Rnnk .A/&//3 PRESENTED BY — — ====== il5 NETLEY ABBEY. A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ©tsternan JWonasterg OF NETLEY, by CUTHBERT MONK, M.A. All Rights Reserved. sorriLuirrox : HAMPSHIRE ADVERTISER COI'XTV NEWSPAPER OFFICE. lssc. :Ja f 2 a X LA O o Q 2: < X PQ CQ < NETLEY ABBEY. A DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE ©tsteman Jttonasterg OF NETLEY, BY CUTHBERT MONK, M.A. *i\ "3"£-Arvn tig^tr- ^& ■* 'J All Rights Reserved. SOUTHAMPTON : HAMPSHIRE ADVERTISER COUNTY NEWSPAPER OFFICE. 1886. 2R (=q'c ■/Y-5//3 By Exchange Attny and. V V y ClttJ> / .Ss 6 J PREFACE. The following pages are an attempt to give an accurate description of Netley Abbey, and an unbiassed account of the importance and influence of the monastic orders at the period of their greatest usefulness. The ground plan has been carefully compared with that of other abbeys of the same monastic order, and the writer believes that he has correctly named each part of the monastery. He acknowledges the help received from the Rev. E. L. Cutt's work, "Turning Points of English Church History/' and Guillaume's Netley Abbey, with gratitude. ROUTES TO NETLEY. From Southampton Netley Abbey is easily reached by road, rail, or water. Frequent trains run from the Docks and Northam Stations to Netley, about a mile distant from the ruin. If desired, a conveyance may be hired at the latter Station. A pedestrian, with ordinary powers of locomotion, by crossing the Itchen on the Floating Bridge, and taking the road through Woolston, can be at the place as soon on foot, as by rail. Or if time is no object, and wind and tide serve, a boat may be taken from any of the numerous watermen plying near the pier and the Itchen. INTRODUCTORY. Why does everybody go to see a ruin ? It is not one person or another ; the taste is almost, perhaps, quite universal, which places a ruined abbey or castle at the head of the lions of a neighbourhood. We visit and revisit them, measure and re-measure all their dimensions, search into all the holes and corners with which such buildings are so plentifully stored, and which years of neglect and decay have abundantly increased. Not content with descriptions, we go to satisfy ourselves of their accuracy, and think no pains too great by which we obtain information on a subject so universally interesting. There are many causes that contribute to promote this taste ; some go to see such sights merely to satisfy an inquisitive taste, and return perhaps not one whit wiser ; others, again, visit them for fashion's sake, that they may talk of what they have seen, and be able to introduce the subject as a topic of conversation ; some, again, make a pic-nic to such a ruin, and VI. INTRODUCTORY. go merely for the pleasure of a chat with their cousins or sweethearts, have an hour or two of flirtation, and wake next morning with as much knowledge of the scene they have visited, as much advantage gained, as if they had never been there. Xow we do not mean to say that there is not a time for pleasure, or that people's minds should ever be on the stretch for information ; but there is a more worthy object to be gained in witnessing the scenes of by-gone glory, and nothing more likely to be instructive than a visit to the abodes of great and holy men of former days, and contemplating the changes which have taken place, whether for better or worse, since the days when those houses which are now fast crumbling to decay, were the hallowed precincts of some religious, or as we are too apt to say in our day, superstitious institution. To say that our monastic institutions were built by a superstitious people, in an age of uncommon darkness, — that they were applied only to impose upon the laity, and to increase the power and luxuries of the clergy, is not a true statement of fact, and it certainly is not charitable. When men claim to have certain religious feelings and thoughts — when their conduct accords with their claims, and especially when that conduct implies self-denial and a resignation of the riches of the world, it seems unreasonable not to give them credit for speaking the truth ; and such were most of those who founded and endowed those religious institutions which were once the glory of England, and whose verv ruins reproach us with the thought of what we might have now enjoyed, had the liberality of their benefactors been preserved to religious uses. We do not suppose that all were guided by pure desires; some were instigated by ambition probably, and a wish to leave their names to posterity ; some INTEODUCTORY. Vll. thought that by giving up a portion of their wealth they could purchase for themselves that eternal happiness which the violence and rapacity of their previous lives seemed little to deserve ; some, in memory of their friends, for whom they desired to purchase the prayers of the Church, were drawn into acts of liberality. But granting that all were not urged by the same feelings, yet in all cases, with few exceptions, we must allow some justice to those claims of religion which all must have professed before they would have pu tthemselves out of the way to promote its glory, and increase its means of doing good. It is but just, then, to say that those who thus dedicated their wealth to God, were moved to such acts by feelings of religion, sometimes indeed, if we will so have it, of superstition. That they were dedicated to God, no one can deny, — nor that their founders and benefactors were inspired with holy and religious zeal. It does not follow, of course, that the partakers of their liberality might not abuse the benefits, but it was much more frequently spent nobly and worthily. Those who were most liberal in their abuse of monastic institutions just before the dissolution were those who derived great temporal advantages from their ruin ; and we cannot acquit them, in the zeal they showed for their destruction, of interested motives. Therefore notwithstanding all the calumnies of enemies and such opponents as these, we may believe that neitfier the monasteries nor the monks were so bad as we are generally taught to think them. Among the advantages of their existence, it was surely no trifling one for England when daily and hourly the clergy were offering their prayers and praises to God for the prosperity of the church and nation ; w r hen each abbey lormed a peaceful and verdant oasis in a world which was viii. INTRODUCTORY. unhappily too often a scene of violence and rapacity, and offered a home to those retiring and gentle spirits who recoiled from the discord and disturbance that reigned beyond their hallowed precincts ; who deemed themselves happier in the pursuit of theological study, or engaged in the exercises of the religion of peace, than they could have been in hurrying hundreds of their fellow creatures to a violent and dreadful death. This, surely, was no small thing. Again, the monasteries were the sources from which was derived all the learning of the kingdom. To almost every monastery a school was attached, to which a master was appointed, paid out of the revenues. Besides this, there was an almoner who distributed alms daily at the gate to the poor and needy. The loss of these advantages was felt most severely at the time ; complaints were made of the loss of the schools ; whole villages were depopulated, and their inhabi- tants ruined by the expulsion of those to whom they had been accustomed to look for assistance. While Christianity exists we shall be grateful for the blessings which the fathers and the schoolmen left us, in the writings which are the best repository of the evidence of our faith. Could the abbeys have continued, with such reform- ation as has taken place, for example, in the Colleges of our Universities, they might have been a blessing to all generations. They were not, altogether, destroyed for the sake of religion, though this was sometimes made an excuse, but to satisfy the rapacity of a ruthless monarch, that he might enrich his favourites. Had they never been destroyed, we should not have had poor rates, for the liberal alms at the open door would have supplied the needs which are now met in the dining-hall, as they call it, of a union workhouse. The INTRODUCTORY. IX. abbeys too would have supplied teachers for our schools, and missionaries for the heathen, those, too, as well, if not better qualified for their offices than the majority of those now appointed, at least if we may conjecture from what they did while they continued in a flourishing state. We do not say that they did not err both in morals and doctrine, or doubt that the correction of their errors had become a necessity ; but while we grant that some alterations were for the better, we think, at the same time, that