Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 47

[95] Ibid., p. 334.

[96] "Bath and Wells," p. 122, S.P.C.K.

[97] Long Preston, in Craven, is mentioned in "Domesday." In the reign of Stephen it was granted by Wm. de Amundeville to the church and canons of Embsay. In 1303, Archbishop Corbridge ordained that the church should be served by a fit vicar and his ministers. In 1307 there was another "taxation," a third in 1322, and a fourth in 1455 (Whitaker, "Craven," p.

145).

[98] In the Episcopal Register of Lincoln, under date 25th April, 1511, William, Abbot of Oseney, was admitted to the Vicarage of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford, on the presentation of the Abbot and Convent of the same.

[99] "Lichfield," p. 138, S.P.C.K.

[100] It was this which made a rectory so much like a small monastery in its const.i.tution, that rectories were often called minsters, and monasteries often merged into rectories.

[101] Hopesay and Hopton, originally probably chapels parochial of Clun, were of the nature of free chapels, _i.e._ not at the disposal of the baroness or of the rector, but only of the lord of the fee (Eyton's "Shropshire," ix. 258).

[102] Eyton's "Shropshire," viii. 149.

[103] The two chapels of Rilston and Coniston--(Coniston chapel is very early Norman, or still earlier, with triangular windows)--in the parish of Burnsal, co. York, as late as the beginning of this century had had no chaplains or separate endowment, but were still served in the primitive mode by the Rector of Burnsal; both have cylindrical fonts of high antiquity, and therefore must always have had the sacramentalia. Chapels with these rights were always presentable, and served by chaplains who took an oath of obedience to the rector, and were not removable at pleasure; whereas mere chapels-of-ease were served by stipendiaries removable, or by the parish priest himself (Whitaker's "Craven," p. 528).

[104] The probable explanation is that the lord of the ville of Billingley had made some arrangement with the mother church for the payment of half his t.i.the to his own chapel; the small payments from the other chapels were acknowledgments of subjection.

[105] The original deed is in possession of Mr. G. Morris, of Shrewsbury.

"Know all men, both now and hereafter, on the day of the dedication of the cemetery of Eston that I, Robert, son of Aher, gave to G.o.d and to the chapel of the same vill of Eston one virgate of land, containing sixty acres, and all t.i.the of my demesne of the same vill, and one mansion, for the health of my soul and of all my predecessors and successors. And that my gift may be free and quit of all reclaim by me or my heirs and may ever remain firm and stable I have fortified it with this present writing, and with the impression of my seal.--There being witnesses Robert, Bishop of Hereford, Reinald, Prior of Wenlock, Peter the archdeacon, and many others" (Eyton's "Shropshire," i. p. 207).

[106] See p. 90.

[107] There were more monasteries founded in the reign of Stephen than in any other period of similar duration.

[108] A. Heales, "History of Kingston-upon-Thames."

[109] Archbishop Gray's "Register," p. 168.

[110] Ibid., p. 211.

[111] Archbishop Gray's "Register," p. 45.

[112] Ibid.

[113] Eyton's "Shropshire," v. 28.

[114] Whitaker's "History of Whalley," p. 223.

[115] Whitaker's "History of Whalley," pp. 223-225.

[116] The great Law-book of the Mediaeval Church.

[117] The king is supposed to visit his own chapels and hospitals by the Lord High Chancellor.

[118] Sir R. Phillimore.

[119] In the college at Tonge, any one of the five chaplains bringing a guest to dinner was to pay for him 3_d._ if at the high table, and _d._ if at the low (S.P.C.K., "Lichfield," p. 161).

[120] A. Heales, "History of the Free Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen, Kingston-on-Thames."

[121] Pages 20 and 82.

[122] Page 68.

[123] When Winfrid, afterwards St. Boniface, showed a strong precocious vocation for the religious life, his father, who seems to have been the princ.i.p.al person of his town, forthwith sent him--at six or seven years of age--to a religious house at Exeter, to be educated for the Church.

[124] Men who had any serious personal blemish, or any defect in respect to birth, learning, or morals, were excluded by canon from ordination (Const.i.tutions of Otho, 1237). Illegitimacy and servile origin were both defects of birth.

[125] Thorold Rogers, "Agriculture and Prices in England," vol. ii. pp.

613, 615, 616.

[126] "Eccl. Proceedings of Courts of Durham," Surtees Society, p. 5.

[127] John Knox said, "Every scholar is something added to the riches of the Commonwealth."

[128] See the quotation in its entirety on p. 278.

[129] Cobbler.

[130] "The Babees Book," Early English Text Society, p. 401.

Of Archbishops of Canterbury, the parentage of William of Corbeuil is not known; the inference is that it was humble. Thomas Becket was the son of a London citizen; Richard, of humble parents; Baldwin, of humble parents at Exeter; Richard Grant, parentage unknown; Edmund Rich, son of a merchant at Abingdon; Richard Kilwardby, a Dominican friar of unknown parentage; Robert Winchelsey, probably of humble birth; Walter Reynolds, the son of a baker at Windsor; Chichele, a shepherd-boy, picked up and educated by William of Wykham; Cranmer's people were small squires in Notts. And so in other sees. Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, the great Justiciar of Henry I., was the son of a poor Norman priest; Thomas of Rotherham, Archbishop of York, was of obscure parentage; Richard of Wych, the saintly Bishop of Chichester, was the son of a decayed farmer at Droitwich, and for several years worked on the land like a labourer; the famous Grostete was of a poor family at Stradbroke, Suffolk; Thomas of Beckington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is said to have been the son of a weaver; John of Sheppey was taken up and educated by Hamo, Bishop of Rochester, and succeeded his benefactor in the see.

[131] By 9 Ed. II. c. 8, clerks in the king's service were declared not bound to residence on their benefice.

[132] The custom might sometimes be misleading. Thus, a priest in the diocese of Bath and Wells with the high-sounding name of Richard de Burgh, was a villein of the bishop who had given him freedom and holy orders.

[133] See notice of the college founded by Archbishop Thomas of Rotherham, p. 517.

[134] The universal ignorance of the Greek language at that time made the great works of the Eastern Church a sealed book to the scholars of the West.

[135] At the Council of Trent, nearly three hundred years after his death, the "Summa" was placed on the secretary's desk beside the Holy Scriptures, as containing the orthodox solution of all theological questions.

[136] Wesley published an edition of it.

[137] Peter Lombard's "Text-book."

[138] "Norfolk Archaeology," vol. iv. p. 342.

[139] "Lincoln," p. 194. S.P.C.K.

[140] "The York Pontifical," p. 370. Surtees Society.

[141] In the Diocese of York, in 1344-5, there were ordained--