2. THE ABBEY OF READING
It is clear from the opening words of the
foundation charter of Henry I, which states that
the three old abbeys of Reading, Cholsey, and
Leominster had been supposed to be destroyed
for their sins and their lands alienated and possessed by laymen, that there was an earlier
religious house at Reading known as an abbey.
It is probable that the abbeys of Reading and
Cholsey were destroyed in 1006, which was the
year when the Danes overran this district and
burnt Wallingford. Cholsey Abbey was founded
about 986, by Ethelred, as an act of expiation
for the death of his brother Edward the Martyr,
and it has been conjectured that the first religious
house at Reading was established at the same
time by Elfrida in atonement for the like crime.
Henry I laid the foundation of the new abbey
at Reading on 23 June, 1121. (fn. 106) By charter of
the year 1125 he bestowed on this house lands
at Reading, Cholsey, and Leominster (Hereford),
with their churches, woods, mills, fisheries, &c.,
and with a mint and one moneyer at Reading.
He also granted immunity to the monks and
their tenants from all customs, tolls, and portdues throughout the kingdom. Moreover he
bestowed full privileges of the hundred court,
and all manner of pleas, and every kind of
jurisdiction over the town of Reading and its
precincts. On an abbot's death, the possessions
of the monastery were to remain in the hands
of the prior and convent, with full power to
elect his successor. The abbot was not to possess any revenues of his own, but to hold in
common with his brethren; he was not to use
the alms of the house for his own relations, but
solely for the relief of the poor and in the entertainment of strangers. No office was to be
made hereditary, but to be filled at the discretion of the abbot and monks. (fn. 107)
At the same time, or shortly afterwards,
Henry gave the monks a second charter, which
is solely concerned with their exemptions from
all lay and ecclesiastical charges of every kind,
and with their special privileges. An important
addition is therein made to the statements of the
foundation charter, namely, that no royal forest
officials were to interfere in any way with the
monastic woods; for the abbot and his tenants
were to have the same power and liberty in
their woods as the king had in his own. (fn. 108)
By a third charter Henry granted to the
abbey a fair on the festival of St. Laurence and
the three following days. (fn. 109)
The founder by other charters conferred on
the monks the churches of Thatcham and Wargrave (Berkshire), and Handborough (Oxfordshire); and confirmed several donations of other
benefactors, which included the church of 'Wychbury' (Wiltshire), the gift of the earl of Leicester.
Although the monks first introduced into this
abbey were Cluniacs, and the first two abbots
were members of the great Cluniac priory of
Lewes, while Abbot Hugh II in 1199 became
abbot of Cluny, the connexion between Reading
and Cluny appears to have been slight and not
to have lasted beyond the thirteenth century.
In 1207 the abbey of Reading was still considered to be a Cluniac house, (fn. 110) but soon after
this date it seems to have become attached to
the general Benedictine order.
The buildings of the abbey, with the exception of the church, were completed in five years.
The death of the royal founder occurred in
Normandy in December, 1135, and his body
having been embalmed was, agreeably to his own
request, brought over to England, and interred
before the high altar of Reading Abbey. Over
the vault a splendid monument was subsequently
erected to Henry I, and in 1398 Richard II consented to confirm the abbey in all its rights
and privileges, only on condition that the abbot
would, within a year, honourably repair the tomb
and effigy of King Henry their founder over his
place of burial. (fn. 111)
Henry's queen Adeliza, who survived him and
married William de Albini, earl of Arundel,
gave to the abbey, on the first anniversary of the
king's death, the manor of Aston, Berkshire,
which had been settled on her as part of her
royal dower, offering a pall upon the high altar
as a testimony of confirmation. The queen
dowager subsequently gave them the church
land at Stanton Harcourt, to the intent that a
lamp should be kept perpetually burning before
the pyx and the tomb of the founder. (fn. 112) After
the death of her second husband, Adeliza bestowed on the abbey the churches of Berkeley
Harness (Gloucestershire), Cam, Arlingham,
Wotton, Beverstone, and Almondsbury; and
also 100s. to be paid every Christmas out of
a wharf in London, for the expense of the
founder's anniversary. Adeliza herself was
eventually interred at the abbey.
The Empress Maud, the daughter of the
founder, for the souls of Henry her father and
Queen Maud her mother gave to the abbey the
Berkshire manors of Blewbury and East Hendred,
as well as lands at Marlborough, (fn. 113) &c. The
empress was at Reading during Rogationtide,
1141, when she was received at the abbey with
great honour. King Stephen granted confirmation charters, but no bequests of his own.
Henry II was a firm friend to the monastery.
In addition to various confirmation charters, he
permitted the monks to inclose 'the park of
Cumba' for the use of infirm monks and the
guests of the house. By other charters he
granted them a second fair at Reading on
St. James's Day and the three following days,
and also a weekly market at Thatcham. He
also granted them a revenue of 40 marks out
of the Exchequer, until he could secure them a
landed revenue of like value, which he afterwards did out of the manor of Hoo; and the
right of importing goods free of all seaport
duties. (fn. 114)
Henry II having marched an army into Wales
in 1163, Henry de Essex, his standard-bearer at
the battle of Coleshill, supposing the king to
have been slain, threw away the standard and
fled. He was subsequently charged with treason
by Robert de Montford, and trial by combat was
sanctioned by the king. The site selected for
the encounter was a small island of the Thames
close to Reading. The combat took place in
the presence of the king and many of the
nobility. Essex was defeated, but the king remitted the death penalty and is said to have compelled him to become a monk at Reading. (fn. 115)
In the following year the great church of the
abbey was finished; it was consecrated by Archbishop Becket, in the presence of the king and
the great magnates of the realm. (fn. 116)
William, the eldest son of the king, died in
1156, and was buried in the abbey, as was
Reginald, earl of Cornwall, a natural son of
Henry I, in 1175. The king kept his court at
Reading at Whitsuntide 1175, and at Easter
1177. (fn. 117) There was a great gathering of the
suffragan bishops of the province of Canterbury
and the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury,
in this abbey, on 5 August, 1184, to elect an
archbishop. Henry II was present, and the
assembly was adjourned to Windsor. (fn. 118)
Kings Richard and John granted confirmation charters and small additional bequests; the
latter granted yet a third fair to the abbey, to be
held on the vigil, festival, and two following days
of SS. Philip and James. (fn. 119)
Hugh II, the eighth abbot, who ruled from
1180 to 1199, was a great theologian; in the
latter year he was made abbot of Cluny. (fn. 120)
Several of the earlier abbots of Reading were
promoted to important posts; Hugh, the first
abbot, was consecrated archbishop of Rouen in
1130, and William, the sixth abbot, archbishop
of Bordeaux in 1173.