some were for the worse. To every thoughtful mind it is a painful sight to see the beautiful buildings raised by our forefathers wasted and ruined. That demolished cloister has seen holy men pursuing, in its sacred recess, the study of religious lore — that ruined, roofless, Church has resounded with the praises of the Most High, — many a solemn Be Profundis has been chanted within its walls — there was the high altar — there the seats of the monks — there the seats of the choristers — and here stood long rows of worshippers. It is difficult, perhaps, to realize in these days what the life of a monastery was, but however it was abused, it displayed more often than not the beauty of holiness, and from its ruins it is scarcely possible to discern the fair proportions of its ancient splendour, despoiled by what we cannot but think, was the hand of barbarous and cruel sacrilege. " But such thoughts are unheeded when idly we gaze On the desolate grandeur of earlier days ; 'Tis the wreck that is lovely, the wider the rent — The fuller a view of the landscape is lent. The wind that now sighs through the tenantless halls No thoughts of loved voices to memory recalls ; INTKODUCTOKY. Oh, ruins are lovely when o'er them is cast The green veil of ivy to shadow the past ! When the rent and the chasm that fearfully yawn'd By the moss of the lichens are sweetly adorn' d, When long grass doth carpet the desolate halls, And trees have sprung np in the whitening walls And woven a curtain of loveliest green, Where once the rich folds of the damask were seen." -HE<«f THE RISE OE MONASTERIES. XTO part of our English History has heen so misrepresented, or is still more generally misunderstood, than the prominent and important part which the monasteries played for several centuries. To rightly estimate their value vre must trace out the spirit which first gave rise to them. In Old Testament times we find individual examples of those who endeavoured to live unworldly lives, in close communion with God, as Elijah and John the Baptist. Among the Primitive Christians, the community of goods was in entire keeping with the spirit which led to the monastic life. The persecutions of the early Christians drove many of them into the Wilderness where they could live peaceful and contemplative lives as hermits. At first they had little separate caves cut out of the mountain side, or in cells of the ancient Egyptian 2 THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. Tombs ; and fed on the wild fruit and herbs of the place. Their piety and sanctity attracted others to settle near them to have the benefit of their wisdom and guidance in a holy life. In course of time a number of them agreed to certain rules under the guidance of a chosen head ; a wail generally enclosed a number of such cells; and the establishment was called a Laura. An exchange from such a simple arrangement to a regular monastery, with an abbot as superior, was easy. St. Antony, who, though born to a large estate, renounced the world and assumed the habit of a recluse, is said to have been the founder of monachism. For nearly twenty years he lived in a ruined castle in the Nile Desert, and his fame drew manj followers, for whom he erected monasteries. He died a.d., 356. One of his disciples, Pachomius, drew up the first written code of laws for the regulation of these communities. St. Basil, after- wards Bishop of Caesarea, who died a.d. 378, introduced this monastic system into Asia Minor, whence it spread over the East. St. Augustine is said to have founded monasteries in Africa, and St. Martin of Tours in France ; and about the same time they were introduced into the British Church, but we do not know by whom, though probably they came by way of France. At first here the vows were not made perpetually binding, for often, it is recorded, the monks quitted the cloister for the world. In THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. 3 early times the monastery was the great centre of Diocesan work, the seat of education, and the Bishop in his place at the head of it. In 529, a.d., St. Benedict, an Italian of noble birth, founded the religious order of the Benedictines, and erected a monastery on Monte Cassino — a hill between Rome and Naples. He was followed by a number of persons who adopted the vows he established of obedience, poverty, and chastity, to which he added another rule, that of manual labour for seven hours a day, not only as a means of support, but also as a duty to God and man. The vows he made perpetual. This rule became exceedingly popular, and was the prototype of all the institutions of the kind in Western Europe. In England the system flourished, and several of the Saxon Kings anticipated Charles V. # in abdicating a throne for the quiet contemplative life of the cloister in preparing for Heaven. But in the 10th century some reformation became necessary, for Edgar the Peaceable compelled all the English monasteries to adopt a strict monastic rule. * Charles V. had been in his time Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, and also ruler of the Indies, Naples, and the Netherlands ; the most powerful monarch in Europe. Resigning all those crowns in the year 1555, he withdrew to a monastery of the Jeromites at Ynste, near Placentia, and tarried there in seclusion till he died. He is said to have employed his time in religious exercises, mechanical pursuits, and gardening. Motley, in his History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic, says " this view is quite erroneous," for he asserts that he was as much engaged with diplomatic notes and despatches in his monkish apartments as if lie had been in his palace at Madrid. For another view of the matter, see *' Cloister Life of the Emperor Charles the Fifth," by William Stirling. 4 THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. The Benedictine rule began again to be very laxly observed, and several new orders sprang up. One of the most popular of these was the Cistercian, and it was to this order that the monks of Netley belonged. The Norman Conquest took place at a time when learning was being revived, and the religious life of the monasteries was being stirred to stricter rule. The Normans were energetic, intellectual, and full of religious zeal. On acquiring their new possessions in England they rebuilt many of the cathedrals and parish churches in the grand style of architecture which had been introduced by the genius of the Norman architects, but they also introduced, in addition to the cathedral and parochial clergy, many communities of this newly-reformed order of monks. Under the circumstances of the times it may be doubted whether anything could have happened better calculated to promote the spread of learning, civilisation, and religion among the people. Much misconception prevails about the way in which the religious houses were founded. People talk as if the monks selected all over the country the most beautiful and fertile tracks of land they could find ; that the owner at once made them a present of it ; that somebody built them a stately house, and a magnificent church ; and that when all was finished they settled down to a life of dignified and luxurious ease. The very opposite is the fact. In the twelfth THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. 5 and thirteenth centuries England was more than half covered with forest, marsh, and moor. The founders of a monastery asked for nothing more than such a piece of land. They wished to settle in a remote place ; and gladly undertook the labour of reclaiming waste land, and bringing it into cultivation. There was no more sacrifice then in parting with a few acres of unproductive land than there is in our own day in allotting a few acres to a family of emigrants in one of our colonies, as an inducement for them to settle there. An example is given in the founding of the great Abbey of Clairvaux by St. Bernard, taken from his life in the " Acta Sanctorum " : — " Twelve monks and their abbot, representing our Lord and His Apostles, were assembled in the Church. Stephen (the abbot of the mother house of Citeaux) placed a cross in Bernard's hands, who solemnly, at the head of his small band, walked forth from Citeaux, * * # * Bernard struck away to the northward. For a distance of nearly seventy miles he kept his course till he arrived at La Ferte. About four miles beyond La Ferte was a deep valley opening to the east. Thick umbrageous forests gave it a character of gloom and wildness ; but a gushing stream of limpid water which ran through it was sufficient to redeem every disadvantage. In June, a.d. 1115, Bernard took up his abode in the Valley of Wormwood, as it was 6 THE EISE OF MONASTEKIES. called, and