part of the wall, having been rotted by the wet, had fallen during the time of Hugo de Eversden. He died in the year 1349, a victim to the dreadful pestilence that was then tracking its course with destruction over the greatest part of the globe.* The Prior, SubPrior, and many of the inmates of the Monastery, died at the same period, and of the same virulent disease. Thomas De la Mare, the thirtieth Abbot, son of Sir John De la Mare, Knt. and Joanna, daughter of Sir John de Harpsfield, Knt. was related to many illustrious families; and had been admitted into this Abbey when a youth. He commenced his studies at the Cell of Wymondham, in Norfolk, where he cultivated the art of rhetoric with such success, that his skill therein was a principal cause of his future advancement. For some years previous to the death of Mentmore, he had been Prior of the Cell at Tinmouth, in Northumberland; and in that situation had entertained the Scottish Earl Douglas, after the latter had been made prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross. De la Mare was in high favor with Edward the Third; and at his request, made a general visitation of the Benedictine Monasteries throughout the kingdom, with a view to correct the irregularities, and depravities, into which many of them had fallen. Under a license from the same King, he also surrounded the Abbey with a stone wall, in place of the ancient bank of earth which had inclosed the Abbey precincts, but which, on several occasions, had proved an insufficient barrier. The insurrection which broke out in the fourth year of Richard the Second, and under those popular leaders, Wat Tyler, and Jack Straw, threatened a complete subversion of all existing establishments, proved a fruitful source of danger to this Abbey; but the prudence of the Abbot, in complying with the demands of the insurgents before they proceeded to extremities, effected its secu rity. * The date (1342) given by Weever in his epitaph for this Abbot, is erroneous; though it has been explicitly copied both by Chauncy and by Salmon: the epitaph, as corrected, will read thus: Hic jacet Dominus Michael. quondam Abbas hujus Monas, terii Bacchalaureus in Theologia, qui obiit pridie Jous Aprilis, An. M.CCC.XLJX. rity. Many of those demands, indeed, were in themselves perfectly consonant with every principle of reason and of justice; yet, being intermingled with others of a more questionable nature, and with some, perhaps, undeniably hostile to the very basis of social intercourse, they assumed a form and texture but ill calculated to support the durability to which they laid claim. The contagion had widely spread, and the inhabitants on most of the manors belonging to the Abbey, put in their repective claims to particular or to general exemptions. In the then state of the kingdom, denial was in the highest degree dangerous; yet the boons thus extorted, were of little advantage to the possessors; for the principal malcontents having fallen, either on the scaffold, or in the field, the King issued a proclamation, commanding that all persons, whether bond or free, who owed any suit or service to the Abbot and Convent, should perform the same in the customary manner, under pain of forfeiture "of all that they had to lose,” besides being subjected to further punishment. So great, however, had been the disorders in this town, that Richard thought it expedient to attend the trial of the ringleaders in person, and came hither with the Chief Justice, Tresilian, and a guard of 1000 bowmen and soldiers. Fifteen or eighteen of those who were considered as the chief rioters, were executed; and afterwards hung in chains, in terrorem. Still further to prevent any future commotion, the King obliged "all the commons of the county," between the ages of fifteen and three score, to attend him in the great court of the Abbey, and there to make oath to behave as faithful subjects, and never, from that time, to rise or disturb the public peace; but rather to die than to follow those who would excite them to rebellion.* De la Mare is recorded to have expended 40001. in adorning his Church; but it is probable that the expense of re-building the great gate of the Abbey, which had been blown down by a violent high wind, is included in this sum. He also built a house for the copyists, and new paved the western part of the Church. D 3 *Hollinshed, Vol. II. p. 438. He died died in the year 1396, at the age of eighty-eight; and was buried in the Choir, habited in his best and richest vestments. The spot of his interment is yet pointed out by a large slab, inlaid with fine brasses. In his time, the service of the Church appears to have been in the very zenith of its splendour; the habiliments were of the most costly and gorgeous kind; the cups, and other vessels, were of gold, or silver, curiously wrought; the crosses were set with the most precious stones; the altars well furnished with rich vials and patines; and, in short, every method was em ployed to render the celebration of divine worship attractive by its brilliancy, and impressive from its magnificence. John De la Moote, the succeeding Abbot, obtained various new privileges for his Monastery, from the court of Rome. He con structed a new chamber for the Abbot, at an expense of more than 600 marks, re-built part of the cloisters, and increased the monastic buildings by other additions. Various edifices were also constructed under his direction, on many of the granges and manors belonging to the Abbey; and the mansion of the Abbots at Tittenhanger was begun by him, though it was not completely finished till the time of John of Whethamsted. In this house De la Moote was seized with a pleurisy, and being removed to his Abbey, he died there three days afterwards, on St. Martin's Day, 1400.