CHAPTER XII.
_How Brother William Forniken was chosen to be the second Prior in the House of Mount St.Agnes_.
In the year of the Lord 1408, on the Vigil of Ascension Day, Brother William Vorniken, from the Monastery at Windesem, was chosen to be Prior of Mount St.Agnes.

He was the second Prior of our House, which he ruled for seventeen years, being a lover of poverty and discipline.

After that he was taken away from us he was promoted to the Superior House at Windesem, and became Father General of all our Order.

He it was who looked to the roofing of the church, the making of new stalls in the choir, and the provision of fair vestments to be worn by priests and servers on festivals.

Also he enlarged the borders of the monastery, and surrounded the whole with a wall of stone; he built a new dwelling for the husbandmen and placed a byre for cattle near the gate, likewise in the year of his departure he began to make a mill and to build a brewery.
In several places he planted trees of divers kinds, of which some were fruit trees; and he made smooth the slopes of the mountain, which for the most part still remained steep, and this he did by carrying away the sandy soil.
He ordered the altars to be beautified with pictures, and good store of books to be written for the choir and the library.