettors
were formally summoned to appear in the chapter
house, and on his neglect the late abbot was formally deposed from his office, and with five of the
contumacious canons sentenced to the greater
excommunication. Immediately after this John
Swift was elected as abbot, on the nomination of
the father-abbot of Welbeck, for there was not a
sufficiency of canons of the house for a due
chapter election.
This method of election was regular, because
the rules of the order provide that the appointment of a new abbot rests with the father-abbot
when schism or disturbance is rife in the house:
but Downham appealed to Prémontré against the
election of Swift and prayed for re-instatement.
On 13 May, 1462, a court of appeal, nominated
by the lord abbot of Prémontré, met at Nottingham, consisting of the commissary-general, the
abbots of Welbeck, Barlings, Newhouse, and Dale,
and the prior of Easby. The deposition of
Downham and the election of Swift were confirmed. A few days later, namely on 29 May,
six of the defaulting canons, Downham's accomplices, made full submission, 'freely, voluntarily,
and of their own accord.' (fn. 24)
Downham's conduct must have been peculiarly
bad and scandalous, for the commissary-general,
in revisiting Beauchief in February, 1461-2,
stated that he had been 'specially requested' to
hold that visitation 'by the mandate of our most
excellent king, and by the prayers of other lords,
dignitaries, and honourable men.' Downham
apparently continued his disgraceful course, for
in the following year his arrest, and that of two
of the ex-canons was ordered by the civil power,
the sheriff of Derby being commissioned on
1 July, 1463, to arrest John Pole of Hartington,
esq. Edmund Hartington, John Downham,
late abbot of Beauchief, John Mundeville and
Robert Bowlond, late canons of that monastery,
and fifteen others, and to bring them before the
king in council within twelve days after arrest,
and if they cannot be arrested without inconvenience, to require assistance from knights,
esquires, and other gentlemen of the county. (fn. 25)
Swift remained abbot of Beauchief until 1478,
when he was transferred to the abbey of Newhouse. During the time of his abbacy Richard
Redman held various visitations of Beauchief. (fn. 26)
The first of these was held on 5 May, 1472,
when the visitor found the abbot and brethren
joined together in the bond of charity, love, and
peace; the ministration of divine service devoutly
performed; the temporal estate ameliorated, the
debts diminished, and the condition of the buildings excellent. The minor admonitions ordained
stricter rule of silence; the singing of the
Eastertide 'Alleluia' at the end of the versicles
and not in the middle; and lessening of the
tonsure of the canons, and its abandonment by
the lay brothers. In all other respects the visitation report was highly favourable. The debts
had been reduced from £40 13s. to £10, and
the house was well provided with wheat and
other necessaries. The abbot was commended
as wise, careful, skilful, and prudent, and so
zealous that he deserved to be called not merely
a restorer, but a founder. In October of the
same year Beauchief was visited by the fatherabbot of Welbeck, who testified that he found
'the greatest peace and mutual concord prevailed
amongst the brethren, who were living together
in the bonds of charity.' Nevertheless he ordered
drinking after compline, and certain minor
irregularities, to be amended. In 1475 the abbot
of Welbeck's visitation again brought forth much
praise for the venerable shepherd and his brethren,
which was not qualified on this occasion by any
admonitions, as nothing was found worthy of
correction.
On 25 May, 1478, the Right Reverend Father
Richard Redman, then bishop of St. Asaph,
arrived at Chesterfield on his visitation tour, and
stayed there for the night at the expense of the
abbot of Beauchief. He arrived at Beauchief
on the following day at dinner time, and held
his formal visitation on 27 May:
We found nothing which needed to be corrected, or
reported to the general chapter: but, as regards keeping silence, which is the 'key of religion,' in the
places where it should be kept; for the sake of greater
security, we commanded the abbot and presidents of the
convent to correct delinquents according to the statutes.
Upon the transference of Swift to the abbey
of Newhouse, which was in some disorder,
Thomas Wyder, canon of Croxton, and prior of
Hornby, was appointed abbot of Beauchief.
