HOUSE OF BONHOMMES
15. EDINGTON
The monastery at Edington was founded by
William of Edington. (fn. 1) Probably a younger son of
the leading family of that village, he rose by way
of the Church to a leading place in the counsels
of Edward III. In 1332 he was in the service of
Adam of Orleton, then Bishop of Worcester, (fn. 2) and
in the following ten years he emerged from the
service of the minister into that of the king, as
Keeper of the Wardrobe. (fn. 3) He became Treasurer
of England in 1344, (fn. 4) and in 1346 succeeded his
old patron in the see of Winchester, the most important of his many ecclesiastical preferments.
From 1347 until he died in 1366 he was a member
of the council of Edward, the Black Prince, (fn. 5) and
in 1356 he exchanged the office of Treasurer for
that of Chancellor. When his career was made and
riches began to flow in, Edington decided to found
a chantry in his native place in order that prayers
might be said for himself, Roger his father, Amice
his mother, John his brother, the kings of England, and the bishops of Salisbury and Winchester. (fn. 6)
Before he could carry out this design he had to free
the church of Edington from Romsey Abbey, to
which it is said to have been given by King Edgar
in 968. (fn. 7) Certainly Romsey held Edington at the
time of Domesday, and in the succeeding centuries the church there, with the chapel of North
Bradley, came to be recognized as a prebend in
Romsey Abbey. (fn. 8) This meant, at least in theory,
that the Rector of Edington, who was represented
both there and at North Bradley by vicars, was
able to act as chaplain to the nuns at Romsey. In
1351 the prebendary and rector was John de
Edington, not necessarily a relation of the bishop.
Early in that year the bishop began buying small
parcels of land in Edington, (fn. 9) through the agency
of his brother John, not the rector, from the Abbess and Convent of Romsey, and on 29 October
the chantry was set up. John, the rector, resigned,
and William Scarlet was inducted as the first warden. (fn. 10) On the same day the chantry was united
with the prebendal church, and Joan, the Abbess
of Romsey, having transferred the advowson,
agreed that the warden should in future be a canon
of her house in place of the Rector of Edington. (fn. 11)
If the prebendary had ever served the nunnery in
person, it is evident that as the head of a chantry
he would not be able to do so henceforth. However, his successor, the Rector of the Bonhommes
of Edington, was represented by Isabel Morgan,
a nun and afterwards Prioress of Romsey, at the
re-election of Elizabeth Broke as abbess of that
house in 1478. (fn. 12)
The chantry, dedicated to the Virgin, St.
Katherine, and All Saints, was originally designed
to consist of three chaplains including the warden,
but this number was almost immediately doubled.
Each day the warden and chaplains were expected
to say together the office of the dead, the usual
hours according to the Use of Salisbury, and masses
for the persons mentioned above. The warden,
who was to be presented by the Bishop of Salisbury, was instructed to reside continuously and to
appoint his brother chaplains, to whom he was to
give £2 twice yearly and a robe. He himself was
to have 4 silver marks a year and a robe, or £1
in lieu. Each year he was to make an inventory
of the goods of the chantry. He was not to sell the
property of the chantry, and there was no common
seal. He had a separate house, but all the chaplains
had to eat together. The warden could entertain
guests freely, but if the other chaplains brought in
visitors they had to pay 3d. each for their dinners
or 2d. each for other meals. The chaplains were
told to avoid taverns, and not to enter other houses
without leave of the warden. (fn. 13)
At the time of its foundation the chantry had a
number of properties in Edington, £10 rent in
Coleshill (Berks.), the advowsons of both places
and the chapel of North Bradley. (fn. 14) The founder
continued to add to his gifts. He gave more land
in Edington to enlarge the chaplains' house and
the churchyard in 1352, (fn. 15) and in the next year the
advowson of Buckland (Berks.), which enabled a
further three chaplains to be added. (fn. 16) In 1354
lands in Market Lavington, with the advowson,
were acquired, (fn. 17) and shortly afterwards the chantry had possessions in Cutteridge, in North Bradley, and Tinhead also. (fn. 18) A second warden, Walter
de Sevenhampton, succeeded Scarlet in March
1357, (fn. 19) but his tenure of office was destined to
be short, for William of Edington had decided
to transform his chantry into a regular religious
house.