began to look for means of shelter and sustenance against the approaching winter. The rude fabric which he and his monks raised with their own hands was long preserved by the pious veneration of the Cistercians. It consisted of a building covered by a single roof, under which chapel, dormitory, and refectory were all included. Neither stone nor wood hid the bare earth which served for floor. Windows scarcely wider than a man's hand admitted a feeble light. In this room the monks took their frugal meal of herbs and water. Immediately above the refectory was the sleeping apartment. It was reached by a ladder, and was in truth a sort of loft. Here were the monks' beds, which were peculiar ; they were made in the form of boxes or bins, of wooden planks, long and wide enough for a man to lie down in. A small space hewn out with an axe allowed room for the sleeper to get in or out. The inside was strewn with chaff or dried leaves, which, with the wood-work, seem to have been the only covering permitted. * # # The monks had thus got a house over their heads, but they had got very little else. Autumn and winter were approaching, and they had no store laid by. Their food during summer had been a compound of leaves intermixed with coarse grain. Beech-nuts and roots were to be the main support during the winter. And then, to the privations of insufficient food, was added the THE EISE OF MONASTERIES. 7 wearing out of their shoes and clothes. Their necessities grew with the severity of the season, till at last even salt failed them, and presently Bernard heard murmurs, and the monks requested to be led back to Citeaux. But a stranger gave them an alms of ten livres, and enabled them to supply their most pressing necessities." The foundation of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, the greatest of the Cistercian order in England, has .a like history. Some of the monks of the Benedictine monastery of St. Mary at York, being dissatisfied with the relaxed rule of their house, in 1132 A.D., obtained from Thurstan, Archbishop of York, some land in Skell-dale, with a rivulet running through it from west to east. This spot had never before been inhabited except by wild beasts ; being overgrown with wood and brambles, lying between two steep hills and rocks, covered with wood on all sides, more suitable for wild animals than for human beings. The prior, sub-prior, and eleven monks made up the party from St. Mary's York. Richard the prior was chosen abbot, over this monastery of an uncouth desert, without house to shelter them in the winter season, or even provisions, but entirely dependent on Divine providence. In the midst of the vale was a huge elm, on which they put some thatch or straw, and under that they lay, ate, and prayed. For a time the Archbishop supplied them with bread, and they 8 THE EISE OF MONASTERIES. drank the water of the brook. Part of the day some spent in the erection of a little oratory, and others cleared ground to make a little garden. There is a tradition that the monks lived under a group of yew trees on the hill-side, until their house was built. A century ago were five or six yews still growing, of an almost incredible size — the circum- ference of the trunk of one of the in being at least fourteen feet at about a yard from the ground, and the branches in proportion to the trunk. They were nearly all of the same bulk, and so near to each other as to make an excellent cover, almost equal to that of a thatched roof. They perhaps took shelter for a day or two under the elm- tree, and soon found out the group of yews, to which they removed for the better shelter afforded by the thick evergreen foliage, till they had completed something more substantial. When the winter was past messengers were sent,, and also a letter from the Archbishop, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who sent back one Geoffrey, a monk of his own monastery, to instruct these monks of Fountains in the Cistercian rale, and caused them to build cottages for their cells and offices. Ten priests and laymen were also received as novices. Still their possessions were not enlarged, they continued to receive the Archbishop's allowance, and the year proving a scarce one, they were reduced to great straits, and were obliged to feed on the leaves of trees THE RISE OF MONASTERIES. \) and herbs gathered in the fields, boiled with a little salt. A stranger coming to beg a morsel of bread at this time, the abbot gave him a loaf out of the two and a half which were all their store, saying that God wonld provide for them. And so he did, for immedi- ately two men came from the neighbouring castle of Knaresborough with a cart-load of fine-bread, sent by Eustace Fitz-Jolm, who had heard of their want. For two years they suffered such privations, and were on the point of leaving for Clairvaux, when the Dean of York, falling sick, ordered himself and all his possessions to be carried to the monastery, and being wealthy he took relief to the house. Not long after, two Canons of York, both rich, devoted themselves and all they had to the monastery. From this time lands and possessions were given them, and as the monks increased in goods, so their numbers were greater within. They were skilful and industrious farmers. Valleys were drained and became rich pastures for cattle ; and the barren commons were soon dotted over with sheep ; and where forests had been cleared were seen fields of ripening barley and rye. The frugal fare and coarse dress of the monks enabled them to rapidly augment their revenues, and so they had plenty to spare for charity and hospitality, whilst the surplus was spent in gradually rearing those magnifi- cent buildings whose very ruins are among the architectural glories of the land. CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 'T'HE sites of all the abbeys of this order appear to* have been selected for several reasons, and these were all bnt invariably the same ; in the first place,, a spot was selected at a distance from towns, in a remote and qniet situation, on the banks of a stream,, so necessary for the supply of fresh water, and the important item of fish to such a community ; and, also for the purposes of drainage ; always in a valley, and usually in the narrowest part of the valley, so as to be as much as possible surrounded by hills, they were thus protected and secluded. Perhaps in nc* instance were these conditions departed from, or a hill chosen for the site in preference to a valley. A most remarkable feature of the abbeys erected under the Cistercian rule consists in the uniformity of the plan upon which they were all built. No- doubt there were variations from local causes in the- different structures ; but wherever they are found, in England, France, or Germany, one uniform plan was, CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 11 adopted, the variations where they do occur, being such that they go to prove, rather than disprove, this assertion. To take Netley as a model plan of a Cistercian settlement, we find a central cloister quadrangle, surrounded upon its four sides by the different conventual buildings. On the north side is the monastic church, placed here for one main reason, because the magnitude of the structure made a shelter from the north winds to the remainder of the buildings, which were chiefly residential in their character. This running east and west, then formed the entire north side of the establishment, and was of course, the most important building therein. The main features of the churches are that they are always built in the form of a cross. The choir was short ; the east end usually square (seldom is an apse found, though there are instances). The transept had no aisles but undeviatingly two or three small chapels on the eastern side of either wing, and each having its altar and piscina. Many had a portico extending the whole of the west front and covering the west door, with usually a lean-to roof against the west wall. JSTo lofty towers were erected until after the rules of the order became relaxed ; only low towers of one stage, or wooden bell turrets over the crossings. No carving of the human figure was permitted during the first two centuries. Stained glass was prohibited at first. Only royal personages 12 CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. or Bishops might be buried in their church.es ; the abbots finding a resting place in their chapter house r and the brethren in the cloister quadrangle. They used pointed arches as their arch, of construction, and rounded where only required for purposes of decora- tion. Leaving tlie church, at the eastern end of the south aisle by a door for the access of the monks; from the east walk of the cloisters, we find a narrow space between the south end of the transept, and the chapter-house. This was usually divided into two parts ; one, approached only from the transept, was the sacristy or vestiarinm ; and the other, approached by a doorway in the east walk of the cloister quadrangle, the purpose of which is problematical, but it most likely was a penitential cell. Next to this was the chapter-house, which after the church, was the most important building of the monastery. It was approached by a handsome archway, which was always open, and not fitted for doors. This was divided by either a double, or as here, a triple arcade of beautiful pillars and arches, and had a vaulted roof. Next to this was, in most monasteries, though not at Netley, a passage with a door at either end. Its use is doubtful. It has been called the parlour, and by others the locutorium, in which the monks were allowed to converse when silence was enjoined elsewhere, and, when special permission had been obtained they might see their friends and relatives, CISTERCIAN MONASTERIES. 