Preface and Errata

> V- ( J. • PREFACE IN presenting to the Fellows of the Royal Historical Society this second volume of the ' Collectanea Anglo-Premonstratensia,' a few general remarks appear to be called for by way of introduction. As explained in the Preface to the previous volume, the example of the antiquary Peck has been followed in dealing with the ctOcu- ments of the Premonstratensian Register contained in Ashmole MS. 1519, at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Peck's transcripts in Additional MS. 4934, at the British Museum, had been arranged by him under two main headings of ' Generalia' and ' Specialia'; and for the convenience of those desiring to refer to these col- lections, the documents contained in Bishop Redman's Register (Ashmole MS. 1519) were treated in the same way, being amalga- mated with those collected by Peck. The first class, ' Generalia,' or documents concerned with the general administration of the Order in England, were printed in the first volume of these ' Collectanea,' and have been for some time in the members' hands. In this second volume is now printed the first portion of the ' Specialia,' or collection of documents relating to the individual houses of the Premonstratensians, arranged alphabetically. These papers are printed in chronological order, and to make the whole more complete a reference has been given in its proper place to any document previously printed in Vol. I., which has relation also to the history of any individual house. Thus, to take an example, No. 187 of this volume refers to No. 100 of Vol. I., VI COLLECTANEA ANGLO-PEEMONSTBATENSIA as a document relating to the Abbey of Alnwick, since by it Bishop Redman appoints March 12, 1481, to visit the community by proxy at the Carmelite House at Newcastle-on-Tyne. It has been found impossible to print in this volume much more than about one-half of the material available for the section of ' Specialia'; and the remaining portion, with the index, has been reserved for a third and concluding volume of these ' Collectanea.' The following is a list of the Premonstratensian houses treated of in the present part: St. Agatha's or Easby (164-182); Alnwick (183-200) ; Barlings (201-219); Beauchief (220-247) ; Begham or Bayham (248-260); Bileigh or Maldon (261-270); Blanchland, or Alba Landa (271-290); Brodholm (291-292) ; Cockersand (293-309) ; Coverham (310-328) ; Croxton (329-349); Dale or Stanley Park (350-371); Dodford (372) ; Durford (373- 388); Bggleston (389-411); Hagneby (412-427); Hales Owen (428-448) ; Hornby (a cell of Croxton) ; Irford (449). In relation to these nineteen English Premonstratensian houses, the two hundred and eighty-six documents here printed, nearly all for the first time, afford much new information. The lists of the abbots of the various establishments, for example, have been increased by many additional names furnished by them. In this regard it has been thought useful to prefix to the various sections, containing the papers relating to the abbeys, as complete a list of the superiors as it has been possible to compile. The preparation of these was undertaken for me by Dom H. N. Birt, and it has taken up much of his time and entailed considerable labour. In each case reference is made to the original authority upon which the name is given. For those depending upon the charters in the British Museum, I have to thank especially Mr. J. A. Herbert, of the Department of MSS., who kindly assisted me in this matter. In the references which depend upon the documents printed in this collection, there are given simply the numbers of the documents. Thus to take an example : in the first list—that of St. Agatha's— the name of William Ellerton will be found under the dates 1478— PEEFACE VU 1492, and the references are stated as Nos. 62, 174, 73, 175. These are the numbers of the documents printed either in the first volume of the ' Collectanea Anglo-Premonstratensia' or in this. The papers printed in this ' Specialia' section are mainly lists of the canons in the several houses at various dates from 1478 to 1500, and records of Bishop Bedman's visitations during the same periods. In this present volume there are in all some 112 visitations of abbeys, and about the same number of lists of canons. The Commissary of the Abbot of Premontre was supposed to make the inspection or visitation of the English hotises regularly every three years. Bishop Redman was appointed to that office in 1478. He was of course himself a member of the Order, and although he had been consecrated bishop of St. Asaph in 1471, he continued to hold office in the Order as Abbot of Shap, to which he