BOSTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES m Gift of Zion Research Foundation Spcci'tU Au-^^y^P^^ ^^Pi THE ABBOTS OF TAVISTOCK WITH Wit\xiS Begonti. BY THE REV. D. P. ALFORD, M.A., VICAR OF TAVISTOCl'OCK. Vt^' f r. Tavistock, that fruitful seed plot of eminent and famous men." Prince's Worthies of De-von. " Sir John Glanvil. W. BRENDDN AND SON, (GEORGE STREET. iSqi. ( ( a 1 • br f\\ A Err PREFACE FEW words are necessary to explain the history A of these papers. Most of them were written for the Tavistock Parish MagastJie, and this, I hope, may be considered some excuse for their abruptness and also their simplicity ; for the room at my dis- posal was strictly limited, and most of those for whom I was writing knew almost nothing of English history. The late Duke of Bedford saw these papers from the first, and was much interested in them. He wrote to me in the autumn of 1890, and asked that he might bear the cost of having them printed as a book. It was one of the many acts of thoughtful and unex- pected kindness with which those who knew him were quite familiar, but which were done so qui- tly that the public never gave him credit for them. I must gratefully add that the present Duke of Bedford has fully endorsed his father's generous offer. The chapters from Abbot Bonus, 1329, were written independently of the Parish Magazine, ai . a:'e there- fore more varied in length than the earlier ones. A 2 vi Pj-eface. The first chapter, on " Our Earliest History/' and that on " Four Tavistock Worthies of the 17th Century," are very sHghtly altered from papers read before the Devonshire Association. The last chapter brings down our local annals, in a very cursory fashion, to the present time. It may serve as a rough outline to be filled up in detail by some future historian of Tavistock. The appendices contain points of local interest that have occurred to me since the papers were in the printers' hands ; with two earlier papers on Larkham, slightly altered from their first appearance in our Parish Magazine. Believing that self-respect and respect for others are increased by some knowledge of our place in the great drama of human life, I have tried to give a fresh interest to general history from the standpoint of our local history. This local history consists of translations and summaries from Dugdale and Oliver, supphmented from Prebendary Hingeston-Randolph's Episcopal Registers and our own Parish Records, recovered in 1886 and edited by Mr. R. X. Worth. For general history, I have followed the best modern authorities within my reach in a country town, en- livening them with occasional quotations from the early English Chronicles. I am deeply indebted to the Rev. E. C. C. Wilson and Mr. R. N. Worth for looking over the proofs ; to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould for suggestions as to St. Rumon and St. Eustachius, and for the loan of Preface. vii books ; to the Rev. F. W. O. Wintle, Rector of Bere Ferrers, and the Rev. C. H. Taylor, Vicar of Milton Abbot, for interesting facts concerning their own parishes; to the Rev. L. T. Badcock, of Abbey Chapel, for the loan of books ; to Mr. Edward Rundle, of the Bedford Office, for much help in reference to old Tavistock ; to the Rev. J. C. Parkyn, Rector of Sydenham -Damerel, for a very long loan of Dr. Oliver's Monasticon of Devon and Cornwall ; to the Rev. C. W. Boase, of Exeter College, Oxford, the Rev. J. Ingle Dredge, and the Rev. Herbert Reynolds, for important details about our vicars; and especially am I indebted to Prebendary Hingeston- Randolph, not only for a general supervision of the proofs, but also for many valuable suggestions. To these, and to all other kind helpers, I herewith offer my most sincere thanks. The Vicarage, Tavistock, November 2W1, 189 1. CONTENTS Book I. To A.D. 1082. CHAP. PACE I. Our Earliest History I II. The Founding of the Abbey 8 III. Saint Rumon II IV. Abbot Almerus and the Danes 16 V. Who Restored the Abbey . 19 VI. Abbot Lyfing the Friend of Canute and of Earl Godwin VII. Abbot Aldred the Church Reformer 27 VIII. Aldred the Soldier and Peace-maker 31 IX. Aldred the Traveller and Diplomatist 34 X. Aldred and Pope Nicholas II. 37 XI. Aldred and the Conqueror 41 XII. Abbot Sihtric and the See of Exeter 45 Book II. From 1082 to 1200 A.D. I. How Men Lived in the Abbey . 49 II. Abbot Geoffrey and Domesday . • • 53 III. Abbot Guimond and Simony . • 57 IV. Abbot Osbert and the Isles of Scil" . 