In
1143, Robert ‘le Bossu,’ the second earl of Leicester, founded the Abbey of St.
Mary de Pratis (of the Meadows) in honour of the Virgin Mary. Situated on the
south bank of the River Soar in what is now Abbey Park, about a mile north of the
city of Leicester, the abbey became the most important religious building in
the county.
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Artists impression of Leicester Abbey at the height of its success |
After
its construction, all the possessions and wealth of the Collegiate Church of
St. Mary de Castro, built by Robert’s father, Robert de Beaumont, were
transferred to the new abbey, making it considerably well off. Over the years
it grew into the second richest abbey in the country. The
abbey was also one the largest and most influential landowners in
Leicestershire, with more manors in it’s possession than any lord. It’s contributors included Simon de Montfort, Alan la Zouche, the Earl of Winchester
and of course, the Crown.
It was founded as a community of Augustinian Canons who
were known as the ‘Black Canons’ because they wore black cassocks and a black
biretta (hat), but some believe it is because secret dark arts were practiced
within the abbey walls. The canons followed a rule set down by Saint Augustine
in a letter he wrote in 423 when he was Bishop of Hippo. This rule was not as
strict as other orders and unlike monks, all canons were ordained. The new
Augustinian house did not altogether replace St. Mary de Castro, which
continued to exist under the control of the abbey, as were all the churches in
Leicester, the church of Lilbourne in Northants, and the Manor of Asfordby. Earl
Robert ‘le Bossu’ (the Hunchback) added the churches of Knaptoft, Erdesby,
Cosby, Stoney Stanton, Whetstone, Shepshed, Knighton, Illston and Thurnby, and
others from the neighbouring counties.
Before 1162, just about every church in Leicestershire
was under orders from the abbey, including St. Mary’s Church in Humberstone. After
the Norman Conquest in 1066, the lands of Humberstone were given to Hugh de Grentemaisnil, the first owner of Leicester after the conquest. But the first church was
built by Robert ‘le Bossu’ at the same time as he built Leicester Abbey, and
consisted of a simple nave and chancel in the Norman style.
Interestingly, both Leicester Abbey and the church at
Humberstone were dedicated to the Virgin Mary and both are said to be linked by
a secret underground tunnel. More interestingly both the abbey and Humberstone
church are built so that they are directly facing each other. If you open up a
map of Leicester and draw a line running straight through the long axis of the
abbey’s main church and trace it some 3 miles eastwards, you end up at St. Mary’s
church in Humberstone, again running straight through the long axis of the
building. Both could be seen from each other when viewed from high up from
their respective stone towers.
Humberstone was a very important settlement in Norman
Leicester, as it was a resting place for the canons as they travelled to and
from Launde Abbey in the east, hence the crude name of a now-dissapeared village
building – the Monk’s Rest. Now remembered by the name of the village park,
also called the Monk’s Rest, the building stood close to the church and there
is another tunnel reputed to have run between them. A third tunnel was also
apparently discovered during the English Civil War, as a group of Royalists who
were locked inside Humberstone church, emerged via a tunnel, at a nearby
nunnery. On exiting the tunnel, they are said to have moved the fabled Humber
Stone over its mouth so that they could not be followed. Investigations of
tunnels have never taken place in the village or at the Humber Stone, but as
the Norman’s and especially Robert ‘le Bossu’ were known as master builders,
and as the underlying geology of east Leicester is relatively soft, the tunnel
theory is not all that impossible.
Earl Robert ‘le Bossu’ was well involved with the abbey
and he even spent the last years of his life as a canon. Together with
Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, Robert laid down certain regulations for the
abbey to adhere to, and these were later confirmed by Pope Urban III. Robert died in 1168 and was buried in the prebytery, on
the right hand side of the altar within the abbey church. On his death, the
abbey, like the castle of Leicester, was passed down through the generations to
each succeeding de Beaumont earl of Leicester, and they all added considerably
to its structure. Petronilla, the wife of earl Robert Blanchemains, loved the
abbey so much she paid for the nave of the church to be built. She was said to
have plaited a long cord from her hair from which one of the lamps in the choir
could be hung. For worshippers this became a treasured relic and became the
basis of a well-told story, passed down over the years to the inhabitants of
Leicester.
After the de Beaumont rule of Leicester, the abbey was in
the hands of the Lancastrian earls. In October 1326, a violent attack was made
on the abbey by the Earl of Lancaster’s own followers, who broke in and seized
the property of Hugh Despenser, stored in the abbey for safe keeping. The glory
years of the abbey were when it was under the control of Abbot William Clowne,
who was elected in 1345.
