Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/223

 RELIGIOUS HOUSES COLLEGE 5. THE COLLEGE OF BLESSED MARY AT MANTON The college of Manton was founded in con- nexion with the altar of Blessed Mary within the parish church, by Sir William Wade and others, in the year 1356.^ The founder had re- presented the shire in Parliament from 1342 to 1352, and was afterwards buried at Manton.^ His college was designed for three chaplains, of whom one was to be warden, and their main duty was to sustain the divine office in the church. Every day they were to sing three masses : the first a requiem for the founder and all Christian souls ; the second, at the celebrant's discretion, was to be a mass of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Cross, Blessed Mary, or St. Thomas of Canterbury ; the third was to be of the season.' The advowson of the parish church was afterwards, in 1383, granted to the warden and chaplains by John Wade the rector, who was the founder's brother.^ The records of the college are very meagre, but it seems to have been fairly well maintained. William Villiers, who was made warden in 1 49 1,' and his successor, Robert Newton, were remem- bered as faithful to their office, and for their good deeds in repairing and beautifying the church.* In their time and afterwards there was but one chaplain besides the warden. In 1534 the revenues of the college were stated to amount tO;^i3 8;. 8^'. clear, apart from the parish church.' In 1548 the warden was said to be of honest conversation and repute, aged seventy-eight years, and no longer able to serve a cure: he was also vicar of 'Aynsford"" Oxford- shire. His colleague, William Smith, served the church of Manton : their stipends were respec- tively /13 los. 6d. and £q 8j, The Chantry Commissioners pleaded that a vicar was very necessary, as the rectory was appropriated to the chantry, and there were 100 houseling people in the parish : but their recommendations do not seem to have had much effect.^ The college was dissolved, and its revenues were granted to Gregory Lord Cromwell : ' the ornaments of the church, valued at £2"] 35. 4^., went into the royal treasury.^" ALIEN CELL 6. THE PRIORY OF EDITH WESTON The abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville for Benedictine monks was founded by Ralf de Tan- querville, chamberlain to the Conqueror, about the year 1050 :^ and the manor and church of Edith Weston were added to its endowments by the founder's son William as early as 1114.^ The grant was confirmed by Henry I and Henry II, with other lands and privileges in the forest of Rutland ; ' but the date of the actual building of the priory cannot be exactly fixed. A prior of Edith Weston is first mentioned in the Hundred Roll of 1276,^ when complaint was made of the aggressive behaviour of the king's escheator at some time during the late reign. ' Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, fol. 163. 'Wright, Hist, of Rut. 85. 'Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Gynwell, fol. 163. On great feasts such as Christmas and Easter all the masses might be of the season. 'Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Rotherham, fol. 75. 'Wright, Hist, of Rut. 86. A brass plate to their memory was erected in the chureh. ' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv, 343. John Gorle was warden at this time and also in i 548. '^ Probably an error for Eynsham. 8 P.R.O. Chant. Cert. 39, no. 2. 163 It is probable that there were never more than two or three monks at Edith Weston, whose chief business was to collect the rents and remem- ber the souls of the founder and other benefactors. In the 14th century the lands of the priory were frequently in the king's hand, on account of the wars with France.' Just before 1357 there was but one monk in charge, and his conduct went far to justify the charges often made against alien cells. It was complained that he had laid aside the habit of religion and the tonsure, had neglected to say mass and the divine office, and had con- sumed the substance of the house in luxurious living. He had kept women in the priory, and maintained his illegitimate children from its re- venues ; he had cut down the trees and destroyed cottages, and driven out villeins from their homes with blows and other ill-usage.' 'Wright, Hist, of Rut. 86. '"P.R.O. Chant. Cert. 39, no. 2. 'Dugdale, Mon. vi (2), 1066. 'Round, Cal. of Doe. France, 66. 'Ibid. 66, 69 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi (2), 1066. dated 1220 the abbot of St. Georges appeared on be- half of his lands in Rutland ; no prior is mentioned. Maitland, Bracton's Note Bk. i, 72. ' See the Patent Rolls of Edw. II and Edw. III. 'Misc. Chan. Intj. file 172.
 * Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 9.
 * HunJ. R. (Rec. Com.) ii, 50. In a case of disseisin