Page:VCH Bedfordshire 1.djvu/417

 RELIGIOUS HOUSES a real abuse ; but it imposed upon the nuns a degree of enclosure to which they were not bound by the Benedictine rule, and conse- quently was difficult to enforce. At Elstow it was probably not obeyed at all ; for in 1359 Bishop Gynwell 1 at his visitation re- ported that there had been ' too much wan- dering of the nuns out of the monastery.' He had other complaints to make, which show for the first time what was then and after- wards the great snare into which this house fell. The story of Abbess Mabel and the sword of St. Paul shows a right and whole- some interest in the affairs of the church and the world, such as any good religious might take under the common interpretation of the rule of St. Benedict ; but as time went on this interest became excessive, and was at- tended by an inevitable laxity of discipline. From the time of St. Hugh there had been a school in the monastery for children of both sexes ; 2 most of the nuns were well born and had friends about the Court who sought var- ious pretexts for visiting and lodging in the monastery. Even if the nuns had wished to prevent these visits, it would not always have been easy ; the Papal Letters of the fourteenth century show that noble ladies, even queens, often asked licences from the pope to spend a few nights in a nunnery. And the de- preciation of the value of property after the great pestilence made the poorer houses some- times thankful to accept boarders, like many French convents at the present day. But at Elstow it is to be feared that the nuns were really at fault in this matter ; that the spiritual life of the convent was marred by worldliness from first to last. Bishop Gynwell enjoined that no secular women, except necessary maidservants, should dwell in the convent without special licence ; 3 all were to depart within fifteen days on pain of excommunication, because ' by the living together of secular women and nuns, the con- templation of religion is withdrawn, and scandal engendered.' Only quite young children were to be allowed to remain ; 4 and there was to be no more laxity or favour shown in the correction of breaches of rule. 1 Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Gynwell, 139x1. s Wigram, Chronicles of the Abbey of Elstow, 57, from the Magna Vita S. Hugonis (Rolls Series), 146. 3 In 1350 he had himself granted such a licence to the widow of Sir John Pateshull, to dwell in the monastery with her daughter and maids. One of the brasses still in Elstow church is probably that of a lady who had spent her widowhood as a boarder in the monastery. • Girls under ten and boys under six. Bishop Buckingham issued three different sets of injunctions. In 1379 5 he wrote to the Abbess Anstis to order the removal of all secular persons, men and women, from the precincts of the monastery, as ' dangerous to the purity and spiritual devotion of the re- ligious.' In 1387 he held a regular visita- tion, and his injunctions, though they do not point to any serious irregularities, are of an interesting character ; their aim seems rather to set forth to the nuns their duties in general, and to exhort them to greater fervour, than to correct abuses. There are the usual orders about the singing of the divine office, the ad- ministration of the revenues of the convent, the repair of the buildings, the due care of the sick ; the nuns are cautioned to avoid scandal by refraining from conversation with all men, both secular and religious, especially the mendicant friars, and their near neigh- bours, the canons of Caldwell ; not to go out without permission, and to return home before sunset ; to be careful that they wear the re- ligious habit of their order and the veil, and not to seek such ornaments as fur, or girdles ornamented with silver ; to be humble, obedient, charitable, loving one another in the bond of peace ; so that at last ' adorned with the fruit of good works, their lamps burning in their hands, they may be worthy to enter into the marriage chamber of the Heavenly Bridegroom unto whose service they have dedicated themselves." In 1 388' the bishop only sent a personal admonition to the abbess to be sure and provide a ' fit and secure place ' where offenders against the rule might be detained. 8 Bishop Repingdon visited the monastery at the beginning of the fourteenth century. His injunctions show that no lasting reform had been effected by his predecessors. No secu- ' Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Buckingham, lo,ld. 6 Ibid. 343. In addition to what is given above, the Bishop ordered that the nuns were to speak French among themselves. They were not to talk to the canons of Caldwell ' about the public highways and fields adjoining ' under pain of ex- communication : which shows that they were in no sense enclosed within the monastery. The last words quoted at the end of the injunctions are a reminder to them of the Office for the Profession of a nun with which they would all be familiar, and would constitute a strong appeal for renewed fer- vour. » Ibid. 348. 8 The year before he had ordered that the abbess and prioress should use moderation and temper- ance in making corrections : perhaps this was only too well obeyed. The abbess at each of these three dates was Anstis Dene. 355