* His successor, William de Heyworth, governed the Mo nastery In the time of John De la Moote, the Abbots of Westminster attempted to assume the uppermost seat in Parliament, contrary to the grant of precedence made by Pope Adrian the Fourth to Robert de Gorham, Abbot of St. Alban's; and these attempts being frequently repeated, were eventually successful, as appears from the register of these transactions made by John of Whethampstead; this is given by Newcome, in the following words. "In the reign of Richard the Second, who was a great promoter of the Abbot of Westminster, the Parliament then sitting, John Moote, at that time Abbot of St. Alban's, took his proper seat; viz. the first and uppermost. The Abbot of Westminster coming in late, made some essay to sit in that place, but was hindered by Moote; * See page, 43. nastery with much prudence till the year 1421, when he resigned his office on being promoted to the See of Lichfield. John of Whethamsted, who was chosen Abbot on the death of Heyworth, very early directed his attention to the state of the Abbey Church; and, by his influence with the great, procured some large sums towards putting it into repair, and furnishing it with additional ornaments. The nave of the Church was new ceiled and painted; the choir was repaired, and a neat Chapel erected in it for the Abbot's burial-place: the Chapel of the Virgin was also fresh painted, and further embellished: the cloisters were new glazed, with painted or stained glass, representing a series of subjects from Scripture History: the Bake-house, which Abbot Paul had left standing, was re-built, together with the Infirmary: a new Library was constructed; and various other improvements were made in the monastic edifices. The beautiful monument, in memory of Humphrey, Duke of Glocester, was also constructed durD 4 ing Moote; and this attempt was repeated many times after, and as often repulsed by Moote, and Westminster took another seat. But one day, Moote being absent, and his place supplied by his Prior, Westminster came, and a great dispute arose; the Abbot claiming, the Prior defending. Henry, Earl of Northumberland, perhaps, on reference to him, said, that the late Abbot, Thomas De la Mare, of St. Alban's, who died in 1396, having been absent for ten years by reason of infirmity, had lost all right, and that others had sat above him ad libitum.' The Prior appealed to the Lords who had seen these things ten years before; and these were, the Duke of Buckingham, the Lord Scrope, and William de Wykeham. These noble Lords, unwilling to offend the King, by determining against the Abbot of Westminster, referred it to his Majesty, with a request that he would save harmless all the rights, privileges, and immunities, of his ancient and royal Monastery of St. Alban. The King decreed, that the two Abbots should take the seat, alternately, day by day but the Abbot of St. Alban, being often absent, by reason of distance, and Westminster being near at hand, he took the advantage, and seated himself at pleasure; and William Heyworth, who succeeded Moote, contenting himself with a consciousness of having most learning, never asserted his ancient right, nor moved the question more," Hist. of St. Alban, p. 311, 312. ing the time of Whethamsted; and it is extremely probable, that the elegant Screen also, which separates the chancel from the presbytery, was designed and begun under his direction, as his arms are carved on it over the doorways. The limitations, enacted by the Statute of Mortmain, had prevented this Church, in common with all others, from benefiting so much by the gifts of the devout, the ostentatious, or the repentant, as it had done previously to the passing of that statute. The desire of ecclesiastics to increase their possessions was, however, still ardent; and various subterfuges were practised, to prevent the penalties of the law from being enforced on the estates that yet continued to be given. Whethamsted appears to have been engaged in some transactions of this description; and though, by a subtle policy, he had procured grants from the Crown of all the property thus acquired, he found it expedient to solicit the Royal pardon: this was granted, and confirmed by the Parliament, and by a most singular kind of phraseology, it includes a complete indemnity for many of the worst crimes that disgrace human nature; crimes too, which there is every reason to believe the Abbot never had in contemplation.* Shortly afterwards, (anno 1440,) the approaching troubles of the state, and the reverse of fortune, which seemed impending over his best friend, Humphrey, Duke of Glo cester, *This pardon was obtained in the twentieth year of Henry the Sixth: its tenor is as follows. "We have pardoned unto the said John, Abbot of St. Alban's, the suit of our peace, which belongs unto us, against him, for all treasons, murders, rapes, rebellions, insurrections, felonies, conspiracies, and other transgressions, extortions, misprisions, ignorances, contempts, concealments, and deceptions, by him in anywise perpetrated before the 22cd. of September, in the twentieth year of our reign, and also any outlawry that shall have been published against him on these occasions. Provided, nevertheless, the said Abbot appear not to be conversant in the mystery of coining, nor be a multiplier of coinage, nor a clipper of our money, nor a common approver, nor a notorious thief, nor a felon, who had abjured the realm: but so that he stand rectus in curiá nostrá, if any one should question him in the premisses." Newcome's St. Alban's, p. 335. |