the four
Gospels, with glosses, and Isaiah and Ezekiel, also glossed;[308] the
Pistillae upon Matthew; some Allegories on the Old Testament; the
Lamentations of Jeremiah, with a gloss; the Exposition of the Mass,
according to Pope Innocent; and the great book of Alexander Necham, which
is called _Corrogationes Promethea de partibus veteris testamenti et
novae_.... He also caused to be transcribed in large letters the book
concerning the offices of the abbey, from the Purification of St. Mary
to the Feast of Easter; the prelections respecting Easter; Pentecost, and
the blessings at the baptismal fonts. He also caused a volume, containing
the same works, to be transcribed, but in a smaller hand; all of which
the convent had not before. He made also the tablet for the locutory in
the chapel of St. Anne, towards the west. After the altar of St. Mary in
the crypts had been despoiled by thieves of its books and ornaments, to
the value of ten pounds, he contributed to their restoration."

Thomas was equally liberal in other matters. His whole time and wealth
were spent in rebuilding and repairing the monastery and adding to its
comforts and splendor. He had a great veneration for antiquity, and was
especially anxious to restore those parts which were dilapidated by time;
the old inscriptions on the monuments and altars he carefully
re-inscribed. It is recorded that he renewed the inscription on the great
altar himself, without the aid of a book, _sine libro_; which was deemed
a mark of profound learning in my lord abbot by his monkish
surbordinates.

With this I conclude my remarks on Thomas of Marleberg, leaving these
extracts to speak for him. It is pleasing to find that virtue so great,
and industry so useful met with its just reward; and that the monks of
Evesham proved how much they appreciated such talents, by electing him
their abbot, in 1229, which, for seven years he held with becoming piety
and wisdom.

The annals of the monastery[309] testify that "In the year of our Lord
one thousand three hundred and ninety-two, and the fifteenth of the reign
of King Richard the Second, on the tenth calends of May, died the
venerable Prior Nicholas Hereford, of pious memory, who, as prior of the
church of Evesham, lived a devout and religious life for forty years." He
held that office under three succeeding abbots, and filled it with great
honor and industry. He was a dear lover of books, and spent vast sums in
collecting toget