17. THE ABBEY OF BAYHAM (fn. 1)
It has just been related in the history of the
abbey of Otham that about 1208 the canons of
that abbey were transferred to Bayham, on the
borders of Kent and Sussex, where Sir Robert de
Turnham was establishing a monastery. Hither,
too, Sir Robert brought the canons of the small
Premonstratensian house of Brockley in Deptford, of which he was patron. The two convents were united under Jordan, previously abbot
of Otham, and their respective endowments
combined, Bayham thus holding the church of
West Greenwich and various lands and rents in
Kent as well as the Sussex property originally
given to Otham. Further grants were made by
the founder of lands in Yorkshire and elsewhere,
and these were increased from time to time by
other benefactors, so that in 1291 the abbey's
possessions in Sussex were valued at £37 2s. 4d.,
with an additional £35 from other counties.
While many of the gifts received were unhampered by conditions, many others carried
with them obligations of a religious nature—
such as the maintenance of a canon to pray for
the donor's soul, as in the case of a grant by
Sybil de Icklesham (fn. 2) —or secular. Of the latter
a good instance is the corrody granted to Simon
Payn, who had given the convent 150 acres of
land in Friston, in 1290. By this the canons
covenanted not only to support Simon and his
wife for the rest of their life, making the usual
detailed allowance of food, beer, clothing, &c.,
but also to support his son Henry, a crippled
clerk, who was to minister to them so far as his
health allowed, to teach his two younger sons
some trade within the precincts until they could
support themselves, to give certain moneys to his
four daughters, and to pay off various debts. (fn. 3) In
the same way Master Eustace de Wrotham, apparently their legal adviser, was given an annual
pension, or retaining fee, of 4 marks with free
accommodation whenever he wished to visit
their house for relaxation (fn. 4) ; and a similar grant
was made to Master William de Tonebrig in
1275. (fn. 5)
The position of law officer to the canons was
no sinecure, as they were often involved in suits,
of which the most noteworthy was that concerning the church of Hailsham. The advowson of
this church had been granted to Michelham
priory in 1229 by Gilbert de Laigle, and Master
Robert de Blachington had been presented as
rector apparently about 1260, but some years
later the abbot of Bayham claimed the church as
a chapel of his church of Hellingly. Having
failed in the royal law courts he appealed to the
ecclesiastical courts in 1279, but was ordered by
the king to desist. The bishop of Chichester,
siding with the priory, excommunicated the
abbey, upon which the abbot appealed to the
king, maintaining that this was an infringement
of the liberties of their order (fn. 6) ; the bishop, however, in January, 1280, successfully invoked the
secular arm to remove these 'sons of perdition'
from Hailsham church, (fn. 7) and accordingly the prior
and Master Robert with some thirty others drove
out by armed force the four canons and four lay
brethren of Bayham who were in possession. (fn. 8)
An appeal to an ecclesiastical court in 1282
resulted in a decision by the archdeacon of Southwark in favour of the abbot, but this was set
aside by the archbishop, and Master Robert had
peaceful possession for a short time, but in the
spring of 1287 the canons again seized the
church and held it in spite of the archbishop's
excommunication; the secular arm was again
invoked and the church forcibly recovered. The
abbot now came to terms with the prior of
Michelham, who surrendered his claim to the
advowson in exchange for an annual payment of
£16 13s. 4d. charged on the manor of Otham. (fn. 9)
The secular rectors, however, continued to dispute the abbot's title until 1296, when Archbishop Winchelsey decided in the latter's favour.