Pope Innocent III in 1207 granted protection to Helias, abbot of Reading, and his
brethren, present and future, in their possessions,
viz., Reading, Cholsey, and Leominster, with
their churches, chapels, cemeteries, tithes, and
oblations, Thatcham, and the churches of Wargrave, Whitley, 'Wybury,' Blewbury, land in
Hendred, Aston and its church, 'Ravinton' and
its church, the churches of Stanton, Handborough, Englefield, and 'Dudelesfaude,' land in
Houghton, lands in 'Lingeborche,' and that in
Stratfield which belonged to Hugh de Mortimer,
and in Sawbridgeworth, lands and rents in
London and Berkhampstead, land acquired with
the tenement of Hoo, and the priory of May
and Lindegros in Scotland. (fn. 121)
On 28 March, 1228, when Henry III was at
Reading, the abbot was successful in resisting the
claim of the bailiff of Windsor to tolls on the
vessels of the abbey descending and ascending
the Thames to and from London with goods
and merchandise. Claim was made for £52 of
arrears of such tolls. But after inquisition and
searching the rolls of the Exchequer, the abbot
made good his claim to exemption by charters of
the king's progenitors. (fn. 122)
In May, 1231, the sheriff of Oxford received
a mandate authorizing him to take with him
upright and qualified men and to go in person to
the chapel of St. Anne on the bridge of Reading
(on the Oxford side of the Thames)—part of
which is founded on the fee of the abbot of
Reading, and part on the fee of William earl
of Pembroke—and in the sight and testimony of
the men to give to the abbot such seisin of the
chapel as he had on the day when the earl died. (fn. 123)
An interesting pittance grant was made to the
monks in 1282. Ela Longespeye, countess of
Warwick, granted to the abbey 20 marks annually out of Southwood manor, Doddington, Cambridgeshire, to provide spices to be distributed by
the prior and sub-prior; with a further grant of
her wardship of Shenstone, so that the whole
convent might be provided each Sunday with a
good pittance by the cook in honour of the Holy
Trinity, and each Thursday in honour of the
Ascension. (fn. 124)
In 1310 licence was obtained by the abbot
under the king's privy seal, for the appropriation
of the church of Thatcham. (fn. 125)
Licence was granted in 1327 to the abbot and
convent for the alienation to them by Robert de
Abingdon of four messuages and a stone quay in
London, on condition of their finding two secular
chaplains to celebrate divine service daily in the
Lady chapel of the abbey church, for the souls of
Master Richard Abingdon, his ancestors and
heirs. (fn. 126)
The abbey received a considerable endowment
in 1331. In November of that year licence was
obtained by Hugh de Redynges for the abbot and
convent to acquire in mortmain three messuages,
240 acres of land, 10 of meadow, 3 of pasture,
40 of wood, and 16s. of rent in Leominster,
Ivington, and other places in Herefordshire, to
find two chaplains to celebrate daily in their
convent church. (fn. 127)
William Pakynton, king's clerk, and another,
obtained licence in October, 1384, on payment
of the exceptionally heavy fee of £20 in the
hanaper, to alienate to the abbey of Reading
three messuages, three shops, two tofts, and
£13 12s. 10d. rent in Reading for finding a
monk chaplain to celebrate daily in the conventual church for the souls of the king, of Thomas
Spigurnel and Katharine his wife, of Adam
Hartington, and others. (fn. 128)
In 1232 John son of Richard of Cornwall
was buried at the abbey, and two years later
Isabel his sister was laid by his side. (fn. 129)
On 15 June, 1235, Robert Grosteste was
consecrated bishop of Lincoln and Hugh bishop
of St. Asaph, in the great conventual church of
Reading, by the archbishop of Canterbury. (fn. 130)
It was through Grosteste's influence that the
king changed the days of several of the abbey's
markets from Sunday to an ordinary week day.
Another consecration was held in the abbey
church in 1244, when the bishop of Winchester
consecrated Roger bishop of Bath and Wells. (fn. 131)
The debts of the house were considerable
in 1275. An entry on the Patent Rolls in
February of that year requests the knights freemen and other tenants of the abbey to aid the
convent with a subsidy in consequence of its
embarrassed condition. At a later date in the
same month a mandate was issued to the abbot
to remove from the abbey and from its cell of
Leominster all serjeants and horses, with their
keepers, either of the king or others, staying in
either house, and to receive no more until the
said abbey be relieved of its indebtedness. (fn. 132)
Edward I visited Reading and lodged at the abbey
in January, 1273, and again in December, 1275.
In December, 1275, Sir Roland de Herlegh was
appointed by the crown to the custody of the
house of Leominster, a cell of Reading. It had
fallen into debt, and all that Sir Roland was able
to save, after finding the dean and chaplains in
food and clothing, and poor mendicants in alms,
he was to apply to the discharge of its debts by
view of the abbot and prior of Reading. Power
was reserved to the abbot to remove Roland from
this custody at will. (fn. 133)
Licence was granted in August, 1289, by
Pope Nicholas IV, to the abbot of Reading and
his successors to use the mitre, ring, gloves,
dalmatic, tunicle, and sandals, according to the
indult of Clement III; and this both within the
monastery on solemn days, and in processions
and episcopal synods. (fn. 134)
The seals of the abbot and convent of Reading were counterfeited in 1290 by Jonas de
Newbury and Isaac de Pulet, two Jews, and
attached to false writings involving large sums of
money; for this offence, and for other felonies in
divers parts of the realm, the delinquents were
committed to the Tower. (fn. 135)
Entry was made on the Close Rolls in July
1290 of the indebtedness of Abbot Robert to
Lewis de Bello Monte, canon of Salisbury, of
the large sum of 450 marks; but it was subse
quently cancelled on payment being made. (fn. 136)
Possibly, however, it was partly owing to
financial entanglements that on 2 November,
1290, when the king was at Clipstone, news of
the cession of Abbot Robert was brought by
Richard de Wynton, Nicholas de Leominster,
and William de Sutton, monks of Reading.
