ance of the abbey of Bury; he granted to the abbot and convent the town of Mildenhall, with its produce and inhabitants, the royalties of eight hundreds, with the half hundred of Thingoe and several other villages. He also granted them the privileges of coining at a mint within the precincts of the monastery, and when he paid his devotions in person to the shrine of the royal martyr, his veneration was such, that he used to perform the last mile of the journey on foot.

The first church, built by Ailwin in 1032, being demolished, the monks, in the time of William the Conqueror, were induced to erect another of hewn stone, under the direction of Abbot Baldwin, with a view of giving the body of their saint a more magnificent receptacle than before. In 1095, this building was in a state to receive the body. The church then built continued till the period of the dissolution. Of this faded magnificence, old Leland has drawn a lively sketch: he had seen it in all its glory, and speaking of this and the town he uses these terms-" A city more neatly seated the sun never saw, so curiously doth it hang upon a gentle descent, with a little river on the east side; nor a monastery more noble, whether one considers its endowments, largeness, or unparalleled magnificence. One might even think this monastery alone a city: so many gates it has, some whereof are brass : so many towers, and a church, than which nothing can be more magnificent; as appendages to which there are three more of admirable beauty and workmanship in the same churchyard." The abbey church, or that of St. Edmund, was 505 feet in length, the transept 212, and the west front 240. The latter had two large side chapels, St. Faith's, and St. Catherine's, one on the north-west, and the others on the southwest, and at each end an octagon tower, thirty feet each way. One of these, and part of this front, still remain. The shrine of St. Edmund was preserved in

a semicircular chapel at the east end; and on the north side of the choir was the chapel of St. Mary, 80 feet long, and 42 broad. St. Mary in the crypt here was 100 feet long, 80 in breadth, and supported by 24 pillars. Besides the dome there was a high west tower over the middle aisle, but as to the height of the building there are no certain documents left to ascertain it with any degree of certainty.

The abbot of Bury had several great officers under him, as a prior, sub-prior, sacrist, and others, and in its most prosperous state it had 80 monks, 15 chaplains, and 111 servants attending within its walls. It had three grand entrance gates; and chapels, cloisters, and offices of every kind. The abbot was also exempted from any ecclesiastical authority, excepting that of the Roman pontiff, which often involved him in violent disputes. The abbot of Bury was a spiritual parliamentary baron; he held synods in his own chapter-house, and appointed the parochial clergy of the town; and by his high steward he possessed the right of trying and determining all causes within his franchise or liberty, and could inflict capital punishment. No officer of the king could, without his permission, hold a court, or execute any office in Bury. As lord of the town, he claimed the right of appointing the alderman, though it was afterwards agreed that the corporation should enjoy the privilege of electing him : yet before the alderman entered upon his functions, he was obliged to obtain the abbot's confirmation, and to take an oath of allegiance, &c. It is presumed that the arrogance of these ecclesiastical rulers was the cause of many violent disputes between them and the town's-people. One of these altercations had arisen to such a height in 1327, that the people, headed by their alderman and chief burgesses, after assembling near 20,000 persons from the neighbouring villages, attacked the abbey; and having demolished the gates, doors, and

windows, and beaten the servants and adherents of the monks, they broke open the chests and coffers, plundering them of rich plate, books, vestments, and other va luables, besides 500 pounds in English money, and 3000 florins. They also carried away three charters of Canute, four of Hardicanute, one of Edward the Confessor, two of Henry I. three of Henry III. 12 papal bulls, with several deeds, written obligations and acknowledgments for money due to the convent. Great part of the monastery was reduced to ashes, and many of the manors and granges belonging to it in the town and its vicinity shared the same fate. The abbot being then in London, the insurgents seized and confined Peter Clopton, the prior, and about 20 of the monks, whom they compelled, in the name of the whole chapter, to execute under their seal a deed con✩ stituting the burgesses a town or corporation. They also obliged them to sign an agreement for the payment of 10,000l. to certain of the townsmen, to discharge them from all debts due to the monastery, and to engage not to proceed against them by law for any damage they had committed. The king interfering in this business, 30 carts full of the rioters were soon after taken to Norwich; 19 of the most notorious were executed, one pressed to death for refusing to plead, and 32 parochial clergymen convicted as abettors. The investigations that followed this affair lasted nearly five years, as the final decision was not given in council by Edward III. till 1332. The amount of the damages done had been estimated at the enormous sum of 140,000l.; but at the king's request the abbot remitted to the offenders 122,3331.6s. 8d. and at length forgave them the residue upon the condition of their better behaviour in future. Berton, the alderman, Herling, 32 priests, 13 women, and 138 other inhabitants of the town, were outlawed; but some of these, it is said, to revenge the abbot's breach

of promise, surprised him at the manor of Chevington, where having bound and shaved him, they conveyed him to London, thence over sea into Flanders, where they detained him as a prisoner till he was discovered and rescued by some of his friends.

Five hundred and nineteen years did the monastery of St. Edmund's Bury remain in the possession of the Benedictine monks. Its regular revenues consisted of fifty-two knights' fees and three-quarters, together with the royalties of eight hundreds and a half, besides others, which in the 18th century it is thought would have equalized 200,000l. per annum. The report

made by the commissioners, at the time of the dissolution, respecting this abbey, was as follows: "We have found a rich shrine, which was very cuinberous to deface. We have taken in gold and silver 500 marks and above, besides a rich cross with emeralds, and divers stones of great value; and yet we have left the church, abbot, and convent, very well furnished with plate of silver necessary for the same." Among the relics found here, were the coals upon which St. Laurence was broiled, the parings of St. Edmund's nails, the penknife of St. Thomas of Canterbury, with his boots, skulls for curing the head-ache, pieces of the cross, &c. &c.

Among other superstitious practices suggested by the prurient imaginations of these monks, the sacrist of this monastery, as often as he let the manor of Haberdon, annexed this condition, that the tenant should provide a white bull whenever a matron of rank, or any other, should come out of devotion, or in consequence of a vow, to make the oblation of the white bull at the shrine of St. Edmund. The animal, then adorned with ribbons and garlands, was brought to the south gate of the monastery, and led along Churchgate, Guildhall, and the Abbey-gate streets, to the great west gate, the lady all the while keeping close to