1$ but this is very uncertain. Next to this was another passage, most probably the road to the abbot's lodge, which was usually placed in the precincts on the east side of the conventual buildings proper, and by it the abbot could readily reach the main parts of the establishment. Lastly, on the south-east side, is found the refectory or living room of the monks. It stood due north and south, extending beyond the other buildings in the latter direction. In the early days of the order this fratry had no fireplace, and was open to the south, at the end, without doors. Over this was the dormitory of the monks, approached by a staircase on the out- side. Adjoining, still to the south, was the buttery and kitchen, and on the same side of the quadrangle the porter's lodge, domestic offices, and storerooms. On the west side of the quadrangle was a building which projected beyond it southward. This no doubt was the Domus Conversorum, or house of the lay brethren or Conversi, which contained their day-room and workroom in the lower part, and in its upper story their dormitory. In most of the Cistercian monasteries it was the longest of all the buildings and occupied the entire west of the quadrangle. There was always an approach from this building to the west end of the church, and thus the Conversi were able to obtain access to that part of the cliurch which, they occupied, whilst the Fratri would reach it at 14 CISTEECIAN MONASTEEIES. the east end ; their functions necessarily occupying them in the chancel, they had access from their dormitory by a second story placed over all the buildings between the fratry and the south wall of the transept, to which they descended by a flight of stairs. This second story contained the library and scriptorium. The abbot's lodge, infirmary, and abbey mill, were situated as local circumstances afforded. ^♦^•4 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. TPHE Monks of Netley were a branch of the Benedictine order, called Cistercians, from Cis- tertium, Cisteaux, or Citeanx, in the bishopric of Chalons in Burgundy, where the order began in 1098 by Robert, abbot of Molesnie in that province, but was brought into repute by Stephen Harding, an Englishman, third%bbot of Cisteaux, who is there- fore reckoned the principal founder. They were also called Bernardines from St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, or Clareval, in the Diocese of Langres, about 1115. Bernard was so ardent a promoter of the order, that in an incredibly short space of time it became of great repute and corresponding extent. So rapid was its progress that before the death of St. Bernard, he had founded one hundred and sixty monasteries ; and in the space of fifty years from its first establishment, it had acquired eight hundred abbeys ! They came to England about 1128, and founded their first house at Waverley, in Surrey, 16 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. and at the time of the dissolution they possessed thirty- six of the greater and thirty-nine of the lesser monasteries ; in addition to the twenty-six Cistercian nunneries, of which only one had an endowment of £200 a year ; and various cells which were small houses belonging to all great abbeys. Sometimes these cells were so far distant from one another, that the mother abbey was in England, and the child cell beyond the seas, and so reciprocally. Some of these cells were richly endowed, as that at Wynd- ham in Norfolk, which was annexed to St. Alban's, and was able at the dissolution to expend of its own revenues, £72 per aunum. Into these cells the monks of the abbeys sent colonies, when they were too much crowded, or when they were afraid of an infectious disease at home. All the houses of this order were dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1204 King John founded the Abbey of Beaulieu, or Bellus Locus, Charming Place, in the New Forest, placing in it thirty monks from Cistercian houses. The site of Netley was acquired very probably by Robert, the first abbot, and his small colony of monks from Beaulieu a.d. 1235, but from whom there is no trustworthy extant record. The name of their new home was derived by chang- ing the adjective of the parent monastery Bellus into Lcetus, both having cognate significations " Charming THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 17 Place. " Lcetus, was afterwards compounded with the Saxon termination ley t a field or pasture ; hence was derived the name Lettly, " cow pasture," since corrupted into jSTetley. In Henry the Third's charter, it is also called Edwardstow. The then Bishop of Winchester, Sir Pierre des Roches, or Peter Rock, who died in 1238, no doubt sanctioned, if he did not procure or give the land. He was a Frenchman, and a soldier of fortune in his early days ; and as, by his influence with King John, he was enabled to promote many of his countrymen to places of emolument ; and further, as he recommended that heavy tax upon the English Barons which led to the signing of Magna Charta at Runnymede, he was generally hated by the English nation. He retained his influence over Henry III.,. whose tutor he had been ; but his intrigues led to his voluntary exile in 1227; and he sought to redeem his popularity, and make amends for the mischief he had done. In 1251 Henry III. gave a charter confirming the grants previously made, as appears from the following : — Carta Regis Henrici tertii Donatorum Concessiones recitans et confirmans. " Henricus Dei gratia rex Anglice, dominus Hibernia?, dux Normanmee et Aquitanias, et comes Andegaviae, archiepiscopis, &c, salutem. Sciatis nos pro salute aniinse nostra), et animarum antecessorum 18 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. •eh snccessoriim nostrorum, concessisse, et hac carta nostra connrmasse Deo et ecclesias sanctas Marias de loco sancti Edwardi, quam r±os fundavimns in Suthamptescir, et abbati et monachis ibidem Deo servientibus et servituris, ipsum locum in quo abbatia eorum sita est, cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et cum omnibus terris subscripts, videlicet de Lettelege, de Hune, de Welewe, de Totinton, de Gumelculne, de Nordleg, de Deverell-Kingston, de Waddon, de Ayheleg, de Lacton, cum omnibus pertinentiis earum, et cum redditibus de Cherleton, de Suthampton, et de Suthwerk cum pertinentiis, et c. acras terras in manerio de Scliire cum advocatione ecclesiae ejusdem manerii. Concessirnus eciam eisdem monachis, et confirm a viruus omnes rationabiles donationes terra- rum, hominum, et elemosinarum eis vel in praesenti a, nobis collatas vel in futuro a regibus vel ex aliorum liberalitate conferendas, tarn in ecclesiis quam in rebus et possessionibus mundanis, sicut cartas donaturum quas inde habent rationabiliter testantur. Quare volumus, &c. Datum per manum nostram, apud Westmonasterium, septimo die martii, anno regni nostri tricesimo quinto. (Translation.) The Charter of Henry III., reciting and confirming the grants of donors. Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy andAquitane and Count THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 19 of Angou, to the Archbishops, &c, greeting. Know ye, that we, for the good of our own soul, as well as for those of our ancestors and successors, have granted, and by this our charter have confirmed to God and the church of St. Mary at Edwardstow, which we founded near Southampton, and to the abbot and monks who there serve God, the place itself in which their abbey is situated, with all its appurtenancies, and with all the underwritten lands that is to say of Lettlege, of Hune Totenton, of Gumelcune, of Nordley, of Deverell Kingstone, of Waddon, of Azelegh, of Lacton, with all their appurtenancies, and with the rents of Charleton, of Southampton, and of Southwark, with their appurtenancies, and one hundred acres of land in the manor of Schire, with the advowson of the church of the same manor. We have also granted to the same monks, and have confirmed to them within reasonable limit, all gifts of land, men, and alms either now bestowed upon them by us, or which may hereafter be conferred on them by kings or the liberality of others, so that in their church as well as in their private affairs and worldly possessions they may hold the gift as our charter reasonably witnesses. W here- fore, we desire, &c. Given under our hand, at West- minister, the seventh day of March in the thirty fifth year of our reign." (a.d. 1251.) In 1242 another charter was made, which tells its own tale : — 20 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. Carta Johannis de Warrena Comitis Surregias. Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos prassens scrip- turn pervenerit Johannes de Warrena, comes Surreias, filius Willielmi quondam comitis de Warrena, salutem in Domino. JSToveritis nos cartam Rogeri de Clere inspexisse in hasc verba. Sciant prassentes et futuri quod ego Hogerus de Clere dedi, concessi, et hac- prassenti carta mei confirmavi, pro me et hasredibus meis, abbati et conventui loco Sancti Edwardi, Cisterciensis ordinis, totam culturam illam cum omnibus pertinentiis suis in manerio de Schire, quas se extendit ex orientali parte usque terram dictorum abbatis et conventus, manerii de Cumesulne, ex occidentali parte usque ad sepem vias vocatam Heyrew de Schyre ; ex australi parte usque adregiam viam quae est inter Guldeforde et Dorkynge ; ex parte aquilonali, usque ad angulum occidentalem terras quas vocatur le Sfcapellond, cum tota pastura quani habui vel Habere potui infra prasdictas metas ; et advocationem ecclesias de Schyre cum omnibus pertinentiis suis habendum et tenendum sibi et successoribus suis imperpetuum, libere, integre, et quiete, in viis, smitis, planis, cum omnibus aliis- libertatibus, et liberis consuetudinibus ab omni servicio exactione, et sasculari demanda, et secta curias ad me vel ad haeredes meos pertinentibus. Pro hac autem donatione, concessione, et praesentis cartas meae confirmatione, dederunt milii prasdicti abbas et THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 21 conventus trecentas marcas esterlingorum. Et ego dictus Rogerus et haeredes rnei totam praedictam culturam terrse cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et praadictani pasturam una cum prsedicta advocatione dictae ecclesias de Schyre cum pertinentiis suis dictis abbati et conventui et eorum successoribus contra omnes homines et feminas warantizabirnus, defendemus, et acquictabimus imperpetuum. Ut autem hasc mea donatio, concessio, et praesentis cartas meas confirmatio rata et stabilis imperpetuum perseveret, praesenti scripto sigillum meuni apposui. Hiis testibus, TValtero de Cotewrth, Hugone de Wydesore, Thoma de Hertemere, Roberto de Mekelham, militibus. Thoma de Polesdene, Johanne de Hale, Henrico deTTeston,Willielmo de Pollingfonde, Willielmo Baynard, Thoma de Haselholte, Johanne de Radmore, Martino Kempe, et multis aliis. Actum anno gratias millesimo ducentesimo quadragesirno tertio in octavis assumptionis beatae Marias. Xos igitur prasdictam donationem, &c, confirmamus. Pro hac vero ratine atione et prasscriptas cartas confirmat- ione, dederunt nobis prasdicti abbas et conventus loci sancti Edwardi viginti marcas sterlingorum. Cujus rei testimonio prassenti scripto sigillum nostrum apposuimus, Hiis testibus, domino Ailmero tunc TTynton, electo, Johanne de Gray, Roberto Walerand, Waltero de Otterwrth, Hugone de Windesore, Roberto de Mihelham, militibus ; Johanne de Hale, 22 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. Henrico de Weston, et multis aliis. Actum anno gratise millesimo ducentesirno quinquagesirno secundo, die Epiphanige Domini. (Translation.) The Charter of John de Warrene, Earl of Surrey. To all the faithful in Christ to whom these presents shall come, John de Warrene, Earl of Surrey, Son of William de Warrene, late Earl, greeting in the Lord. Know ye that we have considered the charter of Roger de Clere in these words. Let those who now live and to come know that I, Roger de Clere, have given*, granted, and by this present charter have con- firmed, on behalf of myself and my heirs, to the abbot and convent of Edwardstow, of the Cistercian Order, all that tilled land with all the appurt- enancies in the manor of Shere which reaches from the eastern part as far as the land belonging to the abbot and convent, of the manor of Cunesulne from the western part as far as the boundary called Shere hedgerow ; from the highway between Guild- ford and Dorking ; from the northern corner of the land called Stapleland, with all the pasture which I had or should have possessed with the prescribed boundary ; and also the aclvowson of the church of Shere, with all the appurtenancies, to have and to- hold to themselves and their successors for ever, freely, wholly, and in peace, with rights of way y water, plains, with all other liberties, and free service THE MONKS OF THE OLDEX TIME. 23 from any custom, exaction, and secular demand, and devoid of any duty to myself or to my heirs. But on account of this gift, concession and confirmation of my present charter, the said abbot and convent have granted three hundred marks sterling, and I, the said Roger and my heirs, will for ever make good the title and freedom to the said abbot and convent and their successors against all claims from any quarter of men or women, of the aforesaid meadow land and pasture, with the advowson of the said church of Shere. And that this my gift, grant, and confir- mation of the present deed may be ratified and established for ever, I have to these presents affixed my hand and seal. Wittnesses : — Walter de Cotewrth, Hugo de Wydesore, Thomas de Hartemere, Robert de Mekelham, Knights; Thomas de Polesdene, Johannus de Hale, Henricus de Weston, Willielmus de Pollingfonde, Willielmus Baynard, Thomas de Haselholte, Johannus de Raduiore, Martin Kempe, and many others. Done in the year of grace 1243, on the octave of the assumption of the Blessed Mary. For the true ratification and comfirmation of the aforesaid deed, the said abbot and convent of Edwardsow have given us twenty marks sterling. In testimony whereof we have placed our hand and seal to these presents. 24 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. Witnesses : — Ailinerus, then Lord elect of Wynton,. Johannus de Gray, Robertus Walerand, Walterus de- Ottewrth, Hugo de Windesor, Robertus de Mihelham r Knights ; Johanus de Hale, Henricus de Weston, and many others. Done in the year of grace 1243, on the clay of the Epiphany of our Lord." Amongst other early benefactors were Edward, Earl of Cornwall ; Robert Ver, and Walter de Burg, the latter of whom invested it with lands, in the county of Lincoln, which he held of the king, in Capite, by the service of presenting him with a head-piece lined with fine linen, and a pair of gilt spurs. The mention of " men " in the first charter given, implies bondsmen or villeins, and conveys an idea of the social condition of the country at the time. They were of such servile position, that they passed, as in this case, in the same manner as timber and rabbits, from one possessor to another with the farms to which they belonged. At first the Cistercian rule as to fasting and religious exercises was exceedingly rigourous : they ate neither flesh nor fowl, nor even eggs, butter and cheese they might eat only if given to them in alms ; and they had only two meals a day besides mixtum, which seems to have been an indifferent kind of porridge indeed. Every Friday in Lent they had but one mess of this throughout the clay. Broth, not of a very good kind either, was served out to them in very small GO 5 CO < to > / / \ » • i 4 i • V, • t 1 * * i i - -J 1 HI \ ► i i 1 * i —1 / / / / / / THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 25 measure. They slept in separate beds in the same apartment ; these were made of wooden planks, such as are provided for houseless vagrants in some of our large towns. They were enjoined to " sleep in their clothes, girt with their girdles. Fuller, who gives this information, quaintly asks, whether slovenliness, is any advantage to sanctity ? and jocosely adds : — u This was the way not to make the monks to lie alone, but to carry much company about them." They never spoke except in the locutory or parlour, and even then the conversation was confined to very grave subjects. The Cellarer and a few other officials only were allowed to give necessary orders, with the exception