against the abbot in 1249.[1]There was a long vacancy again in 1270 at the death of a prior, and the bishop was again obliged to nominate a monk to fill the office.[2] About 1278 there were troubles of a different kind, which led to a final settlement of the whole question of jurisdiction. Simon de Reda, who was prior from about 1275 to 1291, seems to have been a most unfit person to rule a monastery ; but when disorders broke out in the house he con- trived for a while to represent himself as the injured party. In June 1278 Reginald de Grey was ordered to take the priory into the king's hands and imprison all those monks who had lately, under the leadership of one who had been excommunicated for his excesses, attacked the priory, imprisoned the prior and wasted the goods of the monastery. The ringleader of the malcontents was to be brought to Windsor Castle, and the sheriff was ordered to see this mandate carried out.[3] Nothing however was done until September, when a commission of ' oyer and terminer ' was issued, to do swift justice on all those, both men and women, who continued to trouble the prior, and to bring to an end divers appeals and pleas that were pending with reference to the same matter.[4] It seems that Simon de Reda was reinstated, but the disturbances continued, and in 1290 Bishop Sutton came to visit the priory and to find out what was really amiss.[5] His visitation was however resisted by some of the monks, whom he excommunicated in consequence. The Abbot of Marmoutier again complained to the pope, who appointed fresh delegates [6] ; but in the meanwhile it became obvious that the prior of Tickford was himself the cause of the recent scandals, and he was deposed on the gravest of charges waste of goods, evil living, and homicide.[7] Before a new prior could be installed it was desirable that the Abbot of Marmoutier and the Bishop of Lincoln should come to a clear understanding of their respec- tive rights ; and they agreed to meet at the Old Temple in London. There was a long but not unfriendly discussion : the abbot appealed to the privileges of his order, and ex- horted the bishop to ' show his respect for the Apostolic See ' by recognizing them. Oliver Sutton, whose very real respect for the Apos- tolic See was shown a few years later by his obedience to the Bull ' Clericis laicis,' had however the decision of 1249 in his favour. Finally it was agreed that the visitation and correction of the priory belonged properly to the abbot alone ; the bishop would in future accept the priors presented to him for conse- cration ' without examination, difficulty or delay,' and they should swear canonical obedience to him salvis privileges praefati monasterii praesentibus et futuris ; and the only procuration which the bishop could claim was that which was due at the installa- tion none must be asked at any other time. In return for this the church of Sherrington, hitherto appropriate to the priory of Tickford, was to be granted to the bishop. [8]
In accordance with this agreement Bishop Sutton came to the priory in the same year and was received by the new prior, Geoffrey called Villicus, at the door of the cloister in solemn procession, and was reverently censed : he afterwards sang mass and preached in the conventual church.
This was the end of one difficulty, and for a while we may hope there was some measure of quiet within the monastery. But there were other troubles to face in the century which followed. Some time before 1311 the charters and muniments of the priory were destroyed by fire, and had to be confirmed afresh by letters patent.[9] A few other entries in the Close and Patent Rolls of this period give an idea of the great difficulty there must have been in maintaining the regular life in an alien priory during the wars with France. As early as 1324 this monastery was in the king's hand, and its prior under subjection to the official keeper of the lands of aliens,[10]who was ordered in this year ' to cause the prior of Tickford, who was in his custody by the king's order, to be brought before the King's Bench on 11 November to prosecute an assize concerning the advowson of one tenth of the chapel of Yardley, and to deliver the necessary expenses from the priory.'[11] In the same year a survey of the monastery was taken by the king's orders, [12]and showed that the num- ber of monks was seriously diminished ; there were only eight besides the prior. It seems too that an effort had been made to free the house from debt by selling corrodies ; there were at this time two chaplains, eight men
- ↑ Col. of Pap. Letters, i. 257.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Rolls of Gravesend.
- ↑ Pat. 6 Edw. I. m. 19 and 9.
- ↑ Ibid. m. 6d.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Sutton, 2.
- ↑ Cal. of Pap. Letters, i. 521.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Inst, Sutton, 108d-114.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Inst. Sutton, 1000d-116.
- ↑ Pat. 5 Edw. II. pt. I, m. 14.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Inst. Sutton, 117d.
- ↑ Close, 18 Edw. II. m. 27. This chapel and the church of Aston were now claimed by the prioress of Catesby : the prior recovered one third of the advowson of the church in 1331. Pat. 5 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 4.
- ↑ Dugdale, Mon. v. 204-5.
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