The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal SeeSweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
History
The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See
Sweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
Peterborough Cathedral
=Robert of Button= (1262-1274) fought in the battle of Northampton
against the king. The king, coming to assault the town, "espied amongst
his enemies' ensigns on the wall the ensign of the Abbey of Peterburgh,
whereat he was so angry that he vowed to destroy the nest of such ill
birds. But the town of Northampton being reduced, Abbot Robert, by
mediation of friends to the king, saved both himself and church, but was
forced to pay for his delinquency, to the king 300 marks, to the queen
£20, to Prince Edward £60, to the Lord Souch £6, 13s. 4d." When the
fortune of war changed and the Barons were victorious at Lewes, "then
did the other side fleece the Abbot of Peterburgh for his contribution
to the king." After Evesham again the king repeated his exactions, and
the unfortunate abbot had to pay enormously. The total amount that he
paid on these several occasions is put down at a sum which seems almost
impossible, being upwards of £4320. This abbot attended the Council of
Lyons in 1273, and died abroad as he was returning to England. He was
buried abroad; his heart, being brought to Peterborough, was interred
before the altar in one of the chapels in the south transept.
=Richard of London= (1274-1295) is said to have been born in the parish
of S. Pancras. He was a monk of the house, and while sacrist had erected
the Bell-tower and given two bells. A great deal of litigation was
carried on in his time, and he and the abbey were fortunate in having in
one of the monks, William of Woodford, a man of great skill and
judgement, to conduct the different cases before the courts. So
uniformly successful was he and so wisely did he act as coadjutor of
Richard when he became very old and infirm, that he was elected to the
abbacy on the death of Richard of London in 1295.
=William of Woodford= (1295-1299) only lived four years after he became
abbot. After him came =Godfrey of Crowland= (1299-1321), the celerarius
of the monastery. He is very highly praised in the chronicles for the
various services he rendered to the abbey. More than once he was at the
heavy charge of entertaining the king and his court, and he contributed
largely to the expenses of the war with Scotland.
[Illustration: Iron Railings, 1721.]
=Adam of Boothby= (1321-1338), one of the monks, was a man of great
"innocence and simplicity" His revenues were much employed in
contributions to the king's expenses and in royal entertainments; and
his energies devoted to divers legal difficulties connected with manors,
wardships, repairs of bridges, rights of hunting, and the like. Of the
last eleven abbots, whose rule extended over a period of 124 years, all
but one had been monks of the place.
=Henry of Morcot= (1338-1353) in all probability was also one of the
monks, but this is not so recorded. And the same may be said of all the
remaining abbots, but the historians do not say so until the time of
William in 1471. At the same time it is never said that any of them came
from elsewhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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