It is quite likely, as Leland said, (fn. 20) that it was the
Black Prince, whose councillor he was, who persuaded William to model Edington on the College
of Ashridge. For the prince claimed to be a founder of that college, (fn. 21) which had originally been set
up in 1285 by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall; and
when the change at Edington was made the name
of the prince was added to the list of those for
whom the brethren were bound to pray. These
brethren, who followed the rule of St. Augustine,
were commonly called Bonhommes. As to how the
Bonhommes originated, and whether they were
canons or friars, there has been much discussion, (fn. 22)
but only negative conclusions may be drawn. They
were not apparently connected with any of the
continental orders of the same name, although
they have sometimes been described as of the Order
of Grammont. (fn. 23) Edington was the second house
of the Order, and there were no more. It is not
correctly described as an abbey, a priory, or a
college, and its inmates were never called monks,
canons, or friars. They were known as the rector
and brethren of the convent, conventual house, or
monastery of Edington. (fn. 24)
It was in March 1358 that the chantry was
converted into a house of Bonhommes, the statutes
of the new foundation, promulgated by the Bishop
of Salisbury, being similar to those of Ashridge, as
was also the dress of the brethren. At their head
was the rector, elected by the brethren, and assisted
by a corrector. He was bidden to submit his accounts to the elder brethren twice a year. The rule
of St. Augustine was to be observed, and normal
monastic service conducted according to the Salisbury Use. Vacancies in the Order were to be filled
by admitting, after a year's novitiate, unmarried
men of good character and sufficiently learned. (fn. 25)
Walter de Sevenhampton was induced to resign
the wardenship of the chantry on 5 April 1358,
and on the following day John de Aylesbury became the first Rector of Edington, (fn. 26) he and another
brother having left Ashridge in order to organize
the new house. (fn. 27) All the other chaplains of Edington are supposed to have entered the Order of the
Bonhommes. In the following year the House of
the brethren of St. Augustine at Edington received
a royal charter of foundation, (fn. 28) of which the most
remarkable feature was the grant of exemption
from the payment of clerical tenths. This exceptional privilege had previously been granted by
Edward II to the Carthusian priories of Hinton
and Witham in Somerset. (fn. 29)
All the property of the chantry was transferred
to the new foundation, (fn. 30) and the founder and
others proceeded to add largely to it. More holdings in Edington were acquired in 1358 and
1359, (fn. 31) the manors of Alvescot and Albury
(Oxon.) in 1360, (fn. 32) and the manors of Tormarton
(Glos.) and Westwell (Oxon.), together with the
advowson of the former place, (fn. 33) three parts of
the manor of Kimpton (Hants), with the advowson (fn. 34) and lands in Buckland (Berks.) and Edington, Tinhead, Cutteridge, Bratton, Milbourne,
Stoke, and Erlestoke, all in Wiltshire, in 1361. (fn. 35)
In the same year the monastery acquired some
rents in Kingston Deverill from John Husee, (fn. 36)
and the life interest of Benedicta, relict of John
de Mandeville, in the manors of Bratton and
Eastrop. (fn. 37) This was very soon converted into a
permanent holding. The estates continued to
grow. The manor of West Ilsley (Berks.) was
granted by Richard de Penley in 1362. (fn. 38) In some
places manors were secured where the house had
previously held but small tenements, and in others
where they had the advowson and some lands their
holdings came in the course of time to be regarded
as 'rectory manors'. Examples of the latter class
of new manors were Edington itself, where the
original manor was still held by Romsey Abbey,
and Buckland (Berks.). Old manors acquired were
Tinhead (fn. 39) and Eastcott in Urchfont (fn. 40) in 1363,
Highway in Hilmarton, afterwards exchanged for
Bremridge in Dilton, in 1364, (fn. 41) Coleshill in 1367, (fn. 42)
and Market Lavington in 1368. (fn. 43) There the
period of expansion ended. William of Edington
had given up the Great Seal in 1363, and when
in 1366 his name was put forward for the vacant
see of Canterbury he was already too ill to accept
it. He died in the same year still Bishop of Winchester, leaving his foundation probably very much
as it was to be until the end. In his will he left £20
to the rector, and 100s. to each brother, to pray
for his soul, whilst a share in the residue of his
wealth was to be given to the monastery. (fn. 44) Its
endowment was to be very little changed in the
ensuing years and its building may well have been
in like case, for the founder had not neglected
them.
