page_title: Abbots of Shrewsbury
section_title: Thomas Mynde (1460–1498)
hierarchical_section_title: Abbots of Shrewsbury / Thomas Mynde (1460–1498)
caption_attribution_description: English: Seal of the fraternity of St Winifred, Shrewsbury Abbey, founded 1487, showing the decapitation of the saint.
context_page_description: The recorded abbots of Shrewsbury run from c 1087, a scant four years after Shrewsbury Abbey's foundation, to 1540, its dissolution under Thomas Cromwell. The abbey was large and well-endowed and the abbots were often important political figures as well as ecclesiastical leaders. They varied greatly over the centuries in ethnic and social origins, intellectual attainments and holiness of life. The first two, Fulchred and Godfred, were imported from Normandy. The remainder seem to have been born in Britain and most, but not all, were elected, or at least selected, from the chapter of the abbey. As important territorial magnates, the abbots were always called to take part in the sessions of Parliament from its very beginnings as an institution in 1265. As important figures in the Western Catholic Church, abbots were permitted by the Pope to wear the pontifical ring from 1251 and the mitre from 1397.
context_section_description: There is a fairly full contemporary account of Mynd's election. The monks involved are all named. The prior, charged with convening the house in the absence of an abbot, was Robert Ydeshale – presumably from Shifnal, then generally called Idshall. The monks met as a chapter on 19 December 1459 and decided on 8 January as election day. At the appointed time, they celebrated Mass together and then went to the chapter house, accompanied by the lawyer Radulph Makerell, who managed the election for them. They sang Veni Creator Spiritus and Brother Thomas Mynde, being a trained theologian, preached. The constitution was recited and explained by Dr Makerell. Then, the chapter reported,
  suddenly and instantly, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, as we confidently believe, no previous treaty or act having occurred, but without interval, we the said prior and convent, with one voice, elected the aforesaid magnificent man, brother Thomas Mynde, bachelor of sacred theology, free and lawful, born of lawful matrimony, a man provident and discreet, commended by his knowledge of letters, his life and morals, constituted in the sacred order of priesthood, and of lawful age, well seen in spirituals and temporals, and able to defend and protect the rights of the said monastery, to be our abbot and pastor.
  They carried Mynde in procession to the High Altar and returned to the chapter house to complete formalities, choosing the sub-prior Thomas Hyll and the third prior Wiliam Okys to take their decision to the king for the royal assent. However, these two proctors found Mynde in St Martin's chapel and were unable to win his consent. Only after half a day's consultation and consideration did he commit his agreement to writing. Royal assent for Mynde's election was notified to the bishop on 22 January 1460 from Westminster. It acknowledged that Mynde was a  monk of the monastery and a bachelor of theology, so he was one of the Oxford graduates, funded by the abbey through its appropriation of Wrockwardine church. Mynde was confirmed as abbot on 1 February in Lichfield Cathedral by the bishop's vicar-general. The mandate for restoration of temporalities and writ to the tenants were issued on 4 February at Northampton. Thomas Mynde seems to have been another Shropshire abbot, possibly from landed gentry resident at Myndtown, near the Long Mynd.
  The Wars of the Roses soon entered one of their most active phases and it was at Northampton that Henry VI fell into Yorkist hands on 10 July 1460. Embarrassingly, in 1463 Mynde received the long-awaited approval from Pope Pius II for Henry V's chantry. The wording, which referred to Henry VI as the current monarch, makes clear that it had been delayed for some years even after being written. As the country was now firmly under the rule of Edward IV, no further progress was made with the project for some years. Despite the abbey's consistent support for the Lancastrians, Thomas Mynde remained one of the local magnates that the Yorkist dynasty had to rely on for effective government. St John's Hospital was again reported to be in a poor state through the neglect and dishonesty of its officers. Mynde was commissioned in 1466 to investigate and rectify matters, with Thomas Littleton and Robert Eyton, the Sheriff. The warden at this time was John Bickley, a local man from Frankwell, and he seems to have clung on to office until at least 1480, despite the inquiry. When in 1479 the king needed someone to take fealty on his own behalf from a new prior of Wenlock, Mynde was ordered to do so, a clear expression of trust in him.
  With the accession of Henry VII, heir to the Lancastrian leadership and a Welshman, the abbey was once again in tune with the régime spiritually as well as politically. In 1485 the king's mother, Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, initiated the rebuilding of the Holywell shrine and William Caxton printed an English translation of Robert of Shrewsbury's life of St Winifred. The time was right for Mynde to make progress with the chantry of Henry V. On 9 February 1487 Henry VII li
caption: Seal of the guild of St Winifred, showing the decapitation of the saint.
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