One of the three messengers, William de Sutton,
was elected abbot in the same month. (fn. 137) On
the occasion of his election, the king, to spare the
labour and expense of the abbot-elect, ordered,
on 28 November, 1290, that Master William de
Meschia, his treasurer, should proceed to Reading and take the elect's fealty, on the election
being confirmed; he was to certify the king
thereof by envoy, and instruct the prior and
convent to cause the temporalities to be delivered
to the abbot. (fn. 138)
Among the interesting set of letters of the
first (English) Prince of Wales, afterwards
Edward II, at the Public Record Office, written
in 1302-3, are two addressed to the abbot of
Reading. The first of these, dated 10 June,
referred to a proposal of the abbot to tallage the
prince's good friend Adam the skinner and other
burgesses of Reading, on account of the tallage
on the king's demesnes, and as such an action was
novel the prince begged the abbot, 'for love of
us,' to stay his action for a month that counsel
might be taken. The second letter, of 6 September, is of more interest. The prince sends his
well-beloved John Lalemaner, keeper of one of
his chargers, who had wounded his hand, to the
abbey, as he understood they had a good surgeon
at the house, promising his special gratitude
to the abbot if they would keep him and sustain
him at the abbey until the wound was healed. (fn. 139)
On the death of Abbot Sutton in 1305 the
monks elected Nicholas de Quappelade, the precentor, in his room; but on his name being
submitted to the bishop of Salisbury certain
defects in form were discovered and the election
was quashed. The bishop, however, recognizing
his good qualities, collated him to the abbacy on
8 September. (fn. 140) Soon after his installation
Abbot Nicholas found that the debts of the abbey
had reached the great total of £1,227 7s. 8d.
He at once resolved to bring about considerable
reductions in the household expenditure. A
committee of eight monks was formed under the
abbot, and they adopted, inter alia, the following
resolutions: That a law clerk should be appointed
with whom the abbot and treasurer could consult; that a steward should be elected yearly
with a stipend of £6 13s. 4d., livery for himself
and two servants, and two horses to be kept at
the charge of the house; that the town clerk
was to be chamberlain in waiting in the abbot's
hall; and that one of the two chaplains of the
countess of Salisbury's chantry was to be the
abbot's secretary. The reduced staff of servants
and officials (though some of them were obedientiaries of the house and unsalaried) numbered
thirty-seven. To lessen the expenditure, it was
further resolved that the days when special pittances were provided by the obedientiaries were
to be reduced to ten, pertaining to the treasurer
and cellarer. All the obedientiaries were to give
exact annual accounts of the money that passed
through their hands, whilst one of the treasurers
was to examine the accounts of grain and of the
larder every month. The accounts of grain
bought or sold, of malt and cheese from the
different manors, of the cattle for labour and live
stock, and of the fish or flesh purchased or brought
were all to be entered up in writing week by
week. It would seem that this scheme of improved accounts answered for the time, for Abbot
Quappelade found money to build the Lady
chapel in 1314, and when he died in 1327 left
money put at his disposal by a Reading burgess
to Balliol College. Had the abbey then been in
a necessitous condition, he would scarcely have
made this considerable bequest to Oxford. (fn. 141)
Just before the vacant abbacy was filled up in
1305, the bishop commissioned Master Walter
Henny, canon of Sarum, to absolve certain suspended and excommunicated monks of Reading
(we know not their offence) to enable them to
take part in the election of a superior. (fn. 142) When
the election actually took place there were sixtyfive monks present, but one was objected to as
being still excommunicate, and another as being
an idiot.
Edward II, in 1310, at the instance of Queen
Isabella, ordered the abbot and convent to admit
into their house Robert Pipard, who had long
served the late Queen Eleanor and the king, and
to provide him for life with food and clothing
according to his estate, and to confirm this by
letters patent under their chapter seal. At the
same time the king revoked orders that he had
recently made on them with regard to doing the
like service for William Becok. (fn. 143)
Thomas de la Naperye, who had served
Edward II and his father, was sent to the abbey
in October, 1316, to receive the allowance that
Philip le Charetter had had in that house. (fn. 144) In
March, 1318, Robert le Orfevre, who had long
served the king, was sent to Reading Abbey, to
be thence forwarded to their priory cell of Leominster, where he was to receive a monk's
allowance, together with a robe and all necessaries of life. (fn. 145)
Reading was one of those abbeys where the
crown claimed to pension a clerk on the house
until such time as they could find a benefice for
him, on each new creation of an abbot. Abbot
Quappelade, dying in 1327-8, was succeeded by
Abbot John de Appleford. On 9 March, 1328,
Henry de Carleton, one of the king's clerks, was
sent to the new abbot, with pension-claiming
letters from Edward III. (fn. 146)
Whilst John de Appleford was abbot, in the
year 1338, Edward III borrowed from the abbey
certain valuables, estimated at £277 4s., including a chalice and paten of pure gold worth
£22 15s., another pure gold chalice worth
£54 9s., and a small reliquary of pure gold after
the fashion of a feretory, garnished with sapphires,
pearls, rubies, &c., and worth £200. The king
pledged himself to restore them or their value.
In consideration of this loan, the king renewed
to the abbey the privilege of a mint, of which
they had been deprived by Edward I. (fn. 147)
Although this is not a place to give an account
of the structure or remains of the old abbey, an
incident that connects the structure with the
world-famed beauty of the mother church of
Salisbury can scarcely be omitted. There were
evidently important works of reconstruction in
progress at this abbey during the rule of Abbot
John de Appleford. In June, 1334, Master
Richard de Farlegh, the builder (cementarius) of
the glorious spire of Salisbury, covenanted with
the dean and chapter to give up all other work
on which he was engaged—notably at the monastery of Reading and at the cathedral church of
Bath—and labour solely and diligently for the
Sarum chapter. (fn. 148)
The abbot and convent of Reading petitioned
the pope in 1354 for faculty to have thirty
monks in their twentieth year ordained priests
by any Catholic bishop, for the service of their
monastery and places (that is cells or granges, not
churches) subject to it, in consequence of so
many of the monks having died during the recent
epidemic. The prayer was granted. (fn. 149)
In August, 1384, the bishop of Hereford insisted with much vigour on the monks of the
cell of Leominster undertaking the burden of
collecting a moiety of the tenth granted by the
province of Canterbury to the king, in the
deanery and archdeaconry of Hereford. The
abbot of Reading brought the matter before the
king in council, and was able to show that
although the monks of Reading were deputed by
grants of the king's progenitors to stay in the
Leominster house and to celebrate there divine
service and pray for the king, they were removable at the will of the abbot alone, as appeared
from the composition made between the then
bishop and chapter of Hereford, and the then
abbot and convent of Reading, and afterwards
confirmed by Pope Honorius III (1216-27).
