Durham E-Theses The constitution and the clergy op Beverley minster in the middle ages McDermid, R. T. W. How to cite: McDermid, R. T. W. (1980) The constitution and the clergy op Beverley minster in the middle ages, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7616/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk II BEVERIEY MINSTER FROM THE SOUTH Three main phases of building are visible: from the East End up to, and including, the main transepts, thirteenth century (commenced c.1230); the nave, fourteenth century (commenced 1308); the West Front, first half of the fifteenth century. The whole was thus complete by 1450. iPBE CONSTIOOTION AED THE CLERGY OP BEVERLEY MINSTER IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be pubHshed without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 3 0 OCT 1992 ii CONTEHTS LIST OP PLATES, ETC. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. V LIST OP ABBREVIATIONS. vi INTRODUCTION. viii I INTRODUCTORY 2-47 Introductory 1 - The Pre-Conq.uest Church. 2 Introductory 2 - Post Conquest Developments. 25 (a) The Foundation of the Provostiy. 25 (b) The Emergence of Prebends. 30 (c) The Establishment of the Offices of Sacrist, Chancellor and Precentor, 44 II ASSETS AND INCOME 48 - 120 1. THE ESTATES AND REVENUES OP ST. JOHN. 48 Domesday Lands, 57 (a) The Estates of the Provostry, 63 (b) Prebendal Lands. 66 (c) The Fabric Fund, (d) The Lands of the Minor 71 Corporations and Chantries, 75 - 110 2. THRAVES. 78 (a) Problems of Assessment. 88 (b) Problems of Collection, 98 The Provost's Thraves of Holdexness, 105 Prebendal Thraves, 111 3. THE OFFERINGS OF THE FAITHFUL, .117 4. OTHER SOURCES OF INCOME. 117 (a) Tithes. 118 (b) The Provost's Pensions. 119 (c) Procurations. 119 (d) Perquisites of Courts. 119 Conclusion. Ill III INSTITUTIONS 121-198 1. THE PROVOSTRY. 121 (a) The Liberty of Beverley. 121 (b) The Spiritualities of the Provostship, 125 (c) The Administration of Estates. 125 2. THE BEDERN. 134 3. THE PREBENDS. 143 (a) The Income of Prebends, 147 (b) Residence - Its Privileges and Obligations, 165 • 4. THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, 192; Note on the supposed Song School, 198 IV THE CLERGY 199 - 555 1. THE PROVOSTS. 199 2, THE PREBENDARIES. 207 (a) The Act Book Chapter (l525). 207 (b) The Chapter under Walter Gray (1215- 1255). 215 (c) From Bovill to Greenfield (1256-1515). 224 i. Patronage in PoTir Ch\irches. ii. The Beverley Chapter. (d) From Melton to Arundel (1517-1596). 246 i. The Erosion of Standards. ii. The Chapter under Alexander Neville (158I). 26l (e) The Fifteenth Century Chapter (1596-1500). 271 (f) The Pre-Refomation Chapter (1500-1548), 296 5, THE OFFICERS (Otherwise known as the Dignitaries), 305 4. THE VICARS. 515 5. THE BEREPELARII OR PARSONS, 529 CONCLUSION. 556 IV APPENDICES I THE PARTITION OF THRAVES - Note on Archbishop Roger de Pont I'Eveque and Provosts Thomas Becket, Geoffrey and Robert. 545 II SUMMARY OF TEE PROVOST'S THRAVES OF HOLDEHNESS. 348 III SUMMARY OF PREBENDAL THRAVES. 551 IV NOTE ON COMMUNICATIONS RELATIVE TO THHAVES. 556 V PREBENDARIES AND THEIR PATRONS IN FOUR CHAPTERS. 559 VI 'THE PRIEST'S TOMB' AT BEVERLEY. 565 VII LISTS OF THE CLERGY OF BEVERLEY MINSTER See associated PRIOR TO 1548. volume. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 598 LIST OP PLATES. ETC. 1. Beverley Minster from the South. Frontispiece Facing page 2. The Crossing and the South Transept. 66 3. Label Stop in the Nave. 112 4. The Choir. I69 5. The Staircase to the Chapter House Entrance. 207 6. The Priest's Tomb in the North Transept. 565 ******** Seating arrangements in the Choir. 17O The Aims on the Priest's Tomb. 376 ******** MAPS. 1. The Provostry, its Boundaries, Churches and Manors, 2. The Distribution of Thraves, ******** ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, I record my gratitude to the late Canon J, S. Purvis and the late Mrs. Norah Gumey for their help with York Diocesan sources, to the staffs of the Bodleian Library and the British Library for copies of documents in their custody, and to English Life Publications Ltd. for permission to use the photographs of Mr, S, V/, Newbeiy, VI ABBREVIATIONS B. C.A. Memorials of Beverley Minster: The Chapter Act Book of the Collegiate Church of St, John of Beverley A,D, 1286- 1547* ed, A,F, Leach, C. C.R. Calendar of Close Rolls. c.c.w. Calendar of Chancery Warrants. C. Charter R, Calendar of Charter Rolls. C,F,R. Calendar