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on the Order, and might continue: it would be very pleasing, still, if such ingratitude were redeemed, beyond what was due to a man of probity and known goodness, by listening to the royal recommendation in favour of Winkley, whereby the Order would find opportune returns. Some secret and arduous affairs of the kingdom sent Winkley at this time to the Roman court, and he probably visited the pope at Avignon on his way back from Milan, if he went to the general chapter. He had letters of credence, dated April 25, to Benedict XII., who answered the king by Winkley, July 13, expressing his intense desire to establish peace between England and France. For the expenses to and fro, and at the papal court, 10 was paid October 17, and £20 on the 24th following.

In 1342 the royal confessor was again sent to the Roman court. Preparatory to his journey, he stayed some time in London, and received, April 7, 100s. for his expenses there; a gray palfrey for riding worth 113s. 4d., May 7; a sumpter-horse for his harness, 46s. 8d., May 25; letters of credence to the pope, dated May 22, in which the king also begged some privileges for the royal chapel; and 40 marks, June 8, for travelling.

Early in the following year, at Portsmouth, Winkley was plundered of goods to no small amount. He seems to have fallen into the hands of freebooters, for Richard Hokere and Richard Swayn, of Winchelsea, two royal officers, were sent after the robbers, carrying a writ, dated May 6, for arresting and conveying to the Tower of London Roger de Dynton, William Pevenese of Portsmouth, John Spencer of Portsmouth, Robert Blake, William Hevyn of Feversham, Roger Smyth, and others, who had committed the outrage. Again the confessor was employed on arduous affairs at the papal court, and the journey to Avignon and back took him 113 days. Immediately after, he was despatched to Vannes, which took up another 64 days. He was allowed 6s. a day for his and his companion's expenses in both journeys; and October 11, 1343, there were paid into his own hands in the exchequer 33 18s. for the journey to the pope, 116s. 8d. for some papal bulls, 50s. for passage and repassage of the sea, and

£19 45. for the French journey. After this time the confessor was taken up only with the duties of his ministry. He had a grant of 40 marks a year, April 17, 1344, in aid of his expenses, and for better maintaining his state in the king's service. A royal gift of £4 19s. was made to him March 2, 1345-6. Whilst near Calais he obtained two royal pardons of manslaughter, one, February 6, 1346-7, in favour of Richard King, for the death of Walter de Luttote; the other, July 25 following, in favour of William Smythiot of Cambridge, for the death of one Stephen, called Frenshman, or Borgulon. His pension was last paid him March 6, 1346-7; and July 4 the order for payment was issued, but not executed, and it is evident that F. Richard de Winkley had

now closed his life. At this time his companion, F. Walter de Neuport, withdrew into his cloister at London on an allowance of 40s. a year for clothing, which was superseded, January 18, 1361-2, by a pension of 5 marks out of the revenues of Devon, the grant being confirmed, March 11, 1377-8, by Richard II.; and he is last heard of April 18, 1385, when the Sheriff of Devon was ordered to pay up all arrears of the pension.

F. ARNALD DE STRILLEGH.

The usual allowance of cloth was delivered, in 1348, to F. Arnald de Strillegh for himself, his companion, and household, at Pentecost and Christmas, but nothing more appears on record concerning this confessor.

F. JOHN DE WODEROWE.

In the spring of 1349 F. John de Woderowe became the confessor of Edward III., and on his commencing D.D. at Cambridge in that year, the king bestowed on him, July 8, a gift of £20. He rose to be a man of no small consideration in his time. In 1353 he accompanied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Duke of Lancaster, and other magnates in the embassy to the King of France, receiving for his own expenses, November 9, £26 13s. 4d., and January 25 following £11 6s. 8d. In the next year he went to the papal court with the bishop-elect of London, Sir Guy Bryan, and others for the confirmation of the peace between England and France, for which he had,