Thereupon the king, after mature deliberation
with his justices and council, declared under his
signet that all the Reading monks so staying at
Leominster should be for ever exempt from the
collection of clerical tenths and subsidies in that
diocese. (fn. 150)
Thomas Pentecombe and two others were appointed by the crown in March, 1390, to arrest
and deliver to the abbot of Reading, Thomas
Abingdon, an apostate Benedictine monk of that
house, who was a vagabond in the city of London
and other parts of England. (fn. 151)
There is a curious instance of the interference
of that energetic pope, Boniface IX, circa 1400,
with the internal administration of this abbey.
William Henley, claustral prior of the Reading
monks, had held office for some time, and had
yearly received from the common rents as much
for food as two other monks; £6 for his clothing
and other necessaries; for the food and clothing
of the three servitors in his office (a yeoman, a
groom, and a page), the usual allowance for
monastic servants; and 26s. 8d. and sufficient
hay for the keep of a horse. It had been the
custom for the holder of the office of claustral
prior to be removed at the pleasure of the abbot;
but the pope ordered that William Henley was
to hold the office for life, with the usual emoluments, and not to be removed against his will.
If he resigned there was to be given him for life
as much for his food and clothing as is allowed
to two other monks. (fn. 152)
On the Saturday before Palm Sunday, 1432,
the Common Council of Reading, at a meeting
at which seventy-four were present, elected
twenty-four burgesses to represent them at an
interview with Abbot Thomas Henley. (fn. 153) This
was probably on account of the oft-recurring
disputes between the abbey and the town as to
the gild privileges. The town records, under
2 October, 1444, contain an entry of a composition between the burgesses and the lord abbot. (fn. 154)
On 25 June, 1451, a bill was drawn up, to be
shown to the abbot's counsel, containing the
articles of the gild. (fn. 155)
In the tyme of William Rede, Meyre (1456), and
all yt have be Meyrys, with all the Bourgeys of the
Geld Halle, byndyth them selfe by ther feyth to abyde
a rule as in expence for materys the wheche be
betwyxt my lord of Redynge and the same Meyres
and Bourgeys of the same Gyld. (fn. 156)
The town records between 1456 and 1478
show that part of the entrance fees into the gild
were paid throughout that period to the abbey.
Thus, in 1456, Gilbert Sayer's entrance fee of
6s. 8d. was divided equally between the hall and
the abbey, and the fee of William Swerdbreke,
tailor, of 10s. was similarly divided; but in each
of these cases the new member also paid 6s. 8d.
for a luncheon (jantaculum) for the mayor and
his brethren. In 1460 Robert Quedamton paid
13s. 4d. as entrance fee, 5s. of which went to
the hall, and 5s. to the abbey, whilst 3s. 4a. was
allotted to the lunch. William Cokkyng in
1462, as the son of a burgess, was admitted on
lower terms; his fine was 4s. for the abbot, and
20d. for the lunch. This seems to have been
the usual scale for the son of a burgess. (fn. 157)
According to the tenor of an agreement of
1254, (fn. 158) the brethren of the gild were annually
to present three persons to the abbot, out of
whom he was to choose one to be master or
warden, a title afterwards changed to mayor.
This custom was maintained with but little
variation up to the dissolution of the monastery.
Several instances of this submission to the lord
abbot occur in the first extant volume of the
Corporation Annals. Thus, in 1458, William
Hunt, William Rede, and William Pernecote
were elected on 25 July to serve the office of
mayor by their fellow burgesses, and on 29 September Abbot Thorne appointed the last of
the three to be mayor for the ensuing year. (fn. 159)
One of the later entries of this kind is of the
year 1499, when, on 27 September, Abbot John
Thorne II 'out of his special grace' chose Christian Nicholas, the first of the three names nominated by the burgesses to be mayor, and discharged
Robert Benett and John Turnour from their
office of constable, because they had been appointed thereto by the abbot, and not by the
mayor and his brethren, nor by the burgesses of
the gild. (fn. 160)
In 1507, when Christian Nicholas was again
mayor (on the abbot's appointment), certain variances as to the ordering of constables, warders,
&c., between the town and abbot were set at
rest by decree of the justices of Common Pleas.
The old custom as to the selection by the abbot
of one of three to be mayor was confirmed; the
two constables and ten warders of the five wards
were to be chosen by the gild-merchant, but
sworn in before the abbot; the name of any
person petitioning to be elected a burgess was to
be given to the abbot fourteen days before the
election; a monk was to be present at the
assessing of the fine which was to be divided between the abbot and the gild; an alien's fine was
to be determined by six burgesses on oath, and if
they affirmed it to be reasonable it was to be
accepted by the abbot; and
as towchyng Chepyngavell, which is a yerely fyne
onely, of all and every Burges of the seide Gylde,
whiche out of tyme of mynde hathe bene payed yerely
to the predecessouers of the seid Abbot by every
Burges,
burgesses were to pay 6d. yearly, and their
widows 2d. (fn. 161)
Reverting to the fifteenth century, we find
that Abbot Thomas Henley died on 11 November, 1445. The election to fill the vacancy was
conducted by Thomas Stainton, the prior, and
thirty-four monks. It was decided to proceed
by way of scrutiny, when thirty-three votes were
cast for John Thorne, and one each for Robert
Chittenham and John Henley. (fn. 162)
Records remain of projected visitations by the
bishop of Salisbury, and of the abbot's letter
acknowledging receipt of the letters of monition to
prepare for the same in 1501, 1505, 1511, 1514,
1519, 1520, and 1526. (fn. 163) But there is no entry
of the result of these visitations. It should always
be remembered with regard to the Benedictines
that they were subject to capitular visitations of
their own order, as well as those undertaken
by the diocesan.