Leland had apparently good authority for saying
that the foundations of the house were laid in
1352, and that the church was dedicated in 1361. (fn. 45)
The church, a building 'all of one date', remains to
this day 'practically unaltered' as the parish church
of Edington. (fn. 46) On a tomb in the south transept the
effigy of an ecclesiastic, probably a Bonhomme, may
still be seen. (fn. 47) The monastic buildings were on the
north side, the aisle windows being placed high up
to clear the roof of the cloister walk. The only
visible remains of the claustral buildings are a
buttress and doorways embodied in the old manor
house, now known as Edington Priory. In the
north transept are two blocked doorways which
communicated with the monastic buildings, one in
the east wall, the other in the north. (fn. 48)
The first rector, John of Aylesbury, lived until
25 March 1382, (fn. 49) by which time the brethren
numbered eighteen. This is the only occasion, until
the Dissolution in 1539, when the names of all the
brethren or even their numbers are known. At
the later date there were only thirteen. When
Aylesbury died, they proceeded, as their rule enjoined, to elect three candidates, John Boklonde,
Thomas Odyham, and Thomas Lavynton. These
were presented to the Bishop of Salisbury, who
chose Odyham, and he was instituted as rector on
1 April 1382. (fn. 50) Lavynton, who had acted as the
rector's attorney in the collection of the double
tenth of the clergy in 1378, (fn. 51) lived long enough to
succeed Odyham as rector in the closing years of
the century. It is noteworthy that at this time
almost all the brethren bore names associated with
Wiltshire and the neighbouring counties, including Edington, Tinhead, Amesbury, and Westbury.
In 1400, during Lavynton's rectorship, Richard
Metford, Bishop of Salisbury, carried out a visitation of Edington. His injunctions suggest that
there was some lack of discipline but nothing
seriously wrong. The brethren were enjoined to
attend their services, neither they nor the rector
staying away without reasonable cause; to maintain their rule of silence, and behave properly in
choir, refectory, and cloister; and to take care of
their archives. The rector was to consult with 4
or 6 of the senior brothers before taking important
decisions. (fn. 52) Archbishop Courtenay had visited
Edington ten years earlier but unfortunately left.
no account of his findings, (fn. 53) and no more is known
about the normal conduct of the house, but it was
not without its own criminals. In 1202 John
Hortone, a brother of the house of Edington,
was accused of breaking into the house of the
rector on two occasions in the previous year. On
the first occasion he had carried off, it was said,
silverware to the value of £13 10s., and on the
second a book called 'Byble' worth £20. (fn. 54) Two
other brothers of the house ran away at different
times. (fn. 55)
A few more lands were added to the holdings
of the Bonhommes before the end of the century.
The reversion of the manor of Imber was received
from Nicholas de Bonham in 1373. (fn. 56) Parts of the
manor of Dilton were secured in 1381, (fn. 57) and the
advowson of Keevil in 1393. (fn. 58) In 1402 when the
brethren were called upon to contribute towards
the aid for marrying the king's daughter, Blanche,
ten manors were listed as their holdings. Market
Lavington (1 knight's fee), Bratton, Dilton, Eastrop, Tormarton, Alvescot, and Westwell (½ fee
each), and Tinhead (serjeanty) were held in chief.