The appointment of an outsider gave much
offence to some of the canons, and Robert Skipton,
the prior (an old abettor of Downham's), with
three others made open rebellion within three
weeks of Swift's departure. Thereupon the
commissary-general, under date 24 June, 1478,
issued his mandate to the abbot of Welbeck to
summon Robert Skipton and his three adherents
to appear in the Hampshire monastery of Titchfield, on 22 July, to show cause why they should
not be excommunicated. This summons was
disregarded, and on 16 August, the commissary
ordered the abbots of Welbeck and Dale to
summon the defaulters (now increased in number
to six) to appear before a commission consisting of
those two abbots and five of their brother abbots,
in the chapter-house of the Grey Friars of Doncaster, at 8 o'clock in the morning on 5 September, to answer for their rebellion and contumacy.
Skipton and his fellow rebels must eventually
have made due submission, for in a list of canons
of this house drawn up at a visitation of 1482,
Robert Skipton is entered as prior, and his brother
defaulters all appear among the other canons.
The number of the professed brothers was at
that time fourteen, and there were also two
novices. The weekly consumption of grain at
the monastery was returned as 10 bushels of
wheat, 16 bushels of oats, and 4 bushels of
barley; the oxen numbered 24, the sheep 28, and
the pigs 12.
In his visitation of 1488 Redman arrived at
Beauchief at dinner time, on 24 May, and entered
the chapter-house on the following day; he
finished the visitation on the 26th, but stayed
there throughout that day on account of its
solemnity, it being the feast of the Ascension.
The canons, including the abbot and prior, then
numbered fifteen. The visitor found that the
debt of £20 at the last visit had been reduced
through the care of the abbot to £10, and that
the house was amply provided with corn, cattle,
and other necessaries. The report stated that
the venerable abbot was pious, learned, and
meek, and supplied all things needful to his
brethren. Robert Skipton, the prior, and two
other of the canons were adjudged neglectful in
observing silence, and they were ordered all to
be put on bread and water for one day, but the
imposed punishment was at once remitted on
account of the solemnity of the day. The abbot
was ordered to cause his brethren to be instructed
in science, (fn. 27) and to see that they studied their
books during lecture. There was nothing else
worthy of correction.
Redman's visitation of 1491 is worth giving
in full, in modern English dress (fn. 28) :—
In the year of Our Lord 1491, on 20th of August.
we visited the monastery of Beauchief, where we found
our brethren pious and devout, the abbot embracing
them with the arms of affection. Nevertheless we
straitly charged all the brethren that none of them
should secretly dare to keep for themselves more than
the sum of 21s. but should give an account of their
money to their abbot once at least every year, lest
they who did otherwise should be accounted amongst
the rich and be damned with Judas the betrayer, who,
whilst he sought for gain, came to a halter.
Moreover we commanded that the brethren should
not go beyond the precincts of the monastery either
by night or by day, without the leave of the abbot
first had and obtained.
William Wydoson, canon of this monastery, having
been lawfully cited to appear before us, and though
long expected having in nowise appeared, we pronounced rebellious, and we suspended him, ordering
him, moreover, to appear before us in the monastery
of Newhouse, the day after the feast of St. Augustine,
under penalty of the greater excommunication.
At this time we found nothing more to be corrected,
but as regards the condition of the monastery, as much
is owing to it as it owes.
In other respects we beheld the said church adorned
with such fair decorations, buildings, and repairs, that
well may it be said with the prophet: 'O Lord, I have
loved the beauty of Thine house.'
Moreover its stock of cattle and flocks is much
greater than before.
The visitation of 1494, on 25 May, by the
same prelate, brought to light by the evidence of
the convent, and by the common report of the
country-side, the excesses of Robert Wolset, one
of the canons. He was charged with open
rebellion against the abbot, with violent armed
resistance to those who opposed him, and with
incontinency. To these charges he pleaded
guilty, but earnestly implored mercy. Forty
days of penance (imprisonment) were assigned
for rebellion, and a like period for incontinence,
and to be sent for three years to the abbey of
Torre, Devonshire. Whereupon the abbot and
all his brethren falling on their knees before the
visitor made intercession for the offender, and
Bishop Redman consented to postpone the
punishment and banishment until his return
about the feast of the Assumption (15 August),
his punishment to be regulated in accordance
with the way in which he had observed discipline.
