"[1]
Specific instances of neglect and worse are recorded. We
have already mentioned the giving and selling of books
by the monks of St. Albans to Richard de Bury. From
the account books of Bolton Abbey it would appear that
three books only were bought during forty years of the
fourteenth century.[2] At St. Werburgh's, Chester, discipline
was very lax. Two monks robbed the abbot of a book
valued at L 20, and of property valued at L 100 or more,
and stole from two of their brethren books and money
(1409). About four years later one of the thieves was
elected abbot, and his respect for learning may be gauged
from the fact that in 1422 he was charged with not
having maintained a scholar at Oxford or Cambridge for
twelve years, although it was his duty to do so by the rules
of his order.[3]
[1] R. de B., c. v. 183.
[2] Whitaker, Hist. of Craven, (1805), 330; another computus,
discovered later, does not refer to books (ed. 1878).
[3] Morris, Chester during Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns, 128-129.
At Bury books were going astray in the first half of
the fifteenth century. Abbot William Curteys (1429-45)
issued an ordinance in which he declares books given out
by the preceptor to the brethren for purposes of study had
been lent, pledged, and even stolen by them.
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