still continues; and the writer joins in the fervent wish of the poet : Stet fortuna domus & avi numerentur avorum. Ex fo. 150. Registri Edmundi Stafford olim Exonien Episcopi. Decimo octavo die mensis Marcii A. D. 1413; apud Clyst, Dnus recepit literas infrascriptas sub tenore qui sequitur verborum. Reverendo in Xto Patri & Dno Dno Edmundo, permissione Divinâ Exon Epo suus humilis & devotus frater Johes, Dei patientiâ Abbas Ecclesie de Wellebek, (in Nottinghamshire,) ordinis Premonstratensis, reverenciam tanto Patri debitam cum honore. Venerabilem fratrem nostrum, fratrem Willelmum Mychel Ecclesie de Torre, nostri Ordinis & vestre Diocesis Canonicum, in Patrem & Pastorem ejusdem Ecclesie nunc vacantis, per fratres ejusdem Ecclesie, ritè & canonicè secundum Ordinis nri Instituta electum & à nobis (ad quem, tanquam Patrem Abbatem illius Monasterii, auctoritate Sedis Apostolice Ordini nostro in hâc parte graciosè concessâ ipsius confirmacio dignoscitur pertinere) prout ejusdem nostri Ordinis moris est, confirmatum, Vestre Paternitati Reverende presentamus per presentes, à vobis plenitudinem sui officii plenariè recepturum, supplicantes Dominationem vestram humiliter & devotè, ut cum idem electus & confirmatus, ut premittitur, ad vos cum presentibus declinaverit, munus benedictionis vestro impertiri dignemini graciosè. In quorum omnium testimonium & fidem presentes literas sigillo nostro signatas vestre Reverende Paternitati duximus presentandas. Conservet vos Altissimus ad regimen Ecclesie sue sancte per tempora diuturna. Datum in dictâ Ecclesiâ de Torre die decimâ mensis Marcii A. D. 1413. Et subsequenter eodem die Dnus in capellà manerii sui de Clyst predicti, eidem Willo Abbati electo & confirmato, more solito, munus benedictionis impendit, prestitâ primitùs Dno per eundem Abbatem obedientiâ sub formâ que sequitur in hec verba, Ego Willelmus Mychel, Monasterii de Torre, ordinis Premonstratensis Exoniensis Diocesis, Abbas electus & juxta regulam Sci Augustini confirmatus, profiteor Sancte Ecclesie Exoniensi & tibi, Reverende Pater Edmunde, Dei gratiâ, ejusdem Ecclesie Episcopo, tuisque Successoribus in eâ canonicè substituendis, in omnibus canonicam obedientiam & subjectionem. BUCKFASTLEIGH.* THE great Cistercian Abbey at Buckfastleigh, or Buckfastre, was founded in the year 1137, by Ethelwerld, the son of Wm. Pomerei, in honor of the Virgin Mary. King Henry II. was a friend and benefactor to the infant establishment. A charter of this Monarch, in its favor, may be seen in the Monasticon, attested by the Primate Theobald, and by the Chancellor Thomas à Becket, afterwards the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury. The following names of the Abbots are all that I can recover: 1. William, occurs as Abbot in the founda A. D. tion deed of Tor-Abbey, temp. Rich. I. 2. Robert, confirmed 7. July, 1280 I believe Robert Simon conducted and succeeded in a valuable cause of the fishery of the river Dart, at Buckfastleigh, against Dean Sumpter and the Chapter of Exeter Cathedral. I have perused the exemplification of the record under the great seal, dated 16. Nov. 50. Edward III. 10. William Slade, who distinguished himself by his works, entitled Flores Moralium. Questiones de Animâ. Questiones super 4. lib. sententiaru. &c. Arms, Sable. a Crosier in pale Arg. the crook Or, surmounted by a Stag's head caboshed of the second, horned Gules. 11. William Beughe, confirmed 8. Sept. A. D. 1415 1432 1440 1449 1503 16. Alfridus Gille, confirmed on Palm Sunday, 4. April, 1512 17. Gabriel Donne, or Dunne, who surrendered his monastery 25. Feb. Probably this Abbot was particularly obsequious to the views of the Court, as he obtained a greater annuity than even the Abbot of Tavistock. 1538 The following annuities were granted 26. April, 31. Hen. VIII. £. s. d. To Gabriel Dunne, the Abbot ...120 0 0 John Dogge...... John Cowle .... 5 6 8 5 6 8 5 6 8 5 6 8 5 6 8 5 0 0 William Avery........... Richard Taylor ...... Thomas Gylle ...... The yearly income of the abbey is rated by Dug-i dale, at £466. 11. 24. In the Taxatio, so often referred to, I read as follows: Apud Doune Apud Robiok & Tynden In various leases that I have met with, I find mention of their manors of Kingsbridge and Harberton. The abbey had also some property in the town, and near the bridge, of Totnes. The town-house of the Abbot in Exeter, was in the Close, surrounded on three sides by the archdeaconry houses of Barnstaple, and Totnes; and Cornwall, and by letters patent of 28. Sept. 37th Hen. VIII. was granted to George Rolle, in whose family it continued till the time of Henry (afterwards Lord) Rolle, who, in 1737, sold it to the Rev. Thomas Heskett, and it is now the property of James Rodd, Esq. The scite of Buckfastre Abbey was granted, 31. Hen. VIII. to Sir Thomas Dennis, of Holcombe Burnell, in the county of Devon.. Dr. William Petre, afterwards Sir William Petre, procured a considerable share of the manors appertaining to this abbey. And, what is singular, he ob tained of Pope Paul IV. 28. Dec. A. D. 1555, a confirmation of this property. This gentleman was appointed in the 27th year of Henry VIII. one of the commissioners to repair unto all the monasteries of England, and to make inquiry into the govern * The conduct of this gentleman is certainly open to suspicion-he appears to have played a double game-to have accommodated himself to every wish of the Court, and to have intrigued himself into the favor and confidence of the religious houses in Devonshire. From many of these communities, I observe, he had procured the stewardship for himself, and the reversion of it for his son Robert; from most, he had secured annuities for very valuable advice "pro bono consilio nobis impenso & in posterum impendendo ;" and he contrived to obtain a confirmation of these annuities from the court of Augmentation of the crown revenues. In the scramble for religious property, he was one of the keenest and most successful competitors. He succeeded in obtaining the scite of Buckfastleigh Abbey, the scite of St. Nicholas' Priory, Exeter; the Park, at Crediton, belonging to the Bishops of Exeter, with four water mills, and a marsh, containing two hundred acres a property, for which this covetous man was not ashamed to petition the Crown. His royal master, 6. Feb. 31st year of his reign, further rewarded him with the manors of Lyttleham and Exmouth, which had lately belonged to the monastery of Sherburn, in the county of Dorsetwith the messuage situate in Baynard Castle Ward, London, formerly the property of the Cistercian Monastery of Croxdon, in Staffordshire; also, with the Hundred of East Budleigh, which had been grasped by the Crown, in consequence of the iniquitous and unjustifiable attainder of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter. If the mammon of iniquity could. confer happiness, this very rich man rnust have been supremely happy. |