Under his influence, the abbey enjoyed great prosperity
and Clowne is descibed in most favourable terms in the writings of a canon of
the abbey. In his time, Leicester became head of four other Augustinian houses
and acquired a great deal of land and even more churches. Clowne’s close
friendship with Edward III surely played a part in his power and wealth and
also for the way he secured exemption for the abbots of Leicester from
attendance at Parliament, a duty imposed on the abbots since 1265. It was also
during Clowne’s abbacy that Henry of Knighton, a canon of Leicester Abbey,
began to write his famous chronicle.
Clowne died in 1378, afterwhich the abbey entered a
difficult period. In the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the
income obtained from the abbey’s lands began to decline, so were leased out to
anyone willing to buy them. The abbey, once a major producer of corn and wool,
now had only the immediate surrounding lands in Leicester, Stoughton and
Ingarsby to rely on for cultivation.
A further problem came with a particular canon of the
abbey, Philip Repingdon, who whilst studying at Oxford, became one of the great
Wycliffe’s followers and in 1382 Repington’s opinions were declared heritical. As
a learned man, Repingdon recanted and went on to become the elected Abbot of
Leicester in 1392, and eventually Bishop of Lincoln in 1405. But it appears
that Repingdon didn’t get on with his canons and only seven years after
becoming bishop, the canons of Leicester Abbey obtained a royal licence
permitting them to obtain from the Pope, exemption from Repingdon’s jurisdiction
so long as he was bishop. This law was nullified the following year and
Repingdon obtained a declaration from the Pope that Leicester Abbey should be
fully subject to him and his successors.
By the time of Bishop Alnwick’s visitation in 1440, the
number of canons at the abbey had fallen to a mere fourteen, a figure
substantially lower than the thirty to forty who used to dwell there. The
number of boys in the almonry was also reduced from about twenty-five to only
six, and the abbot in charge was accused of admitting unsuitable boys in return
for money.
The abbot at this time was Sadington, a man who kept a
tight grip on the financial affairs of the abbey whilst pocketing various minor
revenues for himself. He kept the offices of treasurer and cellarer in his own
right but failed to render accounts to his canons. He also kept many lay
servants, some of whom he favoured excessively, and he was also said to have
indulged in occultist ‘magical practices.’ No serious immorality was disclosed
on the Bishop’s visitation and Sadington managed to clear himself of the charge
that he had practiced divination. After his visit, Bishop Alnwick ordered that
the number of canons should rise back up to thirty, with at least sixteen boys
in the almonry. The abbot was ordered to render accounts properly to his
brethren and to behave more charitably towards his canons.
Little is known of the internal affairs of the abbey in
the years that followed, but in 1518 William Charyte, Prior of Leicester and
second only to the abbot, drew up an elaborate record of the possessions of the
house. The books that were produced were kept in the abbey’s library and
consisted of over 900 volumes. Many of the faults discovered in 1440 were still
apparent under the leadership of the new abbot Pescall and he was charged with
keeping financial control too much. Also, like when the abbey was under the
control of Sadington, the boys in the almonry were not properly educated. There
was also an excessive amount of hounds kept within the abbey grounds and many
canons were in the habit of eating and drinking at unaccustomed hours.
The Bishop Attwater tried to deal with some of the
problems at Leicester Abbey but when Bishop Longland came to power in 1521, the
abbey was seen in the most unfavoured light. Pescall was extremely remiss in
his attendance at the divine offices in the abbey’s church, and when he did
enter, he was accompanied by ‘his fool’ who disturbed the services by “his
buffoonery.” The canons were also lax in their attendance in choir. With
twenty-five of them in the house, only eleven were present at any one time.
Most were accustomed to roam about outside the monastery and two were also
suspected of incontinence.
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Leicester Abbey as you can see it today on Abbey Park |
The abbey was falling into financial ruin and Bishop
Longland found it necessary to appoint two administrators to control its
business affairs. But Pescall underhandedly removed the bishop’s two nominees,
making it increasingly difficult for the bishop to sort out the abbey’s growing
problems. By 1528, the abbey had not improved. Pescall’s conduct had worsened
and he rarely attended choir. He never ate with his fellow canons and he
received a number of complaints about the excessive number, and also the
conduct of the personal servants he employed. Bishop Longland was at the end of
his tether and Pescall’s deposition was deemed essential. In the time just
before he was deposed, Longland would intervene considerably in the abbey’s day-to-day activities. Pescell,
knowing his fate, tried to secure his position and future at the abbey by
giving presents to Thomas Cromwell, the chief minister to Henry VIII, but after
the fate of Cardinal Wolsey at Leicester Abbey in 1530, Pescall resigned and
was granted a pension of £100 a year.
