13. THE ABBEY OF HAYLES
The Cistercian monastery of Hayles was
founded in 1246 by Richard, earl of Cornwall. (fn. 1)
When in great peril in a storm at sea on his way
home from Gascony to Cornwall, he vowed that
if he came safely to port he would found a monastery. (fn. 2) He fixed upon a site in his manor of
Hayles. On 17 June, 1246, he was present
with his brother, Henry III, at the dedication by
William de Raleigh, bishop of Winchester, of the
Cistercian church at Beaulieu. (fn. 3) The abbot of
Beaulieu consented to send twenty monks and
ten lay brothers to found a new monastery. (fn. 4)
Thus Hayles became the daughter house of
Beaulieu, and in virtue of that tie was subject to
the regular visitation of the abbot. In 1251 the
church, cloister, dorter, and frater were finished
at the sole cost of the founder, amounting to
from 8,000 to 10,000 marks. (fn. 5) The church was
dedicated on 5 November by Walter Cantilupe,
bishop of Worcester, assisted by thirteen other
bishops, who each dedicated an altar. (fn. 6) For the
endowment of the monastery Richard gave the
manor and church of Hayles, (fn. 7) and 1,000 marks
to be expended either on the purchase of land or
on buildings, (fn. 8) and Henry III granted a yearly
rental of 20 marks. (fn. 9)
As a house of the Cistercian Order Hayles
was exempt from the bishop's visitation. It has
been recently stated that Giffard, bishop of Worcester, disregarded the immunity of the Cistercians,
and visited their houses. (fn. 10) It is clear, however,
from his register that he received procuration in
food and drink at their houses solely in virtue of
his visitation of the parish churches which they
held, (fn. 11) and on other occasions he received a fee
instead. (fn. 12) It was on account of a dispute concerning the parish church of Didbrook that in
1275 he laid an interdict upon the abbot of
Hayles. (fn. 13) Probably the abbot yielded, for the
bishop shortly afterwards removed it. (fn. 14)
The revenues did not suffice to meet expenses, and the building of granges for the lay
brothers and servants, an essential step in the
development of a Cistercian house, was doubtless a heavy charge. When James, abbot of
Beaulieu, visited the monastery in 1261, he
decreed that no further increase should be made
in the number of monks or lay brothers until the
debts were diminished. (fn. 15) He bade the cellarer
and his colleague pay greater heed to the administration of property. Nine years later, when
John, abbot of Beaulieu, came to Hayles he
insisted that the alms which used to be given
away at the great gate should not be withdrawn. (fn. 16)
His other injunctions were directed towards
keeping the rule of silence that quarrels among
the brethren and vain chatter might be avoided,
and the better care of the sick in the farmery.
In 1276 Hayles was reckoned among the more
prosperous houses of the Cistercian Order in the
south of England, and paid £14 13s. 4d. out
of the 'courtesy' granted to Edward I, which
was the same amount as that given by the house
of Bordesley in Worcestershire, and more than
either Kingswood or Flaxley contributed. (fn. 17)
A gift from Edmund, earl of Cornwall, proved
to be a constant source of revenue on account of
the attraction which it offered to pilgrims. In
1267 he purchased from Florey V, count of
Holland, a relic which was authenticated under
the seal of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, afterwards
Pope Urban IV, as some of the blood of Christ. (fn. 18)
On 14 September, 1270, he gave a portion of
this relic to Hayles. A polygonal apse of five
chapels was added to the church to contain the
shrine of the relic, (fn. 19) and the new work was dedicated by Giffard, bishop of Worcester, in 1277. (fn. 20)
In 1277 Earl Edmund petitioned the bishop of
Lincoln to appropriate to Hayles the churches of
Hemel Hempstead and Northley, of which he had
given the advowsons, (fn. 21) and Northley was appropriated in 1304. (fn. 22) It is probable that the well
endowed churches of St. Paul and St. Breage in
Cornwall were also his gift. In 1300 he granted
his manor of Lechlade to Hayles at a fee farm
rent of 100 marks. (fn. 23) When the manor reverted
to the crown after his death in 1301, Edward I
increased the rent to £100. (fn. 24) Hayles derived the
greater part of its income from the profits of the
wool-trade, and about the beginning of the fourteenth century twenty sacks a year were sold on
an average, at prices varying from 10 to 7 marks
a sack, according to the quality. (fn. 25) However,
until the middle of the fifteenth century, the
financial condition of the monastery was very
unstable, and its history is a record of difficulties
and of efforts to overcome them. The expenses
of Lechlade were so heavy that it was useless to
the monks, and they were obliged to give it up. (fn. 26)
They had licence to exchange it in 1318 with
Hugh Despenser the elder for the manor of Siddington by Cirencester and a rental of 10 marks
in Chelworth, Wiltshire. (fn. 27) In 1317 they received
a licence from Edward II to acquire in mortmain
lands and rents not held in chief, to the value of
£10 a year, (fn. 28) and before 1318 they had possession
of the manor of Great Wormington in Gloucestershire. (fn. 29) In 1324 Hugh Despenser granted the
advowsons of the churches of Longborough and
Rodborne, (fn. 30) and the abbot and convent saw an
opportunity to add to their revenues. In 1325
they set forth their distress in a long petition to
