RflflflBflflfl9gBfl8888e88 IIIB88888888 mm nhhskkj BSSflHjfi BR»Sira SBW&6MHK HOMO JwrawH lllllliiiig HSSffiBBSSsBSflsSS THE WORCESTER LIBER ALBUS .-£ WORCESTER LIBER ALBUS GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN A GREAT BENEDICTINE MONASTERY IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY By the Rev. JAMES M. WILSON, D.D CANON AND VICE DEAN LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1920 PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD, LONDON TO THE READER It is a mad world, my masters, in which the pupil is asked to commend the achievements of his instructors. But that is what is being required of me now. Some years ago I began to teach myself to decipher the Westminster account-rolls. Dean Armitage Robin- son was urging me to it, but declined, quite rightly, to take me seriously, till I had made some progress on my own resources. " Look at Wilson, taking up an entirely new subject at his age ! You ought to be ashamed of yourself to let Westminster be left behind." And so on. Well, in actual fact I did look at Wilson, and derived endless help from his edition of the early Worcester compoti ; so much so that Dean Armitage Robinson gave me good marks and placed his own immense researches at my disposal. However, all that is over now, I fear, and here I am presuming to comply with a request from my master that I should say something by way of intro- duction to his latest labours, though, I am sure, not his last. Nobody, at any rate, can be more sensible than I of the delight of dealing with a great miscellany like the Liber Albus. At Westminster we were in favour of the opposite hue ; we had our Liber Niger Quaternus. But that was a fifteenth-century production. Canon Wilson's treasure, which he here puts at the reader's disposal, goes back nearer to the great times of the Westminster " Domesday " chartulary (roughly, a.d. 1300). The difference between studying account-rolls and browsing in a chartulary is the difference between Principia Latina in school hours and Fenimore Cooper TO THE READER during an interval. In the one case the method is rigid, and the only hope of a " find " of any interest is to follow the method closely ; in the other, you can never tell from page to page upon what exciting adventure you may be launched. It is in this spirit that, as I hope, the reader will approach the White Book of Worcester in my honoured friend's company, not without a prayer that Canon Wilson may still be spared to the world that he loves and to the manv who love him. ERNEST WORCESTER The Castle, Hartlebury Decetnber 4, 1919 VI CONTENTS PAGE To the Reader v Introduction xiii John de Dumbelton i Tithe for the Holy Land 6 Loans and Debts 8 Godfrey Giffard Invites the Prior to Dine 9 Convent's Property in Ireland ii A Letter from Queen Margaret 15 The Archbishop Limits Monastic Hospitalities 16 Scenes at Godfrey Giffard's Death 18 Charge Against Godfrey Giffard 19 Godfrey Giffard 's Tomb to be Removed 21 The Prior's Duties 24 Proceedings on the Death of the Bishop 26 Fitness of a Presentee 27 Money for Repairing Cathedral 28 The Purgation of a Homicide 31 A Letter in Dog Latin 33 An Indulgence from William of Gainsborough 34 The Archbishop and the Worcester Muniments 35 William of Gainsborough Visits the Convent 36 Concerning Regular Appointment of Prior 38 Monks Caught in a Storm 41 Annual Tribute of Slippers 42 Aspirant for Monastic Life 44 Papal Provision 45 Bishop Selects Scholar 47 Manumission of a Serf 48 Illegal Presentation to Cropthorne 49 vii CONTENTS PAGE 315. Restoring Lectureship on Theology 54 321.1 322. » The King Deals with Disorder and Robbery 56 323. 324. 345. A Memorandum of Debt 59 357. Bishop Begs Gift of a Horse 60 359. Early Mention of the Lady Chapel 61 360. Relations Between Worcester and Gloucester 62 365.) First-Fruits and Other Charges 70 366.) 388. On Death of King Edward I 74 389. Reply of Prior and Convent 75 399.) 400.' A Worcester Monk Invited to Lecture 76 397.) 403. Provision Made for a Vicar 79 411. Corrodies Granted 84 421. Mystery of a Lost Mitre 87 429. The Muniments of Lanthony 89 435. Admission into Spiritual Fraternity 90 446. Provision of Benefice for a Boy 92 461.) King Asks Prior for Help 94 462. j 486. King Requests Loan of Food 96 492. Prior's Reply to Request for Food 98 504. Installation of Bishop Walter Reynolds 100 513. Irish Assistant Bishops 104 514.) Correspondence About John de St. German 106 515. J 520. Commissaries to Render Accounts 109 528. An Old Quarrel Amicably Settled 112 545. Levy on Ecclesiastical Incomes 114 546. Troubles of the Realm 117 547. The King's Inhibition 119 552. A Dispensation from the Prior 120 Vlll CONTENTS PAGE 554. 