West Ilsley was held of the duchy of Lancaster by
¼ fee, and Coleshill of the abbey of St. Mary,
Winchester, in socage. (fn. 59) After this date, apart
from the manor of Baynton in Edington parish,
given by John Rous in 1444, (fn. 60) most of the acquisitions were small, though not negligible. (fn. 61)
Although exempted from the payment of clerical tenths by their foundation charter, which was
confirmed by successive kings at their accessions, (fn. 62)
the Bonhommes were not exempt from the task of
collecting the tenths, at which they took their turn
alongside neighbouring foundations. (fn. 63) Moreover,
the rector sat in the convocation of Canterbury
where such grants were made. (fn. 64) Such an exemption cannot have been popular either with the
officials of the Exchequer or with their neighbours whose subsidies they helped to collect. A
number of attempts were made to get them to
pay, (fn. 65) culminating in a case brought in the court
of Exchequer in 1441. (fn. 66) The then rector was
summoned for non-payment, but although there
was much learned argument no decision in the
case appears to survive. No evidence that they
ever did pay has been found, and ten years later
they secured exemption from collecting tenths.
This was the direct consequence of the one recorded act of violence in the otherwise uneventful
history of the house.
Cade's rebellion in 1450 was accompanied by
a number of outbreaks of violence in the southern
counties, and it was at Edington that the bestknown incident took place. It was there that
'William Ascoghe, bisshop of Salisbury was slayn
of his owen parisshens and peple . . . aftir that he
hadde saide Masse, and was draw from the auter
and lad up to an hill the beside, to his awbe and
his stole aboute his necke; and their they slow him
horribly, thair fader and thair bisshoppe and
spoillid him unto the nakid skyn, and rente his
blody shirte in to pecis.' (fn. 67) Why the unpopular
bishop was at Edington is not known, but the
Bonhommes petitioned two years later that they
had 'sustained intolerable damages through the
sons of perdition who dragged William, late bishop
of Salisbury, from the monastery and slew him,
and breaking down the houses and buildings of the
monastery, took, and carried away their goods and
jewels', and that therefore they should be freed
from the burden of collecting the tenth, which
was granted. (fn. 68) In the early years of Edward IV's
reign they were specifically exempted from payment each time that a tenth was granted by the
clergy. (fn. 69)
Of the administration of the monastery's estates
very little is known. An account roll (fn. 70) of some of
the outlying manors for the year ending at
Michaelmas 1506 shows that in these manors at
least almost all the revenue was made up of fixed
rents and farms, although there is evidence that
the house had its own flock of several hundred
sheep. The rector is described as 'Receiver of the
House' and appears to have visited the manors with
the auditors to hear the accounts and collect the
revenues. The largest manor, Coleshill, had both
a collector of rents and a farmer of the demesne,
who accounted separately; but elsewhere one
officer accounted for all the revenues of each
manor. So far as can be judged from the accounts
for only five manors, the rents and farms were
already fixed at very much the same figures as were
later to appear in the Valor Ecclesiasticus. (fn. 71) The
different circumstances of each manor make valueless any general comparisons either with the Valor
or with the rather different revenues of the postdissolution ministers' accounts, (fn. 72) when already
new people were renting some of the estates. In
the Valor the possessions of Edington were valued
at £521 12s. 5½d. gross, or £422 9s. 7¾d. net,
whilst the total gross revenues for which the king's
ministers accounted in the first year after the Dissolution was under £450. (fn. 73) The spiritualities comprised the rectories of Edington, North Bradley,
Buckland, Market Lavington, Keevil, Coleshill,
and Newton Valence. The temporalities were
listed with suspicious tidiness as nineteen manors.
