48. THE PRIORY OF OGBOURNE
No precise date of foundation can be assigned
for the alien priory of Ogbourne. The manor of
Ogbourne St. Andrew was given for the wardrobe of the monks of Bec in 1107-33 by Brian
FitzCount and Maud of Wallingford; a second
charter of a date between 1122 and 1147 refers
to the grant of both Ogbourne St. George and
Ogbourne St. Andrew; and a confirmation of the
grant of both manors and their churches was given
by Maud in her widowhood, between 1150 and
1154. (fn. 1) The appropriation of both churches was
granted by Hubert Walter in 1189-93, when he
was Bishop of Salisbury; (fn. 2) and in 1208 Bishop
Herbert Poore erected the churches of both
Ogbournes with the churches of Wantage and
Hungerford and the chapel of Shalbourne into a
prebend of Salisbury. (fn. 3)
There are no records for the 12th century, but
the evidence suggests that a small priory in fact as
well as in name existed at Ogbourne during the
13th century. In 1206 Ranulf, Prior of Ogbourne, paid £100 for the right to hold in his
custody the English lands and possessions of Bec. (fn. 4)
There were for a time two administrative centres,
and possibly two small monastic cells, at Ogbourne
and Ruislip, but by the time of Prior William de
Guineville (1239-54) Ogbourne had become the
administrative centre for all the English lands of
the abbey not definitely attached to one of the
other English dependencies of Bec. (fn. 5) The property
included 24 manors scattered from Norfolk to
Dorset, and a very large number of tithes. (fn. 6) The
priors personally supervised the estate management, and together with a companion monk went
on periodic journeys round the property. They
were responsible for transmitting the revenues
from the estates to Bec, and in addition were
usually proctors general in England of the abbey.
It was customary for the Abbot of Bec to appoint
priors in all the English dependencies and present
them to the patrons and diocesan bishops. As the
honor of Wallingford escheated to the Crown
after the death of Maud the priory was regarded
as being in the royal patronage; proctors were
presented to the king on appointment and paid
£200 into the royal coffers to keep the custody of
their property after the death of each abbot. (fn. 7) The
exemption of the prebend of Ogbourne from episcopal control secured the exemption of the priory
also; after Robert Kilwardby had spent some days
at the manor in 1277 he certified that he had
merely stayed as a guest whilst visiting Queen
Eleanor at Marlborough, and did not wish to
establish a precedent harmful to the prior and
monks. (fn. 8)
Kilwardby's letter implies that a small community of at least two or three monks was then
established at Ogbourne; further evidence comes
from the inventory of goods made by royal officials
when the alien priories were seized for the first
time in 1294. This inventory includes a chalice
valued at £1 6s. 8d., 2 missals, a gradual, and a vestment with 2 towels, as well as silver plate to the
value of £10 4s. (fn. 9) But indications of religious life
are few, and the position of some of the proctors
was anomalous even in the 13th century. William
de Guineville showed keen interest in securing the
abbey's hunting rights, and on his retirement in
1254 from the duties of proctor he was granted
for life the revenues of nine manors in the bailiwick of Ogbourne. (fn. 10) The career of Robert de
Leone is even more difficult to explain. From the
public records and the formulary of the abbey it
appears that he was attorney and general proctor
in England from 1276 until 1285, when he resigned. In 1286 the abbot unwillingly reappointed
him proctor general, and the last letters appointing
him for three years are dated 28 September 1289. (fn. 11)
During the period 1275-85, however, a monk
named Robert de Leone, formerly Prior of Stokeby-Clare, appears as Claustral Prior of Bec; (fn. 12) and
however nominal the attachment to Ogbourne
may have been it is difficult to see how the duties
of Prior of Bec could possibly have been combined
with those of Proctor of Ogbourne. On the other
hand, 1285, the year given by Dom Jouvelin for
Prior Robert's death, (fn. 13) is the year when the
Proctor Robert de Leone resigned his office in
England. Jouvelin gives no authority for his statement, and if he based it on the fact that another
prior appears in that year it may be that one man
did in fact hold both offices and resign both simultaneously, for reasons that can only be conjectured.
If so, the spiritual duties of the Prior of Ogbourne
must have been few.
