10. THE ABBEY OF REWLEY
The Cistercian Abbey of Rewley, under the
patronage of St. Mary, was founded by Edmund,
earl of Cornwall. His father, Richard, king of
the Romans, who died in 1272, the founder of
Hayles Abbey, had intended to establish a college
or chantry of three secular priests to pray for his
soul, but his son Edmund substituted 'six Cistercian monks, having more confidence in them.' (fn. 1)
If this was the original plan, it was soon enlarged. In 1280 he offered the general chapter
of the Cistercian order to found a college
(studium) for Cistercians at Oxford, and the
chapter accepted the offer, and decreed that the
college should have the same privileges as the
college of St. Bernard at Paris, and that it should
be under the abbot of Thame, as the other was
under the abbot of Clairvaux. (fn. 2) It was not at
first intended that it should be an abbey, but
next year the chapter decreed 'out of due respect
to the earl of Cornwall' that the abbot of Thame
should be empowered to appoint an abbot of his
own choice for the house of study at Oxford, and
that there should be a daily memory of the late
earl of Cornwall at mass at the college (studium)
of Oxford, according as the abbot of the place shall
ordain. (fn. 3) In August, 1281, there was an agreement (fn. 4) between the abbeys of Oseney and Thame
that, in consideration of an annual payment of
36s. 8d., the former should withdraw all objections which they were entitled to make to the
foundation of a monastery within the parish
of St. Thomas, the church of which was appropriated to them; and as there is no mention of
an abbot of Rewley, we conclude that he had
not yet been appointed. In December, 1281,
the building was dedicated by Robert Burnell,
bishop of Bath and Wells, the first monks being
obtained from Thame. (fn. 5) Next year the chapter
of the Cistercians gave it the title 'Sancta Maria
de regali loco,' and decreed that houses which
sent students to Rewley for study should make
them an allowance. (fn. 6)
The name Rewley (de regali loco) was derived
from its situation. The island of Oseney, lying
west of the castle, was divided equally between
Robert d'Oilly and Roger d'Ivri. The abbey
of Oseney obtained from the former the southern
half of the island, and from Bernard of St. Walery
a part of the northern half; the remainder,
coming with the honour of St. Walery to
Richard king of the Romans, acquired from him
the name regalis locus, and retained the title ever
afterwards.
The abbey obtained from its founder the
manor of Yarnton, mills in Cassington, the
hamlet of Wyllanston in the parish of Mixbury,
two parks in Nettlebed called Great and Little
Hymer (now Highmore), tenements in London,
and the advowson of the church of St. Wendron in Cornwall (now called Wendron). (fn. 7) Of
this church the abbey had the appropriation as
early as 1324. (fn. 8) Subsequently Edward the Black
Prince gave the advowson of St. Stithians,
Cornwall, and in 1354, the bishop granted
them the appropriation. (fn. 9) Before 1291 the
abbey also had possessions in Chesterton, Oxon,
doubtless given by the founder, who owned
that manor. (fn. 10) The Valor shows that by 1535
it had rents in Coventry, but had acquired little
beyond its original endowments.
In 1299 they had licence from the king to
enclose sixteen acres belonging to them in North
Oseney, (fn. 11) and in 1320 to acquire land to the
value of £10 a year.
The number of inmates, which at first was
fifteen, by the year 1294 was raised to sixteen, (fn. 12)
but it is noticeable that the abbey seal gives the
former number, an abbot and fourteen monks.
In 1292 an order was issued by the abbot of
Cîteaux that the Cistercian houses in the province of Canterbury should send students to the
'studium Oxonie,' one from every monastery
with twenty monks. They were to grant their
students an allowance (bursa) of 60s.; some
abbeys which had sent students had withdrawn
them; this was forbidden. (fn. 13) How long Rewley
remained a place of study is not certain. The
fact that there was a dispute in 1300 as to what
precedence the monks of Rewley should have in
university processions shows that the monks
were students then, (fn. 14) and an entry in the Patent
Rolls for 1315 concerning damage done at
Rewley contains the words 'the monks residing
there are scholars.' Probably it ceased to be a
place of study when Bernard College was built,
and King Henry VIII, patron of the abbey,
seems to have ordered that a grammar master
should be kept at Rewley, and that one or two
of the monks should be supported at Bernard
College. (fn. 15)
In 1324 there seems to have been some
question whether Rewley was an English
monastery or alien, for the Patent Rolls record
that Rewley is not subject to any religious
house of France and that all the monks there
are English except the abbot, Peter de Duvone.
As with other Cistercian houses, the bishops'
registers give us no information about Rewley,
and its history is practically blank.
In 1426 the chapter of Cistercians ratified
the promotion of 'Thomas Bronus' to be abbot
'Caroli loci juxta Oxon.' One of the foreign
Cistercian abbeys bore the name 'Caroli loci,'
but the addition of 'juxta Oxon' suggests that
'regalis loci' is what should have been written. (fn. 16)
Its net income in 1526 was reckoned at
£107, and in 1535 at £174. (fn. 17) It is said by
Anthony Wood that at the dissolution the number of monks had risen to twenty-one, but this
was merely tradition.
The approaching storm of the dissolution
ruffled the usually placid water of monastic life
at Rewley some time before it burst upon the
abbey and swept it away. As early as 1532
the aged abbot, John Ryton, wrote to Cromwell
complaining bitterly of the insolence and oppression of the king's servants who quartered
themselves and their horses upon him, adding 'if
I shall be accompanied with Italians I shall not
be long in the world.' (fn. 18) Apparently this or
some other fate did speedily befall him, as next
year Nicholas Austen was abbot and wrote to
Cromwell that the youngest member of the
convent had accused a brother of quoting a
sentence from Agrippa's book De Vanitate
Scientiarum, with treasonable application to the
king's divorce, and had laid information of the
same to the mayor of Oxford; the abbot desired that the punishment of the parties might
be committed to him or to the abbot of Tower
Hill as visitor of the order. (fn. 19) The same abbot,
early in 1536, offered Cromwell £100 to save
the monastery if only by converting it into a
college, (fn. 20) but it was useless, and Abbot Nicholas
was pensioned off with £22, (fn. 21) and retired to
Trinity Hall, Cambridge, to study. (fn. 22)
Abbots of Rewley
William de Gizors, elected 1282 (fn. 23)
Richard (Bartone), occurs 1284 (fn. 24)
Warin, occurs 1286 (fn. 25)
Robert, occurs 1287 (fn. 26) and 1289 (fn. 27)
Richard, occurs 1294 and 1297 (fn. 28)
Richard II, appointed 1302 (fn. 29)
Thomas, appointed 1310 (fn. 30)
Peter, appointed 1317, (fn. 31) called Peter de Duvone in 1324 (fn. 32)
Simon, occurs 1330 (fn. 33) and 1337 (fn. 34)
Adam de Stanleghe, occurs 1354 (fn. 35) and 1368 (fn. 36)
John, occurs 1402 (fn. 37)
? Thomas Brown, appointed 1426 (fn. 38)
Henry Skiris, appointed 1444 (fn. 39)
William Colshull, appointed apparently 1453 (fn. 40)
Gilbert Bilbey, occurs 1480 (fn. 41)
Henry, occurs 1505 and 1513 (fn. 42)
John, occurs March, 1521 (fn. 43)
John Kylner, occurs 1528 (fn. 44)
John Ryton, occurs 1532 (fn. 45)
Nicholas Austen, occurs 1533, (fn. 46) last abbot
The seal, of which only an imperfect specimen is known, (fn. 47) is round; the lower part represents a teacher instructing fourteen pupils; the
upper part is defective.