April Pre-604 A.D. Cerne Abbey, Dorset, UK—Founded by St. Augustine Hermitage; Benedictine Monks, 9th Cent (??);
April Pre-604 A.D. Cerne Abbey, Dorset,
UK—Founded by St. Augustine Hermitage;
Benedictine Monks, 9th Cent (??); Purportedly Destroyed by Canute; Dissolved
1539; Granted to John Dudley, 1574; Remains Incorporated in Private House
Cerne Abbey
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encyclopedia
Cerne Abbey
Cerne
Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 987 AD in the town now called Cerne Abbas byÆthelmær the Stout.
History
Founded in 987 AD by Æthelmær the Stout. Ælfric of Eynsham, the most prolific writer in Old English was known to have spent time at the abbey as a priest and teacher.[1]
King Canute is known to have plundered this monastery during
an attack upon the town, but afterwards became a benefactor of it.[2]
By the time of the Domesday Book, the abbey had added largely to its endowment.[2] Much of this wealth has been credited[3] to the veneration of Saint Eadwold of Cerne, a 9th-century, hermit reputedly a brother of Edmund, king of East Anglia, who lived as a hermit on a hill about four miles from Cerne.
The later history appears to
have been relatively uneventful; A History of the County of Dorset said that its history is "perhaps the least
eventful of any of the Dorset houses with the exception of that of the
sisters at Tarrant Kaines".[2] The abbey's history ended on a less positive
note, with the last abbot, Thomas Corton, accused of various offences
including that of allowing the abbey and lands to become ruinous, and of
keeping a mistress who seems to have borne him children. The accusations were
taken seriously enough to warrant inspection by officials of the High
Commission, and the inconvenience sealed the end of the abbey, which was
closed in 1539.[2]
Following the dissolution, the buildings were mainly demolished with only
parts of a gatehouse and possible guesthouse incorporated into later
buildings. The very elaborate stone vaulted porch of the abbot's hall also
survives in the midst of a wooded lawn. The Guest House of the abbey is a
Grade-I listed building.[4]
Abbots of Cerne
·
Ælfric, appointed about 987, on the refoundation of Cerne as a
Benedictine monastery
·
Alfric Puttoc, occurs 1023
·
Withelmus, occurs 1085
·
William, occurs 1121
·
Bernard, became abbot of Burton in 1160
·
Robert, occurs 1166
·
Dionysius, occurs 1206, resigned 1220
·
R., elected 1220
·
William de Hungerford, elected 1232
·
Richard de Suwell or Sawel, elected 1244, died 1260
·
Philip, elected 1260
·
Thomas de Ebblesbury, elected 1274
·
Gilbert de Minterne, elected 1296, died 1312
·
Ralph de Cerne, elected 1312, died 1324
·
Richard de Osmington, elected 1324
·
Stephen Sherrard, elected 1356
·
Thomas Sewale, elected 1361, died 1382
·
John de Hayle, elected 1382, died in same year
·
Robert Symondsbury, elected 1382
·
John Wede, elected 1411, died 1427
·
John Winterborne, elected 1427, died 1436
·
John Godmanston, elected 1436, died 1451
·
William Cattistoke, elected 1451, died 1454
·
John Helyer, elected 1454, resigned 1458
·
John Vanne, elected 1458, died 1471
·
Roger Bemyster, elected 1471, died 1497
·
Thomas Sam, elected 1497, died 1509
·
Robert Westbury, elected 1510, died 1524
References
2. ^ Jump up
to:a b c d e Page, William. "Houses of Benedictine monks, The abbey of
Cerne". A History of the County of Dorset, vol. 1. British History Online. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
3. Jump up^ Tom Licence, Goscelin of St Bertin and the Life of St.
Eadwold of Cerne, Journal The Journal of Medieval Latin vol 16
4. Jump up^ "GUEST HOUSE OF CERNE ABBEY". Listed Buildings. English Heritage. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
·
Anthony
New. 'A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales', p107-09. Constable.
·
Houses of
Benedictine monks: The abbey of Cerne, A History of the County of Dorset:
Volume 2 (1908), pp. 53–8.
April Pre-604 A.D. Cerne Abbey,
Dorset, UK—Founded by St. Augustine Hermitage; Benedictine Monks, 9th Cent
(??); Purportedly Destroyed by Canute;
Dissolved 1539; Granted to John Dudley, 1574; Remains Incorporated in Private
House
“Houses of Benedictine monks: The abbey of
Cerne.” A History of the County of
Dorset: Volume 2. Ed. William Page
(London, 1908), pp. 53-58. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/dorset/vol2/pp53-58. Accessed 26 December 2014.