The new abbot was John Bourchier who was elected in
January 1534. Bouchier had a difficult task on his hands as the abbey was
£1,000 in debt and Pescall’s pension was an unnecessary additional burden. In
the same year, Bourchier with his twenty-five canons acknowledged royal
supremecy over the Church and as the abbey’s yearly income made it the richest
religious house in Leicestershire, it was allowed to survive Henry VIII’s
dissolution of the smaller monastries.
After Richard Layton’s visit in 1535, Bourchier was
considered a wise and honest man, but Layton’s assessment of the canons was
that they were factious and he brought on charges of adultery and unnatural
vice against them. Layton took his findings to Thomas Cromwell and although the
abbey presented gifts of money, livestock and land, it was finally surrendered
in October 1536. Bourchier was successful in reducing the abbey’s debts from
£1,000 to £411 and so was given a £200 a year pension for his hard work.
Before its dissolution, the abbey only held lands in
Leicestershire but was still in possession of the churches of All Saints, St.
Leonard, St. Martin, St. Mary de Castro, St. Michael, St. Nicholas and St.
Peter, at Leicester, and many more throughout the county.
In total, the property owned by the abbey at the time of
its dissolution had a net annual value of £786. 16s. 1¾d, all of which were
given to the Crown, under the control of Thomas Cromwell. There was something
very special about Leicester Abbey, because although Cromwell had a firm belief
in the dissolution of monastries, he set up a scheme to try and save Leicester
Abbey.
Sadly the scheme failed, the canons disbanded and the
land was granted to the Marquess of Northampton, who later sold it to the Earl
of Huntington. He built a house in the grounds of the abbey, using the abbey’s
stone. In 1613, William Cavendish, the first Earl of Devonshire, acquired the
property and it became known as Cavendish House.
It was used as the headquarters of Charles I before the
Battle of Naseby but after the defeat of the royalists, those that remained at
Cavendish House plundered it and set it alight.
In 1925, the Earl of Dysart offered the 32-acre grounds
of Leicester Abbey as a gift to the town council, and the deed was signed on
December 31, 1925. The new park was opened in April 1932 and was intended to
serve as a recreation ground providing areas of sports such as cricket and
tennis.
Today you can still view the ruined Cavendish House and
the excavated foundations of Leicester Abbey, now a Scheduled Ancient Monument,
both of which are major attractions of the beautiful Abbey Park.
Cardinal Wolsey at Leicester Abbey
The abbey is most famous for its connection with Thomas
Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England.
Wolsey was a powerful figure, second only to the king. In
spiritual terms, his power surpassed that of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He
was made Cardinal in 1515 and eight years later became Prince-Bishop of Durham.
He was also a candidate for the papacy on the death of Pope Leo X, when Adrian
VI was elected. In 1529, Wolsey had a major falling out with King Henry VIII
and was forced to return of his Archdiocese of York. The following year, Wolsey
was accused of high treason and ordered to return to London where he was to be
incarcerated in the Tower of London. On his way, he stopped at Leicester Abbey.
“If I had served my God,” the cardinal said remorsefully, “as diligently as I
did my king, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs.”
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Cardinal Wolsey |
On his arrival at the abbey, he told Abbot Pescall “I am
come to leave my bones among you.” Wolsey died that night November 26, 1530. He
was buried within the walls of the Abbey church like it’s founder Robert ‘le
Bossu.’ In keeping with his practice of erecting magnificent buildings, Wolsey
had designed a grand tomb for himself. But due to his hasty death, Henry VIII
considered using the impressive black sarcophagus for himself, but Lord Nelson
now lies inside it, in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Today a monument now
stands on Wolsey’s resting place amongst the Abbey ruins on Abbey Park.
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Wolsey at Leicester Abbey |
Wolsey’s ordeal with Henry VIII and his death at
Leicester Abbey were a subject of interest for William Shakespeare who used the
story for his play named “Henry VIII.” Cardinal Wolsey has also been locally honoured with the
naming of a Leicester-based clothing manuafacturer we all know as ‘Wolsey.’
by Matthew Sibson
by Matthew Sibson
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