i Ripon Minster in its Social Context, c. 1350–1530 Stephen Werronen Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy The University of Leeds, Institute for Medieval Studies March 2013 ii iii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2013 The University of Leeds and Stephen Werronen iv Acknowledgments I thank my supervisors, Professor Richard Morris and Dr Emilia Jamroziak, for their assistance and advice. I also thank the Institute for Medieval Studies and the Economic History Society for their financial support, and the vergers of Ripon Cathedral, especially Andrew Aspland, for granting me the necessary access to their building. In addition, I express my gratitude to those individuals who read my thesis and helped me work out my ideas, namely Sheryl McDonald, Dr Erin Dailey, Eleanor Warren, Isabella Bolognese, Richard Thomason, Audrey Thorstad, and Kirsty Day. v Abstract Ripon Minster has usually been discussed in the context of England’s cathedrals and monastic churches. Its status as parish church has been overlooked. This thesis examines its role as parish church and its place in the society of its parish. An interdisciplinary approach is employed to analyse both the building and the institution. The following subjects are addressed: the exercise of power and authority by the minster clergy, the social significance of the use of space in the minster, the renovation of the church building after 1450, the minster as an employer of building craftsmen, and the minster as landlord. The Chapter of canons wielded significant power over the parish with its authority coming from St Wilfrid. The institutional aspect of the minster set it apart from most contemporary parish churches and had an effect on how parishioners could use and alter the building, and also had a significant impact on liturgy and commemoration. Nevertheless, lay foundation of guilds within the minster and widespread support for the building campaigns after 1450 demonstrate devotion to the minster as parish church. By analysing the use of the building, the disruptive effects of the tower repair and nave renovation campaigns are demonstrated. While the primary focus is on the building and its use, the minster cannot be understood in its social context without examining it in the wider parish. Analysis of the chapels and charitable institutions of the parish shows that the minster became increasingly important as parish church around 1400. The Fabric’s employment practices and urban estate management are also significant in that they show how the minster’s needs fuelled the building industry and shaped the urban landscape in a time when the Fabric was forced to respond to the social changes caused by the Black Death. vi Table of Contents Title Page i Acknowledgments iv Abstract v Table of Contents vi List of Figures ix List of Tables ix Introduction 1 0.1: Historiography 2 0.2: Methodology 9 0.3: Textual Sources 13 0.3.1: Fabric Rolls 13 0.3.2: Accounts of the Chamberlain and Treasurer 18 0.3.3: The Chapter Acts 19 0.4: The Building: Restorations and Excavations 20 0.5: Outline of the Thesis 21 Chapter 1: The Chapter of Canons 25 1.1: Wilfrid as Patron of the Parish of Ripon 29 1.2: The Chapter House and the Chapter Court 35 1.3: Conclusions 44 Chapter 2: The Vicars and Chantry Chaplains 47 2.1: The Vicars 47 2.2: The Chantry Chaplains 59 2.3: Conclusions 61 Chapter 3: Space and Commemoration in the Minster: Chantries, Burials, and Guilds 66 3.1: Liturgy and Burial 66 3.2: Chantries Founded by Canons 70 3.3: The Chantries and Burials of Gentry Families 76 3.3.1: North Transept Arm — The Markenfields 77 3.3.2: South Transept Arm — The Lords of Studley 85 3.3.3: The Pigots of Clotherholme 87 3.4: Guilds 89 3.5: Conclusions 96 vii Chapter 4: Chapels, Hospitals, and Almshouses 99 4.1: The Ladykirk 100 4.2: Dependent and Chantry Chapels 107 4.3: The Hospital of St John the Baptist 111 4.4: The Hospital of St Mary Magdalene 113 4.5: The Almshouse of St Anne 115 4.6: Conclusions 118 Chapter 5: Tower Collapse and Repairs, 1450–1480 120 5.1: The Extent of the Tower Collapse 122 5.1.1: Tower 122 5.1.2: Choir 127 5.1.3: Transept Arms 128 5.1.4: Textual Sources for the Tower Collapse 130 5.2: The Repairs in their Social Context 