At
any rate this is what happened, and it was decided that in future, when
a vacancy occurred, the Abbot of Cluny should nominate two candidates
of whom De Warenne should choose one for Prior. This ridiculous
judgment decided nothing. Of two things, one; either the Abbot was
right or he was wrong. If he were right why should he forego his claim,
to satisfy De Warenne who was wrong? A decision was what was needed. In
1229 the Pope rightly declared the compromise null and void, and the
Abbot of Cluny regained his rights. At once the moral condition of the
house improved, and when it was visited in 1262 everything was reported
to be satisfactory, and unlike any other Cluniac house in England this
of Lewes was not in debt.
The turning point in the history of the Priory would seem to have been
the one great moment in the story of the town; the appalling affair in
which it was involved by Simon de Montfort in 1264 when he took the
town, then Henry III.'s headquarters, and captured the King and young
Prince Edward. It would seem that De Montfort's soldiers had very
little respect for holy places, for we read that not only were the
altars defiled but the very church was fired and hardly saved from
destruction.
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