HOUSE OF CLUNIAC MONKS
8. THE PRIORY OF MONTACUTE
Tofig, the great Danish standard-bearer of
King Cnut, had large estates in Essex and in
Somerset. On the hill-top of his land at Lutgaresbury in Somerset there was found about
the year 1035 (fn. 1) a wonder-working crucifix safely
concealed under a large slab of stone, and this
was regarded by Tofig as so precious that he
determined to build a church for its preservation
on his estate in Essex, and to endow two priests to
act as guardians of it. This was the origin of
the church of Waltham, which ultimately developed into an abbey of Austin Canons. The
finding of this relic at Lutgaresbury made the
site precious to the minds of churchmen, and
Tofig handed it over to the church and so it
became known as Bishopston. (fn. 2) Before 1066
we find it had been given to the Abbot and
convent of Athelney. (fn. 3) The site however was
a hill site, naturally suited for fortification, and
William the Conqueror gave it to his halfbrother Count Robert of Mortain, who built
a castle there.
The English monks at Athelney prudently
surrendered the place and received as an exchange the count's estate at Purse Caundle, in
Dorset. (fn. 4)
Towards the end of the 11th century William
the son of this Count Robert of Mortain, gave
the church at Montacute and his castle and
burgh and market and the manor of ' Biscopestune' with its hundred and mill to the abbey of
Cluny. The first charter in the Montacute
Cartulary
(fn. 5) belongs to the period between 1091
and 1104. The deed must be earlier than 1104,
when William of Mortain was banished by
Henry I.
We know little of the history of the earlier
priors. The first who comes into special notice
was Durand, prior at the end of the 12th
century. (fn. 6) He was accused by Bishop Savaric
(1192–1205) of maladministration, and suspended
(1207–17), and though afterwards restored, was
eventually expelled. (fn. 7)
In 1261 the Prior of Montacute was appointed
visitor of the Order in England, (fn. 8) and next year
it was reported that the service of God was well
performed here, that there were twenty-five
monks and that the house owed 300 marks. (fn. 9)
In 1275 the debt had been reduced to 190 marks,
but the buildings were in bad repair. The
maintenance of a lamp burning before the Sacrament was neglected, as was the reading of the
lesson during meals; moreover the monks ate
meat in the houses of laymen and did not wear
the footgear ordered by their rules when riding. (fn. 10)
By 1279 the debt had risen to 260 marks, but
the buildings had been repaired and there
were now twenty-eight monks of honourable
life. 'A clerk called Solomon of Rochester,'
the well known justice of that name, was said
to have 'violently despoiled' the prior during
the last two years, and it is apparently in connexion with this that the visitor continues,
'the fame of the prior has been somewhat, nay
rather very much, blackened and incurably
injured and I believe unjustly. The prior seems
to have been somewhat careless so far as externals
are concerned, whatever he may have been in
truth, now by the grace of God he both is and
appears an excellent, faithful, humble, discreet,
obedient and devout person.' (fn. 11) The blackening
of the prior's character seems to be explained
when we find that in 1279 Prior Guy de Mereant (fn. 12) was accused of clipping coins and fined
60 marks. The injustice of the charge seems
rather doubtful, as he was again charged with
the same offence, and with uttering counterfeit money and receiving goods of the Jews in
1284, and fined 200 marks. (fn. 12) This seems to
have resulted in Prior Guy's removal, for the
office of prior was evidently vacant in 1285, when
the sub-prior was appointed visitor of the order.
During the last years of the 13th century the
priory seems to have been in good reputation,
as the Prior of Montacute was made visitor on
six occasions between 1288 and 1300. (fn. 14)
Prior John Cheverer, or Caprarius, in 1317, (fn. 15)
was accused with Stephen, the late prior, Philip
the chamberlain, the sub-prior, and two of the
brethren of sending corn, victuals, and arms to
the Scots who were then at war with Edward
II. An order was sent out for his arrest, but
this was afterwards withdrawn. In 1325 (fn. 16) he
had licence from the pope for a year's nonresidence, and he shortly afterwards resigned.
Though the priory had powerful friends, it
must be remembered the Cluniac order was
never popular in England because it was regarded
as a foreign order, not too loyal to the English
people. All the brethren were aliens, owing
service and making payment to an abbot who
was a subject of the French king.
