Note 88 — II. The Necessity for Dissolution.

Mr. Gairdner gives it as his opinion that the visitation was not carried out (see Lollardy and the Reformation, Vol. I, pp. 269–272, Vol. III, p. xxxi). He bases his view on a passage in the St. Albans obit book (Whethamstede I, p. 478), recording a victory of Wallingford over the Archbishop. This passage, it appears from what follows, was written not later than 1484 (see Whethamstede I, p. 479), the convent solemnly affixing its seal to the narrative under the date ‘anno domini millesimo quadringentesimo octogesimo quarto, die, videlicet, mensis Augusti octava.’ Probably therefore the account refers to an earlier and unsuccessful attempt of the Archbishop to carry out a visitation (see Appendix).