DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6886#0248
216 HISTORY OF
Esteney obtained also from the pope a peculiar indulgence in favour of the
monks of Westminster: it was no less than a permission that they might be or-
dained to the priesthood three years sooner than the canonical period, which was
the age of twenty-four*.
This abbot was likewise obliged to pay one thousand pounds for fines, on
account of persons escaped from its prison.
In his time the erection of the west end of the church proceeded without
interruption; the vaulting was completed, and the great west window set up.
The abbot did not entrust the care of this work, as had been usual by his prede-
cessors, to some of the monks, but made it an object of his own immediate
superintendence-!-.
He appears to have a superior claim to the distinction of having been the
chief patron of William Caxton, the earliest English printer: the first book printed
in England, entitled The Game and Play of the Chesse, having been executed in
that part of Westminster Abbey called the Eleemosynary or Almonry, in the first
year of his abbacy}:.
Esteney died in 1498, and was buried on the south side of St. John the
Evangelist's chapel: his figure, in brass, clad in his officiating habit, still decorates
the tombstone. A label of the same metal issues from his mouth, with these
words engraved on it: " Exultabo in Domino Jesu meo." The inscription on
* Dispensations of this kind were not uncommon to individuals of high birth or superior interest,
but they were very rarely granted to communities.
+ Some lines, descriptive of his occupations, but not to be admired for their latinity or their
poetry, may be seen in the Appendix, No. IX.
% Stowe, and others after him, say it was Abbot Islip; but he was not abbot, or even prior, till
some years after Caxtou's death. Nor could it be Millyng, Esteney's predecessor, unless books were
printed here before the year 1474.
Esteney obtained also from the pope a peculiar indulgence in favour of the
monks of Westminster: it was no less than a permission that they might be or-
dained to the priesthood three years sooner than the canonical period, which was
the age of twenty-four*.
This abbot was likewise obliged to pay one thousand pounds for fines, on
account of persons escaped from its prison.
In his time the erection of the west end of the church proceeded without
interruption; the vaulting was completed, and the great west window set up.
The abbot did not entrust the care of this work, as had been usual by his prede-
cessors, to some of the monks, but made it an object of his own immediate
superintendence-!-.
He appears to have a superior claim to the distinction of having been the
chief patron of William Caxton, the earliest English printer: the first book printed
in England, entitled The Game and Play of the Chesse, having been executed in
that part of Westminster Abbey called the Eleemosynary or Almonry, in the first
year of his abbacy}:.
Esteney died in 1498, and was buried on the south side of St. John the
Evangelist's chapel: his figure, in brass, clad in his officiating habit, still decorates
the tombstone. A label of the same metal issues from his mouth, with these
words engraved on it: " Exultabo in Domino Jesu meo." The inscription on
* Dispensations of this kind were not uncommon to individuals of high birth or superior interest,
but they were very rarely granted to communities.
+ Some lines, descriptive of his occupations, but not to be admired for their latinity or their
poetry, may be seen in the Appendix, No. IX.
% Stowe, and others after him, say it was Abbot Islip; but he was not abbot, or even prior, till
some years after Caxtou's death. Nor could it be Millyng, Esteney's predecessor, unless books were
printed here before the year 1474.