2. THE
ABBEY OF CERNE
The
Benedictine abbey of Cerne was, traditionally, founded by the first apostle
of the English, St. Augustine, who, according to William of Malmesbury,
having converted Kent to the faith of Christ proceeded to penetrate into the
rest of the English provinces over which the rule of King Ethelbert extended,
that is to say over the whole of England with the exception of Northumbria,
and coming to these parts met with great rudeness from the inhabitants of the
country who fastening derisively the tails of cows (fn. 1) to the
garments of the evangelist and his companions drove them away. Whereupon the
holy man perceiving the change that should rapidly take place in the minds of
the people and 'patiently and modestly rejoicing to bear reproach for the
name of Christ' cried to his companions 'Cerno Deum qui et nobis retribuet
gratiam et furentibus illis emendationem infundet animam' (I see God who
shall give us grace and impart to these deluded people a change of heart).
The prophecy was not long of fulfilment, the people repenting of what they
had done approached St. Augustine desiring to be reconciled, and he,
attributing this change to God, gave to the place the name of Cernel,
compounded from the Hebrew word Hel orEl God and
the Latin Cerno. Soon after the inhabitants became converted to the new faith
and water being required to baptize them a fountain sprang out of the ground
at the word of Augustine. (fn. 2)
In
succeeding times, continues the chronicler, Edwold, brother to Edmund, king
of the East Anglians, retiring from the world on the death of his brother at
the hands of the Danes, lived the life of a hermit at St. Augustine's well
'called the silver well' at Cerne, where he died. (fn. 3) So great
was the respect felt for his memory that in later times the abbey appears
under his patronage as well as that of the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter. (fn. 4) After his
death Ailmer or Æthelmar, generally styled earl or duke of Cornwall,
translated the relics of Edwold with the assistance of Dunstan to the old
church of Cerne 'where now the parish church is' and built or rebuilt the
monastery which he dedicated to the honour of St. Peter. (fn. 5) The
foundation was begun in the reign of Edgar according to Leland and completed
in the year 987.
In his
foundation charter of that year Æthelmar (or Ailmer) son of Ælward, nobleman
of king Æthelred, notifies to Archbishop Dunstan and Bishop Ælfheah of
Winchester that he has given to God and the monks there the place which is
called Cernel in honour of the Blessed Virgin, St. Peter and St. Benedict,
for his dear master king Æthelred, for himself and the redemption of his
ancestors; he has granted to them also 6 cassates of land in Minterne, 10
manses at Winterborne, 6 at Bredy, 12 in the further Bredy, 3 in Rentscombe;
Leofric, clerk of Poxwell, has added to the donation the vill of Poxwell
which was confirmed by grant of king Æthelred; Ælfrith a relative of Æthelmar
at Bincombe has given 4 cassates of land at Affpuddle, Alfwold gave 5 manses
at Bloxworth; after the death of his wife the founder further bestowed on the
monastery tithes of his yearly rent in Cerne and Cheselbourne together with
tithes of honey, cheese and fat hogs in his other lands and desired that the
monks should observe the rule of St. Benedict and should choose whatever
secular patron they pleased. (fn. 6)
Canute is
said to have plundered this monastery when he wasted the town but afterwards
he became a considerable benefactor to it. (fn. 7) The abbey
had added largely to its endowment at the time the Domesday Survey was taken;
the church of St. Peter was then returned as holding land in the following
places: Cerne, Little Puddle, Radipole, Bloxworth, Affpuddle, Poxwell, East
Woodsford, Heffleton, 'Vergroth,' Little Bredy, Winterborne, Long Bredy,
Nettlecombe, Milton, Kimmeridge, Rentscombe and Symondsbury; (fn. 8) the total,
amounting to 113 hides and 3 virgates, was valued at £115, leaving out
Affpuddle, the assessment of which was omitted. The widow of Hugh Fitz Grip,
the Norman sheriff, held, we are told, I carucate in Poxwell formerly
belonging to the demesne of the monks.