The only other correction of this visit was an
order as to the lessening of the tonsure.
At the visitation of 1498 the chief matter
was the command of Redman that the Psalms
should be sung with care at the end of each
verse, not lengthening the note, nor lowering
their voices, but rather lifting them up. The
visitation of 1500 resulted in warm praise for
the whole condition of the house both in spiritual
and temporal affairs, save that William Darnton
had apostatised and was excommunicated.
In April, 1501, Beauchief was visited, at the
command of the commissary-general, by Thomas,
father-abbot of Welbeck.
After making diligent inquiry touching as well its
temporal as its spiritual condition, we found that both
were sufficiently cared for, praised be God for the
same. We signified a penalty of 10 days on the
sub-prior for he entered into contention with his
prior in the presence of the lay brethren, and the
same penalty on Robert Wulfet. We commanded
them that they should not suffer their brethren to go
beyond the boundaries of the monasteries to visit
common shows (communa spectacula) or any place in the
villages without the special licence of the abbot.
It may here be remarked that in several of
the lists of canons present at these visitations
occur the names of those who were respectively
vicars of Norton, Alfreton, and Wymeswold.
The White Canons of Prémontré were the only
religious order who possessed the privilege of
appointing those of their own profession to
benefices in their gift without any special episcopal or papal licence. It was consequently
often the custom (though by no means the
invariable rule) for the Premonstratensian abbots
to present their own canons to the vicarages or
churches of which they were the rectors. Such
canons usually lived on their benefices, but were
bound to attend chapter on particular occasions,
particularly at visitations, and to follow their
rule as closely as they could outside the monastery. In the case of the neighbouring rectory
of Dronfield, which was appropriated to Beauchief in 1399, though the vicarage was in the
presentation of the abbot, it does not appear
that the vicars of this comparatively large place
were ever drawn from the Beauchief canons.
Nor is it only in the matter of visitation
records that Beauchief Abbey is exceptionally
fortunate. Two obituaries of this house have
happily been preserved. The briefer of these
calendars is among the Dugdale MSS. of the
Bodleian, and is bound up with an old copy of
the Austin Rule that belonged to Beauchief
Abbey. It was printed by Thomas Hearne in
1726. (fn. 29) The second calendar, which is by far the
longer and more interesting, is in the Cotton
collection of the British Museum. (fn. 30) It is a
thirteenth-century MS., with various subsequent
insertions entered at the time of the death of
abbots or benefactors, up to the very period of
the dissolution.
The Premonstratensian Order was singularly
homogeneous, and kept up through the general
chapters at Prémontré, and in other ways, a considerable knowledge of and communion with
houses outside their own nationality or province.
In this obituary, in addition to the names of nine
of their own abbots, five Scotch and twentythree English abbots of other houses, the Beauchief canons were expected to commemorate
thirty-five foreign abbots of monasteries in France,
Germany, Holland, Spain, Westphalia, and Bohemia. The families of the founders, and their
successive patrons, were naturally commemorated,
and they also bore in mind the founders of Welbeck, Dale, Lavendon, Langley, and several other
houses. On 23 January there was a general
commemoration for the departed Cluniacs and
Cistercians, for whom each priest said a mass, the
clerks fifty Psalms, and the lay brothers a hundred
Pater Nosters. Occasionally, for special reasons,
the humble officers of the house obtained a place in
the obituary as, for instance, one who had been the
porter and another the miller of Beauchief Abbey.
The founders, Richard FitzRanulph and Ralph
Musard, are both entered as canons, showing
that they became duly professed to this house
before their death. Others, who were canons,
appear on the obituary as benefactors, their donation being specially named, such as a very rich
vestment worth £20, a great bell, or a fine
missal; such gifts were probably made at the
time of their profession, as their rule forbad
their having greater private possessions than 21s.
Associates (fratres ad succurendum) usually made
some present which entitled them to the prayers
of the community; thus John Ashby, the last
rector of Dronfield, made a gift of £20, and others
obtained enrolment among the obits by gifts of
estates or small plots of land. Among the few
women on the list may be mentioned Beatrice
the mother, and Alexandra the sister of Stephen,
a thirteenth-century abbot of Beauchief. Of
foreign princes, Baldwin IV, king of Jerusalem.
who died in 1186, and Louis IX, king of the
French, canonized in 1297, are enumerated.
