The Charter and Statutes of the College of the Minor Canons in S
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XI.—The Charter and Statutes of the College of the Minor Canons in S. Paul's Cathedral, London. By the Bev. TV. SPARROW SIMPSON, M.A., F.S.A., Minor Canon and Librarian in S. Paul's Cathedral, one of the Honorary Librarians of Sis Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. Read June 2nd, 1870. THE history of an English Cathedral is an integral part of the history of England. Kings have been its nursing fathers and Queens its nursing mothers. Its charters are an important part of the national records. Its foundation, its decay, its restoration, mark epochs in the religious progress of the country. He who would tell the whole story of a cathedral can scarcely pass over without mention any great event of the national history; alike in war and in peace, in time of religious calm and in periods of wild fanatical discord, the grey time-honoured walls of the cathedral have borne their part. It has been the home of religion, the centre of light, the sanctuary where were gathered together the relics of poets, statesmen, warriors, theologians, kings; the last resting-place of the best and greatest men that have adorned the nation's annals. And if this be true, in a greater or less degree, of any cathedral, how specially true is it with regard to that cathedral, which, standing in the very heart of the greatest city of modern times, witnesses for God and for the truth by its stately and majestic presence; towering above all other structures, as the religion of which it is the visible embodiment rises above the ordinary cares and thoughts of man. Happily the history of S. Paul's Cathedral has not now to be written. The labours of Sir William Dugdale, of Sir Henry Ellis,a of Archdeacon Hale,1' and of the late Dean Milman,0 have left but little to be gleaned that can be of general interest. There is, however, within the cathedral itself a body, whose history, so far as I am aware, has yet to be written; I mean the College of the Twelve Minor a History of S. Paul's Cathedral, Dugdale, edited by Sir H. Ellis. b The Domesday of S. Paul'.*, Camden Soc. 1858. The death of this excellent and learned man has occurred while these pages are passing through the press. c Annals ofS. Paul's Cathedral, second edit. 1869. 166 Charter and Statutes of the College of Canons. Much has been said about the greater Chapter, consisting of the bishop, the dean, and the thirty canons, each canon having his deputy or vicar." But this lesser Chapter, a complete corporate body, having a royal charter and a common seal, has been but little noticed, though it has an independent history of its own well worth the telling. I do not, indeed, propose to myself this task in the present paper. I simply gather together a few materials which may possibly be of service to some future antiquary. The charter of the body and the ancient statutes, I now print, from the originals, in their integrity; and to these docu- ments I venture to prefix a few desultory notes. " The Minor Canons," says Dean Milman,b " were a college of twelve priests, founded in the time of Richard the Second, and endowed with their own estates. The form of their election was, that they presented two to the chapter, who selected one. They were under the authority and statutes of the cathedral, though holding independent estates." Dugdale, in the Mbnasticon,c gives a some- what fuller notice. The twelve Minor Canons belonging to the cathedral church of S. Paul were incorporated, he says, " and made a body politic, having a warden and common seal, &c, 18 Bic. II.d King Henry the Fourth, in the first year of his reign, confirmed the foundation.6 In the 23rd Henry VI., the church of S. Gregory was appropriated to their use.f Tanner says, they had formerly houses in or adjoining to the precincts of the cathedral, and their common hall was on the north side of the church, near the Pardon Chirch haugh."6 A more lengthy account is found in Dugdale's History of S. Paul's* but it does not add much to the information already given. It will be observed, however, that these passages only speak of the founding or incorporation of the College of the Minor Canons. The Minor Canons themselves existed long before. Amongst the Harleian MSS. is a volume, entitled Fragmenta Historipolitica Miscellanea Successive/,, collected by one Thomas Gybbons, Esq., in which I have found the following passage:'—" The church of S. Paule had before the time of the Conquerour two cardinalls, which office still continue (sic). They are chosen by the dean and chapt. out of the number of the twelve Petty Canons, and a Milman, Annals, pp. 130, 134. b Milman, Annals, p. 143. c Monasticon, vi. 1457-8. (1 Founded by King Kichard II. in honour of Queen Anne his wife, as Stowe, p. 264; but Tanner says qucere [Dug. Monast."]