of the teachers of Theology, who were permitted to make conversations about their studies. If the brethren were on a journey, a few brief words were permitted to enable them to obtain salt, bread, or other necessaries which they could not procure by signs. An offence aganist any of these rules was punished as a graver or lighter fault ; in the first case receiving discipline (i.e. whipping), having to take his meals alone ; after which the vessels he used were broken, lying bareheaded and prostrate outside the gates of the oratory during the hours of divine service, and when at last received again after the term of his banishment from the chapter, having to prostrate himself on his knees and fingers before every member of it, beginning with the abbot himself. For a 20> THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. great offence such as theft, or conspiracy, offenders, were excommunicated, yearly, on Palm Sunday, in the name of the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, all the Saints and the whole order ; this was done with lighted candle, when the offender was allowed time- to repent whilst it burned, and was then deprived of all communion with the church, and its rights and privileges. The monks of this order used the- Breviary which was originally drawn up under the- direction of Pope Gregory VII. in the eleventh century, and was a compendium of the devotional officies in use at that time, many of which had been handed down from remote antiquity. Especi- ally it contained the seven hours, or services for the seven seasons of the day, viz. matins, soon after midnight; prime at 6a.m.; tierce, at 9 a.m.; sext y at noon ; nones, at 3 p.m. ; vespers, at 5 p.m., and compline, so called because it closed the services, at 6 p.m. They periodically practised phlebotomy, or letting of blood ; and there was a regular minutor and assist- ants to do this for the monks within the abbey walls. With such an amusement, and with abstinence so singular and continuous, they did not nevertheless escape the satirists of the age. Walter Map (erroneously called Mapes) Archdeacon of Oxford in the 12th century, ridiculing their not partaking of flesh, says, " Pigs they kept, many of them, and sell THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 27 the bacon, perhaps not all of it ; the heads, legs, and feet they neither give nor sell, nor throw away ; what becomes of them God knows ; likewise there is an account between Grod and them of fowls, which they keep in vast quantities." Map did not believe ■either in the mixtums, perpetual silence, or the seven services of the breviary. It is very certain that the rigorous rule did not prevent the Cistercian from ultimately becoming what the Benedictine monks of Clugni had been. " They degenerated from their primitive severity of conduct and simplicity of manners, and immorality and disorder took the place of piety and discipline. " Near the end of the 16th century Pope Sixtus IV. greatly relaxed the rules of the Cistercian order, and soon after, without any such authority, the monks seem to have relaxed a good deal more themselves. The Guest Hall was generally full, for the hospitality of the abbey was large, and, not seldom, a monk would stroll there, and often beyond, after compline, to hear how the world was moving, and to have a draught of the white or sweet wines which were imported from Genoa and Venice into the town of Southampton. In the eighth year of Edward 1, 1280, the Rolls of Parliament record a grant of one tun of red wine a year to the abbot of Lettley or Netley. In 1288, the bailiffs of the town of South- ampton distrained certain "men" of the abbot 28 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. for payment of toll, upon which two years later an action against the bailiffs Robert le Barbur, Robert le Mercer, and Peter de Lyons, was tried before the Bishop of "Winchester and others at Westminster. It appeared that the abbot had gone into the town with three of his "men," John Messell, John Griffard, and Walter Sakenayl, with some articles for sale, which are not specified, bnt are called in general 46 their merchandises," and that the bailiffs had charged them a toll of one hundred shillings. The abbot pleaded that by charter of Henry III. and confirmation of the present king, his predecessors and himself, abbots of ISTetley, and their " men " of Soteshall, Walonfolling, Hnn, and Totington had been made free of toll throughout the kingdom. The bailiffs pleaded that they had a charter of earlier date, empowering them to take toll without exception or exemption. The case was subsequently heard before the king and his council. It was then decided, that in all acts of buying and selling for the necessary use of the abbot and his people, no tolls should be taken, but that this exemption should not extend to them,, notwithstanding their charter, if they went into the markets like common merchants. At the dissolution the annual value of their possessions is stated by Dugdale to have been £100 Is 8d, and by Speed, £162 2s 9^d ; but ac- cording to the return made by the King's Commis- THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 29 sioners in 1537, which in all probability was correct, being made by authority, it was £146 3s Id. This, according to the relative value of money, would now represent £1826 18s 6|d ; sufficient to have afforded a competent subsistence for a community not more numerous, especially as they could raise all the necessaries of life on land of their own. In 1250 King Henry gave the monks of Netley a charter for holding a market at Hound, and a fair at Wellow, with privilege of free warren in their other manors. In the next year he gave them further right of market at Wellow. The display of merchan- dise and conflux of customers at these principal and almost only emporia of domestic commerce was prodigious. It was intended as a source of revenue. At certain distances officers were placed at bridges and avenues of access to the fairs and markets, and exacted toll for all goods passing that way. Mean- while all shops were closed. In the fair, streets were formed, and assigned to the sale of various commodities. They were called Drapery, Pottery, Spicery, &c. The immediate localities of these ruins exactly correspond with the observations made upon the taste displayed by the earlier Cistercian monks in their choice of a situation. A copious stream to the south, a moderate expanse of meadow and pasture around, an amphitheatre of sheltering hills, clad in 30 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. the verdant covering of their native woods, throwing an air of gloom and solemnity over the scene, well suited to excite religions emotion. The waters that glide silently in the midst, afford to the recluse a striking emblem of human life ; at the same time soothing his mind by a gentle murmuring, and leading it to serious thoughts by its continuous and irrevocable lapse. THE RUINS. The visitor to the Abbey will find as much to delight him in the ruins of art as in the fresh- ness and luxuriance of nature. It stands on the declivity of a hill, rising gently from the water, but so environed by beautiful woody scenery as to be almost secluded from observation. It is a ruin — a storied pile, with venerable ivy, and columns of scrupulous architecture — an object which greets us with the solemnity of a spectre. We have wandered for hours amid its fallen walls and fragments of the mason's ancient skill, until the image has haunted our mind, and would not be driven away from it. To be appreciated and enjoyed, the ruins of Netley Abbey must be seen, for they defy alike both pen and pencil. No " tinkling lyret tuned in ladye bower " can awake the chords which sing mournfully to the unseen winds in the sweet desolation of the place — when no giggling sound of unworthy visitor or THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 31 simpering sentimentality jar on the ear and the feelings. Through the west door of THE CHURCH we enter the nave, which is a good example of the Transitional Norman period, affording an example of simple character for imitation in ecclesiastical archi- tecture. It was originally built of Isle of Wight stone, shell limestone from the tertiaries of Binstead, probably given by the monks of Quarr ; Caen stone was used for the interior, and Purbeck marble for the shafts and corbels, and mortar composed of lime and gravel, the latter used in its rough state as it came from the pit. On entering, the effect is very impressive, but being shorn of its north transept and nave pillars, the symmetry of the plan is destroyed. In the plan (at end) the position of the pillars in the nave is shewn, and the symmetrical beauty