In 1156
the abbot of Cerne was returned as holding by the service of three knights. (fn. 9) Robert
the abbot in 1166 notified the king the knights' fees of his church and the
knights who held them. Amongst these may be noted Robert Russell who held a
knight's fee, less one virgate, unjustly and against the will of the convent
because neither his grandfather nor his father held it of the church nor
should hold it. In the demesne of the church were three and a half knights'
fees in the vill of Cerne with freehold tenure (cum tenura Francolensium).
Each one of these ought to keep ward at the king's command at Corfe Castle
one month in the year, or, if it should please the king to have them in the
army, two knights should be found for his service in the absence of ward (interim
dismissa wardia.) (fn. 10) The abbot
of Cerne as a knight of the shire was summoned to Parliament in 1315 and to
attend the Great Council at Westminster in 1324. (fn. 11)
The
income of the abbey in the Taxatio of 1291
was assessed at £177 8s., including spiritualities amounting to £13 17s.
4d. from the churches of Radipole, Poxwell, Hawkchurch, Symondsbury,
Long Bredy with the chapel of Little Bredy, and Powerstock, (fn. 12) and
temporalities valued at £164 0s. 8d. within the deaneries of
Bridport, Dorchester and Whitchurch. (fn. 13) The clear
annual income of the monks in the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535
was declared at £575 17s. 10¼d., (fn. 14) when they
held the parsonages of Cerne, Kimmeridge, Affpuddle, and Hermitage,(fn. 15) the
manors of Cerne, Hawkchurch, Milton, Symondsbury, Maiden Newton, Mappercombe
with Nettlecombe, Little Bredy, Long Bredy, Winterborne, Nether Cerne,
Minterne, Middlemarsh, Bloxworth, Poxwell, Affpuddle, and Milborne St.
Andrew, with parcels of land in various other manors and parishes. (fn. 16)
The
history of the abbey is perhaps the least eventful of any of the Dorset
houses with the exception of that of the sisters at Tarrant Kaines; the
period between the two great assessments of church property is almost
entirely filled in with the record of fresh grants and privileges added to
those the house already enjoyed, varied with the usual charges and demands
made on houses of the royal patronage. Henry II by a charter undated granted
to the monks wreck in all their lands by the sea, and rights of 'bellum'
'polam' and 'forum' (market) in the vill of Cerne, with all their liberties
to their knights and free-tenants, and their services, doing service of two
knights for scutage and of one knight on an expedition. (fn. 17) John in
1213 ordered Hugh de Neville to grant the abbot seisin of his wood pertaining
to the manor of Bloxworth of which he had previously been disseised by the
king. (fn. 18) Henry
III, who was at the abbey 11 January 1223,(fn. 19) signified
his assent on 12 February, 1230, to the election of Richard prior of
Abbotsbury as abbot; the appointment of a superior being relegated to the
election of the said prior, the sub-prior and sacrist or any two of them. (fn. 20) An
inquiry was instituted in 1275 into the complaint of the abbot that whereas
the charters of Henry II and Henry III, inspected and confirmed by the
present king, entitled him to wreck of the sea on the coast of his lands in
Brownsea and Rentscombe as enjoyed by his predecessors, two tuns of wine cast
upon his lands had been seized by the constable of Corfe Castle and conveyed
to the castle; (fn. 21) as a
result of the inquisition Edward I the following year confirmed the abbot's
claim and ordered the constable to return the tuns in question or make due
reparation. (fn. 22) In
October of the same year the convent received a grant of protection to last a
year. (fn. 23) Edward II
in 1318 granted a licence for the monks to acquire lands and rents to the
yearly value of £10, in part satisfaction of which they obtained 5 messuages,
30 acres of land and a moiety of an acre of meadow in Cerne, and added to
that another five messuages and land in Cerne and Middlemarsh and ten acres
of land in Wootton by Bridport. (fn. 24) In the
same year they obtained a charter of free warren over their lands in Cerne,
Minterne, Middlemarsh, Winterborne, Little Bredy, Poxwell, Bloxworth,
Symondsbury, Wootton, Hawkchurch, Brownsea, Mappercombe, Nettlecombe, Milton,
and Long Bredy &c. (fn. 25) From
Edward III the brethren secured a licence enabling them to acquire further
lands in Estyep by Symondsbury, Wootton and Bloxworth. (fn. 26) On the
death of Abbot John de Hayle, who died at the close of 1382 after holding
office for only six months, the king made over to the prior and convent the
custody of the temporalities of the house, retaining only the knights' fees
and advowsons, for the payment of £20 at the exchequer for the first five
weeks or part of the same, and afterwards at the rate of £4 a week. (fn. 27) Richard
II on payment of a fine in 1392 gave a licence for the alienation in mortmain
by William Batecombe and Edward Stykelane of one messuage, &c., and 5s.
