the antique churches, and the ivied walls of its once flourishing abbey. The relics of ancient magnificence indeed, as Mr. Tindal observes,* are but few, but are on that very account more precious: and enough still remains to shew to the passing stranger, whilst he treads the hallowed ground, that here once existed edifices of more than common elegance, as well as magnitude, "Where through the long drawn aisle, and fretted vault, Of the spacious abbey which once reared its lofty pinnacles to heaven upon this Avon encircled hill, we are told by Leland, that St. Egwin, Bishop of the Wiccii, was the founder; in which pious work he was aided by Ethelred and Kenred, Kings of Mercia. Before this prelate, however, was elevated to the pall, or was even fully qualified to be a saint, it appears that he had been playing some juvenile tricks, the remembrance of which hung heavy on his conscience. In order, therefore, to ascertain clearly when his sins were forgiven, he fastened his legs together with iron fetters, and threw the key of their lock into the Avon, giving at the same time public notice, that he should not consider his sins as pardoned until these fetters should be unlocked by a miracle from heaven, or by their proper key being miraculously restored to him. William of Malmesbury, who relates this wonderful story, does not inform us whether the blacksmiths of that time could make two keys to the same lock; however, as we have related, one key was thrown into the Avon. In this heavenly attire he went to Rome; and after a pleasant journey, whilst he was crossing the channel on his return, a large fish leaped on board of the vessel, which the seamen immediately secured. On opening his stomach, the very key was found belonging to the lock which fastened his fetters; and he thus received full assurance of the remission of his sins. John of Tinemouth relates the story in a different manner,† for he states that on the arrival VOL. XV. 2 A of Tindal's Evesham + Golden Legend. Cap. 203. of Egwin at Rome, the bells all rang of their own accord, and his servant buying a fish in the market, then and there found the key, "the Roman Tyber having thus restored what the English Avon had swallowed up." We can easily conceive, indeed, that the fish might have swallowed a key on his way home from the market, or even after his arrival at the saints' lodgings; perhaps, however, after all, the most miraculous part of the business is the swallowing of the story. After having thus put the Deity to the trouble of working a miracle, St. Egwin came home, and we are told by the unknown author of an old legend of his life, that there was a place in the territory of the Wiccii, quite uncultivated, over-run with brambles, and clouded with fogs. This place, called by the moderns in the days of the writer, Eovesham, was then called Hetheholme. The saint having taken a strange fancy to this place, begged it from Ethelred King of the Mercians; and in those days of saints and sinners, it was only "ask and have." powers over this forest, he appointed four after the " pigs of the servants of God." herds, Eoves by name, having gone too far one of his pigs, which hid itself in the thickets, and brought forth a miraculous litter. This unlucky swine-herd not having the power of working miracles, took perhaps the wisest method of finding his pig, by going to look for it; but soon found he had got the wrong sow by the ear, for instead of his pig, he stumbled upon a virgin accompanied by two others, virgins also as far as he knew, all shining as bright as the sun, holding in their hands a beautiful book, and dancing. Having thus got full swine-herds to look One of these swineinto the wood, lost Eoves grew pale with fear: but why he was terrified at the sight of three virgins, unless they were the first he had seen, we cannot understand; however, he found his way home to his master, who was so pleased at hearing of the virgins, that he did not say a word about the pig, but went to look after them himself, and had the good fortune to see them whilst he was at his prayers. Whether the saint was terrified or not, we are not told; but his biographer, biographer, with a kind of saint-like obscurity, proceeds to say that Egwin," amidst various straights and temptations," vowed, that if his desires should prosper, he would there build a church. This he accordingly did, and lived to see it completed, and in a flourishing state. Thus far the legend; and it further appears that Egwin having dedicated his church to the Virgin Mary, he, after the Conquest, was often joined in co-partnership with her in the dedication style. of the monastery, which, as usual, accompanied the church. It seems, indeed, that one of the greatest miracles attendant upon this saint, either alive or dead, was that of Algytha, a matron lady, having given to this monastery her lands of Suella, that she might obtain part of his relics from the abbot! a kind of bargain, however, in which she is not likely to be imitated by modern matrons, who no doubt would consider it as a dead loss. From Brown Willis's view of the mitred abbeys, it appears that this monastery and church at one time possessed twenty-two towns, and maintained seventy-five religious persons, and sixtyfive servants; and its revenues at the dissolution amounted to upwards of 12001. sterling; a large sum of money at that time.* There have been many opinions, and many doubts, respecting the privileges of these mitred abbies, and their origin; it is, however, pretty clearly settled by Cowell, that their abbots were not called to Parliament because they were entitled to wear the mitre, but only because they held their temporals from the crown. This opinion is confirmed by Collier, who says that they held of the king in capite per baroniam, each endowment being at least an entire barony, which consisted of thirteen knights fees, and thereby they were advanced to the state and dignity of spiritual lords. To give a detailed history of this abbey and town, or even a dry list of the abbots, would far exceed our possible limits; we 2A2 • Vide Leland. Collect. Vol. VI. p. 158. et seq. † Eccl. Hist. Vol. II. p. 164. must must therefore refer to Brown Willis, or to a later work, « Tin dal's History of Evesham," which treats, both in an entertaining and copious manner, of the various events that have occurred. Some few things it may be proper to note. We are told in the third volume of Wilkins's Councils, that Thomas de Marleberg, abbot of Evesham, about the beginning of the 13th century, was the first person who introduced the custom of cutting episcopal figures upon sepulchral monuments, which he did on the tombs of two of his predecessors, and also on a tomb designed for himself. That the monks of this abbey were as fond of good living as any of their brethren, notwithstanding their vows of mortification, appears from some heavy complaints that were made against Roger Norreys, one of the abbots, who succeeded Thomas de Marleberg in 1213, for keeping them many days on dry bread, and giving them bad small beer, instead of ale. But even their best living was by rule; for on the feast of the Holy Trinity, each monk had one capon and one quart of wine; the prior two capons and half a flagon; and the abbot three capons and a whole flagon. Nay, this love for good things was carried, if not beyond nor into the grave, yet to an extent almost incredible; for there was a regulation of the monastery, that the abbots, and also the monks, "should have their allowance for a whole year after their death, in the same proportion as while they lived:" this, however, it seems was, or ought to have been, bestowed on some poor person for the good of their souls. About this period of the history of Evesham, and of its abbey, the important battle took place which restored Henry III. to his throne and liberty, by the gallantry and conduct of his son, afterwards Edward I. and having examined the whole of the ground of the field of battle, aided by the observations of Tindal, who seems to have paid considerable attention to the subject, we shall now detail the leading circumstances. The gallant Edward, after escaping from the hands of his keepers, through the loyalty and perseverance of Mortimer, pro ceeded |