Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/123

 Peter the Venerable had written to ask him to order that he should be buried at Clugny, and, as there does not appear to be any record of his burial, some have supposed that this was done; but there is no reason to doubt that the bones found at Winchester are the relics of the bishop. He founded the hospital of St. Cross, near Winchester, for thirteen aged men and for providing a hundred poor persons with a daily dinner. His foundation was enlarged by Cardinal Henry Beaufort [q. v.] He was also a benefactor to Taunton Priory, founded by his predecessor, William Giffard [q. v.] (, Hist. Taunton Priory, p. 4). In his cathedral Henry built a treasure-house and enriched the church with many relics, and probably also gave the richly carved font which still exists. He also collected the bones of the great persons buried in the church and placed them in painted chests. 

HENRY (d. 1331), prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, doubtless came from the village of Eastry, between Canterbury and Sandwich, the manor of which belonged to the monks of Christ Church, and which sent a constant supply of recruits to that house. The Henry of Eastry who in 1279 was presented to the vicarage of Littlebourne, Kent, by the abbot of St. Augustine's is not, however, likely to have been a monk of a rival foundation like Christ Church (, Letters, iii. 1001, 1016). The future prior became a monk in early youth, and was remarkable for his zeal for scriptural learning. In September 1285 the retirement of Prior Thomas Ringmer, who having quarrelled with the Christ Church monks sought a stricter rule in the Cistercian house of Beaulieu, was followed by the election of Eastry himself as prior on 10 April 1268 (Cott. MS. Galba E. iv. f. 35 b).

Eastry remained prior of Canterbury for forty-six years. He was respected by the monks as a useful and prudent head. He relieved the convent from the crushing burden of three thousand marks of debt, and laid out very large sums on improving the estates and ornamenting the cathedral. He adorned the choir of Christ Church by ‘very beautiful stonework subtly carved.’ He gave his church many precious vestments and ornaments. He repaired the chapter-house, rebuilt or repaired the chapels on most of the manors of the see, and added large rents, lands, and woods to its resources, while enriching the library with costly books treating of a great variety of subjects. A list of his numerous buildings and repairings is given in his ‘Memoriale’ (ib. iv., ‘nova opera in ecclesia et in curia,’ f. 101; ‘nova opera in maneriis,’ f. 102 b). His zeal for the rights of his church led him to deny the crown's right to the custody of the church during a vacancy. He revived the old claims of the priors to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the province of Canterbury during vacancies in the archbishopric. He quarrelled with the citizens of Canterbury and with the rival abbots of St. Augustine, and came pretty well out of both contests. He had more difficulties in the course of a bitter quarrel with a faction of his monks (Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. i. 438). He obtained from ‘Bassianus of Milan, count-palatine of the empire,’ a grant of the right to appoint three imperial notaries of his own nomination. But the crown forbade such exercise of power on the ground that the emperor had no jurisdiction in England (, Antiq. Cant. pt. i. App. lii. a. b. c.). In 1297 he followed Archbishop Winchelsey in refusing to pay Edward I's taxes, but Edward took possession of the monastery, sealed up the granaries and stores, and starved Eastry and his brethren into submission (Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. i. 433). Eastry remained on friendly terms with Winchelsey, who, before returning to England after his exile, appointed him his vicar-general.

Eastry's relations to the weak and incompetent Archbishop Reynolds gave him peculiar political importance. Eastry was reputed to be a man of great wisdom and foresight, and he was consulted by Reynolds in his chief difficulties. His letters to Reynolds form a large and the most important part of the first volume of the ‘Literæ