Abbot Roger Norreis -1223

Chronicle of the Abbey of Evesham. He¹ was succeeded by Roger [Norreis], a monk belonging to no monastery. For although he had once been a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, he was imprisoned by the monastic community for treachery, because he had revealed the secrets of the chapter to Baldwin [Forde], Archbishop of Canterbury, who at that time was opposed to the monks and wished to establish the chapel at Hackington. Having given sworn security that he would remain there, he was released from prison. Yet, by what route I do not know, he escaped from their hands with nothing, and was honourably received by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop attached him closely to his person as an inseparable companion, and afterwards, against the wishes and protests of the monks, appointed him prior of that same church. But this did him no good, because he was never afterwards reconciled with the community, although he later devoted the greatest diligence and considerable expense to achieving this. Thus excluded from Canterbury, he remained a monk of no monastery. When the monks refused to receive him, he forced himself upon them, seized and appropriated all their possessions, plundered their goods, and deprived the monks of food and clothing. Through his servants, sons of Belial², he kept their priory under guard so that the monks could not leave, relying only on the support of two fugitive brethren. He also caused two brethren who had been sent to the archbishop as a mark of respect to be arrested immediately, separated from one another, and placed under guard. Eventually the archbishop sought to place him in charge of another church. Concerning this appointment, Abbot Alan of Tewkesbury, as though endowed with a prophetic spirit, writes as follows in his book on the destruction of the chapel at Hackington, where he also gives a fuller account of all the matters concerning Roger mentioned above:

Huic successit Rogerus, nullius monasterii monachus, quia quum esset quondam monachus ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariæ propter proditionem missus est in carcerem a conventu, et eo quod revelasset secreta capituli domino Balduuino Cantuariensi archiepiscopo qui tunc temporis adversabatur monachis, volens erigere capellam de Hakintunc. A quo carcere, juratoria data cautione de stabilitate, egressus nescio per quæ loca nudus, effugit manus eorum et a Cantuariensi archiepiscopo prior of honorifice est susceptus, qui eum lateri suo quasi socium individuum junxit, et postea, invitis monachis et reclamantibus, priorem ecclesiæ ejusdem præfecit; sed non profecit, quia nunquam postea universitati reconciliatus est, quamvis exactissimam diligentiam et multas expensas ad hoc postea apposuerit, et sic inde exclusus nullius monasterii monachus remansit. Quem quum monachi nollent recipere ipse intrusit se, et omnes possessiones monachorum invadendo sibi usurpavit, et bona eorum diripuit, et monachis victum et vestitum subtraxit, et prioratum eorum per filios Belial ministros suos ne monachi exirent observavit, tantum duorum fratrum fugitivorum fultos auxilio. Duos etiam fratres ad ipsum archiepiscopum destinatos honoris gratia statim capi fecit et a se divisos custodiæ mancipari. Tandem studuit archiepiscopus eum alteri præficere ecclesiæ. De qua præfectura, quasi spiritu prophetico præventus, ita scribit Alanus abbas Theokesberiæ in libro de demolitione capellæ de Hakintona ubi etiam omnia prædicta de eo plenius scribit:

Note 1. Abbot Adam de Senlis died on 12th November 1191.

Note 2. 'sons of Belial'. A biblical expression meaning wicked, lawless or worthless men.

Chronicle of the Abbey of Evesham. But when the abbot [Roger Norreis] reported this proposed form of peace to the monastic community, the community refused to consent to it, because it seemed to them to be wholly tainted with simony. And because Master Adam Sortes opposed it before the others and more steadfastly than they did, the abbot conceived such hatred, anger and indignation against him that from that day onwards he never looked upon him with a favourable eye, if indeed he ever had before. He persecuted him so severely that the two of them could no longer remain together. Unable to endure such persecution, Adam did everything he could to leave us. When he had obtained from the abbot letters of dismissal, we, unwilling to suffer the loss of so distinguished a member of the church, and since we could in no way retain him among us, granted him letters of commendation on the condition that he might return whenever he wished. When he was already preparing to depart, we took pity on the danger facing so great a man. Since the abbot was unwilling to allow him to remain near him, we obtained from the abbot that Adam should be made Prior of Penwortham [Map], so that in this way they would not have to see one another. This was done, and he remained there for seven years and more, until the fifth day after the abbot’s deposition.