had been chosen in 1459. It was therefore as Abbot Commissary of the Abbot General, and not in any way as a bishop, that Bishop Red- man acted as Visitor of the English Province. When, in November 1497, in the regular course of his triennial visitations, he had to come to the abbey of Torre, the bishop was in some difficulty, because the previous year he had been translated from St. Asaph to Exeter, in which diocese the abbey of Torre was situated. He consequently took occasion to regularise his position by declaring that he visited the monastery ' not by virtue of any authority, nor in virtue of his dignity as bishop of Exeter, because he had no lawful right on that account.' On the first day of the visitation, moreover, he called in William Silk, a doctor of laws, and regis- tered a declaration that he was still only acting as Commissary of the Abbot of Premontre and not as bishop of the diocese (No. 605), and this protestation he repeated at his next visitation in 1500 ; the object being, as he declared, to safeguard the rights and privi- leges of this abbey against any possible claims of his successors in the see of Exeter. I have said that the visitations were made regularly every three years. This is strictly true from 1488, the records being complete Vlil COLLECTANEA ANGLO-PREMONSTRATENSIA for 1491, 1494,1497, 1500, and in some cases 1503. Before 1488r for some reason or other, which it is now impossible to explain, for the first ten years of Bishop Redman's rule as Commissary the visitations are somewhat irregular. Most of the houses were visited in 1478, the date of his appointment by the Abbot of Premontre, and most also in 1482 ; but after that till 1488 ther& would appear to have been nothing in the way of a general visita- ' tion. Individual visitations, however, appear to have been made : in the year 1486, as at Coverham ; in 1485, as at Blanchland; and even in 1484, as at Oroxton. Previous to the time of Bishop Redman, only very few records of these periodical visitations are preserved in these registers. We have, however, notices of one or two special visits to some individual monastery, directed by the Abbot of Premontre. For example : in the case of Bggleston a visitation of this kind in 1281-2 is printed in this volume (No. 390). In the same way two such visits made to Beauchief, one in 1472 and one in 1475, are printed as Nos. 227, 228, and 229 ; the only other early record of this nature in the present part being a portion of a visitation held at Begham in 1472 (No. 248). Before passing on to consider the general story of the life of the Premonstratensian canons in the last quarter of the fifteenth century as it is recalled to us in these visitation documents, it may be well, perhaps, to deal briefly with the information afforded to us- by the various lists of canons, which were compiled originally for the use of the visitor. The great variety of the spelling of proper names makes it probable that the visitor's associate and secretary>. Richard Bedall, prior of his monastery of Shap, took down the- proper names as he heard them. Instances of this are to be found in almost every list: Thomas Welus of Begham in 1472 becomes Willes in 1478, Willans in 1488, and Willus in 1491; so at Beauchief: Thomas Peton in 1475 becomes Ponton in 1478, Peyton in 1482, Patone in 1494, and Peptone in 1500. The lists here printed illustrate very well the usual custom in mediseval religious houses of calling their subjects by the name of PREFACE IX the place from which they came. Thus, for instance, in the list of Oockersand (308), we have Lancaster, Preston, Ohatburn, Banks, Poulton, Kirkby, Singleton, Bowland, Kelet—that is, almost half the community called by names of places in the county of Lan- caster, in which the abbey was situated. So, too, in the long list of twenty-nine canons of Oroxton (338) the greater portion of the names—that is, eighteen—can be identified as place-names in counties situated nearest to the abbey. In the same way. among the abbots of Eggleston, considerably more than half of those who were known by more than their Christian names used place-names in Yorkshire, in which county the abbey was situated. In some instances, one list will give the place-names and another the real surname; but this can generally be identified only in the case of those religious who have Christian names rarely used. Thus in the convent of Dale the Ralph Stanton, novice and sacrist in 1488 (364), can certainly be identified as the Ralph Makerelle, deacon and sacrist three years later, in 1491, and as the alias Porter of subsequent lists.

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