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 A HISTORY OF NORFOLK office ; that he had been concerned in drawing up divers great instruments in the process of divorce of Queen Anne ; and that he wrote to the king the abridgements of the comperta of the late visitation. He stated that the manor of West Dereham was worth £'^2 I2s. 8(^., and the residue of the rent was ;^200, and the movables worth ;r6oo. He promised if his petition was granted to retain only ;^50, giving Cromwell the other ;r200 a year, and movables to the value of ;^400 or ^^500. It is scarcely necessary to say that the chance of so great a share of the spoils was accepted by Cromwell, and the slanderous visitor obtained his grant.' It is not in any way credible, if the visitors' report of the condition of this house had been true or credited, that Abbot Roger, who presided over a convent charged with these outrageous offences, would have been assigned the unusually large pension of ^^66 ly. ^d. This pension, as well as smaller sums to five of his canons, was granted on 6 November, 1539.^ Abbots of West Dereham Augustine,' appointed 1 1 88 Ralph,* occurs teinp. Richard I, John, Henry III Remigius,' occurs 123 I Angerius,* occurs 1232 Roger,' occurs 1268 Denis Walter,* occurs 1286 Simon,' occurs 1304 Walter de Donton,'" elected 1306 Paul de Tilney," elected 131 3 Bartholomew,'- occurs 13 16 John de Rutham,'' elected 1325 Nicholas de Dereham,'* elected 1339 William de Holt,'* elected 1368 Constantine,'^ occurs 1393 John Flete," occurs 1398 John,'* elected 141 2 Robert," occurs 1428 John Wygenhall alias Saresson,^" elected 1429 John Lynn,^' elected 1455 ' L. and. P. Hen. Fill, xiii (2), 5 1 2. ' Ibid, xiv (I), 598. ' Stone MSS. 929. -■ Ibid. Bodl. Ch.irt. 30/^ ^ Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A.3074. = Ibid. 'Tanner, Norf. MSS. i, 565. « Ibid. ' Ibid. '" Ibid. " Ibid. " Close, 10 Edw. II, m. 281^. As, however, Paul de Tilney was abbot in 1325, when he died (Stowe MS. 4935 fol. 7), this n.ime must be a mistake, unless Abbot Paul temporarily vacated the office. " Norf. Epis. Reg. i, 117; Add. MS. 4935, i. 7. " Norf. Epis. Reg. iii, 52. '* Ibid, v, 80. "^ Blomefield, Hist, ofh'otf. vii, 335-6. " Ibid. " Norf. Epis. Reg. vii, 52. " Blomefield, Hist, of Norf. vii, 335-6. "" Ibid. William Maxey," elected 1482 John Martyn" alias Wysbech," occurs 1488 William Norwich,^' elected 15 11 Roger Forman,-* elected 1522, last abbot 43. THE ABBEY OF LANGLEY The founder of the Premonstratensian abbey of Langley, dedicated to the honour of the Blessed Virgin in 1195, was Sir Robert Fitz- Roger Helke, who was lord of Langley by marriage with Margaret, daughter and co-heir of William de Cheney, and relict of Sir Hugh de Cressi. The founder was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1 192-3. His descendants, with whom the patronage of the abbey rested, assumed the name of de Clavering from their lordship of that name in Essex. The house was colonized by brethren from Alnwick, the abbot of Alnwick thus becoming the father abbot to Langley. Pope Innocent's bull of confirmation names amongst the abbey endowments the churches of St. Michael, Langley ; St. Helen, Ranworth ; the Holy Trinity, Loddon ; St. Margaret, Trickley ; St. Mary, Rushall ; St. Mary, Kirk- by ; and St. Mary, Ewra.-' In the first year of his reign King John con- firmed the grants of the founder and all other benefactions with full exemptions from every manner of toll and custom. He also granted to the abbots and canons, in the same year, a fair of two days on the vigil and the feast of Saints Philip and James, and a Tuesday market."* In 1235 Abbot Hugh obtained the appropria- tion to the convent of the church of St. Mary, Kirkby, from Thomas, bishop of Norwich, a stipend of eight marks being assigned to the Vicar.-" A letter of Richard (or Rycher) the abbot, dated 21 January, 1276, recites the confirmation by Roger, bishop of Norwich, of the appropria- tion and patronage of the churches of the Holy Trinity, Loddon ; St. Gregory, Heckingham ; St. Mary, Rushall; St. ilary, Kirkby; St. Helen, Ranworth ; St. Botolph, Limpenhoe ; and St. Margaret, Trickley ; to the uses of the abbot and convent of Langley, excepting the collation to the church at Ranworth, which belonged to the bishopric of Norwich.''^ Three years later, in 1279, Walter de Turkeley gave '- Redman, Visit. (Bodl.), fols. 9, 33. " Ibid. fol. 72. ■' Ibid. fol. 99. " Blomefield, Hisl. ofKorf. vii, 336. " Ibid. "Add. MS. 5948, pp. 12, lib. The bull is imperfect and lacks the date. This MS. is a thir- teenth-century chartulary of the abbey of 58 folios, but is imperfect in several places. " Chart. R. I John, m. 8. " Cal. of Bodl. Chart. 192. '" Ibid. 41!
 * ' Norf. vol. /irch. Inst. (1851), 99-1 14.