Sed quum abbas hane formam pacis conventui retulisset noluit conventus ei consentire, quia labe simoniaca plena eis videbatur; et quia magister Adam Sortes prius et cæteris constantius ei contradixit, tantum odium, iram, et indignationem concepit abbas adversus eum, quod recto oculo ab illa die deinceps, quamvis forte nec prius, illum non respexit, sed in tantum eum est persecutus quod simul non poterant commorari. Ille vero tantam persecutionem sustinere non potens, omnimodis operam dedit ut a nobis recederet, et quum ab abbate impetrasset quod daret ei literas dimissorias, nos tam nobilis membri ecclesiæ jacturam non sustinentes, quum illum apud nos nequaquam possemus retinere, concessimus ei literas commendatitias sub tali forma quod quandocunque vellet posset redire. Et quum jam vellet recedere, tanti viri periculo compassi, nec abbas vellet eum apud se moram facere, obtinuimus ab abbate ut faceret eum priorem de Penwortham ut ita non viderent se ad invicem, quod et factum est, et mansit ibi per septennium et amplius usque in quintum diem post depositionem abbatis.

Chronicle of the Abbey of Evesham. On the fifth day after these events [in November 1213], at the request of the monastic community, the lord legate took pity on him and gave him the priory of Penwortham [Map] for his maintenance for life. Five months later, however, he took it away from him because of his offences. He then went to Rome, but was able to obtain neither the abbacy nor the priory, nor even recognition as a monk of this church. Returning therefore with his business unsuccessful, he attached himself to Silvester¹, Bishop of Worcester, and suggested to him whatever he thought might harm us and our church, but he did us no injury. He also went with the bishop to the lord Wala, then legate of the Apostolic See, at Gloucester, and sought restoration to the abbacy, but obtained nothing from him, just as previously he had obtained nothing from the lord pope. Then, despairing of his own restoration, he demanded one hundred pounds which, as he said, he had fraudulently carried off from the church of Canterbury, claiming that the church of Evesham ought to restore it to that church because he asserted that he had spent the money for Evesham’s benefit. But the lord legate, in our absence, regarded his unsupported assertion as worthless. Then, pouring out all his malice and all his venom, he prostrated himself on the ground and said that against his conscience he had freed the church of Evesham from subjection to the Bishop of Worcester, and openly informed the lord legate of everything which he considered weak in our claim to liberty. But he put forward nothing worthy of belief. The lord legate, who at the time when judgement had been given in favour of the exemption of our church had sat with the other cardinals beside the lord pope, and who was among the cardinals especially learned in civil law, replied: "It was not you, wretched man, who freed the church of Evesham, nor were you even in Rome when the judgement was given. Rather, the lord pope, after examining and approving the privileges of the Roman pontiffs, declared it free by his judgement. And because you plead your own disgrace, you are not to be heard." And he ordered him to leave the house, and so he departed in confusion. Afterwards, when almost five years had passed since his deposition, the lord Pandulf, who was then exercising the office of legate in England, took pity on him and, lest he should remain a wandering monk for all the days of his life, restored to him the priory of Penwortham. There he withheld from the monastic community whatever revenues assigned to it he could. He lived there for almost six years thereafter². During that time, although both Master Adam Sortes by word of mouth and I, as prior, through monks and through laymen who were his kinsmen and others, repeatedly admonished him, indeed advised and begged him, to write to the monastic community so that all resentment on both sides might be put aside, although we had already wholly put ours aside in our hearts, and also to ask the lord abbot and the monastic community that he might be made a monk of Evesham, he refused to agree to our requests. He died there and was buried in the same place. Although, therefore, as has been said, he was not one of our monks, nevertheless the lord abbot and the monastic community, acting piously towards him, caused everything to be done for him, both in spiritual and temporal matters, just as if he had died among us at Evesham as one of our own monks.³