Many of the smaller holdings of the convent have
disappeared, and some of the 'manors' now listed
had not been so called a century before. Even
allowing for the changes of 150 years the word
'manor' is perhaps used somewhat loosely. Of the
£393 at which these manors were valued, £6 came
from the profits of courts, £44 from the profits of
demesne and other lands in the hands of the rector,
and all the rest from rents and farms. The lands
in the rector's hands were in Edington, Tinhead,
Baynton, in Edington, and Bratton, all places
close to their house, and in Westwell and Coleshill. The same survey shows to whom the house
paid rents, and who were the officials of its estates.
There was a chief steward in each of the counties
of Wilts., Berks., and Oxon., two of them, Henry
Longe and John Briggs, being knights. Six bailiffs
and two auditors were also named. John Catcote,
bailiff of all the manors near the house, went on
administering them for several years after the
Dissolution.
It is difficult to discover very much about the
remaining history of the house. Even the succession of the rectors is not quite certain. About 1463
William Wey, a fellow of Exeter and Eton colleges, settled at Edington after his second journey
to the Holy Land, in order to write the story of his
travels. (fn. 74) After that there is nothing until John
Ap Rice, Cromwell's visitor, wrote to him from
Edington in 1535, that he had found the rector,
John Ryve, a man of good name, but not so his
brethren. (fn. 75) However, it was only against one of
the brethren that he brought a specific charge.
John Ryve had the good fortune to die in 1538,
when at the instance of Walter, Lord Hungerford,
Cromwell secured the appointment of Paul Bush. (fn. 76)
Bush, who was corrector at the time, had studied
at the Austin Canons at Oxford. On 31 March
following he surrendered his house, (fn. 77) Hungerford
having meanwhile got himself appointed steward, (fn. 78)
but he did not live long enough to obtain the
Edington estates for himself; the bulk of them
were secured by Sir Thomas Seymour in 1541. (fn. 79)
As for Bush, since he received a yearly pension of
£100 as well as the rent of some houses in Coleshill, (fn. 80) and became Bishop of Bristol, in which
capacity the manor of Buckland was assigned to
him, (fn. 81) whilst Dilton Manor was sold to John Bush
of Dilton, probably his brother, (fn. 82) he had but little
cause for complaint. The other brethren did not
fare so well. Their pensions ranged from £2 for
the novices to £10 for John Scott, the corrector. (fn. 83)
Wardens of the Chantry
William Scarlet, inducted 1351. (fn. 84)
Walter de Sevenhampton, inducted 1357, (fn. 85)
resigned 1358. (fn. 86)
Rectors of the House of Bonhommes
John de Aylesbury, instituted 1358, (fn. 87) died
1382. (fn. 88)
Thomas Odyham, elected 1382, (fn. 89) still in office
5 June 1397. (fn. 90)
Thomas Lavynton, occurs 1400. (fn. 91)
Thomas Culmer, occurs 1406 (fn. 92) and 1431. (fn. 93)
Thomas Elme, occurs 1435, (fn. 94) replaced by
Godwyn 1450. (fn. 95)
William Godwyn, instituted 1450, (fn. 95) occurs
1464. (fn. 96)
William Newton, instituted 1464, (fn. 97) occurs
1479. (fn. 98)
William Hull, replaced by St. John 1494. (fn. 99)
John St. John, instituted 1494, (fn. 99) replaced by
Ryve 1515. (fn. 100)
John Ryve, instituted 1515, (fn. 100) died 1538. (fn. 101)
Paul Bush, proposed 1538, (fn. 101) surrendered the
house 31 March 1539.
A conventual seal used in the 16th century is a
pointed oval and measures 2¾ by 1¾ in. (fn. 102) The impression shows St. Peter and St. Paul each under
an elaborately pinnacled and panelled canopy.
St. Peter holds the keys and a book, and St. Paul
a sword and book. Over them, also under a canopy,
the Virgin is seated with the Child, and under an
arch in the base is a kneeling figure with a crosier.
The inscription is:
+ S' · COMMUNE : RECTORIS : & : CONVENTUS
DE EDYNDON.