Essays in Literature and HistoryFroude, James Anthony
History
Essays in Literature and History
Froude, James Anthony
History; Literature
"Nor is Pray the only house into which you have
introduced disorder. At the nunnery of Sapwell, which
you also contend to be under your jurisdiction, you
change the prioresses and superiors again and again at
your own will and caprice. Here, as well as at Pray,
you depose those who are good and religious; you
promote to the highest dignities the worthless and the
vicious. The duties of the order are cast aside, virtue
is neglected; and by these means so much cost and
extravagance has been caused, that to provide means for
your indulgence you have introduced certain of your
brethren to preside in their houses under the name
of guardians, when in fact they are no guardians, but
thieves and notorious villains; and with their help you
have caused and permitted the goods of the same priories
to be dispensed, or to speak more truly to be dissipated,
in the above-described corruptions and other enormous
and accursed offences. Those places once religious are
rendered and reputed as it were profane and impious;
and by your own and your creatures' conduct are so
impoverished as to be reduced to the verge of ruin.
"In like manner, also, you have dealt with certain other
cells of monks, which you say are subject to you, even
within the monastery of the glorious proto-martyr, Alban
himself. You have dilapidated the common property;
you have made away with the jewels; the copses, the
woods, the underwood, almost all the oaks and other
forest trees, to the value of eight thousand marks and
more, you have made to be cut down without distinction,
and they have by you been sold and alienated. The
brethren of the abbey, some of whom, as is reported,
are given over to all the evil things of the world, neglect
the service of God altogether. They live with harlots
and mistresses publicly and continuously, within the
precincts of the monastery and without. Some of them,
who are covetous of honour and promotion, and desirous
therefore of pleasing your cupidity, have stolen and
made away with the chalices and other jewels of the
church. They have even sacrilegiously extracted the
precious stones from the very shrine of St. Alban; and
you have not punished these men, but have rather
knowingly supported and maintained them. If any of
your brethren be living justly and religiously, if any be
wise and virtuous, these you straightway depress and
hold in hatred ... You ..."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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