. e Pat. 1 Hen. IV. p. 4, m. 14. f Pat. 23 Hen. VI. p. 2, m. 28 ; Pat. 24 Hen. VI. p. 1, m. 27 ; see also Newcourt, Repert. Eccles. i. 359, &c. s Newcourt, Repert. Eccles. i. 232. » Edit. Sir H. Ellis. 1818, pp. 17, 18. 1 Harleian MSS. No. 980, fo. 170A. Minor Canons in S. Paul's Cathedral. 167 are called cardinales chori. Ther office is to take notice of the absence or neglect of all the quire, and weekly to render account thereof to the dean and chapter. They administer likewise ecclesiastical sacraments to the ministers of the Church and ther seruants, &c. Not any cathedral church in Engl. hath cardinalls besids this, nor are any beyond seas to be found to be dignified with this title sauing the churches of Rome, Rauenna, Aquileia, Millan, Pisa, Beneuent, in Italy, and Compostella in Spayn." This extract a little anticipates matters of which I must speak with more particularity by-and-bye, but I introduce it for the sake of the words " before the time of the Conquerour." It is to be regretted that Mr. Gybbons has not referred to any authority for these words, but even a hasty examination of documents will suffice to show that Richard the Second did not by his charter found a new body, but simply consolidated and incorporated one already in existence. The original charter is very clear itpon this point. The opening words speak of the " Capellani in numero duodecim qui vulgariter Minores Canonici nuncu- pantur."a The twelve were already commonly called Minor Canons. It proceeds even to speak of their canonical dress, " superpellicia cum almuciis de calabreb et capis nigris gerentes." The body of twelve men not only existed, but were known by a particular name, and by a special dress. It is evident, therefore, that we must carefully distinguish between the original creation of the body of the twelve Minor Canons and their incorporation into a college by Richard the Second. The body itself is far more ancient than the college. This appears yet more clearly in the " Confirrnatio status et gradus minoruin canonicorum S. Pauli London, a Papa Urbano VI. et ab Archiepiscopo Cantuar. facta," anno Christi 1378. Reg. Angiise Ric. II. 2.c In this document Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, publishes certain literce apostolicce confirmatorice from Pope Urban the Sixth, in which letters the Pope recites a petition which he had received "pro parte dilectorum filiorum Martini Elis, Johannis Christemasse, Nicolai Haddelye, et Thomae Croxton, et aliorum Canonicorum, Minorum Canonicorum nuncupatorum ecclesise London." This petition sets forth that there had been in the cathedral church of S. Paul, " a longis retroactis temporibus," three grades of ecclesiastical persons: " personae a Charter, infra. Appendix I. b Calaber, a kind of fur. See Brit. Bill. ii. 401 ; Strutt, ii. 102 ; Cov. Myst. p. 242 ; Halliwell, Diet. c Wilkins, Concilia, fo. 1737, Lond. iii. 134, 135. [The confirmation is wrongly entered in the Index, thus, " Minores Canonici in Eccles. S. P. L. instituuntvr."~\ 168 Charter and Statutes of the College of primi gradus Canonici Majores, et personse secundi gradus Canonici Minores, et personse tertii gradus lmjusmodi Vicarii perpetui." Pope Urban proceeds to incorporate these statements in his confirmation, and adds to them the weight of a still stronger statement; declaring that these three grades of ecclesiastical persons had existed in the cathedral church, not merely, as the Minor Canons had said, " a longis retroactis temporibus," but " a tempore cujus non est memoria, et a tempore fundationis ipsius ecclesise." The Minor Canons, therefore, of S. Paul's cathedral date back their origin not to the charter of Richard the Second, but to the remote days of the foundation of the cathedral itself. It may be well to add, before we take our leave of this important document, that Pope Urban further details the number of persons holding the several grades : " Primus est Canonicorum Majorum, quorum numerus est triginta, et totidem prebendae dis- tinctge eis assignata?; secundus est Minorum Canonicorum, quorum numerus est duodecim; et tertius est Vicarioruni, quorum numerus deberet esse triginta." The College of the Minor Canons consists of twelve priests, " debent esse sacer- dotes."a Of these the first is the Sub-dean. " Sub-decanusb ex Minoribus Canonicis unus maxime idoneus a Decano, capitulo consentiente, eligitur; qui vices Decani, eo absente, gerat in choro; quod quidem ordinatum fuit anno Christi MCCLXXXX0 tune Decano Radulfo Baldok."' The position of the sub-dean was one of great dignity and authority.