If this violence was experienced in subduing the tenderest of human sympathy; how much more severe was the conflict of dark passions only half subdued, or malignant depravity only partially reformed. These dark lines of human nature were sometimes prominent, even when the monk was clothed in sackcloth and ashes; and are markedly visible in the life of William de Trompington. But let not the reader think that he was appointed with the hearty suffrages of the fraternity, he was elected at the recommendation of the "king," a very significant term in those days of despotic rule, at which choice became a mere farce. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh;" and the monks soon began to perceive with regret and trembling the worldly ways of the new abbot, which he could not hide even under his abbatical robes. In a place dedicated to holy deeds and heavenly thoughts, worldly conduct or unbridled passion strikes the mind as doubly criminal, and loads the heart with dismay and suffering; at least so my lord Prior regarded it, whose righteous indignation could no longer endure these manifestations of a worldly mind. So he gently remonstrated with his superior, and hinted at the impropriety of such conduct. This was received not in Christian fellowship, but with haughty and passionate displeasure; and from that day the fate of poor Raymond was irrevocably sealed. The abbot thinking to suppress the dissatisfaction which was now becoming general and particularly inconvenient, sent him a long distance off to the cell of Tynmouth in Northumberland, where all were strangers to him. Nor could the tears of the old man turn the heart of his cruel lord, nor the rebellious murmurings of the brothers avail. Thank God such cases are not very frequent; and the reader of monkish annals will not find many instances of such cold and unfeeling cruelty to distress his studies or to arouse his indignation. But obedience was a matter of course in the monastery; it was one of the most imperative duties of the monk, and if not cheerfully he was compelled to manifest alacrity in fulfilling even the most unpleasant mandate. But I would have forgiven this transaction on the score of expediency perhaps, had not the abbot heaped additional insults and cruelties upon the aged offender; but his books which he had transcribed with great diligence and care, he forcibly deprived him of, violenter spoliatum, and so robbed him, as his historian says, of all those things which would have been a comfort and solace to his old age.[405]
The books which the abbot thus became dishonestly possessed of—for I cannot regard it in any other light—we are told he gave to the library of the monastery; and he also presented some books to more than one neighboring church.[406] But he was not bookworm himself, and dwelt I suspect with greater fondness over his wealthy rent roll than on the pages of the fine volumes in the monastic library. The monks, however, amidst all these troubles retained their love of books; indeed it was about this time that John de Basingstoke, who had studied at Athens, brought a valuable collection of Greek books into England, and greatly aided in diffusing a knowledge of that language into this country. He was deacon of Saint Albans, and taught many of the monks Greek; Nicholas, a chaplain there, became so proficient in it, that he was capable of greatly assisting bishop Grostete in translating his Testament of the twelve patriarchs into Latin.[407]
Roger de Northone, the twenty-fourth abbot of Saint Albans, gave "many valuable and choice books to the monastery," and among them the commentaries of Raymond, Godfrey, and Bernard, and a book containing the works and discourses of Seneca. His bibliomaniacal propensities, and his industry in transcribing books, is indicated by an illumination representing this worthy abbot deeply engrossed with his ponderous volumes.[408]
I have elsewhere related an anecdote of Wallingford, abbot of St. Albans, and the sale of books effected between him and Richard de Bury. It appears that rare and munificent collector gave many and various noble books, multos et varios libros nobiles, to the monastery of St. Albans whilst he was bishop of Durham.[409] Michael de Wentmore succeeded Wallingford, and proved a very valuable benefactor to the monastery; and by wise regulations and economy greatly increased the comforts and good order of the abbey. He gave many books, plures libros, to the library, besides two excellent Bibles,[410] one for the convent and one for the abbot's study, and to be kept especially for his private reading; an ordinal, very beautiful to look upon, being sumptuously bound.[411] Indeed, so multis voluminibus did he bestow, that he expended more than 100l. in this way, an immense sum in those old days, when a halfpenny a day was deemed fair wages for a scribe.[412]
Wentmore was succeeded by Thomas de la Mare, a man of singular learning, and remarkable as a patron of it in others; it was probably by his direction that John of Tynmouth wrote his Sanctilogium Britannæ, for that work was dedicated to him. A copy, presented by Thomas de la Mare to the church of Redburn, is in the British Museum, much injured by fire, but retaining at the end the following lines:
"Hunc librum dedet Dominus Thomas de la Mare, Albas monasterii S. Albani Anglorum Proto martyris Deo et Ecclesiæ B. Amphibali de Redburn, ut fratris indem in cursu existentus per ejus lecturam poterint cœlestibus instrui, et per Sanctorum exempla virtutibus insignixi."[413]
But there are few who have obtained so much reputation as John de Whethamstede, perhaps the most learned abbot of this monastery. He was formerly monk of the cell at Tynmouth, and afterwards prior of Gloucester College at Oxford, from whence he was appointed to the government of St. Albans. Whethamstede was a passionate bibliomaniac, and when surrounded with his books he cared little, or perhaps from the absence of mind so often engendered by the delights of study, he too frequently forgot, the important affairs of his monastery, and the responsible duties of an abbot; but absorbed as he was with his studies, Whethamstede was not a mere
..... "Bookful blockhead ignorantly read
With loads of learned lumber in his head."
