Manuscript: Faustina B. IX

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nocte sequenti.4
terre ueniebant ad eum ut confiterentur illi peccata sua & benedicerentur
ab illo1 cuius benedictionem sanctam multium credebant sibi profuturam.


Anno Domini millesimo ccolxo Henricus de Lambden camerarius monasterii
Calcouiensis rediit de curia Romona portans secum litteras papales in quibus
continebatur quod uiso mandato papali immediate cederet baiulo man
dati dicto Henrico dominus Patricius abbas qui tunc prefuit eidem monasterio quod
statim obedienter fecit. Nam eodem die quo intrauit dictus Henricus domum
Calkouie sine aliqua ulteriori dilacione2 possuit insignia pontificalia quibus
redimitus erat super magnum altare illius cenobii quibus se induit m▬x3
Henricus ante dictus ex gratia muneris summi summi pontificis. Viderit
ipse quomodo intrauit ad curam illam pastoralem. Nam postea nescimus
an ex ulcione Dei an ex bona eius uoluntate repentina morte preuentus est in
mensa sua quando primum ferculum sumere cepit qui statim post secundam refectio
nem conuentus traditur sepulture eodem die forte quia noluerunt circa corpus
eius uigilare

Anno Domini moccolxio Venerabilis pater noster dominus Matheus abbas de Mel
ros absens deponitur in capitulo Ryeuallis sine consilio & sine scitu omnis anime
uiuentis de Scocia cuiusis talem deposicionem multi planxerunt tam monachi
quam conuersi monasterii Melrosensis quia nichil culpe inuentum fuit in eo pro
qua debuit taliter deponi ut ipsi estimauerunt placuit tamen patri abbati ut sic
fieret de5 eo propter quasdam obiectiones quas habebat contra ipsum ut sibi uidebatur ra
cionabiles, post cuius deposicionis denominacionem in capitulo illius diei quo depo
situs erat absoluti sunt ab ipso patre abbate ab obedienciis & professsionibus sibi fac
tis omnes Melrosenses set hue nam per hunc bonum Matheum uirum reuerendum
atque largifluum & nonnullas possessiones & plures pitancias ex adepcione eius
optinet domus de Melros per ipsum habemus panes pitanciales diebus Veneris
in Quadragesima quando ieiunamus in pane ⁊ aqua ipse autem fecit magnas
domos nostras de Berwyc’, insuper & & multas ua\c/carias bouarias & came
ram magnam abbatis que est super ripam aque cum adiectione aliorum edifi
¶ciorum non paucorum construxit.

 

Notes

1 JRD: Ab illo written over an erasure.
2 JRD: First i changed from e.
3 JRD: Read mox. The erased character may have been an x.
4 JRD: Added very faintly, probably intended to stand after uigilare.
5 JT: The additional minim stroke at the end of the word de is presumably a mistake.
for the ensuing night.1
the noblemen of the land would come to him, however, was so that they might confess their sins to him and be blessed by him whose blessing they believed would be a great benefit.


In the 1260th year of the Lord, Henry of Lambden, the chamberlain of the monastery of Kelso, returned from the Roman curia carrying with him papal letters; they said that Patrick the lord abbot, who ruled the same monastery at that time, should upon seeing the papal mandate immediately resign in favour of the bearer of the mandate, the said Henry; he immediately and obediently did this; for on the same day in which the said Henry entered the house of Kelso, he placed the pontifical insignia, with which he was invested, upon the high altar of the monastery without any further delay; and the aforementioned Henry, by virtue of the supreme supreme pontiff’s gift, quickly adorned himself with them. It should be noticed in what manner he entered that pastoral charge; for afterwards—we do not know whether by God’s vengeance or by his good will—he was overcome by sudden death at his table as soon as he had eaten the first course, and he was laid in the sepulchre immediately after the community’s second meal that same day, perhaps because they did not wish to keep vigil around his body

In the 1261st year of the Lord, our venerable father Matthew, the lord abbot of Melrose, was deposed in his absence in the chapter of Rievaulx, without consultation and without the knowledge of any living soul in Scotland; and many, including the monks and lay-brothers of the monastery of Melrose, lamented his deposition in this way, since according to their judgement nothing remiss was found in him for which he deserved to be deposed in such a manner. The father abbot was satisfied, however, that this should happen to him in this case, because of some objections he was aware of against him, which seemed reasonable to him. After the announcement of his deposition in that day’s chapter in which he was deposed, all at Melrose were released by the father abbot himself from the obedience and professions they had made to him. But alas! For it is through this Matthew, a good, devout, and most generous man, that the house of Melrose has several possessions and many allowances for the monks as a result of his facility for acquisition; because of him we have pittance-breads on Fridays in Lent when we are fasting on bread and water; he also built our large houses at Berwick; and moreover, he constructed both many shelters for cows and oxen as well as a great chamber for the abbot, which is on the bank of the river, together with the addition of ¶not a few other buildings.

Notes

1 JRD: Added very faintly, probably intended to stand after ‘keep vigil around his body’.