DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32038#0081
GLASTONBURY ABBEY, SOMERSETSHIRE.
49
Edgar, at the beginning of the tenth century, when the abbey vvas settled in
regular monastic discipline, under the care of the celebrated St. Dunstan, who
became, successively, abbot of Glastonbury, bishop of Worcester, and archbisbop
of Canterbury.* The destruction of tbis venerable establisbment was effected
with a degree of cruelty and violence quite eharacteristic of Henry VIII. The
abbot, Ricbard Whiting, liad governed bis monastery for many years, witb great
regularity and prudence; and was an old man of a pious and irreproachable cba-
racter. Tbe ample revenues of the abbey were partly expended in the mainte-
nance of young men and boys, who were educated under the care of tbe abbot;
and a large portion was spent in the relief of tbe poor, and hospitality to travel-
lers and strangers. The abbot kept a numerous establisbment of servants, as
was commonly done in the houses of tbe prelates and nobility of ancient times.
The steadiness of tbe abbot, in refusing to give up his trust, for tbe purpose of
destruction, made it necessary to bring him in guilty of some crime, in order to
accomplish tbe impious project then in hand; as tbe pretence was set up, that
no religious house was destroyed, unless it had been voluntarily surrendered into
the king’s liands, or had been forfeited by felony or treason. Accordingly, when
tbe visitors bad found the abbot constant in bis resolution of refusing to sign a
surrender, he was apprebended at his manor-bouse of Sharpham, near Glaston-
bury, and conducted to London. He was committed prisoner to tbe Tower;
and certain persons were sent to examine him, by Thomas Cromwell, tbe king’s
Vicar-General in Spirituals, and his prime minister in destroying the religious
houses, who managed the prosecution.f Abbot Whiting was soon sent back,
* A historian, whose diligent and impartial researches have cleared up some very curious
points of history, has lately undertaken to vindicate the injured characters of St. Dunstan, and some
other eminent persons of the Saxon times, from the calumnies with which they had been assailed
by a party of modern writers, who seem to have studied how to excel in the art of defamation.
The fact is, that the ordinary histories of our country are so perverted, by prejudices and misre-
presentation, as to be unwortliy of the least credit. But a taste for sounder information has arisen ;
and many conspicuous personages, in our history, are likely to change their places; some to rise,
and some to fa.ll.
See the “ History of Europe during the Middle Ages,” vol. iii. forming part of Dr. Lardner’s
“ Cabinet Cyclopsedia,” 1834, pp. 260-297, &c.
-j' See Ellis’s Original Letters, Second Series, vol. ii. 116. The unprincipled character of Thomas
Cromwell is intimately displayed in an original paper of his notes, entitled “ Remembrances,” Cotton,
Lib. Titus, B. i., from which some extracts are published in the above work. His memoranda,
“ to se that the evydens be well sortyd;” and the businesslike rnanner in which he speaks of the
torture called the Brack, are highly characteristic of the man. The Vicar-General having completed
his great work, the destruction of the monasteries, soon received his reward. He was attainted of
49
Edgar, at the beginning of the tenth century, when the abbey vvas settled in
regular monastic discipline, under the care of the celebrated St. Dunstan, who
became, successively, abbot of Glastonbury, bishop of Worcester, and archbisbop
of Canterbury.* The destruction of tbis venerable establisbment was effected
with a degree of cruelty and violence quite eharacteristic of Henry VIII. The
abbot, Ricbard Whiting, liad governed bis monastery for many years, witb great
regularity and prudence; and was an old man of a pious and irreproachable cba-
racter. Tbe ample revenues of the abbey were partly expended in the mainte-
nance of young men and boys, who were educated under the care of tbe abbot;
and a large portion was spent in the relief of tbe poor, and hospitality to travel-
lers and strangers. The abbot kept a numerous establisbment of servants, as
was commonly done in the houses of tbe prelates and nobility of ancient times.
The steadiness of tbe abbot, in refusing to give up his trust, for tbe purpose of
destruction, made it necessary to bring him in guilty of some crime, in order to
accomplish tbe impious project then in hand; as tbe pretence was set up, that
no religious house was destroyed, unless it had been voluntarily surrendered into
the king’s liands, or had been forfeited by felony or treason. Accordingly, when
tbe visitors bad found the abbot constant in bis resolution of refusing to sign a
surrender, he was apprebended at his manor-bouse of Sharpham, near Glaston-
bury, and conducted to London. He was committed prisoner to tbe Tower;
and certain persons were sent to examine him, by Thomas Cromwell, tbe king’s
Vicar-General in Spirituals, and his prime minister in destroying the religious
houses, who managed the prosecution.f Abbot Whiting was soon sent back,
* A historian, whose diligent and impartial researches have cleared up some very curious
points of history, has lately undertaken to vindicate the injured characters of St. Dunstan, and some
other eminent persons of the Saxon times, from the calumnies with which they had been assailed
by a party of modern writers, who seem to have studied how to excel in the art of defamation.
The fact is, that the ordinary histories of our country are so perverted, by prejudices and misre-
presentation, as to be unwortliy of the least credit. But a taste for sounder information has arisen ;
and many conspicuous personages, in our history, are likely to change their places; some to rise,
and some to fa.ll.
See the “ History of Europe during the Middle Ages,” vol. iii. forming part of Dr. Lardner’s
“ Cabinet Cyclopsedia,” 1834, pp. 260-297, &c.
-j' See Ellis’s Original Letters, Second Series, vol. ii. 116. The unprincipled character of Thomas
Cromwell is intimately displayed in an original paper of his notes, entitled “ Remembrances,” Cotton,
Lib. Titus, B. i., from which some extracts are published in the above work. His memoranda,
“ to se that the evydens be well sortyd;” and the businesslike rnanner in which he speaks of the
torture called the Brack, are highly characteristic of the man. The Vicar-General having completed
his great work, the destruction of the monasteries, soon received his reward. He was attainted of