At the general chapter of English Benedictines
held at Northampton in 1480 the duty of visiting the monastery of St. Augustine's, Canterbury,
was assigned to the abbot of Reading. The
abbot was not able, however, to travel, in consequence of bodily infirmity, and nominated John
Thorne, the prior, holding a bachelor's degree,
and Richard Wokingham, another of the monks,
who was bachelor of theology, to visit as his
proctors. (fn. 164) Abbot John was appointed visitor of
all the Black Monks in the diocese of Sarum
when the general chapter of the order was held
at Northampton in 1495. (fn. 165) Again, at the provincial general chapter held in 1521 at Westminster the Reading abbot was appointed visitor
of Glastonbury Abbey. (fn. 166)
On Sunday, 30 January, 1521, Henry VIII
was at Reading, and made oblation of 3s. 4d.
to 'the Child of Grace' at the monastery. (fn. 167)
The king was the guest during this visit of
Hugh Faringdon, a monk of Reading, whose
election by his fellows as abbot had been confirmed by Henry VIII on 26 September of the
previous year.
In a letter from the bishop of Lincoln to
Wolsey, dated 3 March, 1528, as to further
information he had received of the distribution
at Oxford and elsewhere of 'books of heresy' by
Thomas Garret, M.A., the bishop expresses a
fear that he has corrupted the monastery of
Reading; he had sold to the prior more than
sixty such books, and it seemed necessary that
attention should be paid to John Sherbourne,
prior of Reading. (fn. 168) The result of this attention
was the committal of the prior to the Tower;
in October, 1532, we hear of the prior being
removed to Beauchamp Tower, from some other
part of the prison fortress, 'accompanied with
the parson of Hony Lane and Christopher Coo,
to be converted.' (fn. 169) Eventually the prior, whose
office at the monastery had been filled up, was
converted—that is, he agreed to recant his
heresies.
With regard to this ex-prior, John Sherbourne,
Abbot Hugh wrote to Cromwell, in August,
1533, acknowledging a letter from the latter requiring his restoration; but the abbot inclosed a
letter he had received from Sherbourne, showing
that such a course was 'clean contrary to his
mind.' The abbot had got him a benefice of
20 marks a year, but this, too, he had utterly
refused. (fn. 170)
Among the numerous new year's gifts made
by Henry VIII in 1532 was £20 in a white
leather purse, to the abbot of Reading, who was
one of his royal chaplains. (fn. 171) Abbot Hugh
Faringdon alias Cook was at this time and
for several years in good odour with the king.
In 1530 Abbot Hugh had been one of those
peers spiritual and temporal who signed a petition to the pope impressing on him the danger
of delay in the divorce proceedings; he had
also offered the king the use of the library of
the Reading Abbey to find arguments in favour
of the divorce. At a later period (1536) he
accepted, in common with the majority of
the 'religious' of England, the Act of Royal
Supremacy. It has been argued by some that
he was a thoroughly illiterate man; but this is
only on the authority of an anonymous reviler,
and of Chronicler Hall, who roundly states that
the abbot was 'a stubborn monk and utterly
without learning.' Brown Willis, however,
points out that his letters to the University of
Oxford (still extant in the register) and his zeal
for education at Reading prove the absurdity
of such a contention. (fn. 172) In 1532, when the
University begged for stone from the quarry
belonging to the abbey for the rebuilding of their
schools, Abbot Hugh wrote (or a letter was
written for him) in the exaggerated humility of
the times speaking of himself as an unlearned
man; but the very letter itself is proof that such
phrases were not to be taken literally.
He was probably born at Faringdon, and hence
the name he often bore; but his true family
name was Cook, and he bore the arms of Cook
of Kent.
The abbot was a great friend of Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle. There are some pleasant letters
of Abbot Hugh's, written in November, 1534,
both to Lord and Lady Lisle, which give evidence
of his kindly nature and ability in languages. He
had been entrusted with the special charge of
Lord Lisle's young stepson, James Basset, who
was to be educated at the monastic grammar
school of Reading. The abbot writes to each
parent, saying how he had committed the boy to
his under-steward, who had an honest wife who
would see to his dressing, as he was too young to
shift for himself. He considered him 'the most
towardly child in learning' that he had known.
Alexander Aylmer, Lord Lisle's agent, visited
Reading, and wrote to the mother saying that
Master James was in good health; the abbot
made as much of him as if he was the king's son,
and 'plythe hym to his learning, both to Latin
and Frenche.' (fn. 173)
Evidences of Cromwell's avaricious and illegal
exactions from the religious houses come to light
all over the country. A brief letter is extant
from Abbot Hugh, dated 15 December, 1534,
stating that the convent had sent him by the
bearer an annuity of 20 marks, to be taken out
of their manor of Aston, Herts. (fn. 174) Among
Cromwell's papers, seized when the time came
for his own execution, were a large number of
private accounts never intended to see light. In
February, 1557, he received 5 marks from the
abbot of Reading, in April £10 in addition to
20 marks as steward of the monastery, and in
November the like payments as in April. This
was repeated in 1538. In January, 1539—the
year when the monastery was blotted out and
the abbot was gibbeted at his own door—Cromwell did not hesitate to take £10 from the abbot,
and the great sum of £50 in the following
March. (fn. 175)
There was a good deal of trouble in 1535
between the abbot of Reading and the prior of
the cell of Leominster, grave charges being alleged
against the latter, which the bishop of Hereford
repudiated, saying the prior was quite as good as
the abbot; but the matter of the discipline maintained at Leominster pertains far more to Hereford
than to Berkshire.
On the death of Queen Jane Seymour, the
mother of Edward VI, on 24 October, 1537,
the king ordered the most elaborate religious
functions. The interment at Windsor did not
take place until 12 November, but meanwhile
there was daily solemn mass in the chapel of
Hampton Court, where the body lay in state.
On Sunday, 4 November (the most honourable
of the days), the abbot of Reading celebrated
mass, and solemnly sang the dirige. Abbot
Hugh had also his place assigned him in the
quire of Windsor at the time of the burial. (fn. 176)
In March, 1538, Abbot Hugh was still in
favour, and was placed on the commission of the
peace for the county of Berks. (fn. 177)
It was in this year that Cromwell's set of
visitors were busy extorting surrenders from the
larger houses and from the friaries, to whom the
Act of 1536 for the suppression of the lesser
monasteries did not apply. Early in 1538
Abingdon had been flagrantly bribed into surrender. But there were no signs of complacency
or willingness to accept bribes or big pensions by
Abbot Hugh, although he had been willing to
purchase favour from Cromwell. Henry VIII's
vicar-general now, therefore, began to harass
the abbot.