1 St. Wulstan's Pastoral Staff 121 565 562. Finance of Monastery of Worcester 124 582. Church of Hampton Meysey 127 599. Grant of Pension to John de Stratford 129 600. John de Stratford's Oath 130 605. Prior Congratulates Walter Reynolds 131 619. Conditions for Granting Absolution 132 624. An Outrage and an Excommunication 133 628. Oath Regarding Pension 137 643. Appropriation of Powick and Thornbury 138 659. Testimonial to a Worcester Student 142 661. Form of Collation to Vacant Benefice 144 668. A Letter of Request 145 698. Country Life at Martley 147 704. Founding a Chantry at Kempsey 149 714. Corrody Granted to their Architect 153 745. The Templars' Manor at Laugherne 155 746. Memorandum of Farm at Laugherne 157 749. Election of John de St. German 159 750. The Creation of a New Prior 162 766 *l Request Concerning John Rydel 167' 767. J 773. A Touch of Tenderness and Piety 169 780. Admission to the Fraternity 171 784. The Prior Writes as a Creditor 172 793. Penance for Stealing from Prior's Woods 173 797. Licence for Monks to Preach 174 801. Attempt to Suppress Private Tuition 175 826. Profession of Nuns of Whiston 176 829. ^ Demand for Horses 177" 830.) 834. Correspondence—Ranulph de Cathrop 179 844. Prior's Invitation to a Friend 182 848. How Visiting Monks Travelled 183 849. Monasteries and Triennial Visitations 184 ix CONTENTS PAGE 865. Pope's Tenth from Worcester 187 871. Income from a Vicarage Appropriated 189 872. Grant of Use of Painted Chamber 191 887. Leave for a Monk to Accept Priorate 192 892. Position and Pension of Chief Porter 194 906. Local Names of Farms and Holdings 195 935. Convent's Supplies to King's Arms 196 940. Convent Mortgaging the Future 199 951. Merton College and Worcester 201 955. Perils of Invasion by Scots 205 971. Act of Mortmain Circumvented 206 1008. Testimonial for Admission to Monastery 207 1028. Testimonial to Worcester Schoolboy 209 1039. Corrody Granted to John of Bitterley 210 1048. Gambling in Life Insurance 212 1064. Mother Church of Gloucester 214 1083. Prior of Abergavenny Recalled 215 1098. Tenement in the Cemetery 218 1100. Vicar Resigns from Old Age 219 1112. A Papal Bull and Its Execution 220 1115. Endowment of Monk to Say Mass 222 1123. Manumission by the Bishop 223 1134. Correspondence with King Edward III 225 1143. Summons to General Benedictine Chapter 227 1144. Candidate Fails in Entrance Examination 229 1154. Medical Officer in the Infirmary 231 1166. Bishop Returns to Priorate 234 1168. Incident in the Story of Dodderhill 236 1183. Correspondence with Westminster 238 1188. Poverty of the Nunnery of Cookhill 241 1193. A Chantry at Stratford-on-Avon 243 1198. Visitation by Simon de Montacute 250 1200. Particulars as to Founding a Chantry 252 1202. Representatives at Court of Rome 255 1204. Homage Claimed for a Holding 256 1211. Rents Enforced by Excommunication 257 CONTENTS PAGE 1217. Founding a Chantry in Eastington 258 1219. Stipend of a Medical Officer 261 1227. Immorality Confessed and Punished 263 1233. A Cellerar and His Religious Duties 264 1234. Prior Wulstan and His Rights 266 1240. Oxford Students Receive Hospitality 267 1257. Papal Dispensation for Illegitimacy 268 1266. Bishop's Right to Appoint Sacrist 271 1273. Appropriation for Female Lepers 273 1277. Prior Complains of the Prior of Great Malvern 275 1283. The Fabric of the Cathedral 277 Index to Principal Items 281 XI INTRODUCTION Abundant materials exist in print for any one who wishes to study mediaeval monastic life in England from original records. Such records have been pub- lished under a variety of names in the Rolls Series, and by the Camden and Surtees and other societies ; or printed for their subscribers by local historical societies, as Chronicles, Histories of Monasteries, Cartularies, Annals, Lives, Consuetudinaries, Registers, Compotus Rolls, etc. But I know of only one such published Record that has much resemblance to the Liber Albus of the Priory of Worcester which furnishes the materials for the present volume. The Record I refer to is the Literce Cantuarienses, edited in 1887 and 1888 for the Rolls Series by the ever-to-be- remembered lover of Canterbury, Dr. Sheppard. That work consists of two 8vo volumes, each of over 500 pages, containing a selection from the documents entered in the Register of the monastery of Christ Church Canterbury by its chancellors. Dr. Shep- pard's selection gives nearly 1000 documents, a majority of them being letters, all but the first few bearing dates from a.d. 1320 to 1373. Our Liber Albus covers from a.d. 1301 to 1446, and the selection of letters in this volume is taken solely from the years 1301 to 1338.