Thomas Cobham, bishop of Worcester, urging
him to appropriate Longborough to them. (fn. 31) The
burden of it was that unless they could increase
their income they must diminish the number of
their brethren, and withdraw some of that
hospitality which they had hitherto maintained
'according to the laudable custom of the kingdom of England.' Their buildings had been left
unfinished by the founder and his son, they
had not the promised rental of £200 a year,
Lechlade had proved unprofitable, other endowments were in distant dioceses, and they had
great difficulties in collecting their revenues. In
the years of the great famine, (fn. 32) from 1314 to
1321, they had suffered heavily from sterile lands
and murrain among cattle, and in 1325 Bishop
Cobham consented to the appropriation of Longborough. In 1345 Abbot Thomas complained
that Sir Walter Dastyn and others broke into his
close and houses at Wormington, drove away
horses, oxen, sheep, and swine which were
worth 100 marks, and assaulted his men and
servants. (fn. 33)
In 1347, at the request of Edward prince of
Wales, Edward III granted a licence for the
acquisition of lands and rents to the value of
£20 a year, (fn. 34) and in 1392 the abbot and convent
had secured them. (fn. 35) There is no indication of
the effects of the Black Death in 1349, but
when the pestilence recurred in 1361-2 many
of the monks and lay brothers died. (fn. 36) The
abbots of Hayles had often found some difficulty
in collecting the revenues which accrued to the
convent as rectors of the churches of St. Breage
and St. Paul in Cornwall. It was usual for the
abbot to send two of his monks to serve the
churches and to receive the profits for his use. (fn. 37)
In 1337 the king's aid was invoked against
persons who threatened and assaulted their men
and servants and carried away their goods. (fn. 38) Later
in the fourteenth century the abbot leased the
churches at a rent of 120 marks a year. (fn. 39) In
1395 there were arrears of 140 marks, and the
tenants of the abbot were outlawed for nonpayment. (fn. 40) When in 1386 Hayles was in sore
need of a further source of revenue the abbot
and convent commented on the difficulty of
collecting their Cornish (fn. 41) rents. They petitioned
Wakefield, bishop of Worcester, to appropriate
the church of Toddington, with the chapel of
Stanley Pontlarge, to their uses, putting forward the usual pleas of religious houses in the
years after the Black Death. Their lands were
sterile, their tenants and villeins had died in great
numbers, they had lost their cattle by murrains.
They even lacked necessary food and clothing;
they were bound with a load of debt, while
taxation was ever increasing. It is probable
that as at Meaux and other Cistercian houses
the lay brothers died out before the end of the
fourteenth century. After inquiring into the
truth of these statements, Bishop Wakefield
granted the petition of the abbot and convent of
Hayles. In 1394, when Herman, abbot of
Stratford, came to Hayles as the visitor-general
of the Cistercian order, he found but little to
criticize. (fn. 42) In 1398 John, abbot of Beaulieu, (fn. 43)
desired that better care should be taken of the
sick, and that one of the monks should be chosen
to provide the clothes of the brethren out of the
proceeds of the parish churches of Rodbourne
and Northley. Misfortune dogged the footsteps
of the convent. In 1397 Henry of Alcester
was elected abbot, (fn. 44) but six years later another
abbot, Robert of Alcester, appealed to Henry IV
to seize a vagrant monk, by name Henry of
Alcester. (fn. 45) In 1413 Pope John XXIII granted
for ten years a relaxation of ten years and ten
quarantines of penance to penitents who on
Whitsun Day and Corpus Christi and during
those octaves visited the church of Hayles and
gave alms for the maintenance of the fabric. (fn. 46)
It was alleged that on account of the dilapidations left by the late Abbot Henry the
monastery was in debt to the sum of 1,000
marks. The buildings were ruinous, the revenues scarcely amounted to £100 a year, and
were insufficient for the sustenance of twentytwo monks, for hospitality, and other burdens.
About 1431 Abbot William set out for the
papal curia with the object of obtaining further
aid. (fn. 47) He deputed Prior John of Alcester to
govern during his absence, with two monks as
his council, and power to summon others to
advise him. All jewels and other valuables
were to be kept in the treasury, and the convent
seal was put in safe custody. A revival in the
attraction of the relic of the Holy Blood was the
result of the abbot's journey. Eugenius IV
granted lavish indulgences to all who gave alms
to the worship of God and the Precious Blood of
Hayles. (fn. 48) Further indulgences were granted in
1458 by Calixtus III, who exhorted all the
faithful to help the monks of Hayles in repairing
their ruined abbey, (fn. 49) and again by Paul II in
1468. (fn. 50)
The administration of the house caused grave
dissatisfaction to the abbots of Waverley and
Beaulieu, when they visited it in 1442. (fn. 51) The
strict provisions of the Cistercian rule about
finance were disregarded, so they bade the abbot
render his accounts by Michaelmas, and immediately afterwards to appoint two bursars to
receive all the moneys and supervise the expenditure of the house. They ordered that
repairs, internal and external, of the monastery,
should be carried out as quickly as possible, and
they censured the general relaxation of discipline.
