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also to have been, in 1207 (9 John), a design of
translating it to River, near Dover.
After the settlement of its troubles, St. Radegund's
increased in wealth and reputation; and many were the notable personages
who desired to be buried in its church after their decease.
In September 1302, King Edward I received the Great Seal
with his own hands in the King's Chapel * at St. Radegund's; and
delivered it to William Greenfield, his chancellor. †
Little or nothing has come down to us of the later history;
but, towards the end of the fifteenth century, a ray of light is thrown
upon it from a Visitation Book, ‡ between the years 1472-1501, of
Richard Redman, Bishop of St. Asaph, § and Commissary-General of the
Præmonstratensian Order in the British Isles.
We have not space for the entire series of visitations, but
it is evident that successive Abbots and Priors had allowed the
buildings to fall into a sad state of decay. In 1482 the Visitor reports: |
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Aug. 31. Distinctissime precepimus Abbati ut
pro toto posse et omni celeritate reparare et sustentare festinet tam
Ecclesiam claustrum quam omnes alias domos interiores et exteriores que
vero modo verisimile usque ad terram ruitura videntur.
Fratres a mane usque ad vesperam faciant opus in ortis (? hortis).
Doubtless this latter mandate points to the incompatibility
of devotion and meditation with the noise and bustle of building
operations.
In 1488, the Abbot is again urged to hasten on the
reparation of the buildings, and a list of the names of the brethren is
given:
Henricus, abbas; Thos. Raypese, prior; Will.
Kyrkeby;
* Perhaps one of the chapels in the church,
which had been endowed by one of the three previous soveriegns.
† Lord Campbells Lives of the Lord Chancellors, i., 182.
‡ Ashmolean Library, Oxford, MS. 1519.
§ The Order was exempt from all episcopal jurisdiction,
and Bishop Redman was Commissary-General, not from his office, but
because when first appointed he was Abbot of the Monastery of S. Mary
Magdalene at Shap, in Westmoreland. |