Abbot Hugh wrote to Cromwell in June,
1538, in reply to his letter complaining that the
divinity lecture had not been properly given, and
that the monks were thereby brought to corrupt
judgement, and desiring him to receive one
Richard Cobbes as lecturer, with stipend and
common. The abbot replied that he had already
in the house one of the brothers (Roger London)
who was a bachelor of divinity, and who was
esteemed by competent judges very well learned
both in divinity and humanity, and that he
profited the brethren both in the Latin tongue
and in the Holy Scriptures. He offered him to
be examined by any that Cromwell should
appoint. He understood from the bishop of
Salisbury that Cobbes, once a canon and a priest,
was then married, and therefore degraded.
Though learned, he could not but instil like
persuasions of marriage, and that would be an
occasion of slander, the laws standing as they do
yet. Nevertheless, whatever seemed best to
Cromwell should be done. (fn. 178)
Subsequent letters from the bishop of Salisbury
to Cromwell show that he was most anxious to
obtain the lectureship for Cobbes, who was a
servant of his; he assured the Lord Privy Seal
that Roger London, their present reader, had
been accused to him of heresy by three of the
monks half a year ago, and he had therefore
inhibited him. Cromwell, however, on this
occasion took the part of the abbot rather than
the bishop, and did not rebuke Abbot Hugh for
disregarding the inhibition. Thereupon the
bishop wrote a strangely petulant letter to Cromwell; feels sure that the Lord Privy Seal has a
grudge against him, and consequently waters his
letters with tears; loves not Cobbes the less
because he was a priest and for marriage degraded, he is now at least an honest layman.
The bishop's three chief charges of heretical
opinions against the abbot's reader were rather
strange, namely (1) that Holy Scripture is not
sufficient of itself, (2) that ability to preach sincerely is not sufficient qualification for a cure,
and (3) that faith does not justify without
works. (fn. 179)
When Dr. London, with Layton, Pollard, and
Moyle as assistants, was securing the surrender
of the Grey Friars, Reading, he also visited the
abbey. At the end of a letter about Caversham,
18 September, 1558, he thus refers to the great
monastery:—
I have sent upp the principal relik of idolatrie
within this realm, an aungell wt oon wyng that
browght to Caversham the spere hedde that percyd
or Saviours syde upon the crosse. It was conveyd
home to Notley. butt I sent my Servant purposely
for ytt. I have sent also iij cots of the Images wt such
things as I fownde upon them, wt the dagger that they
slew King Henry the vj and the knyff that kylled
saynt Edward, wt many other lyk holy things. I have
defacyd that chapell inward and have sent home the
chanon to hys monastery to Notley. I have requyred
of my Lord Abbott the relyks of his howse wich he
shewed unto me wt gudde will. I have taken an inventorie of them and have lokkyd them upp behynd
the high awtter and have the key in my kepyng, and
they be always ready at yor Lordeschippes commandment. They have a gudde lecture in Scripture daylie
redde in their chapitor howse both in Inglyshe and
Laten, to the wich is gudde resort and the Abbott is
at yt himself. In any other thing I can do yor Lordeshippe service I am and always shalbe reddy, Godde
willyng, wt increase of moch honor long preserve yor
gudde Lordeschippe.
At Reding xviij Septembris
Yor most bounden orator and servant
John London. (fn. 180)
The Inventorye of the Relyques off the Howse off
Redyng.
Imprimis twoo peces off the holye crosse. Item
Saynt James hande. It. St Phelype scolle. It. a bone
of Marye Magdalene wt other moo. It. Saynt Anathasus is hande wt other moo. It. a pece off saynte
Pancrats arme. It. a bone off saynt Quyntyns arme.
It. a bone off saynt Dayde is arme. It. a bone off
Mary Salomes arme. It. a bone off saynt Edward ye
Martyr is arme. It. a bone of saynt Hierome wt other
moo. It. bones off saynt Stephyn. It. a bone off saynt
Blase. It. a bone off saynt Osmonde. It. a pece of
Saynt Ursula scole. It. a jaw bone of saynt Ethelwold.
It. bones off saynt Leodigarye and of S. Hereuei.
It. bones off Saynt Margarett. It. bones off Saint
Arnal. It. a bone of Saynt Agas with other moo.
It. a bone of S. Andrewe and ij peces of his crosse.
It. a bone off S. Fredyswyde. It. a bone off saynt
Anne. With many others
There be a multitude of small bonys, large stonys
and coinys which wold occupie iiij shets of paper to
make particularly an inventory of any part thereof.
They be all at yor Lordschippes commandment. (fn. 181)
An exceptionally interesting covenant was
entered into by the abbey, immediately before
the suppression (31 Hen. VIII), with Leonard
Cox concerning the school (ludus literarius) of
the abbey, and a lobby (venella) attached to the
same on the east side. By this it was agreed
that Leonard should rule the school moderately
and temperately, should teach the youth flocking
there grammar and poesy with exactness, should
conduct the school on pious and orthodox lines,
instructing the scholars in good morals and in the
Catholic religion, and do his utmost to impart, if
possible, an even higher culture (cultioribus literis)
than they had yet received. (fn. 182) Leonard Cox,
about 1524, printed a small treatise on The Arte
or Crafte of Rhethoryke, which is dedicated to
'The reverend father in god and hys singuler
good lorde the lorde Hughe Faryngton Abbot of
Redynge.' The opening sentence of the introduction runs:—
Consyderyng my specyall good lorde howe greatly
and how many wayes I am bounden to your lordeshippe, And among all other that in so greate a
nombre of cunnynge rules which ar nowe within this
region, it hathe pleased your goodnes to accept me as
worthy to have the charge of the instrucyon and
bryngyng uppe of suche you the as resorteth to your
gramer schole founded by your antecessours in thys
your towne of Redyng.
About the last act of Abbot Hugh was this
arrangement with Leonard Cox for the carrying
on of the abbey's school, so long famed for the
education of the children of the nobility and
gentry. In April, 1539, a new Parliament met,
which condoned the past illegal surrenders and
practically vested all monastic property in the
crown.
There is no surrender extant of Reading; it
seems certain that nothing of the kind was
executed, and that the abbot refused to be a
party to the betrayal of his trust. The phraseology of the new suppression Act (fn. 183) did not state
blankly that all monasteries were to be dissolved,
but that those that were suppressed, renounced,
relinquished, forfeited, or given up were to be
the king's. There is also what Abbot Gasquet
terms 'an ominous parenthesis,' including such
others as 'shall happen to come to the king's
highness by attainder or attainder of treason.'
