Mr. Sampson Sandys was succeeded at Lanarth by his nephew, Mr. William Sandys, a colonel in the army of the East India Company, who rebuilt the house, and greatly improved the place.
The rectory was, before the Reformation, appropriated to the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, founded by King John.
In the schedule of the property returned to King Henry the VIII. on its surrender, are the following entries, which may be found in the Augmentation Office.
Com. Cornub.
| St. Kivion—Redd. Assis. lib. ten. | 2 | 15 | 10 |
| Redd, et Firm. ten. ad volunt’ | 8 | 2 | 4 |
| Terr. dominic. | 1 | 16 | 8 |
| Tregonon, firma molend. | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Opera autumpnal’ | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Perquis’ cur’ | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Firma rector’ | 57 | 4 | 0 |
| Helston red. annual’ | 6 | 3 | 4 |
The reasons assigned for King John founding this magnificent Cistercian Abbey of Beaulieu, or De Bello Loco, are so curious, and so illustrative of the profligacy and weak superstition united in forming his character, that the Editor thinks it right to insert the following original, with a translation.
Anno sexto Regis Johannis idem Rex construxit quoddam Cœnobium ordinis Cisterciensis in Anglia, et Bellum Locum nominavit; quod quidem Cœnobium tali occasione narratur ab eo factum. Quia enim idem Rex versus Abbates,
et alias personas ordinis Cisterciensis prænominatas, supra modum, sine causa, est iratus, et eosdem non mediocriter per ministros suos gravaret, ad quoddam Parliamentum, quod ipse apud Lincolniam tenuit, Abbates dicti ordinis venerunt, si quo modo Regis ejusdem gratiam et favorem potuissent aliquatenus invenire. Quibus visis, sicut crudelis animi erat, præcepit suis ut dictos Abbates sub pedibus equorum viliter conculcarent; Regis vero injustum tam facinorosum et inauditum hactenus mandatum ab aliquo principe Christiano, perficere nolentibus, hii Domini Abbates, jam fere desperantes de Regia benignitate, ad sua hospitia festinanter accesserunt. Nocte vero sequenti, cùm idem Rex Johannes in lecto suo dormiret, ei quod coram quodam Judice, prædictis Abbatibus illuc assistentibus, ductus fuerit: qui eisdem Abbatibus jusserat dictum regem supra dorsum suum cum flagellis et virgis verberare: quam quidem verberationem, mane vigilans, se sensisse dixit. Sompnium vero suum cuidam personæ ecclesiasticæ de curia sua narravit, qui dixit ei, quod Deus erga eum supra modum esset misericors, qui eum tam clementer et paternè in præsenti seculo dignatus est corripere, et eidem sua misteria revelare; et consuluit Regem ut pro Abbatibus dicti ordinis velociter mitteret, et ab eisdem de reatu suo veniam humiliter imploraret.
Rege siquidem acquiescente, pro eis, ut ad Regem venirent, missum est. Quod audientes per nuncium Regis, putaverunt se ab Anglia fore exterminandos; Deo tamen, qui suos non deserit, aliter disponente, cùm nunc ad conspectum Regis venissent, indignationem suam quam ergo eos habuit Rex remisit.
“In the sixth year of his reign King John founded a certain monastery of the Cistercian order in England, and gave it the name of Beaulieu; and the following account is given of the cause which induced the King to found this abbey.