“Know all men by these presents, that I, John, King of England, have, out of love to God, confirmed in perpetual offering to God, to the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and the Canons-Regular of Lantonay, the donations or grants hereunder described, which have been reasonably and lawfully conceded to them, viz.: By deed of gift from our father the late King Henry, the chapel near the Castle of Gloucester, the school in the same town, a moiety of the fishery of Horsepol, which is in our domain, with iiij lib. of land in the manor of Bernington, as alms in perpetuity.”—So much for the new Abbey near Gloucester.
He then recites and confirms the benefactions of Hugh and Walter de Laci, consisting of lands, woods, fisheries, villages, houses, and whatever property in those times was essential to the prosperity of a great religious establishment. It is a long deed; and, besides those already noticed, introduces a full list of benefactors, whose names and families—though of great note and influence at that day—have long vanished from the political horizon, and are seldom found but in ancient title-deeds, or charters like the present, in which their good works are faithfully and minutely registered.
It is to be observed, however, that after the establishment of New Llanthony on the Severn, the benefactions to the Mother-Abbey are few and insignificant. The former, under the patronage of the Milo family, became suddenly rich, and able to introduce those embellishments of art, and that luxurious mode of life, which opened a wide channel for the diffusion of its revenues; but while it increased its splendour, insured its ultimate poverty.
By a Deed given by Edward the Second, in the eighteenth year of his reign, the property conveyed to Llanthony by Walter de Laci and others, is again revised and confirmed. He grants also permission to elect from their own body, or from any other, as they may see meet, a fit person to preside over the Church and Priory of Llanthony, whenever a vacancy occurs, concluding—“Et ut hæc libertas eligendi eis in perpetuum perseveret illibata, huic scripto Sigillum meum est appositum.”
The Deed given by Walter and Hugh de Laci to the Canons of Llanthony is then recited; and by this document a vast amount of property, privileges, arable lands, pastures, fisheries, hunting-grounds, and various other benefactions, are described as finally made over to the Prior and Brotherhood, out of pure love for the glory of God, the welfare of their own souls, the souls of their predecessors, successors, and kinsfolk.
In this munificent grant is comprised the whole valley—‘totam vallem’—of the Ewyas, with all its appurtenances, in which the church is situated; describing, at the same time, its boundaries:—“Et concedo quod habeant omnimodam venationem et dominationem infra metus terræ suæ.” All this is followed by other unquestionable privileges, such as united with the spiritual an amount of despotic power, which invested the Prior and Canons of Llanthony with an authority in things temporal, no way inferior to that exercised by a feudal Baron in his own castle, and over his own vassals.[333]
But in spite of its revenues, and the ‘personal example and influence of a few—but only a few—distinguished members and benefactors of this monastery, it fell gradually into disrepute and decay.’ The principal cause has been generally ascribed to the rival Abbey at Gloucester, by which benefactors were alienated, and good works averted from that on the Honddy. But there were other causes at work—the evil lives of the Priors themselves; their indolence, luxury, and licentiousness; their dissipating the funds, and perverting their use to unsanctified purposes; which did more to degrade monastic habits, and pull down the sacred edifice, than could have been accomplished by their most inveterate enemies. And enemies they certainly had—both formidable and frequent; for they were exposed, by their insulated position and supposed wealth, to irruptions from those bands of marauders, to whom plunder and forced contribution from holy men were more like a pastime than military enterprise. But of this hereafter.
