good is said. John de Courtenay who presided in 1334 "had very little of the spirit of a religious man. He was passionately fond of field sports, (probably often favouring with his presence the hunting seats of Morwel and Leigh,) was very conceited and foppish in his dress, and a most incurable spend-thrift. During his government discipline seems banished from the convent; the ancient refectory was neglected, the monks choosing to enjoy secret feasting in their private chambers. From the neglect of repairs, the monastery was falling into a dilapidated state and moreover was overcharged with debts." In 1450 it appears that the abbot John Dynynton obtained from the Pope the privileges of a bishop in using the pontificals, and bestowing benediction at mass and at table. But the power of these proud and ambitious monks arose to its utmost height in the early part of the reign of Henry 8th. Richard Banham was created a mitred abbot, and "was admitted a baron of the higher house of parliament" in 1513: nor was he contented with such dignity but aspired also to be exempted from all episcopal visitation. After various disputes with the Bishop of Exeter, Hugh Oldham, who excommunicated him for contempt of his superior authority; Banham, by dint of assiduity and perseverance obtained from Leo X. a bull of such ample and extraordinary privileges as completely to exempt the Abbey from all episcopal jurisdiction, and to place it under the sole and immediate protection of the Holy See. "As an acknowledgment of such sweeping liberality, the Abbot was annually to pay to the Apostolic Chamber, on the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul, half an ounce of gold, i. e. twenty shillings of lawful money of England."* While the Abbey was thus heaping up * Oliver. to itself riches and honors, the storm of heresy arose which shook the proud seats of catholicism to their very foundation. The monk of Wittemburg in his solitary cell, pondered on the simplicity of gospel truth as contained in the Holy Scriptures, until his whole soul was imbued with its majestic purity. He threw off his monkish garb; took the Bible as his weapon of defence, and came forth from the strong-holds of bigotry to denounce the errors of the Romish Church. In vain the Papal See hurled its anathemas at his devoted head; in vain the Inquisition questioned and denounced the validity of his doctrines.-Luther stood unappalled; strong in the might of truth; and the fire kindled in the cell of Wittemburg spread through the countries of Europe, consuming in its course the splendid pageantries, which threw a false glory over papal superstition. Our English Reformers caught the spirit of the times. The tyrannical caprice of Henry 8th, who renounced the power of the Pope, from motives, and under a pretence as far removed from religion as his conduct was from purity, favoured the introduction of Luther's heresy. It was the policy of Henry for a time to promote the Reformation, and the royal fiat went forth, that all the monastic institutions of England were to be devoted to pillage and destruction. Tavistock Abbey shared the fate of its contemporaries. It was surrendered in 1539, by its last abbot, John Penryn, or Pyryn, to whom, with compunctious generosity, the plunderer granted a pension of £100 per annum, while nineteen of the inferior religious brethren obtained salaries at the same time. The revenues of the Abbey at the period of its dissolution were rated at £902 58. 7d. per annum ; which appears a very small sum, considering the value of the estates connected with the monastery. The manor of Tavistock, with the site of its noted. abbey, was vested but a very short time in the crown, being almost immediately transferred to the Russell family, ancestors of the present noble proprietor, His Grace the Duke of Bedford. A copy of this magnificent grant, which I have been permitted to see, commences as follows: "The King to all to whom, &c., greeting; know ye that we for certain causes and considerations us especially moving, and in consideration of the good, true, and acceptable service heretofore done and bestowed upon us by our well-beloved Councillor, Sir John Russell, Knight, Baron Russell, otherwise called Sir John Russell, Knight Lord Russell, of our especial grace, &c., do give and grant to the said Sir John Russell, Baron Russell, and to the Lady Anne, his wife, all the house and site of the late Monastery or Abbey and Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Ramo, of Tavistock, in our County of Devon, now dissolved, and all the church, belfry, and cemetery of the said late monastery, and all our messuages, houses, edifices, granges, barns, stables, dovecotes,* &c., &c., &c. Before entirely quitting the subject of the abbey, it is but fair to its monastic inhabitants to state that from its earliest age they were liberal patrons of learning. The conventual library appears to have been well furnished with valuable works; amongst others the famous charter De Libertatibus comitatus Devon, granted by King John, andits confirmation by his son, Henry III. were preserved in the abbey. The study of the Anglo Saxon tongue seems to have been cultivated by the monks with much assiduity, a Saxon school having been established in Tavistock at an early period, in which there were regular preceptors in *One of the "dovecotes here mentioned is still standing on Morwell Down. |
