Peter, Abbot of Vale Royal

Although there was much litigation, with Abbot Peter having to defend himself to the Justice of Chester and even the King on occasion, by 1337 his discontented villagers even followed him from Cheshire to Rutland.

He was engaged in a long-running lawsuit with the abbot of Shrewsbury—for which he was summoned to appear before the archbishop of York, and successfully defended himself—over Vale Royal's claim to the advowson of the church of Kirkham.

Little is known of this dispute, but, as a result of the feud—still attempting to defend his abbey and its rights as he perceived them to be—in 1340 he was killed during an incursion in which many monastic buildings and goods were burnt.

The Abbot reported in 1336 that the vaults, the roof or the windows of the church had yet been finished,[3][note 3] and was forced to ask the General Chapter for financial assistance.

[11] This was related to the ongoing dispute over the advowson of Kirkham Church, Lancashire, which had arisen during the abbacy of Peter's predecessor, Walter of Hereford.

[13][17] Notwithstanding these confirmations, Abbot Peter was summoned to appear before the Archbishop of York, to demonstrate under what grant or law Vale Royal held Kirkham.

[18] Although Shrewsbury's clam was for eight years' rents from Kirkham church (twelve marks annually), Peter was unable to obtain the dismissal of the suit (or other "favourable termination").

[24] Abbot Peter continued his predecessors' campaign to maintain the villeinage of his tenants;[25] or, to put it another way, was "an energetic defender of the rights of his house.

"[3][note 8] The tenantry initially relied on the law to obtain satisfaction,[27] but finding Abbot Peter's political connections and influence too powerful,[28] their campaign turned increasingly violent.

[29] The tenants of Darnhall, joined by those of surrounding villages,[3] took such umbrage with Abbot Peter's actions that in June 1337 a group of them even followed him across England.

Returning through Rutland, Abbot Peter and his party were accosted by the Cheshiremen (a "great crowd of the country people" reports the Ledger).

[32] Although details of the exact circumstances of Abbot Peter's death—and the events leading up to it—are scarce, he is known[note 9] to have been involved in a serious dispute with a member of the local gentry, Thomas de Venables.

In the conflict in Rutland three years earlier, when Welch had seen what was afoot, he had raced up from the rear of the party "like a champion sent from God" to defend the Abbot.