Quinta post hæc die ad petitionem conventus misertus illius dominus legatus, dedit ei prioratum de Penwrtham ad vitæ sustentationem, quem post quinque menses propter excessus suos ei abstulit. Qui tunc Romam adiit, sed nec abbatiam nec prioratum nec etiam monachatum hujus ecclesiæ obtinere potuit. Reversus igitur infecto negotio, adhæsit Silvestro Wigornensi episcopo et quæcunque nobis et ecclesiæ nostræ nocitura credebat ei suggessit, sed nihil nobis nocuit. Ad dominum etiam Walam tunc temporis apostolicæ sedis legatum apud Glouerniam cum episcopo accessit, et restitutionem abbatiæ petiit, sed nihil ab eo obtinuit, sicut nec prius a domino papa. Tunc desperans de reformatione sua petiit centum libras quas ab ecclesia Cantuariensi, ut dicebat, fraudulenter asportaverat eidem ecclesiæ ab ecclesia Eveshamensi debere restitui, in cujus usus eas se expendisse asserebat. Sed dominus legatus ejus nudam assertionem in absentia nostra pro nihilo reputavit. Tunc omnem malitiam suam et omne venenum suum effundens, humi prostratus dixit quod contra conscientiam suam ecclesiam Eveshamensem a subjectione Wigornensis episcopi liberaverat et omnia quæ circa libertatem nostram infirma putabat domino legato palam intimavit, sed nulla fide digna proposuit. Unde dominus legatus qui tempore late sententiæ pro exemptione ecclesiæ nostræ cum aliis cardinalibus domino pape assederat, ut inter cardinales in jure civili peritissimus, respondit, "Non tu, miser, ecclesiam Eveshamensem liberasti, nec etiam tempore sententiæ latæ Romæ fuisti, sed dominus papa inspectis et approlatis privilegiis Romanorum pontificum eam liberam per sententiam suam declaravit. Et quia propriam turpitudinem allegas, non es audiendus;" — et jussit ut domum egrederetur, et sic confusus recessit. Postmodum vero, elapsis fere quinque annis a tempore depositionis suæ, misertus illius dominus Pandulfus qui tunc legationis officio fungebatur in Anglia, ne esset gyrovagus omnibus diebus vitæ suæ restituit ei prioratum de Penwrtham, ubi quoscunque redditus potuit conventui assignatos subtraxit. Vixit autem ibi postea to him in annis ferme sex, et quamvis pendente hoc tempore tam magister Adam Sortes viva voce quam ego prior, et per monachos et per viros sæculares consanguineos suos et alios, commonuissemus eum, immo consuluissemus et supplicassemus ei, quod scriberet conventui ut utrinque omnis indignatio remitteretur (quamvis nos ex animo omnino remissemus), et etiam peteret a domino abbate et conventu quod fieret monachus Eveshamiæ, noluit acquiescere nobis, sed mortuus est ibidem et sepultus in eodem loco. Quamvis itaque, ut dictum est, non esset monachus noster tamen pie agentes cum eo dominus abbas et conventus ita omnia pro eo tam in spiritualibus quam temporalibus agi fecerunt ac si Eveshamiæ apud nos monachus noster obiisset.

Note 1. Silvester de Evesham, prior of Worcester, was elected bishop 3rd April 1216, and consecrated 3rd July in the same year. It was in this year also that cardinal Guala [aged 63] came to England as legate of Innocent III.

Note 2. Abbot Roger Norreis died on 19th July 1223; Lambeth MS 589.

Note 3. The following passage is here inserted in Harl. 3763, on the margin of fol. 170 b: "During the time of this Abbot Roger, namely in the year of the Lord 1203, the altar of St John the Baptist was dedicated on the feast of St Theodore the Martyr by Philip, Archbishop of Tuam, in the province of Connacht in Ireland, granting to the benefactors of the same altar a remission of thirteen days. Also during his time, namely in the year of the Lord 1206, Ægidius, Primate of Ireland, ordained at Evesham in the month of September monks of Evesham and Bruern, together with several clerks."

The following passage is here inserted in Harl. 3763, on the margin of fol. 170 b: "Tempore istins Rogeri abbatis, videlicet anno Domini MCCIII dedicatum est altave sancti Johannis Baptistæ in die sancti Theodori martyris a Philippo Tuamensi archiepiscopo, Conuactiæ provineix Hiberniœ, relaxando benefactoribus ejusdem xiii. dies. Istius etiam tempore, videlicet anno Domini MCCVI, Ægidius primas Hiberniæ apud Evesham monachos Eveshamiæ, Brueriæ et plures clericos in Septembri ordinavit."