- Ashridge Priory
Ashridge Priory was a medieval abbey of the
Brothers of Penitence .The seventeenth century historian
Polydore Vergil said that Edmund (son of Richard, Earl of Cornwall who had a palace there) founded in 1283 ["according to Tanner", from the [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02672b.htm Boni Homines] article in theCatholic Encyclopedia ] a monastery at Ashridge, Hertfordshire, for a rector and twenty canons of "a new order not before seen in England, and called the Boni homines". [POLYDORE VERGIL, Angl. Histor., lib. XVI (in ed. 1649, p. 402), cited in the [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02672b.htm Boni Homines] article in theCatholic Encyclopedia ] It was finished in 1285.At the foundation of the abbey the Earl of Cornwall donated, among other things, a phial of
Christ 's blood, in honour of which theconvent adjacent to the abbey was founded. This deposit proved fruitful for the abbey and convent, aspilgrim s from all overEurope flocked to see the phial of blood. The abbey grew quite wealthy as a result.Fact|date=February 2007One such visitor was King Edward I. In 1290 he held parliament at the abbey while he spent
Christmas inPitstone .Fact|date=February 2007However in 1538 , during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries the "blood" was publicly declared to be nothing more thanhoney with colouring added.Fact|date=February 2007 The last rector was Thomas Waterhouse, who surrendered the house to Henry VIII. The building ceased to be used as an abbey shortly afterwards. The suppressed college was granted first to the king's sisterElizabeth Tudor . [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02672b.htm Boni Homines] article in theCatholic Encyclopedia ] It later became the private residence of Princess Elizabeth, younger daughter of King Henry VIII. It was here that she was arrested in 1552, under suspicion oftreason . [ [http://uk.encarta.msn.com/text_761555497___4/Elizabeth_I.html MSN Encarta] ]In
1604 the priory was acquired by Sir Thomas Egerton. A descendant of his, the Duke of Bridgewater, demolished the old buildings in the1760 s [Sanecki, K.N., "Ashridge - A Living History", Phillimore & Co, 1996, ISBN 1 86077 020 7 pg 28] .ee also
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Ashridge
*Ashridge Business School References
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