It is natural to ask in what conditions the
tenants of these chambers lived, and the answer can be given in some detail. We have a long strip of frail paper,[ 47] 3 ft. 7 in. × 5½ in., which deals with the post-mortem distribution of the effects of a monk whom William Colchester must have known long and well. Richard Excestr' said his first Mass, as did Colchester himself, in 1361-2; he became Prior quite early in life, in 1377; but, as we have seen, he resigned the office in 1382, and we do not know why his tenure of it was so brief. That the reason was not discreditable to himself may be inferred from the fact that on his resignation he was given precedence next after the new Prior, receiving a pension of four marks, a double, or Prior's, assignment of clothing, and a double share of the pittances that marked certain anniversaries, till his death in 1397. In this paper, then, his modest effects are arranged according to the rooms in which they stood, like the items in an auctioneer's catalogue when the sale is to take place, by order of the executors, on the premises. We gather that he has a reception-room, or "aula," where he can entertain a few friends, with a special welcome for any Brother who can play chess (for among his possessions are a chess-board and a set of chess-men[ 48]); a pantry, or "buteleria," for his little store of plate and crockery and napery, including a silver cup and cover, thirteen silver spoons (was it a complete "Apostle" set?), and a table-cloth 3½ yards in length; a bedroom, or "camera," containing his white bedstead with a tester over it, and a "parpoynt," as well as his wardrobe; a kitchen, or "coquina," equipped with "droppyngpannes," "dressyng-Knyues," "flesshhokys," "anndyrons," a "treuet," and three pans which like the trivet are honestly described in the catalogue as being the worse for wear;[ 49] and a library, or "studium," with ten books and three maps. Among these books there was of course some scholastic theology and canon law, but there was also the Latin version of the Book of Messer Marco Polo, as if to signify that the latest modern literature was by no means excluded. The Provost of King's, who was kind enough to look through the list for me, takes this to be, as I suspected,[ 50] a very early instance of English interest in the Venetian traveller's adventures; and added that he believes it to be still more rare that a man of this monk's period should possess a map of Scotland.
As there was nothing exceptional in the disposal of the ex-prior's goods,[ 51] the incident may be fairly taken as an illustration of Convent life as Colchester lived it, and we may therefore go on to notice that, putting together the sum that Excestr' left in cash and that which was realized by the sale of some of these articles, the Convent was able to pay the cost of his illness and burial; the items ranged from 2d. for milk to 10s. for the fee of the brief-writer who wrote out the formal announcement of his death on one shilling's worth of parchment for the information of other Benedictine houses, and £4 13s. 4d. for a marble slab with a memorial inscription. As Excestr' died in 1397, we may think of Abbot Colchester as saying the last words over the open grave of his former neighbour in Little Cloisters.
VI
ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER
Our Archdeacon was not destined to remain such for any great time. On November 29, 1386, there passed away during a meal-time[ 52] at his manor house of la Neyte, near Westminster, our great builder, Abbot Nicholas Litlington, to whom we owe the south and west sides of the Great Cloister, the Little Cloisters, Jerusalem Chamber, the Abbot's Dining Hall, and much besides of the present Deanery, and the great Missal.[ 53] The vigour of Litlington's character can be realized from what we have seen of the fight which he maintained through William Colchester for the privileges of the Abbey, but Colchester must have witnessed a more remarkable proof of the old man's pluck. In the Liber Niger (f. 87) there is a record to the effect that a threatened invasion of our shores by the French King in 1386 caused the Chapter of the Convent to come to the unanimous opinion that the old Abbot and two of his monks, John Canterbery and John Burgh, should don full armour and proceed as far as the coast, on the ground that it was lawful to do so for the defence of the realm.[ 54] It is astonishing that Litlington should have contemplated such an enterprise at his age, for we have a letter in Norman French, not dated, but clearly referring to this period, in which he excuses himself on the ground of "age et feblesse" for not coming to the Abbey "en propre persone" to bring to the King the famous ring of St. Edward. But Litlington's possession of armour cannot be doubted. There remains a schedule[ 55] of his effects at his death, which shows that those which passed into the hands of his successor consisted chiefly of various accoutrements, and included six hauberks; a helmet called a "pisanum"; seven others called basnetts with ventailles or vizors; a "ketelhat"; a pair of steel gloves; some "leg-harneys"; fore-braces and back-braces; and four lance-heads.