No surrender could be obtained from Reading,
Glastonbury, or Colchester; hence by the attainder
of their abbots for high treason their property was
secured for the crown, 'against,' as Hallam says,
'every principle of received law.' (fn. 184)
Apparently some kind of justification for the
charge of high treason against Abbot Hugh was
devised or forthcoming, but it is impossible now
to find out what it was. The abbot was hurried
off to the Tower, probably early in the summer,
and whilst there Cromwell coolly decided, as we
have seen, that he was to be tried and executed
at Reading. Meanwhile it was assumed that the
abbey was even then the king's, the superior was
under lock and key, and on 8 September, Thomas
Moyle, an agent employed on like work at Glastonbury, wrote from Reading that he, with
Layton and 'Master Vachell of Reading,' had
been through the inventory of the abbey plate
'at the residence,' that is at the abbot's chambers.
There, too, they found a room hung with
'metely good tapestry, which do well for hanging some mean little chamber in his majesty's
house.' There was another chamber 'hung
with six pieces of verdure with fountains, but it
is old and at the ends of some of them very foul
and greasy.' They noted several beds with silk
hangings (in the guest rooms where kings often
tarried), and in the church eight pieces of
tapestry 'very goodly' but small. In conclusion,
Moyle reported that he and his fellows thought
the sum of £200 a year would serve for the
monks' pensions. (fn. 185)
Soon after Cromwell turned a pair of his most
trusted visitors, Pollard and Williams, into the
abbey to ransack it. On 17 September, 1539,
Pollard thus writes to Cromwell:—
Ser,
Pleasyth your Lordship to be advertysed that att
my comyng to Readynge I did dyspatche Mr. Wrytheslys servant wyth every thyng accordyng to your
comandment wyche amountythe to the some of
cxxxili ixs viijd as apperythe by the partyculars
herein inclosyd, and part of the stuffe receyvyd for
the kings majesties use, wyth the schole house and
church undefasyd. I and my followers have lefte hytt
by Indenture in the custody of Mr. Penyson. And
as for the Plate, vestements, copys and hangyngs wyche
we have left hytt in the custody of Mr. Vachell by
Indenture wych shalbe conveyed to London agaynste
my coming thyther, and thanks be to God every
thyng ys well fynyshed there and every man well contentyd and gyvyth humble thanks to the kings grace.
I with my followers intend on Tuesday next, God
wyllyng, to take owr journey from Readynge as
knowyth God who ever preserve youre good lordshyp
From Readyng the xv daye of
September. Yor servant assuryd to comand
Rychard Pollard (fn. 186)
In one of the miscellaneous books of the
Public Record Office is a schedule of
such peaces of clothe of gold tyssue and bawdkyn as
also remainiths (remnants) of the same of diverse
colors taken out of the monastery of Readyng to the
use of oure Sovereyne lord the kyng by Rychard
Pollard and John Wylliams Esquyeres Comyssioners
assigned for the same.
The schedule opens with 'fyrst a peace of clothe
of gold wyth pyrled ground Garnetts.' Pieces
of white, green, crimson, and variegated cloth of
tissue are next named, and these are followed by
pieces of purple and of white baudekin. The remnants were of blue and crimson baudekin, and of
red and white cloth of tissue.
The same schedule shows that in addition to
the above, which seem to have been the abbey's
store for the making and repairing of vestments
and hangings as required, these two commissioners
seized and dispatched to the king, as specially
valuable, ten copes of green cloth of tissue, ten
copes of white cloth of tissue, six rich copes of
diverse sorts, four copes of baudekin, two altar
cloths, a complete suit of vestments of crimson
tissue, and a vestment of red tissue. (fn. 187) At the
same time they specially reserved for the king
41 oz. of gold plate, and 47 oz. of broken gold
plate; gilt plate, 378 oz.; broken parcel gilt,
311 oz.; plate, parcel gilt, 423 oz.; white or
plain silver plate, 32 oz. The total of the plate
that thus went straight to the king from this one
wealthy abbey amounted to the great weight of
2,645 oz. (fn. 188)
On 19 September, 1539, whilst Abbot Hugh
was in prison, and the abbey sacked for the king,
the burgesses of Reading assembled in the Gild
Hall under Thomas Mirth, the mayor, to
nominate, according to custom, three names
for the coming mayoralty, Richard Justice,
Robert Watlyngton, and John Whyte. But
the entry in the town minute book then proceeds to state that before that day the monastery
had been suppressed and the abbot deprived of
his abbacy; that after the suppression all things
there remained in the king's hands; that on the
king's precept they proceeded to make their own
election of a mayor, and, with the assent and
consent of Thomas Cromwell, high steward of
the liberty of the town, appointed Richard
Justice mayor, and presented him in the great
hall of the late monastery before Thomas Vachell,
who had entertained the commissioners the previous year. On 9 October Thomas Vachell, by
the king's precept, as deputy of the high steward,
administered the oath to the mayor. (fn. 189)
Among Cromwell's notes or 'remembrances'
of October, 1539, in his own handwriting, are
memoranda that amply justify Froude in asserting
that he acted as 'prosecutor, judge, and jury'
in the case of the three Benedictine abbots of
Reading, Glastonbury, and Colchester, who were
executed in the following month. (fn. 190) So far as
the aged abbot of Reading was concerned, it was
nothing but a judicial murder; his death was
decided upon ere he had been sent down from
the Tower to Reading. Cromwell's notes read
that the abbot was
to be sent down to be tried and executed at Redyng
with his complices. Similarly the abbot of Glaston
at Glaston. Counsellors to give evidence against the
abbot of Redyng, Mr. Hynde and the King's
Attorney. To see that the evidence be well assorted
and the indictments well drawn. (fn. 191)
According to all current law, Abbot Hugh, a
mitred abbot, who had sat in many a Parliament,
ought to have been arraigned for high treason
before Parliament; but Cromwell set law completely at defiance, and Hugh, with two brother
abbots, had been cut to pieces by the common
executioner ere Parliament reassembled.
