A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE could scarcely support two monks. After reflection he decided to unite the cell with the parent abbey, and apply its revenues to other purposes. There were two things necessary before he could do this. He had to gain the consent of the patron of the house, Lord Grey de Ruthyn ; and also to obtain a bull from the pope. Lord Grey signed a full surrender of all his rights in the priory in May, 1434 ;' and the papal bull which had been asked of Martin V. was granted at last by Eugenius IV. 2 at about the same time. But it was an expensive matter to claim and use the bull ; and while the abbot hesitated, and tried to find out from lawyers whether after all an ordinary prelate could not grant him the necessary licence, the king's escheator stepped in and declared that the house had escheated to the Crown. A jury was summoned to inquire into the abbot's title, which was probably 3 proved without difficulty ; for in a short time he was able to carry out the whole of his original plan. Lord Grey de Ruthyn was granted an anniversary, and a rent of 20j. a year ; * the vicarage of Clophill was re-instituted a rectory, on condition that the rector should say mass three times a week for the soul of the founder, Robert d'Albini 6 ; and the income of the priory, amounting to jfi8 a year, was divided amongst the students from the abbey of St. Alban's at Oxford, so that each might receive a pension of 13J. i,d. annually, 8 and pray for their benefactor at mass. These arrangements were completed before the death of John of Wheathampstead in 1464, and the priory disappeared so com- pletely that even its site was for a long time forgotten. 7 1 12 May, 13 Henry VI. in Cott. MS. Claudius, D i. f. 134b ; Arundel MS. 34, f. 33 has 12 May 6 Henry VI. 2 A short summary of the whole story is given in Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. 33b. The account of John de Amundesham does not explain that the abbot finally released and used the bull, though it names the two popes. 3 The narrative of John de Amundesham ends abruptly without giving the verdict (Ann. Hon. S. Albani [Rolls Series], ii. 105-12). « Ibid. « Ibid, and Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. 33b. " A notice of the payment of this pension to the students and its purposeis found in the Appendix to J. de Amundesham (Ann. Mon. S. Albani [Rolls Series], ii. 292). 7 The reference in the inquisition of 1433 to ■ quoddam manerium vocatum Belewe in parochia de Clophulle in dicta comitate Bedf.' fixes the site. 352 The original endowment * gave to the priory the demesne land in the parish of Clophill afterwards called the manor of Beaulieu (including the hermitage, the church of Moddry and 15 acres for the service of the chapel of Cainhoe three times a week) ; the churches of Millbrook, Ampthill and Clophill ; the mill of Turnhall, the wood of Hazeldean, with other parcels of land and meadow, and certain rights of pasturage on the founder's demesne. Cecily, mother of the founder, added the church of Milton Ernest ; 9 and Aumary de St. Amand a carucate in Wilshampstead for the service of the chapel of St. Machutus in the parish of Haynes (Hawnes). 10 The temporalities of the priory in 1 29 1 were valued at £26 js. lod. ; the spiritualities at £ij 6s. 8d., n out of which four vicars' stipends were to be paid. Only two small fractions of a knight's fee in Clop- hill and Flitton are entered as held by the prior in 1302, and only one in 1346 and 1428. 12 At the time of the union of the cell with St. Alban's the abbot stated its whole revenue at £18 ; 13 the jury at the inquisition valued the lands at j£i2. M No seal of this priory remains, so far as is known. Priors of Beaulieu Walter de Standon, elected 1233 15 Roger, elected 1237 18 Roger de Thebrugg, elected 1281 n John of Stopsley, elected 1285 ls John of Stagsden, transferred 1296 19 William de Parys, elected 1296 20 Peter of Maydenford, elected 1299 21 9 Foundation Charters, Lansd. MS. 863, f. 83b. The church of Rinethella here and in Dugdale, Mon. iii. 274 is an evident misreading for Ante thella, which is given quite clearly in Arundel MS. 34, f. 32b, an earlier transcript of the first charter. The Lansd. MS. is a transcript of the seventeenth cen- tury. » Cur. Reg. R., 58, n. 4. 10 Cott. MS. Claudius, D i. f. 134b. The chapel of St. Machutus is said in Cott. MS. Nero, D vii. f. to have been the gift of Robert d'Albini. » Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) " Feud. Aids (P.R.O.), i. 13, 14, 33, 46. >3 In his supplication to the pope. '« Cott. MS. Claudius, D i. f. 134b. '« Line. Epis. Reg., Rolls of Hugh de Wells. i« Ibid. Rolls of GrossetSte. " Ibid. Rolls of Sutton. " Ibid. »» Ibid. Inst, of Sutton.
- > Ibid. 102.
S1 Ibid. 104 ; Cal. of Pap. Letters, i. 601,
