Sutton deprived the brethren of their right of election, because of the dissensions which arose at the resignation of the prior : and finding no one in the house whom he thought capable of holding office, he on his own authority re-appointed Adam de Hanred, the monk who had just resigned. [1] In 1287 Adam again resigned, and on 26 May a licence to elect having been obtained, the brethren elected Richard de Silveston. The royal assent to his election was signified on 18 June, but on that day a messenger arrived from the convent bearing the resignation of brother Richard and requesting another licence to elect.[2] This having been obtained, the choice of the priory fell on a brother from another monasteryJohn of Houghton, from the priory of Daventry.[3] He in his turn re- signed two years later, and became a Friar minor : the monk elected in his place resigned the office,[4] and Peter of Saldeston or Shalstone was finally appointed. [5] In 1294 the bishop visited the house, and deposed Peter of Shal- stone, [6] because he would not obey the in- junctions then given as to the management of the property of the convent, and William of Brackley was elected. After this the house must have enjoyed greater peace, for William ruled it nearly twenty years, and his successor twenty-eight years. The only other recorded visitation of this monastery was in 1311, by order of Bishop Dalderby [7] ; its results are not entered in the episcopal registers. In 1347 the prior was enjoined to receive back an apostate monk, who wished to resume the habit of religion. [8] The death of the prior is recorded in the year of the Great Pestilence, and it is stated that all the monks died of the plague. [9] It may be that, like many other small houses, the priory of Luffield never fully recovered its original numbers or prosperity after this year. The last prior, Thomas Rowland, on the sup- pression of the house in 1494, retired to the abbey of Abingdon, of which he died Lord Abbot in 1504.[10]
The original endowment of the priory con- sisted of the demesne land at Luffield, with other parcels of land in Thornborough, Shal- stone and Evershaw in this county, at ' Flec- hamsteda ' in Warwickshire, and at Dodford in Northamptonshire ; with the churches of Thornborough, Beachampton and Water Stratford and the Chapel of Evershaw.[11] The total value of temporalities in 1291 was £24 19s. 7½d.[12] ; the spiritualities could not have amounted to much, as the churches of Thornborough and Water Stratford were both of less than £10 value, and vicar's por- tions had to be paid out of this.
In 1316 the prior of Luffield was returned as holding half the vill of Shalstone, half the vill of Evershaw, and one third of Thorn- borough.[13] In 1346 he held the same portion of Thornborough, and shared with the abbot of Biddlesden one eighth of a knight's fee in Evershaw.[14]
The value of the house, as stated in the bull of Alexander VI. for its annexation, is stated to have been 260 golden florins.
Priors of Luffield
<poem>Mauger, [15] first prior, occurs before 1133 William, [16] occurs 1151 Ralf, [17] occurs 1174 John [18] William, [19] before 1218 Roger, [20] died 1231 William de Brackley, [21] elected 1231
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Sutton. According to entries on the patent and fine rolls the monks, on the resignation of Adam de Henred or Hanred in December 1284, elected William de Brackley, a brother of their house, as prior, and on 2 January, 1284-5, the king signified his assent (Pat. 13 Edw. I. m. 31). The bishop annulled the election and reappointed Adam, without however obtaining another licence from the king, who of his special grace directed the escheator to restore the tempor- alities of the house to Adam until Parliament, to be held after Easter, when the matter should receive final settlement. Fine R. 13 Edw. I. m. 1 6, cited by Dugdale, Mon. iv. 346, it.z.
- ↑ Pat. 15 Edw. I. ms. 9, II.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Sutton.
- ↑ His name was Gilbert de Merse. Pat. 17 Edw. I. ms. 1 8, 20.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Sutton and Pat. 17 Edw. I. m. 18.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Sutton, f. 11.
- ↑ Ibid. Memo. Dalderby, 2O2d.
- ↑ Ibid. Inst. Bek. I2d.
- ↑ Cited by Browne Willis (Hist of Mitred Abbies, ii. 27) from Camden. See also Gasquet, Black Death, 137.
- ↑ Browne Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbies, ii. 27. His companions were probably transferred to other monasteries according to the ordination laid down in the bull of Alexander VI. Dugdale, Man. iv. 352
- ↑ Ibid, and Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), ii. 343, 351.
- ↑ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 45-47, etc.
- ↑ Feud. Aids, i. 108-9.
- ↑ Ibid. 125-6.
- ↑ Foundation Charter, Dugdale, Mon. iv. 346.
- ↑ Bull of Eugenius III., ibid.
- ↑ Bull of Alexander III. ibid.
- ↑ Browne Willis, Hist, of Mitred Abbies, ii. 25
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ 20 Pat. 15 Hen. III. m. 2.
- ↑ Ibid.
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