efore her towards the town. He,
however, rallied his forces and retreated in good order to London,
though he had to leave Henry behind him. The royal party went to the
Abbey, where they were enthusiastically received by the monks, who
chanted thanksgivings for the victory; they were led to the high altar
and to the shrine of St. Alban. But the victorious troops, being little
better than barbarians, flushed with unexpected victory, committed
fearful excesses in the town, and even plundered the Abbey. Hitherto
Abbot John had been a strong partisan of the Lancastrians, but the
treatment he received turned him into a staunch Yorkist. Edward IV. when
he came to the throne granted the Abbot the right to hear and try all
causes, even treason, with full power of sentencing to death. The Abbots
continued to exercise these powers till 1533. In 1462 the Abbot
presented a petition to the King, setting forth the impoverished state
of the Abbey; this led to further powers being granted to the Abbot.
Wheathampstead had been ordained in 1382 and, according to canon law,
must have been twenty-five years of age, so he must have been over a
hundred and five when he died in 1463. He, as we have seen (Chap. I.),
made many changes for the worse in the fabric of the church; the
character of the work was partly due to the time in which he lived, for
the age of great architecture was over, and partly to lack of funds.

35. #William Alban# (1464-1476).

36. #William of Wallingford# (1476-1484). This Abbot's name will be
remembered because the high altar screen was his work, and is generally
called Wallingford's screen. It is said that his management of the
revenues of the Abbey was prudent, and that he was energetic in
defending his rights; but it would seem that he was not equally
energetic in repressing irregularities within its walls. During the
interregnum that followed his tenure of office things went on from bad
to worse, so that the Archbishop sent a monition to the Abbey reciting a
bull which had been sent to him as legate. This bull directed the
Archbishop to visit all the larger monasteries in which he had reason to
suspect that evil practices prevailed, and the Archbishop threatens to
visit St. Albans because he has heard of cases of simony, usury, lavish
expenditure, and immorality. He says unless within sixty days things are
reduced to order, not only in the monastery but also in the nunneries of
Pre and Sopwell and other cells, he