Even this was not the end, for about 1458 there
was another long suit between the abbey and
priory over the payment of the £16 13s. 4d.
from Otham; in the end victory lay with the
priory, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, for the
canons of Michelham were so impoverished by
it that they had to sell their jewels, (fn. 10) and even
when the sheriff had put them into possession of
the abbey's manor of Exceit the abbot by a legal
trick endeavoured to force them to undertake a
new trial, which he as a wealthy and influential
prelate could better afford than they. (fn. 11)
The abbot of Bayham in 1225-6 was employed by the king on business in France, (fn. 12) and
in 1232 was selected by the pope as one of the
three visitors of the exempt monasteries in the
province of Canterbury, (fn. 13) but the monasteries
successfully refused to submit to this visitation, (fn. 14)
and the bishop of Chichester was equally unsuccessful in his attempt to cause the abbot to visit
Battle Abbey. (fn. 15) The abbot, again, was chosen by
the archbishop in 1240 to publish his excommunication of the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury. (fn. 16) This abbot appears to have been a friend
of St. Richard, bishop of Chichester, who stayed
here in September, 1242, when he granted an indulgence to those who gave alms to the church,
similar to one granted by his beloved master
St. Edmund. When the latter's body was
exhumed for translation Bishop Richard wrote to
the abbot of Bayham giving an account of the
state in which it was found. (fn. 17) After his death
the bed in which the sainted bishop had slept at
the abbey was declared to possess miraculous
qualities.
Bayham and St. Radegund's were the only
two English houses that were actually daughters
of the abbey of Prémonstré, that is to say,
colonized direct from the mother-house of the
order; and it was possibly for this reason that
we find these two houses alone taking no part in
the refusal of the English abbots to attend the
general chapter at Prémonstré in 1310. (fn. 18) In
December of the same year, however, all the
abbots seem to have been united in their chapter
at Lincoln in withstanding the demand for a
subsidy made by the abbot of Prémonstré, (fn. 19) and
it was the abbot of Bayham's proctor who subsequently appealed to Rome on behalf of the
order, (fn. 20) with the result that in May, 1312, the
abbot of Bayham recovered 80 florins against the
father abbot, (fn. 21) who appears to have endeavoured
to stop his action by excommunicating and even
deposing him. (fn. 22)
Edward II paid a visit to the abbey in August,
1324, (fn. 23) and in the previous year the canons were
asked to receive one of the canons of the abbey
of Egglestone in Yorkshire which had been so
ravaged by the Scots that it was no longer fit for
habitation. (fn. 24) The hardships of war had also
befallen the mother-house, and in 1354 the abbot
of Bayham, as commissioner of the order in
England, summoned a chapter at Grantham to
consider the question of making a gift to the
abbot of Prémonstré. (fn. 25)
An abbot of this house was again commissioner
of the order in 1421 when he asked leave to go
to Flanders to meet the abbot of Prémonstré's
agents to arrange various matters. (fn. 26) Another
abbot contested the same post with the celebrated
Richard Redman, abbot of Shap, in the spring of
1459. This abbot, Thomas, had been appointed
commissioner about 1444 (fn. 27) and again sometime
before 1454, when he summoned a general
chapter of the order at Northampton, at which
certain orders were made concerning the dress
of the canons. (fn. 28) In March, 1458-9, however, the father abbot cancelled his commission
and appointed the abbot of Shap instead; (fn. 29)
Abbot Thomas, however, appears to have concocted charges of extortion and oppression
against Redman (fn. 30) and temporarily recovered his
position; (fn. 31) but upon further inquiry the father
abbot reinstated Redman, who in April, 1459,
appointed certain abbots to inquire into the abbot
of Bayham's conduct and if necessary depose and
excommunicate him. (fn. 32) Either this abbot or a
successor subsequently held office, but was again
deprived, on a charge of negligence, in favour of
the abbot of Shap in 1466. (fn. 33)
Of the inner history of this house we have few
early details, but in 1305 orders were issued by
the abbot of Prémonstré for the arrest of three
canons of Bayham for rebellion and disobedience, (fn. 34)
and in 1315 Abbot Laurence was compelled to
resign as the result of a visitation. (fn. 35) Of the visitations made by Richard Redman, abbot of Shap
and bishop of St. Asaph, accounts are preserved
in the Bodleian Library. (fn. 36) In the case of that of
1472 we learn that there were seven canons,
besides the abbot and one novice; several of these
were serving cures and were ordered to return at
once into residence; the house was deeply involved in debt by the mismanagement of recent
abbots. In September, 1478, the visitor found
the buildings in utter ruin, the number of canons
insufficient and three of them apostate, whom he
forthwith excommunicated; the abbot, however,
was praised for his success in reducing the debts
and increasing the stock of the community.