July 7, an advance of 200 marks for the journey; whilst he was at Avignon, December 8, £100 was sent to him; and February 23, through his brother Richard, a further sum of 100 marks; and after his return he had, May 5, £8 for his wages, and £38 for his safe conduct, passage and repassage of his men and horses, and other necessaries. This journey occupied him from May 25 to March 29, 1355. In the autumn of 1356 he was again at Avignon, and carried with him royal letters, dated November 12, containing the king's oft-repeated solicitation for the papal renewal of the privilege of some colleges of canons, who had lost the original documents. A pension of 40 marks a year was granted him May 24, 1355, the payment of which was changed, May 13, 1358, to £20 out of the farm-rent of Nottingham, the remaining 10 marks being continued out of the exchequer. Moreover, he had a royal grant, June 26, 1360, of £69 10s. 6d. a year for the support of himself and his companion at the court, four grooms serving him in the royal household, four horses, and one hack, including £9 2s. 6d. for the wages of these men, at 1d. each, who attended to the horses, and 116s. for small necessaries; and this payment was transferred, October 1, 1362, from the royal household to the exchequer. He lent 20 marks to Jane, Queen of Scotland, which after her death was paid, November 30, 1362, out of the English exchequer. The pension was superseded, August 26, 1372, by his appointment to the office of chirographer of the common bench. According to the old custom, he and his companion had, every Christmas and Pentecost, the black and white cloth for their habits, table-napery, and bedclothes from the king's wardrobe, all of which were continued to him even after he had given up the charge of the royal conscience. He had given him by the king, in 1366, two casks of Gascony wine, in 1371 a pipe of Rhenish wine, and in 1373 another cask of Gascony wine, all probably for the service of the altar; and August 18, 1371, a messenger from the king was paid 13s. 4d. for going to him from Marlborough to Dartford.

Woderowe was very active in promoting and carrying on the foundation of the priory

of Dartford, in Kent, for Sisters of the second Order of St. Dominic, and through him most of the royal gifts of Edward III. were made

for the purpose. He superintended the

works of the friars' and sisters' houses there, and received £40, January 25, 1353-4, for his expenses in staying at Dartford. Through him the king lent 100s., February 10 following, to the friars there, to be paid at will. On his retiring from the court, in 1376, he had a royal pardon, July 15, for all offences, especially debts and accounts due to the exchequer. His companion was F. Nicholas Hope, who, being abroad on affairs of state, had 5 marks, May 25, 1360, for coming out of Burgundy into England. He had a pension of 10 marks a year granted to him for life, and received the payment of it down to April 13, 1374. To whom succeeded F. Thomas Walsh, in 1363, and, April 6, had IOOS. a year granted to him to find him in clothing and other necessaries. He became

Prior of King's Langley, and as such was also prior of the new Dominican nunnery of Dartford, and the king granted him an annuity of 10 marks, April 3, 1374, out of the sisters' revenues, for the needs and labours of this additional charge. The pension of 100s. was confirmed, July 14, 1380, by Richard II., and was paid February following for the last time.

is probable that F. William de Brownhill was companion for about two years, as he received, April 18 and June 4, 1375, a donation of 100s. each time from the king; but there is no direct evidence of what position he held at court.

F. WILLIAM SIWARD.

When Woderowe resigned, the charge was committed, November 12, 1376, to F. William Siward, who was a master of theology, and taught in his convent at Oxford. On the same day the pension of £69 10s. 6d. was assigned to him, being 3s. a day (£54 125), to maintain him and his companion, and the men serving him in the royal household, four horses, and one hackney, 1d. a day each (£9 2s. 6d.) for the wages of the four grooms or valets, and 116s. for small expenses. About the end of March, 1377, he received the cloth for winter and summer habits, bedding, and table-napery, etc., of

himself and companion and the valets' clothes. When Edward III. died, June 21 following, his charge ceased. He had then received, June 5, 10 of his pension, though an advance of £33 6s. 8d. had been made January 16, so that there were due to him £23 35, and 69s. old. He was paid, October 14, 19 15s. 3d. for pension after his office ceased, by order of the royal council, and gave up the patent of his grant. He had £20, July 20, 1383, for certain services rendered to the late king; but it was not till April 23, 1390, that the settlement of £32 2s. 6d. discharged the balance due to him.