61 V. Abbot Geoffrey II., Military Tenat >, and Church Building . » . .67 VI. Abbot Robert de Plympton and Surnames . 70 VII, Abbot Robert Postel and the Religious F ^val 74 VIII. Abbot Walter of Winchester and Henry II. 78 Contents. l.-HAP. PAGE IX. Abbot Walter and the Prior of Plympton 82 X. Abbot Baldwin and some Abbey Lands 88 XI. Abbot Baldwin and Baldwin the Archbishop gi XII. Abbot Herbert the Appropria'tor 95 XIII. Abbot Herbert and Pope Celestine 99 XIV. Some Social Conditions about a.d. 1200 102 Book III. From 1200 to 1328 A.D. I. Abbot Jordan and the Interdict 107 II. Abbot Jordan and Heresy . IXC HI. Abbot William de Kernike and the new Preaching . 114 IV. Abbot John and Tavistock Schools iiS V. Abbot Alan of Cornwall and the Lazar-House 123 VI. Abbot Robert of Kitecnol and the three Sovereigns . 129 VII, Abbot Thomas, Bishop Grosseteste, and Oxford University . 132 VIII. Abbot John of Northampton and the Library 136 IX. Abbots Philip and Alured and Bishop Brones COMBE . 141 X. Abbot John Chubbe and Sequestration 145 XI. Abbot John Chubbe and Deposition 148 XII. Abbot Robert and Edward I. 152 XIII. Abbot Robert and the Rights of the Abbey 156 XIV. Abbot Campell and William de Ferrariis 160 XV. Abbot Campell and the Parish Church . 165 XVI. Abbot Campell and the Abbey Buildings . 171 XVII. Abbot Campell and Whitchurch Chantry 175 Book IV. From 1328 to 1539. Abbot Robert Bonus, a General Survey, Edwari II. 's Gifts to the Abbey, and the Guild of the Light of St. Mary . .... 181 Contents. xi CHAF. PAGE IL Abbot John de Cou-rtknay, the HUxXting Abbot 187 III. Abbot Richard of Esse, John d'Abernox, and Provision for the \icar . 195 IV. Abbot Stephen Langdon, Endsleigh. and the Great Bridge . ... 202 V. Abbot Cullyng and Monastic Disorders . 20S VI. Abbot John May. Local Government, and the Portreeves 217 VIl. Abbot Thomas Mede, Our Early M.Ps., Church wardens, and Family Names 225 VIII. Abbots Thomas Cryspyn and William Pewe, ani old Tavistock . 234 IX. Abbot John Uenyngton and the Pontificalia 241 X. Abbot Richard and Cowick Priory . 245 XI. Abbot John and Selections from Early Parish Accounts . XII. Abbot Richard Yerne and more Selections 258 XIII. Abbot Richard Banham, and what he gained FROM Henry VIII. and Leo X. 267 XIV. Abbot John Peryn and the Dissolution of the Monasteries . 271 SUPPLEMENTARY. T. Four Tavistock Worthies of the Seventeenth Century . ... 287 II. Some of ouk Vicars . ' . 305 APPENDICES. A. Leofric's Mis.^al \i- Tavisiock and Early Dedi cations . .S3S B. On the Books Printed in Tavistock 337 C. Something More about Abbot Bonus 341 D. Sometfiing More concerning Thomas Lark ham 345 E. William IIume's ''Sacked Succession'' 354 THE ABBOTS OF TAVISTOCK, 33oaU I-. CHAPTER I. OUR EARLIEST HISTORY. TO find sermons in stones probably requires a certain moral fitness and readiness to be taught; but it needs only a small mental equipment to learn from them important lessons in history—lessons in the history of the earth's crust, as they lie in their natural state and place ; lessons in the history of the human kind when once the hand of man has touched them.* The only records for the earliest local history of Tavistock must be sought in stones. It is a pity that we have no more than a few carved stones to suggest the beauty and grandeur of the Abbey Church, which must have been the pride and glory * The substance of this chapter was given in an address to the members of the Devonshire Association in the Vicarage Garden, 31st July, 1889 ; and is reprinted from the Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art, 1890. —vol. xxii, pp. 229-233. B 2 The Abbots of Tavistock. of the Tavistock of the middle ages. But as to our earHest and darkest history, we may well be thankful for the light that chipped and inscribed stones have thrown upon it. First as to chipped stones. Flint flakes collected by Mr. Alexander near Princetown, and now in the Library museum-room, tell of a time when this country was occupied by a primitive people, who had not learnt the use of metals, and used flint instead, for knives and arrow-heads. These Neolithic people, or folk of the new stone age, were probably at one time the occupants of the whole land, having conquered the Cave-dwellers of the first stone age. They were here long before the Celts crossed the Channel, possibly before Great Britain and Ireland were separated from the Continent. These were the Kynetes of Herodotus, the Iverni or Iberii of later writers. They were connected with the Finns on one side, and with the Basques of the Pyrenees on the other.