Among the Petitions to the Crown in 1330 (fn. 17)
is one called Supplicatio Cluniacensium, which
condemns this dependency on Cluny as the cause
of the great reduction of monks at Montacute,
and protests against the large sums of money
derived from English estates which were sent
to support subjects of the French king. (fn. 18) It is
moreover stated that there were only twenty
professed monks in the English priories, because
by the law of the order a monk could only be
professed at the mother abbey of Cluny, and
some monks it was stated had been in their
priories forty years without being professed.
In 1326 the Abbot of Cluny appointed Guichard
de Jou as prior. (fn. 19) The pope however claimed
the right to appoint and nominated a Benedictine
monk, Robert Busse of Tavistock, (fn. 20) but neither
the convent at Montacute nor the abbey of
Cluny would recognize him. The pope then
appointed Peter de Mortemart and summoned
Guichard to Avignon. Guichard went to
Avignon in October 1328, (fn. 21) and eventually
appealed to King Edward for help, and in
February 1331 Edward III declared him to be
rightly the Prior of Montacute. (fn. 22)
The next year the pope appointed Guichard
Prior of Lenton, and Philip de Chintraico Prior
of Montacute. (fn. 23) The story, however, is somewhat complicated, for soon after, John de Henton,
a monk of Sherborne, (fn. 24) charged Guichard, as
prior, with betraying the secrets of the realm,
communicating with the Abbot of Cluny, and
taking in at Montacute certain aliens, namely,
the priors of Carswell and of Barnstaple without
licence from the Crown. The matter was
ultimately referred to Thomas de Marleberge
and Ralph de Middelneye, who in 1339 acquitted
Guichard and declared John de Henton's charges
false. (fn. 25)
Montacute as an alien priory under the Acts
of Edward II and Edward III naturally came
into the king's hands, and the prior and convent
had to pay rent to the Crown equal to the amount
which they would have transmitted to Cluny. (fn. 26)
In 1339 Edward III granted the advowson and
custody of the priory of Montacute to William,
Earl of Salisbury, Marshal of England, (fn. 27) and
the priory had to pay to Earl William the rent
which it had for a short time paid to the Crown.
To this grant to Earl William was also added
the custody of the four dependent cells of Montacute, viz. of Carswell in Devonshire, Holme in
Dorset, St. Karroc in the parish of St. Veep in
Cornwall, and Malpas in Monmouthshire. (fn. 28)
In 1362 Francis de Baugiaco, who had been
appointed prior of Prittlewell in Essex in the
previous year, applied to the pope (fn. 29) for the
priorship of Montacute, and in 1371 agreed
to pay £120 a year to the Crown on condition
of his being recognized as prior, but afterwards
he was expelled from the priory on the ground
of his French sympathies, and he was succeeded
by Nicholas Hornyk de Montibus, a Friar Minor,
who in 1399 tried to get his predecessor arrested
for treason. (fn. 30)
Henry IV seems to have given back the priory
of Montacute to Francis, who appears again as
prior in January 1403. (fn. 31) The close relationship
between the monks and the papal court is shown
by the fact that in 1393 Thomas Samme of
Montacute, and in 1398, Francis, a monk of
Montacute, were made papal chaplains. (fn. 32) Francis
died in January 1404 and was succeeded by
William Cryche. (fn. 33) Up to this time it will be
noticed that all the priors had been foreigners or
had foreign names, and they were appointed by
the Abbot of Cluny, or occasionally by the pope.
In 1407, under this new prior, Montacute
renounced allegiance to Cluny, became denizen
and ceased to be an alien priory, recognizing as
the head of the Order in England the Prior of
Lewes, who now began to be looked upon by the
English Cluniacs as holding the authority over
them which formerly had been exercised by the
Abbot of Cluny, (fn. 34) and from that time to the
Dissolution Montacute was regarded as an
English monastic house. The priory had to
pay for this recognition of their English citizenship the sum of 300 marks. (fn. 35) In the reign of
Henry V the convent was given permission to
elect its own prior, and was released from all
dependence on the Abbot of Cluny.
In 1458 the monks gave the right of election
of the prior to the Bishop of Winchester and the
Earl of Winchester, and received from them
Robert Newton, a Benedictine monk from
Glastonbury. (fn. 36)
Thomas Chard, who became prior in 1514,
was already a bishop in partibus, having been
consecrated Bishop of Selymbria in Thrace in
1506, and was also warden of the College of St.
