A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE setting apart certain funds for the education of one of the canons at Oxford. The prior alludes to the poverty of his house, which was so great that were it not for the help of friends they would not be able to live decently and honestly, and religion would be diminished. Hitherto there had not been enough canons nor enough money to set apart one for special study ; but the prior now wished to do so (partly out of the profits of a chantry estab- lished by his own family), ' seeing the advan- tage of learning and the necessity of preach- ing, the priory being a populous place where a great number of people come together.' All this certainly points to a satisfactory state of the priory under Thomas Marshall, and accords well with what we know of his character from other sources. Bishop Grey's 1 injunctions are the only notice that we have of the internal history of the priory during the fifteenth century ; they do not indicate any special laxity, and only repeat the usual orders as to silence, singing of the divine office, the unlawfulness of eating and drinking after compline, going to Dun- stable or having visitors without permission. And so again at the very end, just before the dissolution, the silence of Bishop Longland, 2 and the king's choice of the priory for the solemn announcement of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, constitute an indirect evidence in favour of the house. On the whole the priory of Dunstable shows a very good record in the matter of discipline and order, with only a few lapses. The original endowment of the priory was, as already stated, the lordship of the tutions of Saint Benedict and the holy fathers,' ordering one canon to be sent to study. There is nothing of the sort in the rule of St. Benedict ; but the reference is interesting, as showing how well aware he was of the similarity of his own rule to that of the Benedictines. The Augustinian was commonly supposed to be a lighter rule ; but in all the essential features of the common life it was the same. 1 Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Grey, I97d. 3 The bishop's silence in this case is really signi- ficant, as he had received information from the ' honest people of Dunstable ' about the misdeeds of the Dominican prior of Langley Regis in 1528, and must surely have heard at the same time of the misdeeds of the canons, if they had been conspicu- ous. His statement about the house at Langley, that it was ' in utter decay and but little religion kept,' has indeed been thought to refer to Dun- stable Priory (S.P.C.K. Diocesan History of Lincoln, 217) ; but the reference in the original letter is beyond all doubt (L. and P. Hen. FIJI. iv. 4315). Henry VIII. visited Dunstable in 1525 (ibid. iv. 2558). manor and town of Dunstable 3 ; to which was added under Henry II. the lordship of Houghton Regis, 4 and under John, the king's house and gardens at Dunstable. 6 The manors of Stoke and Catesby, and of Ballidon in the Peak, 6 are mentioned in the annals as the property of the priory during the thirteenth century. In 1291 7 the tithes of St. Peter and St. Cuthbert, Bedford, Dunstable, Stud- ham, Totternhoe, Chalgrave, Husborne Craw- ley, Segenhoe, Flitwick, Pulloxhill, Steppingley, Harlington, Higham Ferrers, Newbottle, Cub- lington, a moiety of Great Brickhill, Pattishall and Bradbourne belonged to Dunstable Priory, 8 with pensions in other churches. The tempor- alities at this time were only valued at a little more than ^50 ; the annals of the house state the total income in 1273 as ^ic^. 9 The knight's fees attributed to Dunstable in 1316 10 were half a fee in Husborne Crawley and Flitwick, and another half in Pulloxhill, with some small fractions besides ; they are practi- cally the same in 1346 u and 1428. 12 The valuation of the whole property of the priory in 1 535 13 amounted to £344 13J. 4-d., the first report of the Crown bailiff to £266 ijs. 6J<£, including the manors of Studham, Wadlow, Stokehammond, Gledley, Grimscote, Catesby and Shortgrave, and the rectories of Studham, Totternhoe, Pulloxhill, 3 Harl. MS. 1885, f. 102. 1 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i. 107. « Ann. Man. (Rolls Series), iii. 28. « Ibid. 277, 278, 337. I Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 8 The priory presented clerks to Rushden several times during the thirteenth century, and to North Marston ; Bucks, until 1450, when this church was exchanged with Wedonbeck, which had previously belonged to the canons of Windsor (Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Rotherham, 1-7). St. Mary's, Bedford, had been certainly confirmed to Dun- stable by Henry II. ' of the gift of Henry I.,' but it had also at an earlier date been granted by William the Conqueror to Lincoln Cathedral. There were several suits between the prior and the dean and chapter on the subject, e.g. Cur. Reg. R. 24, 2 John, n. II in dorso : the presentation being finally yielded to the latter, and the former retaining only a pension of 20/. Even this pension was granted in 1334-5 to the dean and chapter (Inq. ad q. d. 8 Edw. III. n. 9). The church of St. Peter referred to here was the one called St. Peter Dunstable, which was pulled down in the sixteenth century ; the priory received a pension from the rector until 1336, when it was granted to the dean and chapter of Lincoln (Pat. 9 Edw. III. pt. i. m. 28). a Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 259. '° Feud. Aids,. 21. II Ibid. 24, 33. 12 Ibid. 36, 4.3, 46. 13 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), 206 et seq. 376
