HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
4. EASTMINSTER, NEW ABBEY, OR THE ABBEY OF ST. MARY DE GRACIIS
In 1350 King Edward III founded in the
parish of St. Botolph without Aldgate a monastery to be called St. Mary of Graces in honour
of the Virgin, to whose mediation he attributed
his escape from many perils by land and sea. (fn. 1)
The site was a place called the New Churchyard of Holy Trinity, because it had been acquired by a certain John Corey, clerk, from
Holy Trinity Priory for a burial ground during
the plague. (fn. 2) St. Mary's was made subject to
Beaulieu Regis, (fn. 3) and from this abbey came the
five Cistercian monks (fn. 4) who under Walter de
Santa Cruce, (fn. 5) as president, formed the convent
of the new foundation.
The original endowment consisted of some
lands and tenements in East Smithfield and
Tower Hill which, like the site, had been bought
by the king of John Corey, (fn. 6) and a sum of
20 marks to be received annually from the
tellers of London for their ferma-gilda. (fn. 7) In
1358, however, the income thus derived being
found insufficient, the king ordered 40 marks
a year to be paid to them out of the Exchequer
until he should provide otherwise for them, but
he stipulated at the same time that another
monk should be added to their number. (fn. 8) He
moreover granted to them in 1367, (fn. 9) together
with some small rents in London, the advowsons of St. Bartholomew's the Little and of
Allhallows Staining, (fn. 10) and two years later he
gave them lands, tenements, and rents in
London worth about 60 marks a year which
had been forfeited to the crown under the
Statute of Mortmain. (fn. 11) But the king must
have felt that the income of the abbey fell far
short of the thousand marks with which he had
intended to endow it, (fn. 12) and towards the end
of his reign he took steps to supply the deficiency.
Before his death (fn. 13) he granted to the abbey the
reversion of the manors of Westmill, Little
Hormead, and Meesden, co. Herts., with the
advowsons of the churches; and he enfeoffed
John, duke of Lancaster, and others trustees of
the manors of Gravesend, Lenches, Leybourne,
Wateringbury, Gore, Parrocks and Bicknor, co.
Kent, the manor of Rotherhithe and the reversion of the manor of Gomshall, co. Surrey, and
the advowsons of the churches of Gravesend,
Leybourne, and Bicknor, so that they might
ultimately convey them to the convent in
frankalmoign. (fn. 14) The trustees gave the property
to the abbey in 1382 for a term of forty years, (fn. 15)
the convent then leased it to Sir Simon de Burley,
on whose death for treason in 1388 it fell to the
crown. (fn. 16) King Richard, however, had no wish
to benefit at the expense of the monastery, and
committed the manors to certain persons who
were to pay the revenues arising from them to
the monks. Finally, in 1398, he made them
over to the convent in frankalmoign. (fn. 17) King
Edward had also bequeathed to the abbey in a
similar way the reversion of the manors of Bovey
Tracey, 'Northlieu,' (fn. 18) Holsworthy, 'Longeacre,' co. Devon; Blagdon, Lydford, (fn. 19) Staunton,
co. Somerset; and 'Takkebere' co. Cornwall,
with the advowsons of Blagdon, Lydford,
'Northlieu,' and Holsworthy; but when Sir
James d'Audele, the life-owner, died, Richard II
gave them to his half-brother John Holland, earl
of Huntingdon, granting to the abbey instead
110 marks to be received every year from
Scarborough church as long as the schism and the
war with France lasted, and afterwards from the
Exchequer. (fn. 20) John Holland was executed in
1400, and his estates forfeited, whereupon
Henry IV revoked the letters patent of his predecessor and gave the manors in question to the
abbey in frankalmoign. (fn. 21) It is difficult to say
what occurred afterwards, for though the abbey
had possession of at least one of the manors after
the Hollands had been restored in blood, (fn. 22) it
appears to have held none of them in the next
century.