of the original structure is apparent. It has been sup- posed, and this church confirms the supposition, that Gothic churches and cathedrals were usually pro- portioned agreeably to the mysterious figure called the "Vesica Piscis,*" shown on page 25 — a pointed oval or egg-shaped form, made by the inter- * This name was given to a symbolical representation of Christ. The actual figure of a fish found on the sarcophagi of the early Christians, gave way in course of time to this oval- shaped ornament, which was the most common symbol used in the middle ages. It is to be met with sculptured, painted on glass, in ecclesiastical seals, &c. The aureole, or glory, in pictures of the Virgin, &c, was frequently made of this form. 32 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. section of two equal circles cutting each, other in their centres. In this instance, by the application of the figure as shewn, not only is the length of the entire building proportioned to its width, but the minor parts are proportioned to each other on the same principle. The west window of the church, though despoiled of its tracery, still forms an im- posing object. Near the entrance door on the south side are some traces of dilapidated brickwork, with stone dressings, enclosing several small areas or apartments, being the remains of additions made by its occupants on converting the monastery into a dwellinghouse. From the west door to the transept there was a succession of eight bays, divided by broad and shallow pilasters, and an equal number of lights. There was a gallery over the arches, inappropriately in architecture called the Triforium, and above this the Clearstory windows, each of three lancet-headed lights, with a trefoil head, surrounding the middle lancet, all enclosed with a deeply recessed arch. Over the transept was originally the tower, but no record has been left of its height. Both in the north and south transepts were chapels or chantries, but of these also are left nothing to trace their history. On entering the south transept, the ancient splendour of Netley is apparent on viewing the impressive, though mutilated, remains of its church. Not many years since, a part of the elegant THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 33 roof of this transept was to be seen ornamented with, various armorial insignia, supposed to be those of the benefactors of the Abbey. Among them was a pelican vulning its breast (the favourite device of Bichard Fox, Bishop of Winchester from 1501 to 1529), a pheon's head, and a fesse dancettee between five palettes, two and two, but these have all disappeared. Within the wall of the east corner, adjoining the nave, is a spiral stone staircase that leads to the upper portion of the building : it is said to have been surmounted with a turret and pinnacles serving as a mark for seamen. The church was built in the form of a cross ; it was about two hundred and eleven feet in length, and in breadth fifty-seven feet; the extent of the transepts, when entire were one hundred and twenty feet ; the north transept and several of the windows of the north side are destroyed. The chancel inclines towards the south, a plan observable in many cruciform churches ; it is said to indicate the inclination of our Saviour's head on that side when on the cross. In the chancel was a four-light, lancet headed window, above which were two quatrefoil openings and an octagonal light at the top. A credence table and piscina also remain, but have been sadly mutilated by wanton and thoughtless visitors. The east window yet retains its tracery. The 34: THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. great west window retains only part of the arch ; the shafts are gone. Under is the archway of the western door, flanked externally by massive buttresses. The irregular form of the ground, the trees and under- growth that have sprung up within its ivy-mantled walls, add much to the effect of the ruins, imparting alike, a pleasurable and interesting study to the antiquary, the poet, and the lover of the picturesque. Old Lord Hertford fitted up the nave as a tennis- court (a kitchen the tale generally runs), reserving the choir for a private chapel. The door at the centre of the transept leads to the SACKISTY, adjoining which is what we have already conjectured was the penetential cell. Immediately on the right was THE CHAPTER HOUSE, divided from the refectory by the passage leading to the abbot's lodge. It was the council room where all important deliberations were held and all the business of the monastery transacted. Here, too, the young novice, desirous of being admitted as one of the order, was asked what he required, and answered, " The mercy of God and yours." When the abbot explained to him the austerities to which he would be subjected, and the young man still demanded admittance, " God THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 35 finish what He hath begun in thee," said the Abbot, and all the Chapter said " Amen." Here again, at the end of his year's novitiate, he received his tonsure, and made distribution of his property, and if he happened to retain any money or effects for his private use, it was here he came to receive sentence of punishment for the " graver fault." It is about thirty-two feet square ; the groining was supported by four central pillars and by brackets in the wall. It was lighted by pointed windows. A dais, or raised seat, was carried round three sides, whereon the abbot and his monks sat during trials and for the transaction of their affairs ; and here, too, they probably sat during their own trial before the Com- missioners, and in this apartment signed the deed of surrender. The floor was paved with Roman tiles figured with the fleur-de-lis. Over the chapter house was the LIBRARY AND SCRIPTORIUM, where the books and illuminated manuscripts were written and kept by the accomplished monks of the middle ages, to whose labours we owe much. Leland states that at the time of the dissolution there was only one MS. in the Library, the Rhetorica Ciceronis. But we think this must be a mistake, for the monasteries possessed a prodigious number of very valuable manuscripts. It was said, that there were 36 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. more in England than any other country of equal size. When the abbeys were sold or given to his favourites by Henry VIII. the new owners destroyed and wasted them all. Many of the old manuscript Bibles were cut in pieces to cover pamphlets. In 1549 John Ball made the following lamentation and com- plaint to King Edward VI. : — " A number of those persons who bought the monasteries, reserved of the library thereof, for the meanest purposes, some to scour their candlesticks ; and some to rub their boots ; some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers ; and some they sent over sea to the bookbinders, not in small numbers, but at times, whole ships' full. Even the universities of this realm were not all clear in this detestable fact. I know a merchantman that bought the contents of two libraries for forty shillings price. The stuff thereof he hath occupied, instead of grey paper, by the space of more than these ten years; and yet he hath store enough for as many years to come. Our posterity may well curse this wicked fact of our age, this unreasonable spoil of England's most noble antiquities." The fine collection of MSS. belonging to the Cathedral church of Durham, was saved by being concealed within one of the pillars of the church. Dr. Dee presented a supplication, the original of which is now in the cotton library, to Queen Mary, in 1556, for the recovery and preservation of ancient THE MONKS OF THE ODDEN TIME. 37 -writers and monuments ; but there was no attention ■o-iven to it. We, however, learn from it, that, Tully's work, Be Republica, was once extant in this kingdom, and perished at Canterbury. Cardinal Pole told Roger Ascham, that he had been informed that this work of Cicero was in Poland, and that he had sent a man on purpose thither at the expense of a thousand golden crowns, about £900 sterling, in search of it, but to no purpose. Leaving the chapter house, and passing the entrance to the abbot's lodge we come to THE REFECTORY, which the monks entered by a door at the south-east corner of the quadrangle. It extended due north and south, and after the church and chapter house was the finest of the monastic buildings, and usually very elegant in architectural details. Its size is about seventy-nine feet by twenty-five feet ; the groined ceiling was supported in the centre by a range of four circular pillars. Since its first erection, the dining hall has been divided into two apartments by a wall of masonry, embedded