Ashridge Priory

In 1283 Edmund, son of Richard, Earl of Cornwall holders of Berkhamsted Castle (two and half miles away) founded a monastery at Ashridge, Hertfordshire.{{Catholic Encyclopedia|inline=1|wstitle=Boni Homines}} The monastery was built for a rector and twenty canons who formed, according to the sixteenth-century historian Polydore Vergil, "a new order not before seen in England, and called the Boni homines".

At the foundation of the abbey Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall donated, among other things, a phial of Christ's blood. This relic was perhaps not so well known as the Holy Blood which the Earl of Cornwall donated to Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire, but it proved fruitful for the abbey. Pilgrims from all over Europe flocked to see the phial and the abbey grew quite wealthy as a result of their donations.{{cite web|title=House of Bonhommes: The college of Ashridge', A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 1 (1905), pp. 386–390|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40318|accessdate=28 June 2010}}

One such visitor was King Edward I. In 1290 he held parliament at the abbey while he spent Christmas in Pitstone. The Black Prince, a later lord of Berkhampstead castle, became interested in the College around the time of the Black Death around 1350. A second house of the Order was established at the prince's suggestion at Edington, Wiltshire around 1358 by William Edington.{{cite web|website=British History Online|title=Victoria County History - Wiltshire - Vol 3 pp320-324 - House of Bonhommes: Edington|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp320-324|publisher=University of London|accessdate=23 November 2015}}

The last rector was Thomas Waterhouse, who surrendered the house to Henry VIII. The building ceased to be used for religious purposes shortly afterwards.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries the priory was surrendered to the crown and King Henry VIII used it to house his children, namely Prince Edward and the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth.{{Cite web|url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/unearthing-the-past-in-ashridge-7098310|title=Unearthing the past in Ashridge|date=22 September 2011|website=Great British Life}} Eventually he bequeathed the property to his daughter Elizabeth. It was here that she was arrested on 15 March 1554,Richard Grafton, Chronicle At Large, 2 (London, 1809), p. 544. under suspicion of treason during Wyatt's rebellion.{{cite web|title=MSN Encarta |url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/text_761555497___4/Elizabeth_I.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301183300/http://uk.encarta.msn.com/text_761555497___4/Elizabeth_I.html |archivedate=1 March 2006 |url-status=dead}}

In 1604 the priory was acquired by Sir Thomas Egerton. A descendant of his, the Duke of Bridgewater, demolished the old buildings in the 1760s.Sanecki, K.N., Ashridge – A Living History, Phillimore & Co, 1996, {{ISBN|1-86077-020-7}} p. 28

There has been speculation that the order was in some way associated with the Albigensian heresy of southern France whose perfecti called themselves bonhommes.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pn133unQAsIC&pg=PP43|title=Jones' Views Of The Seats Of Noblemen And Gentlemen In England, Wales, Scotland And Ireland |year=1828}} Edmund's mother had been married by proxy to Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, a protector of the heretical sect.{{cite web|url=https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/woman/70.html|title=Sanchia of Provence|publisher=University of Columbia|access-date=3 October 2021}} Wall paintings in the college cloisters, now lost, were described in the eighteenth century as favouring the Albigensians. Wall paintings in a cottage at Piccotts End, near Ashridge, have been similarly described. These paintings were discovered in the 1950s and have been preserved.{{cite web|url=http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/piccottsend.htm |title=Piccotts End|publisher=Dacorum Heritage Trust|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308044633/http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/piccottsend.htm |archive-date=8 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}

• Ashridge
• Ashridge Business School
• Collegiate and Parochial Church of St Peter, Ruthin

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{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Boni Homines}}

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=V9oWAQAAIAAJ&dq=st%20margarets%20gaddesden&pg=PR1 History and topography of Buckinghamshire: comprising a general survey of the county, preceded by an epitome of the early history of Great Britain] Author James Joseph Sheahan, Publisher Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862, Ashridge entry, Pages 727–737 -{{ISBN|0-8048-3390-7}}
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=V9oWAQAAIAAJ&dq=st+margarets+gaddesden&pg=PA700 History and topography of Buckinghamshire: comprising a general survey of the county, preceded by an epitome of the early history of Great Britain] Author James Joseph Sheahan Publisher Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862 St Margarets entry Pages 700-701-{{ISBN|0-8048-3390-7}}

• {{cite book|author=Douglas Coult|title=A Prospect of Ashridge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HNL2QwAACAAJ|date=1980|publisher=Phillimore|location=Chichester|isbn=978-0-85033-360-2|chapter=2-6}}

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Category:Monasteries in Hertfordshire

Category:Augustinian monasteries in England

Category:Ashridge

Category:1283 establishments in England

Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1280s

Category:Little Gaddesden

pt:Ashridge House#Ashridge Priory