In the early days of the foundation the endowment was probably little more than sufficient
for the maintenance of the monks, so that the
construction of the necessary buildings did not
proceed very rapidly. The abbey church dedicated to St. Anne was aided by a relaxation of
penance offered by the pope in 1374 to those
who on the principal feasts during a period of ten
years visited it and gave alms. (fn. 23) But the cloisters
and houses were possibly not begun in 1368, (fn. 24)
and were certainly not completed in 1379, for the
trustees then made the convent an annual grant
of 100 marks from the manors in Kent (fn. 25) partly
to meet this expense, and in 1391 the abbot and
monks received a pardon from the king for selling wood belonging to the manor of Wateringbury to raise funds for their new building. (fn. 26)
The abbey before the end of the fourteenth
century appears to have occupied a position of
some importance, for when Pope Boniface IX
issued letters (fn. 27) exempting the Cistercian Order
in England, Wales, and Ireland from the jurisdiction of the abbot of Citeaux as an adherent of the
anti-pope Clement VII, the abbot of St. Mary's
was ordered, with those of Boxley and Stratford,
to convoke the order, and the abbey was named
as the meeting place of the chapter-general.
The royal foundation and patronage of the abbey
may partly account for this and other tokens of
papal favour: between 1390 and 1400 the pope
conferred on three of the convent the dignity of
papal chaplain, (fn. 28) and in 1415 the use of the
mitre, ring, and other pontifical insignia was
granted to the abbot and his successors. (fn. 29)
A case which occurred about 1401 shows that
unruly spirits were sometimes found even within
the walls of a monastery. Ralph Bikere, a monk
of St. Mary, Swineshead, had been sentenced to
imprisonment for violence to his abbot and
breach of the rule concerning private property.
He fled to St. Mary Graces, made his profession
and was allowed to remain. (fn. 30) Soon afterwards
the abbot of Beaulieu, during a visitation of St.
Mary Graces, found that he had turned William
de Wardon, the abbot, out of the dormitory,
laid violent hands on him, hindered him from
disposing of the goods of the monastery, and
applied many of these goods to his own purposes,
that he had then apostatized, appealed to the
secular tribunal, and caused the appeal to be
notified to his abbot. (fn. 31) He was sentenced by
the abbot of Beaulieu to be imprisoned, and the
judgement against him was finally confirmed by
the pope, (fn. 32) though at first he had obtained letters
of rehabilitation. (fn. 33) The house in 1427 was so
much impoverished owing to the mismanagement
of Abbot Paschal, who seems to have obtained
his position wrongfully (fn. 34) and to have taken
advantage of it to plunder the abbey, (fn. 35) that it
was committed by the advice of the council to
Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, the bishop of
Winchester, the abbot of Beaulieu, and others. (fn. 36)
A question as to the custody of the temporalities
arose in 1441, the abbey being called upon to
answer for £566 18s. 10d. said to be due to
the king from its lands in London and Middlesex
during the vacancy on the death of the last
abbot, John Pecche. The abbot and convent
appealed to the king, who acknowledged that his
predecessors had never had the custody at such
times, and promised for himself and his heirs
that the convent should in future be unmolested
in this respect. (fn. 37)
The civil wars do not seem to have affected
the position of the abbey at all; its charters
were confirmed by both Edward IV (fn. 38) and
Henry VII, (fn. 39) and the abbot served on the
various commissions for the administration of the
district adjoining the abbey, both under Edward IV (fn. 40) and Henry VIII. (fn. 41) It was probably
during the reign of Edward IV that the Lady
Chapel was added at the expense of Sir Thomas
Montgomery. (fn. 42) After the difficulties with Rome
had arisen the king appointed Henry More the
abbot of St. Mary's, among others, (fn. 43) to visit the
houses of the Cistercian order in England,
Ireland, and Wales, and More received the thanks
of Margaret, marchioness of Dorset, in 1533 for
the zeal he had shown in the reformation of the
house of Tiltey. (fn. 44) Reform, however, was not
what the king wanted, and the abbey of Coggeshall must have been given to More in commendam in 1536, (fn. 45) either because his precarious
health made a speedy recurrence of first-fruits
likely, (fn. 46) or more probably because he could be
relied on to surrender when required. More
indeed gave it up to the king in about eighteen
months, (fn. 47) and made a good bargain, for he was
reimbursed for all his expenses and received a
pension of 100 marks for life from Sir Thomas
Seymour who obtained the site and lands. (fn. 48)
The surrender of St. Mary Graces seems to
have taken place in September, 1538. (fn. 49) At that
time there were ten monks including the abbot,
only one more than there had been in 1376, (fn. 50)
before the richest endowments had been made.