On leaving the royal court, Siward remained in London, and became prior of the convent there; and in the great provincial synod of 1382, held at his house May 21, he subscribed the condemnation of the twenty-four conclusions of Wyclif. In the chapter of 1382 he was elected Provincial of England; and on All Saints' Day, in the same year, he preached before the king at Eltham, and received a fee of 13s. 4d. He was released from his supreme office April 2, 1393, by the master-general of the Order. On the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24), 1396, he preached before Richard II. at Havering, and is mentioned for the last time at the end of the following July.

F. THOMAS RUSHOOK.

For some years F. Thomas Rushook was prior of Hereford, and in 1352 was governing there a community of eight priests and three lay-brothers. Afterwards he was elected provincial. In 1374 a council was called at Westminster by the king to decide the question of the pope's dominion over ecclesiastical temporalities, and his feudatory claim to England. Rushook sat, with three other masters of theology, on a form in front of the Prince of Wales and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Being the first called upon to give his opinion, he begged to be excused such a difficult matter, and counselled that, according to the custom of his Order in arduous questions, the Veni Creator Spiritus, or a Mass of the Holy Ghost, should be said. The debate took up two days, and after much tergiversation and recrimination, in

VOL. XXII.

which the prince called the bishops asses, a negative answer was returned.

In his provincial duties, Rushook fell into grave dissension with F. Elias Raimundi, master-general of the Order; and the general chapter at Carcassonne, in June, 1378, removed him and all his supporters from every office, and deprived them even of private cells and native convents, and appointed successively four vicars-general of England, of whom F. William Siward became one. The matter was carried before the English Parliament and the Roman court. A royal inhibition, November 10, forbade any of the Order to hinder him unduly in his appeal to the Holy See, and in the exercise of his office of provincial. Urban VI. committed the matter to Cardinal Nicholas Caraccioli, who, solemnly hearing both sides, pronounced, August 25, 1379, the deprivation of Rushook to be unjust and null, and that all his acts were canonical, reinstated him and all his supporters, decided that the four vicars-general, including Siward, were intruders, and took effective measures to carry his sentence into execution.

He

At the royal court Rushook soon rose into favour. Edward III. gave him, as provincial, an order for a new habit, July 14, 1376. Richard II., ascending the throne in 1377, made him his confessor, and at this time he was a professor of theology. The king, October 6, 1380, put him in the office of chirographer of the common bench, till otherwise provided for; January 25, 1380-1, granted him a pension of £40 a year; and June 9, 1382, presented him to the archdeaconry of St. Asaph. Through the royal influence he was promoted by the pope, January 16, 1382-3, to the bishopric of Llandaff. had the temporalities restored, April 2; made his profession of obedience at Otford, April 18; and was consecrated, May 3, in the church of the Blackfriars of London, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops of Winchester, Exeter, and Ely. But in 1385 he was translated to Chichester (the bull of provision being dated October 16), of which he had the custody of the temporalities, December 6, and they were fully restored March 26 following. He was retained as the king's confessor, and although his pension of £40 ceased April 30, 1383, he and his

T

companion or chaplain (F. John Burghill) were still provided with winter and summer habits, etc., as before, and were attended by the four valets. In June, 1384, he had a royal gift of £6 135. 4d. for small expenses at court; and in September, 1385, cloth for cappa and capuce against the burial of the king's mother.