Mary Ottery. (fn. 37) He resigned in 1532, and in
lieu of a pension, took the office of Prior of
Carswell, a cell dependent on Montacute. (fn. 38)
He must not be confounded with Thomas Chard,
an almost contemporary abbot of the Cistercian
monastery of Ford. (fn. 39)
Robert Shirborne, the last abbot, who seems
to have gone under the three names of Whitlocke,
Shirborne, or Gibbs, had agreed to pay £100 to
Henry for his recognition as prior. (fn. 40)
On 10 March 1538–9 the priory was visited by
Hugh Pollard, under a commission issued by
Cromwell in the name of Henry VIII. He went
there to try and bring about his surrender, but
the following letter from him and Petre to Cromwell shows that the prior was not inclined to
yield (fn. 41) :—
Or most bownden duetyes remembryd it may please
yor lordeshipp to bee advertised that this day wee
resortyd to the priorie of montigue for the execution
of the Kinges highnes commission ther, wher after
long (? communication) wt the prior and as many persuasions for the setting forthe of the King graces
pleasure in this behalf as wee cowd devise wee fownd
the prior in lyke obstinacy as wee hadd befor fownd
thabbott of Bruton. And by so moche as by his
awnswars we might conjecture ther hadd byn some
pryvey conference between them in this mater, before
our commyng he hadd leassyd allmost all his demeynes
to dyvers persones.
We may infer from the fact that Pollard in
his letter brings no charges against the prior or
the monks that the monastery was in good order.
All he seems to have to complain about was the
unwillingness of the priory to surrender to the
king. However, it was visited again on 20 March
1539, and surrendered to Dr. Petre, and pensions
were awarded to sixteen monks, while the prior
received a pension of £80, and a dwelling-house
at East Chinnock. (fn. 42)
The priors of the cell at Malpas, John Clerke,
and of the cell at Holme in Dorset, John Walles,
were also included in the list. The pension
list amounted to £186 a year.
In Cardinal Pole's pension list, (fn. 43) 24 February
1556, twelve of the monks were still alive, including the prior Whitelock or Sherborne.
The parishioners of Montacute purchased for
their own use five of the bells of the conventual
church and paid £8 18s. 8d. for them. (fn. 44)
The incident recorded in the following remarks
of Leland, (fn. 45) who visited Montacute between
1540 and 1542, does not appear in the Cartulary.
It preserves however an interesting tradition
of the priory.
This Counte of Moreton began a Priory of Black
Monkes, a 3 or 4 in number under the rootes of
Montegue Hille, enduing it with 3 faire lordeshippes, Montegue and Titenhul joining to it. The
3rd was Criche a 10 miles from Montegue W. S. W.
The Counte of Moreton toke part with Robert Curthose agayn king Henry the first and after was token
put in prisone and his landes attainted; at the which
time the 3 lordeshippes given to Montegue priory
were taken away and then were the monkes compellid
to beg for a certain season. At the last king Henry
the firste had pyte on them and offered them their
own landes again and more so that they would leave
that place and go to Lamporte, wher at that time he
entendid to have a notable monasterie. But the
monkes entredid him that they might kepe theyr old
house: and upon that he restorid them their lordshippes, translating his minde of building an abbay
from Lamporte to Readyng.
Then cam one Reginaldus Cancellarius, so namid
by likelihood of his office, a man of great fame about
king Henry the first, and he felle to Relligion and was
prior of Montegue and enlarged it with buildings and
possessions.
The Montacute Cartulary begins with the
foundation charter of William son of Count
Robert of Mortain. First comes the gift of
the founder himself, the church at Montacute
and the castle, burgh, market, mill, manor
and hundred of 'Biscopestune,' the manor,
church, hundred, mill and fair at Tintinhull, the
manor and church of (East) Chinnock. To this
is added the churches of Nynehead, Yarlington,
Brympton, Odcombe, Closworth and Mudford,
in Somerset, of Elerky in the parish of Veryan,
Altarnun, Sennen and St. Cadoc in Cornwall,
of Gussage All Saints in Dorset and Monkleigh
and Frizenham in Devonshire. This was increased also by the manors of Creech and Closworth and lands at Ham, Widcombe in Montacute, Adbeer in Trent parish and Dene Woldesham in Devonshire, and the whole or portions
of the tithes of Child Okeford, Purse Caundle,
the three Cernels in the parish of Charminster,
Toller, Loders, Thorpe, Hooke and Durweston
in Dorset, and of Chiselborough, Cloford, Norton
Fitzwarren, Marston Magna, Hascombe, Bickenhall, Chilthorne Domer, Carnicott or Carlingcott
(Cridelincot) and Poyntington in Somerset.
