Dunstable Priory

• 1. Royal Foundation And Early History

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  King Henry I established the Augustinian priory in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, during the year 1132. He granted the monastery the lordship of the manor and town where it stood. Tradition suggests this same monarch founded the town itself by clearing forest along the crossing of Watling Street and the Icknield Way. Robbers infested that highway, prompting the king to create a settlement there for safety. The charter confirmed by Henry II included all liberties and rights held within his own demesne lands. Henry I also endowed the Priory with the quarry at Totternhoe. Before the reign of Richard I, thirteen different benefactors had granted churches to the neighborhood. These gifts included the chapel of Ruxox and lands in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Most of these donations remained with the priory throughout its existence despite later disputes. Bernard served as the first prior of the house. He was closely associated with introducing Austin Canons into England alongside his brother Norman.

• 2. Medieval Prosperity And Financial Struggles

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  Richard de Morins became prior of Dunstable in the year 1202 after serving as a canon of Merton. He took over as the chronicler from 1210 onwards and displayed considerable capacity for affairs. Within one year of becoming prior he traveled to Rome on the king's business. His influence helped confirm the lordship of Houghton Regis for the priory in 1203. In 1219 he secured the right to hold a court for all pleas of the Crown at Dunstable. This privilege brought him into less happy relations with townsmen and may have hastened their revolt against authority in 1228. The conventual church received dedication by Bishop Hugh of Wells in 1213. A gift of the church of Bradbourne provided maintenance for three canons. The death of Richard de Morins in 1242 marked the beginning of heavy losses. Eight hundred sheep belonging to the priory died in the Peak district during 1243. Bad seasons led to great scarcity by 1255 when canons had no corn to sell or even enough for themselves. Simon of Eaton found the house 400 marks in debt upon becoming prior in 1262.

• 3. Political Entanglements And Civil Unrest

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  The prior went out to meet Simon de Montfort when the earl visited Dunstable in 1263. He admitted Montfort to the fraternity of the house despite political tensions. A council was held at Dunstable in 1265 to consider peace with defeated barons. King Henry III and the queen visited the house that same year. No fine was imposed on the priory despite the prior's known sympathy for Montfort. Eudo la Zouche refused to recognize the rights of the prior to a gallows and prison in Houghton. This dispute continued until 1289 when it was finally decided in favor of the prior. In 1286 the priory had to trim trees and hedges along the King's Highway pursuant to the Statute of Winchester. The outer walls of the priory collapsed in wet weather during the winter of 1286. Hayricks were destroyed by fire in the same season. Tithes due to the Hospitallers from North Marston church fell into long arrears requiring new arrangements. Thomas Marshall saved his own house from serious loss during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 through courage and moderation.

• 4. Dissolution And The Great Ruin

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  Archbishop Cranmer pronounced the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon null and void on the 23rd of May 1533. This ceremony took place in the Lady Chapel of the conventual church at Dunstable while Catherine resided nearby at Ampthill. Prior Gervase Markham signed the acknowledgement of Royal Supremacy with twelve canons in 1535. He surrendered his house to the king on the 20th of January 1540, 1 receiving a pension of £60. The smaller English religious houses had been dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1536. The church and priory at Dunstable closed down in January 1540. The prior and twelve canons received pensions and dispensations to serve as secular priests. A scheme for creating a new bishopric at Dunstable initially kept the great church standing intact. That plan fell through after a few years leaving the beautiful church plundered of all valuable items. Only the parochial nave remained standing while other buildings shared the fate of monastic ruins. Thirteen monks existed besides the prior at the time of dissolution including eleven canons and two lay brothers.

• 5. Architectural Evolution And Surviving Structures

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  St Peter's stands today as one of the best examples of Norman architecture in England. It was built in the form of a cross with a great tower at the crossing. Two smaller towers stood at the west end before storms destroyed much of the front ten years later. The damaged part was rebuilt in Early English style taking seventy to eighty years to complete. The west front features a huge entrance consisting of four arches dating from 1170 to 1190 above a later fifteenth-century doorway. Marks of shots fired during the English Civil War still appear on the old west doors. Inside the church an intricate fourteenth-century screen displays five open bays. The roof represents a sympathetic restoration from 1871 of the Perpendicular original. Several funerary monuments and floor brasses remain within the structure. A fifteenth-century embroidered cloth known as the Fayrey Pall exists among the possessions of the church. Priory House became a private house from 1545 following the dissolution of the monasteries.

• 6. Administrative Discipline And Monastic Life

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  Bishop Grosseteste visited the house once in 236 to investigate titles to several appropriate churches rather than daily life. He exacted an oath from all canons individually causing one to flee to Woburn. Henry de Bilenda fled to Cistercians at Merivale in 1249 after being found incapable or untrustworthy as cellarer. Bishop Sutton discharged his office strictly in November 1279 without respect of persons. The sub-prior and certain others were removed from charge while less useful members were expelled. Prior William le Breton was deposed from all pastoral care in May of the following year due to mismanagement. New efforts curtailed expenses and assigned fixed income to the kitchen for future payments. Two young canons escaped by night through a window to join Friars Minor at Oxford early in the century. They were excommunicated and compelled to return but allowed a year to consider their options after penance. Thomas Marshall set apart funds for education of one canon at Oxford confirmed by Bishop Buckingham in 1379.