They all received pensions for life: the abbot
100 marks, the sub-prior £6 13s. 4d., and the
others £5 6s. 8d. each. (fn. 51) More was still living
in 1544. (fn. 52)
From the time of Richard II (fn. 53) there was a
prior as well as an abbot; afterwards there
appears to have been also a sub-prior, as at the
dissolution one of the monks is so called. (fn. 54)
The income of the abbey in 1535 amounted
to £602 11s. 10½d. gross and £547 0s. 6½d. net, (fn. 55)
of which more than £300 was derived from rents
and ferms in London and the suburbs, (fn. 56) and the
rectory and tithes of Allhallows Staining. (fn. 57)
The convent owned two water-mills called
'Crasshe Mills' in East Smithfield (fn. 58) by the bequest of Sir Nicholas de Loveyne in 1375, (fn. 59)
and the manor of Poplar, (fn. 60) co. Middlesex; the
manors of Westmill, Meesden, and Little Hormead, (fn. 61) co. Herts; the manor and castle of
Leybourne, (fn. 62) the manors of Wateringbury, (fn. 63)
Fowkes, (fn. 64) Gore, Bicknor, Gravesend, Parrocks,
'Herber,' and Lenches, (fn. 65) Swancourt, (fn. 66) Slayhills
Marsh, (fn. 67) tenements in Woolwich, (fn. 68) and land
in Cobham (fn. 69) and Rainham, (fn. 70) co. Kent; the
manors of Gomshall, and Rotherhithe, (fn. 71) and land
in Ewhurst, (fn. 72) co. Surrey. They also possessed
the advowsons of St. Bartholomew's by the Exchange, (fn. 73) Westmill, (fn. 74) Hormead, Meesden, (fn. 75) Ridley, (fn. 76) Gravesend, Leybourne, and Bicknor, (fn. 77)
and received a yearly pension of 40s. from the
church of Emley, (fn. 78) co. Kent. In 1428 the
abbot held half a knight's fee in Meesden, and
in conjunction with John Tewe two knights'
fees in Westmill. (fn. 79)
Abbots of St. Mary of Graces
William de Sancta Cruce, occurs 1350 (fn. 80) and
1358 (fn. 81)
William de Warden, elected 1360, (fn. 82) occurs
1402 (fn. 83)
Ranulf, occurs 1417 (fn. 84)
Paschalis, occurs 1421 (fn. 85) and 1422 (fn. 86)
William, occurs 1423 (fn. 87)
John Pecche, died c. 1440 (fn. 88)
Robert, occurs 1442–3 (fn. 89)
Edmund, occurs 1480 (fn. 90)
John, occurs 1483, (fn. 91) 1503, (fn. 92) 1508, (fn. 93) and 1511 (fn. 94)
Henry More, elected 1516, (fn. 95) occurs 1527 (fn. 96)
and 1532, (fn. 97) surrendered 1538 (fn. 98)
The common seal of the monastery in the
fourteenth century (fn. 99) represents the Virgin,
crowned, seated in a canopied niche, the Child
on her right knee. In a smaller niche with
pent roof on the left, King Edward III, the
founder, kneels in adoration; in a similar niche
on the right two monks, one offering a book to
the Virgin. In the base, on a square carved
plinth, a shield of the royal arms of Edward III.
Legend:—
SIGILLE. COMVNE MONACHOR BEATE
MARIE DE GRACIIS
An abbot's seal of the fourteenth century (fn. 100) is
a pointed oval, and represents the abbot with
mitre standing in a canopied niche, with smaller
niches at the sides; he lifts up the right hand in
benediction and holds a pastoral staff in the left
hand. At each side a shield of arms: left Edward III; right, per pale, dextra, per fesse, in chief
a lion's face, in base a fleur-de-lis, sinistra, a pastoral staff in pale, for the monastery. Legend
wanting.
A seal of Abbot Paschal, 1420–21, (fn. 101) is a
pointed oval, and bears a representation of the
abbot standing in a canopied niche, with smaller
niches at the sides. He wears a mitre, and holds
in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the left hand
a book. At each side a shield of arms: left
Edward III; right, City of London. In the
base under a depressed arch, with masonry at
the sides, a shield of arms like the shield on the
right in the preceding seal. Legend:—
SIGILLE: PASCHALIS: ABGIS: MONASTERII:
GHE: MARIE: DE: GRACIIS