It may be surmised that a period of prosperity
began about the middle of the fifteenth century;
much rebuilding took place, and at the dissolution the commissioners were loud in their praises
of the administration of the property of the
monastery. (fn. 52)
In 1535 Cromwell appointed Anthony Saunders, the curate of Winchcombe, to read to the
monks of Winchcombe and preach in the parish. (fn. 53)
On 2 November he complained to Cromwell of
the abbot of Hayles—
I have small favour and assistance amongst Pharasaical papists. The Abbot of Hayles has hired a
great Golyas, a subtle Dun's man, yea a great clerk,
as he sayeth, a bachelor of divinity of Oxford to
catch me in my sermons.
He added that this preacher rather maintained
than spoke against the usurped power of the
bishop of Rome. However, Abbot Stephen was
not openly hostile to Cromwell. On 28 January,
1536, he wrote asking him to dispense with
some of the new injunctions which were most
galling to the religious. (fn. 54) Since Cromwell had
visited the house, he wrote—
The number of my brethren is sore decayed. I
have buried three, two are sore sick, one had licence
to depart, and I have three in Oxford at divinity. I
beg that I may take in more to help the choir.
On 18 June he told Cromwell that in accordance with his wish he had granted the farm of
Longborough to Robert Hopper. (fn. 55)
In 1538 commissioners were appointed in
every county to destroy the shrines. Latimer,
bishop of Worcester, reported to Cromwell that
the relic of the Holy Blood of Hayles seemed,
after examination, to be 'an unctuous gum and
a compound of many things.' (fn. 56) It was dispatched
to London, and on 24 November Hilsey, bishop
of Rochester, preached at Paul's Cross, and there
showed the Blood of Hayles, affirming it to be
'honey clarified and coloured with saffron, as had
been evidently proved before the king and his
council.' (fn. 57) Abbot Stephen wrote to Cromwell
praying that he might destroy the empty shrine,
'lest it should minister occasion for stumbling to
the weak.' (fn. 58)
On 24 December, 1539, the abbot and
twenty-one monks surrendered the monastery. (fn. 59)
Dr. London and his fellow-commissioners reported to Cromwell that they found—
the father and all his brethren very honest and conformable persons, and the house clearly out of debt.
. . . The father had his house and grounds so well
furnished with jewels, plate, stuff, corn, cattle, and
the woods also so well saved, as though he had looked
for no alteration of his house. (fn. 60)
A pension of £100 a year, with the manorhouse of Coscomb, was assigned to the abbot;
the prior and one monk got £8; the rest received
pensions varying from £7 to £1 6s. 8d. a year,
and two monks were given vicarages. (fn. 61) Wages
were paid to seventy servants of the household. (fn. 62)
In 1535 the clear yearly value of the property
of Hayles amounted to £357 7s. 8½d. (fn. 63) The
possessions of the monastery included the
manors of Hayles, Pinnockshire, Nether Swell,
Wormington, Coscomb, Longborough; rents
in the towns of Gloucester and Winchcombe;
lands and rents in Didbrook, Challingworth, and
Farmcote, in Gloucestershire; the manor of
Rodbourne in Wiltshire; pastures at Heathend
in Worcestershire; and the rectories of Hagley
in Suffolk, Northley in Oxfordshire, St. Breage
and St. Paul in Cornwall, Rodbourne in Wiltshire, Hayles, Didbrook, Longborough, and
Toddington in Gloucestershire.
Abbots of Hayles (fn. 64)
Jordan, 1246 (fn. 65)
Hugh, occurs 1280 (fn. 66) and 1305 (fn. 67)
John of Gloucester, 1305, (fn. 68) occurs 1333 (fn. 69)
Thomas, occurs 1345 (fn. 70)
Nicholas of Hayles, 1351 (fn. 71)
Thomas, 1354 (fn. 72)
John of Gloucester, 1368 (fn. 73)
Robert, occurs 1380 (fn. 74)
Henry of Alcester, 1397 (fn. 75)
Robert of Alcester, occurs 1403, (fn. 76)
ob. 1420 (fn. 77)
William Henley, 1420, (fn. 78) occurs 1435 (fn. 79)
Robert Laurak, 1451 (fn. 80)
William Whitchurch, 1464 (fn. 81)
Richard Wotton, 1479 (fn. 82)
John Combeck, occurs 1483 (fn. 83)
Thomas Stafford, 1483, (fn. 84) occurs 1503 (fn. 85)
Anthony Melton, occurs 1515, (fn. 86)
ob. circa
1527 (fn. 87)
Stephen Sagar, 1527 (fn. 88) -39
A seal of the fifteenth century represents a
monk standing on a flight of three steps, in his
right hand a globular bottle with cylindrical
neck or ampulla, with cross issuing from the
mouth in allusion to the Holy Blood; in the
left hand a sprinkler; the field resplendent with
wavy branches of foliage with pierced cinquefoil
flowers. (fn. 89)
The legend is:—
SIGILLE FRATERNITAT' . MONASTERII . BEATE .
MARIE . DE . HEYLES.