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 A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE of having been the cause of her son's death ' ; and in 1342 Prior Robert of Lubenham was involved in a suit with the abbot of St. Alban's about the manor of Caldecote in Herts, which he claimed against a tenant of the abbot's, but finally quitclaimed before the day appointed for the hearing of the case. 2 The episcopal registers contain very few references to Bushmead, and not a single visitation is recorded. It may be gathered from this source that the conventual church was rebuilt, like so many others, early in the fourteenth century, but the canons were too poor to complete it without a licence to beg alms 3 ; and that about the same time a canon who had left the monastery ' through levity of mind,' and wandered about in secular habit, returned penitent, but found his prior unwilling to receive him back. 4 About the same time another of the canons, Richard of Stoughton (who was afterwards prior and probably died of the pestilence), obtained a licence from the bishop to keep a school of sixty boys, and teach them 'the science of grammar ' 6 ; but it is not known how long this good work was continued. As the in- come of the house was less than j£ioo, it was surrendered under the act of 1536 (probably on 8 February), and the prior received a pension of £8. 6 The priory was dedicated to St. Mary, and its first endowment by Hugh de Beauchamp and his brother Roger included very little more than the site, with certain rights of way, wood, water and pasture, and the tithes of Eaton Park ;' but by 1236 a number of small rents and parcels of land had been added, not only in the county of Bedford, but also in Huntingdon, Cambridge, Northampton, and 1 Pat. 11 Edw. I. m. 13d. Nothing further is known of the circumstances, but it may have been a similar affair to that of Christine Mustard, who accused the prior and some canons of Dunstable of causing the death of her husband {Ann. Mon. [Rolls Series], iii. 298, 306). He was really killed at a wrestling match before the hospital of Hockliffe, at which the canons of Dunstable were present. 2 Gesta Abbatum Mon. S. Albani (Rolls Series), ii. 330. 3 Line. Epis. Reg., Memo. Dalderby, 163d (1310); ibid. Memo. Burghersh, 21, 35c! (1321). (Indulgences for the fabric, and a licence to beg alms.) « Ibid. Memo. Burghersh, 75c!, jjd. « Ibid. 246d (1332). " L. and P. lien. Fill. x. 1238 ; xiii. (i), 1520. The latter, which is a list of pensions paid 28 Henry VIII., has the date 8 Feb. after the name of the prior of Bushmead. 7 Dugdale, Mon. vi. 281-2. Hertford ; 8 with the manor of Blisworth, Northants. 9 The total income of the priory in 1 29 1 was however only £25 131. yd, ; 10 a taxation recorded in its chartulary gives a total of £25 l 9 5 - 4^- U The advowson church of Caldecote, Herts, was granted to the prior and convent in 1283, 12 but they do not seem to have retained it long. In 1302 the prior held only one-fortieth of a knight's fee of the barony of Eaton. 13 The valuation of 1535 amounted to £j 1 13*. oy/. ; u and that which was made immediately after the dis- solution to £83 195. 8fcA 15 (all in small sums except the demesne lands, which were worth £20 is. 4 </.) Priors of Bushmead William, first prior 16 Joseph of Copmanford, 17 occurs 1 23 1 John deWildeboef, 18 elected 1233, died 125 1 Simon of Colesden, 19 occurs 1260 Richard Foliott, 20 occurs 1283, resigned 1298 Simon of Redburn, 21 elected 1298, re- signed 1 32 1 Robert of Lubenham, 22 elected 1321, resigned 1348 a Bull of Gregory IX. dated 1236 (Cott. MS. Aug. ii. 117). 9 Dugdale, Mon. vi. 282, charter of Isabel Pauncefote, and of her daughters, confirming the same. Neither is dated, but the name of Blisworth is on Pope Gregory's bull and in Pope Nick. Tax. (Rec. Com.) among the temporalities of the priory. '» Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 11 Bushmead Chartul. (undated). 12 Pat. 11 Edw. I. m. 13. Licence for alienation in mortmain by William de Hurst of the advowson of the church of Caldecote, and a carucate of land. " Feud. Aids, i. 15. » Valor F.ccl. (Rec. Com.) " Dugdale, Mon. vi. 283. 16 Foundation Charter, Dugdale, Mon. vi. 280. The following list of names is taken as it stands from the Bushmead Chartulary, where however no dates are given, only the time that each prior was in office. Fortunately the dates can be supplied for nearly all from other sources. « Bushmead Chartul. under Barford Charters, reference to Joseph, 1231. »<» Line. Epis. Reg., Rolls of Hugh de Wells (on the resignation of Joseph). The Bushmead Chartul. adds : ' qui obiit monachus Wardon, 1251.' lu Bushmead Chartul. Stilton Charters. 20 Pat. 11 Edw. I. m. 13d. 21 Line. Epis. Reg., Inst. Sutton, 104 ; Jocelyn of Stoughton, the cellarer, was elected, but Simon accepted by the bishop. The chartulary gives him fifty years of office, which the registers do not corroborate. 22 Ibid. Inst. Burghersh, 291. This prior has thirty-four years assigned him, which is again in excess of the interval between the institutions. 386