rent in Frome St. Quintin and Milborne St. Andrew to the abbot and convent in
aid of their maintenance and for the support of certain charges. (fn. 28)Two years later
by another licence Richard Chideock and Joan his wife were permitted to make
over certain lands in Symondsbury, not held in chief, to the brethren to
support the charges of the fabric of their church. (fn. 29) The monks
took the precaution of obtaining from Henry IV, Henry VI and Edward IV
inspection and confirmation of the letters patent of Richard II confirming
their previous charters. (fn. 30) On 10
August, 1471, Edward IV issued a general pardon to the abbot for all offences
committed by him previous to 6 August and for all alienations and
acquisitions of land made without the king's licence. (fn. 31) Henry
VIII in 1513 made over to the abbey the free chapel called 'le Hermytage' of
Blackmoor, Dorset. (fn. 32)
The
charges on the abbey included the usual requests for aid in the Scotch war, (fn. 33) and later
on for loans in the war with France. (fn. 34) In the
general distribution of pensioners among the religious houses during the wars
Hugh Cade was allotted to Cerne Abbey in 1315; (fn. 35) the
following year John de Kent was sent to receive the allowance which John
Hawayt had had. (fn. 36) Peter
Polter, or Pulter, was sent by Edward III to the abbey in 1338 in the place
of Thomas de la Garderobe, deceased, (fn. 37) and in
his turn was succeeded by John Serle in 1347. (fn. 38) In
accordance with the usual custom in connexion with houses of the royal
patronage the Close Rolls record the appointment of a clerk to receive a
pension in 1312 on the election of a new abbot, (fn. 39) and again
in the year 1324. (fn. 40) In the
reign of Henry VIII William Bonde, yeoman of the guard, in 1337 received a
grant of a corrody in the monastery void by the death of Richard March. (fn. 41) The
contribution by the abbey to the grant raised by the spirituality in aid of
the expenses incurred by Henry VIII 'in recovering the crown of France' is
set down at £200.(fn. 42)
Many of
the grants to the abbey were made with the object of founding chantries and
establishing anniversaries for the benefit of the grantors. In 1335 William
de Whitefield gave his manor of Milborne Michelstone to the abbot and convent
for the provision of two chaplains to celebrate daily in the abbey church for
his soul and the souls of his ancestors and heirs. (fn. 43)
Roger
Manyngford and John his son in 1382 obtained from Richard II a licence
permitting them to grant the convent the advowson of the church and, on the
death of the chaplain, the reversion of the manor of Stoke by Bindon for
daily celebration for the good estate of the said Roger while living, and for
his soul after death, and the souls of his wives, children and ancestors, and
for the performance of other works of charity. (fn. 44) Edward IV
in 1482 permitted the appropriation of a third part of the manor of Maiden
Newton to the monastery for the sustenance of a chaplain to celebrate daily
at the altar of St. John Baptist for the good estate of the king and
Elizabeth his consort. (fn. 45) Among the
few references to this abbey in the episcopal registers may be found the
record of the establishment of the Stafford chantry by an indenture dated
Trinity Sunday, 1403, between the abbot and Humphrey Stafford, knt., whereby,
in return for the grant of the manor of Milborne St. Andrew, the convent
agreed to provide a chaplain to celebrate a daily mass to be called 'the
Stafford masse' at the altar of Holy Cross in the nave of the church or of
St. Michael near, (fn. 46) for the
good estate of the said Humphrey and Elizabeth his wife, and for their souls
after death, together with the soul of the abbot, and of various other
members of the Stafford family, who, it was stipulated, should be admitted as
participants in all the spiritual benefits of the house, vigils, sacraments,
almsgiving, and in the masses of the monks. An anniversary was to be fixed on
which certain doles and distributions should be made, and a poor man or
bedeman yearly appointed whose special duty it was to be present at the
founders' mass, and to pray continually for their souls, in return for which
he should receive the sum of 17s. 4d. yearly, and five yards of
cloth for a gown. (fn. 47) In the Valor of 1535 the charges on the
monastery include the sum of 46s. 8d. in a yearly distribution
to the poor on 14 December for the soul of Ailmer, 'sometime duke of
Cornwall, founder of the monastery;' 66s. 8d. assigned for the
provision of food, clothing, beds and other necessaries in the abbey for two
poor men for the soul of the said founder, and a weekly distribution of bread
and ale to thirteen poor men 'called freers' at a yearly cost of £11 5s.