There are three charters of confirmation by
Henry I given in the cartulary. There is also
a charter of confirmation by King Stephen and
five charters of Henry II of which four are
recorded in the Inspeximus of Henry IV (12 Feb.
1400). (fn. 46)
These gifts of churches and tithes are confirmed to the monks by charters of Bishop
Robert (1135–66), Bishop Reginald (1174–80)
and Bishop Jocelin dated 29 September 1239.
In the Taxatio of 1291 (fn. 47) these endowments
are recapitulated, the temporalia and spiritualia
of the priory being valued at £163 11s. 1d., and
we find in addition to those already recorded
pensions out of the endowments of the churches
at Camerton and Yeovil and in the temporalities,
additional lands and tenements at Yeovil, Preston, Ilchester, Wadeford and Stringston in
Somerset, and at Wyke, Gillingham and Melbury
in Dorset.
To this we find from the Valor of 1535 (fn. 48)
further increments of endowment at Cadbury,
Gillingham, Leverleigh, Erlestoke, Wylye and
Monkholme and among the spiritualia, the
rectories, or pensions out of them, of the churches
of Chilthorne Vagge, Ermington, Holme, East
Holme, Carswell, Carrock or St. Cadoc, Malpas,
St. Neots and Launceston.
The net income of the house was valued at
£456 14s. 3d., and they were bound to distribute
in alms for the soul of William Count of Mortain
their founder, and for the soul of King John
and for Richard de Chilthorne the sum of
£23 8s. 7d.
Holme in Dorset near Abbotsbury, Carswell
in Devonshire near Exeter, Carrock, St. Cadoc.
or as it is called in the pension list St. Cyrus in
Cornwall near East Looe (in the parish of St.
Veep), and Malpas in Monmouthshire were
cells of the priory having their own priors and
forwarded all excess of income to the mother
priory.
Priors of Montacute
R., occurs 1120 (fn. 49)
E., occurs 1136 (fn. 50)
Durand (fn. 51)
Arnold (fn. 52)
Reginald (?) (fn. 53)
William, occurs 1159 (fn. 54)
Thomas, occurs 1169, (fn. 55) resigned 1775
Guy, occurs 1179 (fn. 56)
Oliver, occurs 1186 (fn. 57)
Jocelyn, occurs 1187 (fn. 58)
Durand, 1192–1205 (fn. 59)
Mark, occurs 1237, 1245 (fn. 60)
Roger, occurs 1260 (fn. 61)
Hugh de Noyen, 17 September 1260 (fn. 62)
Gibert de Bexolio, 30 January 1266 (fn. 63)
Guy de Mercant, occurs 1269 (fn. 64)
Peter Gandemer, occurs 1290 (fn. 65)
John de Bello Ramo, appointed 1292 (fn. 66)
Geoffrey de Dosa, appointed 1293 (fn. 67)
Stephen Raulun, 1297–1316 (fn. 68)
John Cheverer or Caprarius, appointed 1316 (fn. 69)
Guichard de Jou, appointed 1326 (fn. 70)
John de Porta I, died 1345 (fn. 71)
John de Porta II, appointed 1345 (fn. 72)
Gerald de Roche, occurs 1362 (fn. 73)
Francis de Baugiaco, 1371 (fn. 74)
Nicholas Hornyk de Montibus (fn. 75)
Francis de Baugiaco, restored 1399, died
1404 (fn. 76)
William Cryche, appointed 1404 (fn. 77)
John Bennet, occurs 1449 (fn. 78)
Robert Montague, appointed 1452 (fn. 79)
Robert Newton, 1458, resigned 1462 (fn. 80)
Robert Criche, appointed 1462, (fn. 81) died 1467 (fn. 82)
John Dove, appointed 1467 (fn. 83)
John Walter or Water, appointed 1483 (fn. 84)
Thomas Chard, appointed July 1514, (fn. 85) resigned July 1532 (fn. 86)
Robert Shirborne, Whitlocke or Gibbes,
appointed 1532, (fn. 87) surrendered 1539
The 14th-century seal of the Cluniac Priory
of St. Peter and St. Paul at Montacute (fn. 88) is a
vesica, 23/8 in. by 15/8 in., with figures of Our Lady
crowned and seated with the Child on her left
knee, between St. Peter and St. Paul standing
with their emblems. Beyond them are the sun
and moon. Below, under an arch, is the Prior
in prayer. Of the legend there only remains—
S' . . . . . MONTIS ACVTI.