in which was found, about forty years ago, the base and part of the shaft of one of the pillars, as fresh as though it had just come from the mason's hands. The profile of the base moulding was similar to those of the church pillars. The division wall might have been 38 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEX TIME. introduced towards the dissolution of the abbey r when the number of inmates was much reduced. There is a fireplace in the smaller apartment, which was evidently formed at the time the alterations were made after the suppression, bricks being used in its construction. It has been a matter of some surprise that the dining-hall should have been without a fireplace, no remains of one being apparent, but, on minute examination of the masonry in the west side wall, there is to be seen the masonry of an old hooded flue, similar to that of the kitchen, the projecting part of which has been cut off, and the fireplace and flue filled in and plastered over. Level with the corbels, all round the room where the plastering is perfect, a frescoed band about Q.ve inches wide is to- be seen, except the part above alluded to, where no frescoed band exists, evidently proving that that part was filled in since the original occupation of the room. In the refectory was probably written up in some conspicuous place, the celebrated Cistercian motto, taken from St. Bernard : — " Bonum est nos hie esse, quia homo vivit purius, cadit rarius, surgit velocius, incedit cautius, quiescit securius, moritur felicius, purgatur citius, premiatur eopiosius." The sentence has been beautifully translated by Wordsworth : — 11 Here man more purely lives, less oft doth fall, More promptly rises, walks with stricter heed ; THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 39 More safely rests, dies happier ; is freed Earlier from cleansing fires, and gains withal A brighter crown." THE DORMITORY was over the refectory ; its entrance was on the south-west by a flight of steps from the lavatory in that position of the quadrangle. As was usual among the Cistercians the sleeping apartment had no divisions, and was, as elsewhere described, but very scantily furnished. On the south side of the refectory, was the buttery and THE KITCHEN, now one of the most attractive parts of the ruin. The earliest fireplace in this country dates from the twelfth century, to which this example bears a striking resemblance. The brackets in the corners are supposed to have been for lights. The kitchen is about fifty feet long by eighteen feet six inches wide, independent of the enclosed spaces adjoining the south wall. These enclosed spaces give some probability to the supposition, that the drain from the fish-ponds, which runs immediately under, might have formed also a secret passage way. The enclosed spaces have no connection with the ground floor, but there is a small door in the corner of the dormitory over the kitchen, which has a direct communication 40 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. down to the drain. To make the drain more conven- ient for the pnrpose of a secret passage, a hatch might have been introduced at this point to pen back the surplus water of the ponds ; and indeed, there are indications, by cuttings in the masonry, that such was the case. This hatch, also, at other times, might have answered another purpose, that of penning back the fish, by which the monks were enabled to supply their table without passing out of the gates, or the cook without moving from the kitchen. Considering the troubled times in which the monks occupied the abbey, it is, perhaps, not stretching the imagination too far, to give them credit for such precautions- Adjoining the kitchen was THE BUTTERY from which the dinners could be conveniently passed, without subjecting the inmates of the hall to the annoyance of smell from the kitchen, the aperture being fitted with a door on each side, the rebates for which are still existing. The porter's lodge and Domus Conversorum, comprising the remaining part of the south and the west sides have already been described. THE ABBOT'S LODGE, at the eastern end of the grounds was most probably built for the accommodation of the monks on their THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 41 first colonising the spot. It probably covered more ground than now. So little remains that it is difficult to assign names to the several appartments. The largest may have been the hall, of which the groined roof may be noticed, and the rooms over, from the superior finish of mouldings, were evidently the principal apartments. The small room at the south-east, having a buttery hatch, was probably the dining room, and the part immediately adjoining, the kitchen. " Such is the dwelling grey and old, Which in some world- worn mood, The youthful poet dreamed would suit His future solitude ; If the old abbey be his search He might seek far and near, Ere he could find a Gothic cell More lorn and lone than here. Long years have darkened into time Since vespers here were sung, And here has been no other dirge Than what the winds have sung. And now the drooping ivy wreaths In ancient clusters fall ; And moss o'er each device hath grown Upon the sculptured wall." Among the minor buildings were the : — Cerarium, a repository for ^vax candles. 42 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. Almonry, where relief was dispensed. Sanctuarium, where debtors took refuge from their creditors, and malefactors from the judge. Here they could live in security. Stables at some distance from the Abbey. They were under the charge of the Stallarius and the Provendarius. They kept horses of four kinds : — Manni, geldings for the saddle. Runcini nuts, small nags. Summarily sumpter horses. Averri, cart, or plough horses. There was a prison for incorrigible monks. Vaccisterium, a cow house. Porcarium, the pig-sty. Granges. After a survey of the old ruins, our thoughts naturally turn to past times and pictures of the abbey in all its former splendour and magnificence, when with their wonted pomp and ceremony the monks inhabited it, and performed their daily offices. The Jibb-Crt was the superior of every abbey, and was generally called the Lord Abbot. His election was attended with much ceremony, and according to the chronicle of Jocelyn, who was himself a monk, the appointment was often made without any regard to fitness or character. The dissolution of monastic institutions deprived twenty-six abbots and two priors of their seats and votes in the House of Lords. THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. 43 Netley — the abbots whose names are recorded were : — Robert ... ... ... 1235 Walter ... ... ... 1290 The abbot of Netley was summoned to Parliament in the years 1295, 1296, 1300, and 1302 Henry de Inglesham, ... ... 1371 John Stelhard, ... ... 1374 Philip de Cornhampton, ... 1387 John de Gloucester, ... ... 1396 In the following year he was appointed abbot of Beaulieu, in the room of Richard de Middleton, who had been chosen to that office in 1394, but, in consequence of irregularity of election, or some other cause, he was deposed. Richard de Middleton, 1396. This was probably the date of his appointment, and in 1400 (perhaps on the death of John de Gloucester) he was restored to the abbacy of Beaulieu. In 1469 the town of Southampton purchased " a grove of wood " from an abbot of Netley, for 53s 4d in order to make piles by the sea-side. John Barges (was abbot) ... 1503 Thomas Stevens ... ... 1527 He was one of the first of those who signed, by his proxy, (the abbot de Gracis, then in London,) the instrument in favour of the divorce between 44 THE MONKS OF THE OLDEN TIME. Henry VIII. and Catherine of Arragon, his Queen. He was probably, the last abbot of Netley. The SjPrior was next in dignity, and in the absence of the abbot acted as his substitute. The prior was the principal where there was no abbot. The <§ttb-|3ricrr, in like manner, assited the abbot, whose especial duty it was to observe the conduct of the monks. Under these there were generally six officers, as follow : — ffixllerarnt0, or the cellerar, who had the duty of providing for the meals, and was considered the " second father " of the convent. Fuller says that these officers affected secular gallantry and wore swords like lay gentlemen. Jftagt0ter ©pxrt0, or the master of the fabric, who probably looked after the buildings, and had them kept in good repair. @Ie^mxr0gnanU0, or the almoner, whose duty it was to distribute daily the alms at the gate, and the various anniversary donations of the monastery. $itatttiaritt0, who distributed to the members of the monastery a portion of victuals over and above the common provision upon great festivals.