4d. (fn. 48) The total
annual expenditure of the house under the head of almsgiving and in
commemoration of the souls of founders and benefactors came to £34 6s.
3d. (fn. 49)
Articles
containing charges of a serious character were brought up on the eve of the
dissolution against the last abbot, Thomas Corton, wherein he was denounced (1)
for gross immorality, (2) for letting the church and abbey lands go to ruin,
(3) for wasting the goods of the house on his mistresses and natural
children, and bestowing gifts out of the conventual funds on the former on
their marriage. (fn. 50) William
Christchurch, monk of the house, came forward also with complaints that the
abbot did not maintain constituted obits and doles, and permitted some of his
monks to be proprietors, that he allowed two of them 'who daily haunt queans'
to celebrate mass without confession, to play at dice and cards all night and
celebrate in the morning; women, it was alleged, were allowed freely into the
abbey. In addition 'Dan Will Christchurch' had his tale of personal injuries
to recount; he had been imprisoned by the abbot for his illspeaking,
dismissed from the monastery, and the prior of Monmouth had been given twenty
nobles to receive him in his priory where he had been very ill-handled. (fn. 51) It would
be rash to accept these statements without more reliable evidence, but they
were sufficient to draw down on the abbey the officials of the High Commissioner,
and abbot and monks were forbidden to go outside the bounds of the monastery.
Great inconvenience naturally resulted, and on 2 September, 1535, a letter
was written to Cromwell requesting in the interests of the house that the
abbot might have liberty to ride abroad to attend to the affairs of his
monastery 'as you have allowed the abbot of Sherborne,' adding, 'the abbot
sends you his fee of 5 marks sterling.' (fn. 52)
The
King's Commissioners were instructed to induce superiors to surrender their
houses promptly and willingly in the hope of securing liberal treatment for
themselves. In December, 1538, Sir Thomas Arundel wrote to Cromwell that the
abbot of Cerne, in spite of persuasion, was making efforts to obtain the
continuance of his house, and with that object in view was prepared to offer
'His Majesty' 500 marks and 'your lordship' £100. (fn. 53) The doom
of the house could not be averted, however, and on 15 March following (1539)
the abbot, with the prior and fifteen of his brethren surrendered the abbey
to the king in the person of John Tregonwell, the commissioner, (fn. 54) the abbot
subsequently receiving a pension of £100, the prior £10, one brother £8,
another £7, the sub-prior and nine of the inmates sums ranging from £6 13s.
4d. to £5 6s. 8d., and three remaining brethren 40s.
each. (fn. 55)
Abbots of
Cerne
A
thirteenth-century round seal with very fine but imperfect impression
represents the west front of the church, with elaborate details of early
English architecture. On the foliated crockets of the roof on the left side
there is a small bird, on the right the corresponding bird has been broken
off. In base under two roundheaded arches of masonry are two half-length
figures of the founders, St. Augustine and Æthelmar, with their hands
uplifted to support the church above them. On each side behind them a
cinquefoil, that on the right broken away. The legend is wanting. (fn. 86)
An
example of the above seal with very imperfect impression is to be found
attached to the surrender deed of the abbey. (fn. 87)
The
abbot's seal of the fifteenth century, pointed oval, with fine but imperfect
impression, shows in three canopied niches full-length figures of the Virgin
crowned, with the Child in her right hand, and a sceptre fleur-de-lis in her
left hand, St. Catherine with crown, nimbus and wheel on the left, and St.
Margaret with crown on the right standing on a dragon and piercing his head.
In base under a round-headed arch the abbot, half-length, with mitre and
staff, praying. On the masonry at the sides two shields of arms; on the left
a lion rampant within a border bezanty; the right a cross engrailed between
four lily-flowers slipped, Cerne Abbey. (fn. 88) Legend
defective:—
SIGILL .
. . . DE CERNE
The signet of Abbot Roger Bemyster is
attached to a deed dated 1475, of which only an indistinct fragment remains
representing a ram or goat with the legend [R]OGER[US]. (fn. 89)
Footnotes
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