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 RELIGIOUS HOUSES The encyclical letter from the abbey of West Dereham, which follows the illumination, is a warm eulogy of the deceased. The terms were probably not entirely complimentar)^, or as a matter of course, for Abbot Wygenhale was evidently highly esteemed outside his convent. When he attended the bishop in 1449 as vicar- general, at the ceremony of making the priory of Wymondham into an abbey, he is described by John of Whethamstede, the chronicler of St. Albans, as vir altae discrecion'ts et suorum gravitate pollens} The tituH or descriptive endorsements that can now be traced on the back of the roll are those of the Austin house of Christ Church, Hampshire; of the Premonstratensian abbey of Titchfield, Hampshire ; of the great abbey of Bury St. Edmunds ; of the Cistercian monastery of Lowth Park, Lincoln ; of the Benedictine abbey of the cathedral church of Worcester ; and of the Austin house of St. James, North- ampton. Bishop Redman's first visitation of West Dereham occurred in June, 1475 ; he arrived at the abbey at the dinner hour on the 26th, and left for Wendling on the 28th. ^ The visitation of 1478 extended from 28 to 30 June, when he found everything in good order. The visitor enjoined the presence of a deacon at the high altar daily ; also that on recreation days the brethren were to go out and return unless other- wise ordered by the abbot : anyone leaving the precincts without permission was to be punished the same as an apostate. There was an abundant supply of all necessaries, and the debt was but slight. In addition to John Lynn, the abbot, and John Harnes, the sub-prior, thirteen other canons were present at the visitation.' On 23 July, 1482, William abbot of Welbeck wrote to Bishop Redman to tell him of the death of John Lynn alias Clerk, abbot of Dere- ham, in which he pleaded the poverty of his daughter-house of Dereham as a reason for pressing on with the new election with all possible speed, and asking that on this occasion only he might proceed without delay in ordering a new election, and in admitting and installing the abbot elect.'' Accordingly at the next visi- tation in August, 1482, the election of William Maxey as abbot took place in the bishop's presence. At this time he ordered that silence was to be better observed. Nineteen canons, including the abbot and prior, were present on this occasion.* The bishop's next visit was on 22 June, i486, when he arrived at West Dereham at supper- time. The house was formally visited on the Reg. Whethamstede, 151. Redman, Visit. (Bodl.), fol. 5. Ibid. fols. 13, 21. * Stowe MS. 4935, fol. 9. Redman, Visit. (Bodl.), fols. 33, 34. morrow, and he tarried there quietly oier 24 June for the solemn observance of the feast of St. John Baptist, supping at Walsingham on the 25th.* At a visitation just two years later, John Martyn, abbot, William Maxey, the late abbot, eleven other priests, and three deacons were present. The visitor reported that the abbot was provident and circumspect ; that the debt of ;^200 at the time of his election had been reduced to ^Tioo ; and that there was a good supply of stores and cattle. George Lytylport, priest, was found in prison for theft aiid other sins ; he was penitent, but ordered to remain in prison until next general chapter.' The next visitation was on 22 September, 1 49 1, when John Wysbech, abbot, William Maxey, late abbot, nine other canons, and a novice were present. The novice, William Faryeley, had struck a brother and flung him into the grate ; the visitor ordered him forty days of bread and water, and then to be sent to Halesowen ; but at the unanimous prayer of the abbot and convent the last part of the sentence was revoked.^ In 1494 the house was again visited, when John Martyn (an alias of Wysbech), the ex- abbot, and ten others attended. The visitor reported well of the house.' Again, in October, 1500, the visitor was at this house, when John Wysbech is entered as the abbot. The report was quite excellent. The last recorded visitation took place 10 August, 1503 ; the same abbot and ex-abbot were present, and fourteen other canons. Bishop Redman found several insufficiently taught ; therefore he recalled Brother Robert Watton from the university, to be joined in office with the prior, and diligently to teach his brethren. Thomas Fychele was removed from the sub- priorship for his negligence in his duty ; other- wise the condition and discipline of the house were good.'** Legh and Ap Rice, Cromwell's tools and visitors, surpassed themselves in their comperta as to this abbey, on which they reported in 1536 ; according to their preposterous return the canons were all incontinent, and were ready to confess themselves as such, longing to marry, and believing that the king had been divinely sent on earth to bring this about." John Ap Rice, in whose handwriting these comperta were drawn up, made earnest suit for a grant of this house, which it was thus his interest to vilify. In 1538 he petitioned Cromwell for the lands. He pleaded that there was no fee attached to his ' Ibid. fol. 64^. ' Ibid. fol. 72. « ^ Ibid. fols. 99, 100. ■' Ibid. fols. 118,1 24. 'Mbid. fol. 1 10. " L. and P. Hen. rill,x, 144. 17 53