The Risings in the English Monastic Tozvns 663 not until five years after the first outbreak that everything was peaceably settled. By the concordia, or peace agreement, of the year 1331, a settlement was arrived at. The abbot, on promise by the townsmen of future good conduct and submission to his author- ity, by successive remissions excused the townsmen from all but a small part of the fine and damages. The extorted charter and other such grants were declared null and void. The townsmen again resigned all claim to a connimnitas. The treasures, doc- uments and bonds taken from the abbey were largely restored to its possession and everything quieted down.' The burgesses of Bury St. Edmunds, like those of St. Albans, had failed completely to win for themselves either greater liberty or the right of self-government. A terrible lesson of obedience to their ecclesiastical lords had been taught them. The borough was still under the control of the abbot and was destined to remain so down to the time of the dissolution of monasteries. There were no further revolts that we know of, at Bury St. Edmunds, until the great rising of 1 3 8 1 . The risings at St. Albans and Bury St. Edmunds have long been known to students of English history. They have, however, been regarded rather as isolated instances of local disaffection than as examples of a widespread movement of monastic towns towards emancipation from ecclesiastical control. A number of cases of other risings lead to the view that the movement was a somewhat general one at this particular time. Most noteworthy amongst these additional risings is that of the burgesses of Abingdon, a town in Berkshire, not far from Oxford, which, likewise, occurred in the early part of the year 1327.^ Abingdon from the earhest times had belonged to the monks, and the control of the abbot was absolute. He had even been able to assert his privileges against royalty, and until the year 1327 there seems to have been little or no trouble with the townsmen. In the spring of that year, however, a very serious outbreak against the abbot's control took place. The male population of Abingdon township met together at the tolling of the bell of St. Helen's church. They gathered in the church porch and churchyard and took counsel together concerning their grievances against the abbot, especially in the matter of the market and market stalls, the abso- lute right to which was claimed by the monks. The discontented ' Memoriah, III. 41-46. 2 The account given of the troubles at Abingdon is based, mainly, upon that in Wood's Historia et Antiqtiates Universitatis Oxoniensis, Oxford, 1792-1796, pp. 161- 163, though additional material has been gathered from MSS. in the British Museum and Public Record Office.