This monastery was returned in the Valor
Ecclesiasticus of 1535 as being of the clear annual
value of £126 3s. 3d., it therefore came easily
within the £200 limit of the suppression of
smaller houses in 1536. John Greenwood alias
Sheffield, the last abbot, died on 30 April of that
year. His obituary is the last entry in the calendar. It concludes with the pious aspiration
'May God have mercy on his soul.'
On 2 May, 1536, Sir Anthony Babington
wrote to Cromwell telling him of the death of
the abbot of Beauchief. He reminded Cromwell that his son John had been appointed one
of the commissioners, and begged that if other
houses were going to stand, by composition or
pleasure of the king, that this house might be
amongst the number. Recognizing, as all his
correspondents did, the vicar-general's accessibility to bribes, he added that if the house were
spared, for the sake of his wife's ancestors lying
there, he would give his 'mastership' five fodders of lead and his 'daily service at commandment in these parts.' (fn. 31)
On 2 August, 1536, a fairly full inventory of
the goods of the house was drawn up by the
official receiver and auditor, which has been twice
printed in extenso. (fn. 32) In addition to the vestments,
and copper, latten, and iron ornaments of the
church, the somewhat meagre contents of the
hall, buttery, kitchen, bakehouse, and six chambers are entered. The plate included four silver
chalices with their patens, a parcel-gilt salt with
cover, twelve small silver spoons, a small pounced
silver goblet, and old silver maser band and 'ij
small things of silver to put relicks in.' The
live stock were 12 oxen, 13 kine, 2 bulls,
17 young beasts, 2 horses, I mare, six score
sheep, and 20 swine.
The actual surrender, which was probably
delayed through the death of the abbot, was not
made until 4 February, 1536-7. (fn. 33) The site of
the abbey, with most of the immediately surrounding lands, was granted to Sir Nicholas
Strelley in April, 1537. (fn. 34)
Abbots of Beauchief
Jordan, died 1231 (fn. 35)
William, early Henry III (fn. 36)
Gilbert de Malmesbury, died 1237 (fn. 37)
John, 1250 (fn. 38)
Stephen (fn. 39)
Roger, before 1268, (fn. 40) occurs 1272 (fn. 41)
Ivo, resigned 1278 (fn. 42)
Roger de Fulstowe, elected 1278 (fn. 43)
Ralph de Fulstowe, occurs 1285, (fn. 44)
William de Folkingham, occurs 1295, died
1324 (fn. 45)
Robert de Radclyfe, occurs 1350-68 (fn. 46)
John Norton I alias Nottingham, elected
1393-47 (fn. 47)
Robert de Bubnyll, occurs 1399, died 1413 (fn. 48)
William Gresley, died 1433 (fn. 49)
John Girdon, died 1443 (fn. 50)
John Downham, deposed 1461-2 (fn. 51)
John Swift, 1461-2-1478 (fn. 52)
Thomas Wedur or Wyder, 1478-91 (fn. 53)
John Norton II, 1494-1501 (fn. 54)
John Greenwood alias Sheffield, occurs 1516,
died 1536 (fn. 55)
Pegge gives a plate of two seals pertaining to
this abbey from impressions that were in his
possession. One of these is the common seal,
which is a pointed oval, representing Becket's
martyrdom; only three knights are shown, and
the saint is kneeling before them; below is a
half-length abbot with pastoral staff. The
legend is:—
+ S' ECLE . . . . I THOM . . MARTIRIS.
D' .BEAVCHEF (fn. 56)
The other is a pointed oval abbot's seal, with
the crowned Virgin and Child, and the archbishop in niches side by side, with half-length
abbot below. The legend is:—
SIGILL' ABBATIE DE BELLO CAPITE.
Another seal is that of the abbot in 1280;
it is a pointed oval, with a right hand and vested
arm issuing from the right-hand side and holding
a pastoral staff, in the field are a crescent and
five stars of six points. Legend:—
.... ABBATIS : DE : BELLO : CAPITE. (fn. 57)