of Fine Rolls. C.P.L. Calendar of Papal Letters, C.Pap.Pet. Calendar of Papal Petitions, CP.R, Calendar of Patent Rolls, C. & Y.S. Canterbury and York Society, Dade Materials of Compiling the Histories and Antiquities of Beverley, Collected from Torre's Manuscripts in the Cathedral at York by William Dade, E.Y.R.S. East Yorkshire Record Society, E,Y,C, Early Yorkshire Charters, Emden, Oxford A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A,D,1500, by A.B. Emden, Emden, Cambridge A Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500, by A.B, Snden, E.H.R, English Historical Review. Fasti Ebor Fasti Eboracenses, Lives of the Archbishops of York, by W,H. Dixon, ed, James Raine, Fasti Parochiales Fasti Parochiales, being Notes on the Advowsons and pre-Reformation Incumbents of the Parishes in the Deanery of Doncaster, ed, A.H, Thompson and C,T, Clay, D.N.B. Dictionary of National Biography. J.E.H. Journal of Ecclesiastical History. le Neve John le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1500- 1541 (New Edition - 11 vols.) _^.B. Where the appropriate volume is explicit in the text (i.e. where a volimie of the new le Neve corresponds to a cathedral church mentioned) the name of the church is not given in the reference which follows_j7 Lettres Communes Lettres Communes des Papes d'Avignon analysees d'apres les Registres dits d'Avignon et du Vatican per G.Mollat, Mill Stephenson A List of Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (1926) by Mill Stephenson with Appendix, Vll Monasticon Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. W.Dugdale. O.H.S. Oxford Historical Society. Miscellanea Miscellanea, ii, containing Documents relating to Diocesan and Provincial Visitations from the Registers of Henry Bowet and John Kempe, ed, A.H, Thompson. Poulson, Beverlac Beverlac; or the Antiquities and History of the Town of Beverley .... and of the Provostry and Collegiate Establishment of St. John's, by George Poulson. Reg. Register of R,S, Rolls Series. S,S, Surtees Society, Test Ebor. Testamenta Eboraceses, 6 vols. Valor Ecclesiasticas Valor Ecclesiasticus temp. Henrici VIII, auctoritate regia institutus, ed. J.Caley and J. Hunter, vol. v. V,C,H. Victoria County History. Y.A,J. Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Yorkshire Chantry Stirveys. The Certificates of the Commissioners Appointed to survey the Chantries, Guilds, Hospitals, etc. in the County of York, ed. V/illiam Page. Y.D. Yorkshire Deeds. York Fabric Rolls Fabric Rolls of York Minster, ed. James Raine, York Statutes The Statutes, etc. of the Cathedral Church of York (Second Edition), Vlll INTRODUCTION. Notwithstanding his singular contribution to our knowledge of them, A, F, Leach professed little time for the canons of Beverley, Those who inevitably came to his notice as editor of the extant Chapter Act Book received, on the whole, unsjrmpathetic handling, and a search for the identity of the remainder he roundly declared an unprofitable exercise,^ In the near eighty years which have elapsed since then no one, so ' far as we are aware, has questioned his conclusion to the extent of translating disagreement into effort. The medieval collegiate church of St, John at Beverley remains, therefore, one of the few instances of its kind in which the compilation of a 'close catalogue' of the chapter has been neglected. Leach, indeed, subjected the provosts to lengthy and entertaining scrutiny, and his list of them has left little room for additions. It may be fairly argued, however, that, since it was the canons, not the provost, who alone presided over the Minster, their discovery is more relevant to a history of the church than that of a succession of exalted officials, who, not necessarily members of the chapter, for the most part held aloof from its affairs. The problems involved in establishing a continuous succession to the eight prebends, to the vicara^s associated with them, and to the three dignities, and also the measure of success achieved in this, are outlined in a separate introduction to the lists. In the (diapters which now follow it has been our purpose to set the men who feature in these lists in the context of their church; first recounting something of the material and constitutional heritage upon which they entered. The late medieval church of Beverley embodied within this heritage more traces of its Anglo-Saxon origins than, perhaps, any other comparable institution.