134 5.3: Conclusions 137 Chapter 6: The Aisled Nave and Choir Renovations, c. 1503–1530 139 6.1: Renovation of the Nave 139 6.2: Funding the Nave Renovation 148 6.3: Impact on the Use of the Nave 151 6.4: The High Altar and Choir 154 6.5: Conclusions 156 Chapter 7: The Fabric Wardens and the Building Industry 158 7.1: Building Needs and Wages 159 7.2: Labourers and Craftsmen 165 7.3: Materials and Suppliers 172 7.4: Conclusions 175 Chapter 8: The Fabric as Landlord in Late Medieval Ripon, c. 1350–1546 179 8.1: Sources of Income for the Fabric 180 8.2: The Fabric’s Management of its Urban Estate 184 8.2.1: Annsgate and the Churchyard 185 8.2.2: The Astelaria 186 8.2.3: Kirkgate 187 8.2.4: Allhallowgate 189 8.2.5: Stonebridgegate 191 viii 8.2.6: Priest Lane 193 8.2.7: Westgate and Blossomgate 193 8.2.8: The Cornhill and the Horsefair 195 8.2.9: Bondgate and Aismunderby 196 8.3: The Fabric’s Estate in Context: Ripon 1546/7 199 8.4: Conclusions 203 Conclusions 205 Appendix: The Vicars and Chantry Chaplains of Ripon, 1350–1546 216 Bibliography 221 ix List of Figures 0.1: Ripon and the North of England 2 0.2: 1424 Fabric Roll 16 0.3: 1520 Fabric Roll 17 1.1: Map of medieval Ripon, 1350–1530 25 1.2: The parish of Ripon in the Perambulation of 1481 33 1.3: The Chapter House 34 2.1: Plan of the minster with altars, c. 1420 46 2.2: Plan of the minster with altars, c. 1530 46 3.1: Plan of the minster with altars, saints, heraldry, and tombs 64–65 4.1: Dependent and Chantry Chapels of Ripon 98 4.2: East window of the almshouse of St Anne 116 5.1: Southwest corner of the crossing 123 5.2: Crossing and south transept 124 5.3: Eastern exterior of south transept 125 5.4: Eastern exterior of north transept 125 5.5: View of the tower from the northwest 126 6.1: South nave aisle exterior 141 6.2: North nave aisle exterior 141 6.3: South nave aisle respond 141 6.4: North nave aisle respond 141 6.5: South nave aisle interior 142 6.6: North nave aisle interior 142 6.7: Chronology of the nave renovation 148 6.8: Renovated bay, south wall of the choir 154 6.9: Arms of the Pigots, choir 154 6.10: Arms of the Pigots, nave 154 8.1: Map of Medieval Ripon, 1350–1530 178 All photographs were taken by the author of the thesis. List of Tables 2.1: Anniversaries in the Partial Obit Roll 54 3.1: Bequests to the Guild of Holy Cross 91 4.1: Patrons Named in the Chantry Ordination of the Ladykirk, c. 1379 103 7.1: Craftsmen and Suppliers from the 1379 Fabric Roll and Poll Tax 164 x 8.1: Bequests to the Fabric 181 8.2: Fabric Income in 1396 182 8.3: Income from Gifts 183 8.4: Estates in Blossomgate and Westgate, 1546 194 8.5: Bondgate Professions from the 1379 Poll Tax 198 1 Introduction On the high ground above the confluence of the River Skell and the River Ure stands a church that, even three hundred years after the removal of its spires, is visible from a fair distance — from as far as the deserted medieval village of Aismunderby a mile to the south and perhaps, when the trees are bare in the winter, even as far as Markenfield another mile beyond. Since 1836 Ripon Minster has been a cathedral. The cruciform building, with its western bell towers and apsidal Chapter House, seems to have been made for a bishop’s throne. It is often discussed alongside York Minster and Cistercian monastic churches in Yorkshire. Yet as well as being a collegiate community in the later Middle Ages, it was also a parish church. Its status as parish church has received little attention and thus its role in the society of late medieval Ripon has not been fully appreciated and its many other peculiarities have not been fully considered. It was an archdeaconry unto itself, exempt from the authority of the Archdeacon of Richmond, and its canons governed a legal franchise within which even the Archbishop of York and the Crown could not interfere. It was a church without churchwardens; in their place, clerical Fabric wardens looked to the maintenance of the building, a corporation of vicars performed obits, and the Chapter of canons was patron of most of its chantries. It had a choir and high altar where the clergy performed the high mass but from which the laity were excluded; for the people of its enormous parish it had not one but six parochial altars.