Geoffrey, [1] occurs 1321
Stephen of Thame, [2] elected 1373
Henry, [3] occurs 1416
Richard, [4] occurs 1421
John Talbot, [5] occurs 1535
Richard Brangwen, [6] last abbot, occurs 1536
Dugdale says,[7] 'according to Willis the seal of the abbey was the effigies of the Blessed Virgin crowned, sitting on a splendid throne, in her bosom the venerable Infant.' He adds the only impression remaining is that of [Abbot] John 1308, which is a neat oval seal with this inscription on the edge : S' FRIS JOHlS. MENDHAM.'
11. THE ABBEY OF NUTLEY
The Abbey of Nutley, or Crendon Park, was founded early in the twelfth century by Walter Giffard and Ermengarde his wife, for Austin Canons following the customs of Arrou- aise.[8] It was dedicated to the honour of St. Mary and St. John Baptist. The exact date of foundation cannot be given, but it seems probable that it was about the same time as that of Missenden, and it must certainly have been before 1164, to fall within the lifetime of Walter Giffard. It was the richest mon- astery in Buckinghamshire : its income at the dissolution was very little short of £450, and it had even then the patronage of eleven churches.
Yet it has very little history. There are one or two suits of importance during the thirteenth century, and these constitute the whole of our information for this period. There was a long suit in connection with a moiety of the manor of Lower Winchendon, for which it seems that the abbot advanced an unwarranted claim. It began in 1207, when Agnes Wake had the land secured to her as a marriage portion, and the canons were ordered not to molest her in any way.[9] It was re- opened in 1221, when Agnes showed the fore- going charter, while the abbot pleaded the custom of an earlier date[10] ; and it was finally settled in 1238, when the abbot quitclaimed it to Hugh Wake, but received it back again at a yearly rent of sixteen marks. [11] There was another suit in 1214, when the canons se- cured the church of Bottesham in Cam- bridgeshire against Richard de Clare, by showing the charter of Walter Giffard.[12]
Abbots of this house during the fourteenth century were several times commissioned by the pope to inquire into the circumstances of appeals and petitions [13] ; and on this abbey as well as Missenden, Edward II. and Ed- ward III. used occasionally to quarter their old servants.[14] At the beginning of the same century there must have been some dispute concerning jurisdiction between Bishop Dai- derby and the canons of Nutley : for the bishop complained in a letter to the Dean of Waddesdon that the infirmarian and three others had dared to try and hinder him from administering the sacrament of confirmation in the conventual church ; they had attacked his servants, beaten and trampled upon them, and committed other enormities ; and an- other canon in his malice defended these evil- doers. The entry is unfinished, so the con- clusion of the affair is unknown[15] : but it seems that this house, though not exempt, was seldom visited by the bishops of Lincoln.
Richard of Crendon, who was abbot in 1333, was mixed up in a very discreditable affair in that year : the Prior of Walron in Norfolk complained to the king that the Abbot of Nutley and another canon with cer- tain knights carried away two of his horses and other goods of his at Kelling and Sherring- ham.[16] An inquiry was made in 1345 as to the rights by which the canons of Nutley held so many churches in proprios usus, as they were found to be destitute of vicars [17] ; and it was noticed more than a century later that the churches belonging to this house were ruinous and badly served. [18] In 1374 it was formally
- ↑ Close, 15 Edw. II. m. 25d.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bokyngham, 126.
- ↑ Langley, History of the Desborough Hundred, 340.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Valor Eccl, (Rec. Com.), iv. 251.
- ↑ Aug. Off. Misc. Bks. 232, f. 2od.
- ↑ Dugdale, Mon. v. 684. .
- ↑ Foundation Charter, Dugdale, Mon. vi. (i)
- ↑ Rot. Pat. 8 John (Rec. Com.), 70.
- ↑ Bracton's Note Book, m. 416.
- ↑ Feet of F. 18 Hen. III. no. 4. It seems however that the abbot succeeded in proving his claim finally, for in 1302 we find him in possession of the whole manor of Lower Winchendon, and thence-forward to the dissolution. In 1346 it is expressly stated to be in pure and perpetual alms of the gift of Walter Giffard and Ermengarde. Feud. Aids, i. 96, 121.
- ↑ Cur. Reg. R. 59 (15 John), n. 15 i dorso.
- ↑ Cal. of Pap. Letters, ii. 122, 168, 224, 522.
- ↑ Close, ii Edw. II. m. igd ; 6 Edw. III. m. 11d, etc.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Dalderby, 15.
- ↑ Pat. 7 Edw. III. pt. i., m. 19d.
- ↑ Linc. Epis. Reg. Memo. Bek, 64.
- ↑ Browne Willis, History of Buckingham, 198, from a visitation report of 1493. The report of Bishop Atwater, 1518, shows the abbot again in default.
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