There seems little doubt that very shortly afterwards the 'priory of Ogbourne' had become no
more than a legal fiction. On 22 December 1305
Pope Clement V provided Cardinal Raymond de
Got to the priory of Ogbourne, ordering the recall
of any prior or proctor in England. The monks
appealed against this appointment, claiming that
although the proctor general bore the title of
Prior of Ogbourne there was in fact no priory
there. (fn. 14) Proctors continued to be appointed in the
usual form, and the dispute was terminated by the
death of Raymond in 1310. It is significant that
though to the world at large the Proctor of the
monks of Bec in England was 'Prior of Ogbourne'
the proctors at times refer to themselves as 'dictus
prior de Ogbourne'; (fn. 15) and the inventory of goods
made in 1324 mentions only silver worth 5s. and
no service books at all. (fn. 16)
The proctors were frequently men who had
been obedientiaries or priors in other houses of
the order, and some held office for a very long
time. William de St. Pair, general proctor from
1285 to 1286, (fn. 17) occurs as Claustral Prior of Bec
in 1304. (fn. 18) Nothing further is known of Theobald
de Cambremer, who acted as attorney in England
from 1291 and received his last letters of admission for three years in 1305; (fn. 19) but William de Pont
l'Evêque, 1307-22, was possibly the William who
resigned the Priory of Cowick in 1301. (fn. 20) An
attempt to remove him in favour of John de Pont
l'Evêque failed; (fn. 21) and he was succeeded in 1322
by Richard de Beauseville, who held office until
at least 1347. (fn. 22) Peter de Falk, proctor general
from 1349 to 1361, had been Prior of St. Neot's
from 1341 until possibly 1349. (fn. 23)
From 1294 communications between Ogbourne and the mother house of Bec were repeatedly interrupted by royal confiscations during
the French wars, and the Prior of Ogbourne, in
common with other alien priors, was allowed to
hold his property only in return for a heavy annual
farm. (fn. 24) The farm was assessed at £500 in 1295;
raised to £520 when the second seizure occurred
in 1324; and raised again to 1,000 marks in
1350. (fn. 25) As the difficulties of communication increased, the Abbot of Bec was driven to appoint
a proctor for an exceptionally long term of office.
William de St. Vaast, who had been granetar of
the abbey in 1363, was nominated Prior of Ogbourne and proctor general in England in March
1364, and in 1366 was given tenure of the office
for life. He proved long lived: in 1377 the custody of St. Neots Priory was added to that of
Ogbourne; and after the Great Schism cut off
the English cells of Bec from the discipline of the
mother house he was able to hold together the
estates until his death in 1404 or 1405. (fn. 26)
After him no other monk held the office of
Prior of Ogbourne; for in 1404 John, Duke of
Bedford, had been granted custody of the property
jointly with William de St. Vaast, and he continued to hold it alone after William's death. As
he was troubled in his conscience at administering
spiritual goods he succeeded in transferring the
spiritualities to St. George's, Windsor, in 1421,
retaining only the temporalities until he died in
1436. For a few years afterwards the manors
were farmed by various laymen; in 1440 their
gradual dispersal began, and they were finally
divided between St. Nicholas (later King's) College, Cambridge, St. Mary's, Eton, and other
ecclesiastical foundations. (fn. 27)
Priors or Proctors of Ogbourne
Ranulf, occurs 1206. (fn. 28)
William de Guineville, 1239-54. (fn. 29)
John de Plessac, 1254-8 or 1259. (fn. 30)
Richard de Flammaville, c. 1259-7[6]. (fn. 31)
Robert de Leone, 1276-85, 1286-[91]. (fn. 32)
William de St. Pair, 1285-6. (fn. 33)
Theobald de Cambremer, 1291-130[7]. (fn. 34)
Cardinal Raymond de Got, 1305-[10]. An
appeal was made against the provision, and it
remained ineffective. (fn. 35)
William de Pont l'Evêque, 1307-22. (fn. 36)
Richard de Beauseville, 1322-4[9]. (fn. 37)
Peter de Falk, 1349-6[4]. (fn. 38)
William de St. Vaast, 1364-1404 or 1405. (fn. 39)