Similar praise was earned by the abbot in 1488,
but again the number of canons in residence was
too small and orders were given to recall those
who were serving cures other than churches belonging to the abbey. Strictures were also passed
upon the canons for wearing fashionable boots
and shoes like those of laymen, and the cellarer
was absolved for having struck one of his brethren.
In 1491 the same good providence in temporal
matters was found joined with the same slackness
in things spiritual, orders being given to restrict
the wandering habits of the canons and to celebrate mattins and the other canonical hours
more regularly; one brother was on this occasion
banished to Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, for incontinence. In 1494 also one canon had to be
banished for incontinency and another excommunicated as apostate, and the number of canons
was ordered to be increased, but in 1497 the
visitor had nothing but praise for the excellent
management of the abbot. Finally, in 1500
nothing is found amiss and the visitor is able to
'render thanks to God for the laudable providence
of the abbot'; he, however, renewed his injunction for increasing the number of canons, the
community at this date consisting of the abbot
and ten brethren, of whom two were apostate,
one a novice and another serving the cure of
Pembury.
In 1524 when Wolsey, at the height of his
power, obtained the papal licence to suppress a
number of small monasteries and bestow their
endowments upon his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich, Bayham was one of the houses appointed to
be thus suppressed, (fn. 37) but the fall of this house, which
was dissolved in May 1525, (fn. 38) was greatly resented
by the neighbourhood, and a large force assembled
under the leadership of Thomas Towers, a late
canon, whom they reinstated as abbot, holding
the abbey with armed force for some little time; (fn. 39)
but in the end the resistance seems to have
flickered out and died a natural death, the ringleaders being captured and imprisoned.
Abbots of Bayham
Jordan (fn. 40)
Reginald, occurs 1221-35, (fn. 41) and 1243 (fn. 42)
Benedict, occurs 1245 (fn. 43)
Reginald, occurs 1246-9 (fn. 44)
John, occurs 1256 (fn. 45)
Thomas, occurs 1263 (fn. 46)
John, occurs 1272 (fn. 47)
Reginald, occurs 1277 (fn. 48)
Richard, occurs 1278 (fn. 49) -96 (fn. 50)
Laurence, occurs 1305, (fn. 51) resigned 1315 (fn. 52)
Luke de Coldone, elected 1315, (fn. 53) occurs 1344 (fn. 54)
Simon, occurs 1345 (fn. 55)
Solomon, occurs 1352 (fn. 56)
William, occurs 1353, (fn. 57) 1355 (fn. 58)
Robert Frendesbury, occurs 1405 (fn. 59)
John Chetham, elected 1409, (fn. 60) occurs 1429 (fn. 61)
William Maydeston, occurs 1437, (fn. 62) died 1439 (fn. 63)
Thomas Shorham, elected 1439, (fn. 64) occurs 1447 (fn. 64)
Thomas, occurs 1454-9 (fn. 65)
Thomas Cottingham, occurs 1475 (fn. 66)
Robert Hertley, occurs 1478 (fn. 67)
Robert Nasch, occurs 1488-91 (fn. 68)
Richard Bexley, occurs 1494 (fn. 69) -1500 and 1522 (fn. 70)
William Galys, elected 1522 (fn. 71)
The seals of two abbots are known:—
Reginald.—Pointed oval: the abbot on a
corbel; in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the
left hand a book. (fn. 72) Legend:—
+ SIGNE: REGIN': AB . . . . . . DE BEGEHAM.
John Cheteham.—Pointed oval: the abbot,
standing in a canopied niche; in the left hand a
pastoral staff, curved outwards. In a smaller
canopied niche on each side, an angel. In base,
a shield of arms:—in chief a lion passant, in base
a pastoral staff, on the sinister side two lozenges
in pale. (fn. 73) Legend:—
. . . . . Ū IODIS . . . . . . . . . . . M :