FROM PALESTINE TO ERIN.

69

land. The angel of the Lord, who carried the prophet Habacuc from Judea to Babylon,' had borne William Tynbygh from Palestine to Erin, and he was safe and sound in the midst of his family.

On recovering his self-possession, he told how God had shown mercy towards him, in answer to the prayers of His servant Catharine, and had miraculously delivered him from the fury of his enemies.

William soon discovered, to his sorrow, that this miracle had earned for him the reputation of sanctity. He therefore determined to forsake all earthly things, and to consecrate himself wholly to the service of God. Fearing that his plans might be thwarted by his parents, he fled during the night, and, hurrying to the nearest port, crossed over to England. Soon after, he was a postulant in the London Charterhouse; and, after the ordinary trial of vocation, he received the Carthusian habit.

Dom William was called to an eminent degree of perfection, and by no easy road; for, says our historian, "he became, as it were, a second St. Anthony, in mental prayer, in victory over temptations, in reiterated conflicts with the demons, and in holiness of life." St. Athanasius tells us how cruelly the devils used to treat St. Anthony, leaving him, wounded from head to foot, half dead upon the ground. It was the same with William Tynbygh, 1 Daniel xiv. 35.

who was, it is said, no less terribly scourged and lacerated by his infernal enemies.

Though the humble monk endeavoured to hide these diabolical attacks from the community, his secret was at length divulged; for one night he was so dreadfully wounded that, being quite unable to dress himself, he was obliged to be absent when Matins began. According to the custom of the Order, the Infirmarian went to seek the absentee; and on entering his cell he found him lying motionless upon the floor, and covered with wounds, while everything in the room was in the utmost confusion. This was not the only way in which the devils tormented him; but they were always put to shame by his gaining a complete victory.

Father Tynbygh also had his consolations. Towards the close of his life he was unable to pronounce the opening words of the Gospel according to St. John without being rapt in ecstasy. It may be worth while to observe that the first chapter of St. John's Gospel is not read at the end of the Carthusian Mass. Father Tynbygh's transports must therefore have taken place in the cell, where it is recited twice every day.

Tynbygh was deemed worthy to be the Father and director of most of the English Carthusian martyrs. They received at his hands the habit of the Order; they pronounced in his presence their holy vows; they took under his guidance their first

PRIOR TYNBYGH'S PAPERS.

71

steps in the way of religious perfection, and began their preparation for the cruel death which was to gain for them everlasting renown.

It was about the year 1470 when Father Tynbygh entered the London Charterhouse; and after holding the offices, first of Sacristan, and afterwards of Vicar, he was elected Prior in 1500.

Several documents relating to the temporal business of the Charterhouse during Father Tynbygh's priorate are preserved in the Public Record Office. As complete copies of these could hardly prove interesting, we will confine ourselves to a few abstracts. First comes a bundle of thirtyseven parchment documents, of which some refer to the Charterhouse. They are receipts for various small sums of money.

The next bundle contains, in the first place, "View of the Account of William Tynbegh (sic), Prior of the Charterhouse."

Moneys received from various rectories, including £3 6s. 8d. from the Abbot of Westminster. Receipts from various lands in and about London, amounting in all to £683 5s. 3d.

Various payments, including one "for salte fishe this yere," £15 17s. 3d.

We may give a single extract in its original form. It is a curious receipt by John Heth, a

1 Mentioned in Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. viii. 612-614.

chantry priest, who seems to have resided for several years in the Charterhouse.

"This by wytenessith me St John Heth, chauntre preyst of St Robert Reede, knight, in the chart'house besyde londo, to have recyved the day of makyng hereof of the Pryor & covent of the seyd chartierhouse, xl' in moey, of & for my salary & wage to me due for a qarter of a yer ended the day of makyng herof, of the wyche xl I knowlege my self truly contentyd & payed; and the seid pryor & covent therof to be quyte and dyscharged by these p'sente. In witenes wherof to this bill I have putt my seale. Datur in festo purificacionis baati (sic) Marie, Anno Regni Regis Henrici Octavi xjmo (1520).

p me Jho. Heth." This is followed by a rental headed thus: "Thys be ye landes rentyt to Creychircle of ye chartyrhouse of London lying in Clyf (?).”

In the Appendix' we give a letter from Prior Tynbygh to the parish priest of St. Peter's, in Thetford. It concerns the reception of a postulant, named William Hope, who had already worn the habit of the Order and abandoned it. The Prior thinks that the community will not readmit him unless they may understand in him by-long-timecontinual stability in sad and virtuous living." He was not received again at the Charterhouse; but

1 Infra, Appendix iv.

TYNBYGH RETURNS TO THE CLOISTER. 73

as late as October, 1534, our Prior seems to have been paying for his board with the Austin Friars.

In 1514 Philip Underwood, a monk of the Charterhouse, was allowed, by special dispensation, to pass over to a less austere Order, and was received as a member of the brotherhood of St. John of Jerusalem, by Sir Thomas Docwra, the Lord Prior, and his brethren, in a chapter held at St. John's House, Clerkenwell, on the 24th of April. On the 15th of November in the following year this reception was formally confirmed by a deed under the leaden seal of the Grand Master of the "Religion" of St. John.1

2

A curious document preserved in the register of St. John's Hospital shows that Pardon Churchyard was in 1514 the property of the Hospital, and was still used as a burial-ground.

This is another instance of the friendly relations which existed between the Carthusians and the Brothers of St. John; for the churchyard was for some time the property of the Charterhouse.

At length, after a priorate of twenty-nine years, "at his own earnest request, and by reason of his advanced age and numerous infirmities," William Tynbygh was allowed to return to the cloister. This was in 1529; and within two years after

1 From Mr. E. Waterton's MS. collections regarding the Order

of St. John of Jerusalem in England.

2 Printed in Malcolm's Londinium Redivivum, vol. i. p. 382.