On 15 November, the same day that the abbot
of Glastonbury was done to death at Glastonbury, the abbot of Reading, with two priests,
suffered the butchery reserved for traitors on a
platform outside the gateway of his own abbey,
decked with the gallows for partially hanging,
the knife for disgustingly mutilating the still living
body, and the caldron of boiling pitch into which
to fling the limbs when the quartering was
accomplished. With him suffered John Eynon,
a priest attached to St. Giles', Reading, and John
Rugg, a former prebendary of Chichester, who
had retired to the monastery of Reading.
At the Public Record Office are thirty-three
pages of a closely-written mutilated manuscript
concerning Abbot Hugh and the two priests
executed with him. It is in an educated but
unidentified handwriting. The occasion for
which it was written and its author are both unknown. From its presence among these state
papers it was probably the work of some tool of
Cromwell's, and was perhaps intended to be
printed and circulated to try to stem the odium
excited by the execution of 'my lord of Reading.'
It is impossible to exaggerate the ribaldry and
low scurrility of this infamous production. Great
play is made on the name 'Cook,' and the king
is supposed to have raised a mere kitchen scullion
to this exalted position. The king is represented
as the bountiful benefactor of Abbot Hugh, who
has repaid him with the most dastardly treachery
—'if he had lived when Christ was betrayed he
would have put Judas out of his office,' and again
he was 'able to teach even Judas the part of a
traitor.' Such a sentence as 'a ragman's roll of
old rotten monks, and rusty friars, and pockyd
priests' is a fair sample of this literary reviler.
No attention would have been paid to this stuff,
only that its very virulent violence and total
absence of any definite charge of treason against
the king is a strong proof that no true treason,
as ordinarily understood, existed. The worst that
could be said of the abbot is that he is accused of
stating that 'he wolde pray for the pope's holynes
as long as he lived and wolde ons a weke saye
masse for hym.' The writer also unconsciously
bears witness to the integrity of the abbot, stating
that he was ever a great student and setter forth
of St. Benet's, St. Francis's, St. Dominic's, and
St. Augustine's rules as being right holy and of
great perfectness; adding that he never left
mattins unsaid, spoke loud in the cloister, or ate
even eggs on a Friday. (fn. 192)
Marillac, the French ambassador, writing to
Francis I on 30 November, states that the remains of the abbot of Reading were hanged and
left in chains outside the abbey gateway. (fn. 193)
With the execution of Abbot Hugh, this
great monastery, wherein for the four centuries
of its existence kings and queens had been lodged
and the poorest entertained, where great councils
of the Church and Parliaments of the state had
frequently been held, and which had been a great
centre of almsgiving and of a liberal education,
passed absolutely into the hands of Henry VIII,
together with its property, declared to be of the
clear annual value of £1,908 14s. It remained
uninterruptedly in the immediate control of the
crown down to the Commonwealth.
The vast conventual church, where the remains
of royalty and other notables had been laid to
rest, remained desolate, but undisturbed so far as
its fabric was concerned, until 1548. The lead
on the roof of the abbey church and buildings
was then so considerable that the amount helps
to form some idea of the extent of the premises.
It was measured and estimated to weigh 417
fodders, at the rate of 15 ft. sq. to the fodder.
Six great bells still swung in the monastery's
belfry. (fn. 194)
When the pension roll of Philip and Mary
was drawn up there were thirteen ex-monks of
Reading on the list; one in receipt of £6, eight
of £5, one of £4 6s. 8d., one of £3 6s. 8d.,
and two of £2. (fn. 195)
Abbots of Reading (fn. 196)
Hugh, 1123-30
Ausger, 1130-75
Edward, 1175-54
Reginald, 1154-58
Roger, 1158-64
William, 1164-73
Joseph, 1173-80
Hugh II, 1180-99
Helias, 1199-1212
Simon, 1213-26
Adam de Lathbury, 1226 (fn. 197) -38
Richard de Cycestre, 1238-61
Richard de Rading alias Banaster, 1261-68
Robert de Burghate, 1268 (fn. 198) -90
William de Sutton, 1290 (fn. 199) -1305
Nicholas de Quappelade, 1305 (fn. 200) -27
John de Appleford, 1328 (fn. 201) -42
Henry de Appleford, 1342 (fn. 202) -60
William de Dombleton, 1361 (fn. 203) -68
John de Sutton, 1368 (fn. 204) -78
Richard Yateley, 1378 (fn. 205) -1409
Thomas Erle, 1409 (fn. 206) -30
Thomas Henley, 1430 (fn. 207) -45
John Thorne, 1446 (fn. 208) -86
John Thorne II, 1486 (fn. 209) -1519
Thomas Worcester, 1519 (fn. 210) -20
Hugh Cook alias Faringdon, 1520 (fn. 211) -38
The twelfth-century seal of this abbey (fn. 212) shows
the crowned Virgin seated on a throne, in her
right hand a dove-topped sceptre and in her left
the model of a church; the holy Child seated on
her knee has the right hand raised in benediction,
and in the left an orb. The legend is wanting.
The second noteworthy and elaborate seal is
remarkable for giving the exact date of its production, 1328. It is circular, and 3¼ in. in
diameter.
On it is the crowned seated Virgin with
holy Child, between the figures of St. James the
Great, with the usual pilgrim symbols, and of
St. John standing on an eagle with a scroll
inscribed In principio in the right hand and a
palm branch in the left. Each figure is in a
canopied niche. Legend:—
S . CŌE . ECBE . COVĒTVAL' . RADYNG
FEDATE . Ī . HONORE . SCE . MARIE . ET
APOSTL'OR' . IOH'IS . ET . IACOBI.
Inside the edge in smaller letters is the first line
of the date verse, Anno milleno tricēteno fabricat.
On the reverse are three more figures under
three similar canopies. The centre figure represents the seated founder Henry I, with sceptre
in right hand and model of church in the left; to
his right is St. Paul, with book and sword; to his
left is St. Peter, with keys and book. Legend:—
DNS . REX . HENRICVS . SVMM . DEITAT
AMICVS . SECVR' . DEGIT . ENTE . DOM
ISTE . PEGIT.
Inside the edge, in smaller letters, is the second
half of the date verse, 'Signū bis deno b' quarto
consociat.' (fn. 213)
There are impressions extant of three of the
abbots' seals. Of these the most striking is the
early one of Abbot Hugh II (1180-99). The
abbot is represented standing on a dwarf column,
holding a pastoral staff in the right hand and a
book in the left. Legend:—
+ SIGILLVM . HVGONIS . RADINGENSIS . ABBATIS.