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 A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE houses of the diocese of Lincoln (except those of the exempt orders), by the authority of the papal legate; in 1212 he was appointed by the pope to preach the cross J in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Huntingdonshire, and in the same year was commissioned to make an estimate of the losses suffered by the clergy and the religious in the diocese through the exactions of John. 3 In 1223 3 and 1228 4 he was made visitor to his own order, first in the province of York, and afterwards in the dioceses of Lincoln and Coventry; and last of all, in 1 239/ when he must have been quite an old man, he helped to draw up and submit to the pope an account of the difficulties between the Archbishop of Canterbury and his suffra- gans on the subject of visitation. During his term of office, in the year 1219, 6 he secured the right of holding a court at Dun- stable for all pleas of the Crown, and of sitting beside the justices itinerant at their visits to the town : a privilege which brought him into less happy relations with the townsmen, and may have helped to hasten their revolt against his authority in 1228. 7 He also successfully established the right of his house to Harlington church in 1223. 8 The priory was twice visited by King Henry III. during the time of Richard de Morins : once after the siege of Bedford Castle, 9 and again in the midst of the troubles connected with the burgesses, whom he attempted to pacify, at the prior's earnest request. 10 1 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 40. They placed collecting boxes in all the churches. 2 Ibid. 38. 3 Ibid. 80; the abbot of Darley being his coadjutor. 4 ibid. 112; with the prior of Newnham. 5 Ibid. 149. « Ibid. 54. 7 Ibid. 105-22. The details of the quarrel belong to the general ecclesiastical and political histories of the county. 8 Ibid. 80, 85. Richard Pirot, a feudal tenant of the Albinis of Cainhoe, claimed it against him on an assize of darrein presentment. It was common ground to both parties that Richard's grandfather, Ralf Pirot, had given the church to Dunstable Priory temp. Henry II., but Richard claimed that this had been done after Ralf had divested himself of his lands and become a monk at Woburn, which the prior denied (Bracton's Note Book, iii. 454). The prior was successful (ibid. 80). His claim to Aspley Guise is dealt with under Newnham Priory : the details of both suits were kindly supplied by Mr. Round. 8 Henry III. was at Dunstable on 20 August 1224 (Pat. 8 Hen. III. m. 4). 10 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 119. It is prob- able that Stephen visited the priory near the end In spite of the losses under King John and the difficulties with the burgesses, the priory seems to have enjoyed greater prosperity at this time than at any later period of which we have a clear account. In 12 13 the con- ventual church was dedicated by Bishop Hugh de Wells, a great concourse of earls and barons, abbots and priors, assisting at the ceremony. 11 The lordship of Houghton Regis, though lost for a while in 1 212, was recovered in 1226 12; and the gift of the church of Bradbourne in the Peak, 13 with its chapels and lands, 11 provided a maintenance for three canons, 15 and formed a kind of cell to the priory, besides increasing its income. The death of Richard de Morins in I242 18 was followed immediately by heavy losses. In 1243, 8°° of the sheep belonging to the priory in the Peak district died, 17 and a suc- cession of bad seasons led to great scarcity; Henry de Bilenda, the cellarer, upon whom so much depended, was incapable or untrust- worthy, and in 1249 neu to the Cistercians at Merivale, rather than render an account of his stewardship. 18 By 1255 the canons not only had no corn to sell, but not enough for themselves; 19 they had to buy all their food at great expense, for two years after this; 20 so that the Friars Preachers, when they arrived in 1259, 21 were even less welcome than they would have been at any ordinary time. When Simon of Eaton became prior in 1262, he found the house 400 marks in debt, and all the wool of the year already sold. 22 But in spite of the pressure of debt and poverty, which was not diminished during his term of office, the prior was as much inter- ested as his predecessors had been in the course of public events. Like most of the clergy and religious of the period, he was in sym- pathy with Simon de Montfort, whom he looked upon as the champion of the Church; of his reign, signing there the confirmation of Luton church to St. Albans (Cott. MS. Otho, D iii. f. 118b). 11 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Scries), iii. 42. 12 Ibid. 29, 100. 13 By Geoffrey de Cauceys (ibid. 29). 14 Half the manor of Bradbourne with the chapels of Ballidon and Tissington went with the church (Abbrev. Plac. [Rec. Com.], 255). 16 Ann. Mon. (Rolls Series), iii. 149. » Ibid. 138. w Ibid. 161. •8 Ibid. I78. 19 Ibid. 199. 20 Ibid. 205-10. " Ibid. 221. 372
 * Ibid. 213.