DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6886#0207
WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 175
now stood forth the protector of their rights. To him the friars applied on
the present occasion, when he excommunicated the abbot and monks. The
latter, in their turn, appealed to Pope Nicholas IV. who, having himself also
been a friar, took the part of his original order; so that they were obliged to
acknowledge the right of the friars to reclaim a fugitive : the abbot was likewise
compelled to submit himself to the archbishop and pray absolution, while the
monastery was obliged to deliver up Pershore, if he were in their power. The
abbot and his monks, who were suspected of conniving at the escape of Per-
shore, were called upon to purge themselves of the charge by oath ; and such as
refused to comply with the injunction, were to be sent to the pope. The mona-
stery was condemned to pay two hundred marks; one half for costs of suit, and
the other, if so much were requisite, for finding out and delivering up the de-
serter. The costs were afterwards compromised for sixty marks, which were paid
towards the support of two poor-houses of the friars at Winchelsea and Litchfield.
The friars were, about the same time, very troublesome to the monks of Wor-
cester*. The Benedictines were very much dissatisfied with the erection of new
orders, as with that of the Gilbertines in the year 1117; but they had much greater
cause to be dissatisfied with the mendicant orders, who were considered by the peo-
ple at large as being more useful and beneficial to them than the monks. They
were also in great favour at the court of Rome, whose interests and objects were
better served by them, than by the monastic establishments-}-.
On the 13th of December, 1291, the abbot went on a solemn mission to deli*
ver the heart of Henry ltl.% to the Abbess of Font-Everard, in Normandy, to
whom that prince had promised it; and where his grandfather Henry II. and
* Matt. Westminster, p. 382.
t History of the Reformation, anno 1535.
X Archives of the Church.
now stood forth the protector of their rights. To him the friars applied on
the present occasion, when he excommunicated the abbot and monks. The
latter, in their turn, appealed to Pope Nicholas IV. who, having himself also
been a friar, took the part of his original order; so that they were obliged to
acknowledge the right of the friars to reclaim a fugitive : the abbot was likewise
compelled to submit himself to the archbishop and pray absolution, while the
monastery was obliged to deliver up Pershore, if he were in their power. The
abbot and his monks, who were suspected of conniving at the escape of Per-
shore, were called upon to purge themselves of the charge by oath ; and such as
refused to comply with the injunction, were to be sent to the pope. The mona-
stery was condemned to pay two hundred marks; one half for costs of suit, and
the other, if so much were requisite, for finding out and delivering up the de-
serter. The costs were afterwards compromised for sixty marks, which were paid
towards the support of two poor-houses of the friars at Winchelsea and Litchfield.
The friars were, about the same time, very troublesome to the monks of Wor-
cester*. The Benedictines were very much dissatisfied with the erection of new
orders, as with that of the Gilbertines in the year 1117; but they had much greater
cause to be dissatisfied with the mendicant orders, who were considered by the peo-
ple at large as being more useful and beneficial to them than the monks. They
were also in great favour at the court of Rome, whose interests and objects were
better served by them, than by the monastic establishments-}-.
On the 13th of December, 1291, the abbot went on a solemn mission to deli*
ver the heart of Henry ltl.% to the Abbess of Font-Everard, in Normandy, to
whom that prince had promised it; and where his grandfather Henry II. and
* Matt. Westminster, p. 382.
t History of the Reformation, anno 1535.
X Archives of the Church.