It is true he was an inveterate reader, amorously inclined towards vellum tomes and illuminated parchments; but he did not covet them like some collectors for the mere pride of possessing them, but gloried in feasting on their intellectual charms and delectable wisdom, and sought in their attractive pages the means of becoming a better Christian and a wiser man. But he was so excessively fond of books, and became so deeply engrossed with his book-collecting pursuits, that it is said some of the monks showed a little dissatisfaction at his consequent neglect of the affairs of the monastery; but these are faults I cannot find the heart to blame him for, but am inclined to consider his conduct fully redeemed by the valuable encouragement he gave to literature and learning. Generous to a fault, abundant in good deeds and costly expenditure, he became involved in pecuniary difficulties, and found that the splendor and wealth which he had scattered so lavishly around his monastery, and the treasures with which he had adorned the library shelves, had not only drained his ample coffers, but left a large balance unsatisfied. Influenced by this circumstance, and the murmurings of the monks, and perhaps too, hoping to obtain more time for study and book-collecting, he determined to resign his abbacy, and again become a simple brother. The proceedings relative to this affair are curiously related by a contemporary, John of Amersham.[414] In Whethamstede's address to the monks on this occasion, he thus explains his reasons for the step he was about to take. After a touching address, wherein he intimates his determination, he says,[415] "Ye have known moreover how, from the first day of my appointment even until this day, assiduously and continually without any intermission I have shown singular solicitude in four things, to wit, in the erection of conventual buildings, in the writing of books, in the renewal of vestments, and in the acquisition of property. And perhaps, by reason of this solicitude of mine, ye conceive that I have fallen into debt; yet that you may know, learn and understand what is in this matter the certain and plain truth, and when ye know it ye may report it unto others, know ye for certain, yea, for most certain, that for all these things about which, and in which I have expended money, I am not indebted to any one living more than 10,000 marks; but that I wish freely to acknowledge this debt, and so to make satisfaction to every creditor, that no survivor of any one in the world shall have to demand anything from my successor."
The monks on hearing this declaration were sorely affected, and used every persuasion to induce my lord abbot to alter his determination, but without success; so that they were compelled to seek another in whom to confide the government of their abbey. Their choice fell upon John Stokes, who presided over them for many years; but at his death the love and respect which the brothers entertained for Whethamstede, was manifested by unanimously electing him again, an honor which he in return could not find the heart to decline. But during all this time, and after his restoration, he was constantly attending to the acquisition of books, and numerous were the transcripts made under his direction by the scribes and enriched by his munificence, for some of the most costly copies produced in that century were the fruits of their labor; during his time there were more volumes transcribed than in that of any other abbot since the foundation of the abbey, says the manuscript from whence I am gleaning these details, and adds that the number of them exceeded eighty-seven. He commenced the transcription of the great commentary of Nicholas de Lyra upon the whole Bible, which had then been published some few years. "Det Deus, ut in nostris felicem habere valeat consummacionem,"[416] exclaims the monk, nor will the reader be surprised at the expression, if he for one moment contemplates the magnitude of the undertaking.