Coerced by parliament, Richard II., in 1386, put the administration of the state into

the hands of commissioners; but in a council

at Nottingham, in August of the following year, he got the judges to declare the commission to be prejudicial to the regal prerogatives, and stopped its execution. Thereupon the parliament assembled, February 3, 1387-8, and condemned the judges as traitors, though they pleaded that they had been overawed; and March 6 the sentence was repeated. On the same day the Bishop of Chichester was impeached for being present when the questions were put to the judges, for threatening them into their answers, concealing the object of the traitors, and by his connivance exposing the whole realm to danger. The bishop denied the charge, declaring that no threats had been used, that he was under secrecy as to the answers, and that he had taken care no evil should arise from the transaction. Still, he was found guilty of treason, and banished into Ireland for life, the city of Cork, or within two leagues, being assigned as his residence, with permission to receive 40 marks a year from any friend who would allow him so much. The safe conduct, July 8, 1388, suffered him to take 40 marks for the first year, one bed, clothing, a book for saying his hours, and two English servants; and he was required to be at the port of Bristol by August 1, and at Cork by Michaelmas Day. As a consolation in exile Pope Urban VI. translated him to the see of Triburna (Kilmore); but the revenues were wholly inadequate, so his friends petitioned parliament, that, for God's sake and as a work of charity, a subsistence might be assigned to him for life. And so an exchequer pension of £40 a year was granted him March 10, 1389-90. His pen sion was regularly paid to him, and for the last time January 25, 1392-3. Unable to separate himself from the scenes of his former greatness, he was hovering on the out

skirts of the royal court, when death overtook him, heart-broken at his political disgrace. He was buried within the church of Seal, in Kent. (To be continued.)

Discovery of the Register and Chartulary of the Mercers' Company, Pork.

BY REV. CHARLES KERRY.

HE recent visit of the Derby Archeological Society to The Oakes at Norton, responsive to the kind invitation of Francis Westby Bagshawe, Esq., has led to the discovery of a most important manuscript-the Register of the ancient Guild of the Holy Trinity, in Foss Gate, York. When Drake wrote his Eboracum about the commencement of the last century, this record was among the archives of the Merchants' Company in an old chest in their hall in Foss Gate. From a book-plate engraven about 1730, within the first cover, it would seem that the volume has been in private possession for at least 160 years; but how "Mr. Samuel Dawson, of York," a merchant, who died in 1734, obtained the right to insert his book-plate therein, there is nothing to show. One Thomas Denison appears to have claimed the book about 1750, but how or when it came into the Oakes Library is not known. The Mercers' Company may be congratulated on the discovery of this valuable record, and we must express our great obligation to the present owner for permitting the nature of its contents to be made known to the antiquarian world.

The book consists of about 150 leaves of vellum, strongly bound in bevelled oak boards, covered with whitleather, and once secured by a clasp, which fastened on a stud in the middle of the second cover. The volume measures about 11 inches by 8 inches, and is about 2 inches in thickness.

Guilds would seem to have been of Anglo

Saxon origin, and were in use in this country long before any formal licenses were granted for them; and it is probable that the Merchants' Guild at York is of very early foundation. Certain it is that they were an important and wealthy community in 1370, when a great movement was made among them for the promotion of their spiritual interests. It was then that a hospital and chantry were established for the relief of their decayed brethren, and the benefit of the souls of the living and departed members. For this purpose a royal charter was granted, dated 12 February, 44 Edward III., 1370. The deed of settlement and organization of the hospital was drawn up by John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, shortly afterwards, and is dated August 4, 1373. Its provisions are as follows: There shall be an hospital for ever in Fossgate to be endowed with houses, possessions, and goods, and be called "The Hospital founded in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin." In the hospital there shall be a fit and worthy chaplain, who shall have the cure, administration and government of the same, receiving the rents and profits in person for the use of the poor, faithfully to dispense the same and when the goods are not so discharged, it must be presumed that they do not exist. The presentation to be vested in the heirs of John de Roucliff, who shall present within eight months of a vacancy; in case of failure, then the right to lapse into the hands of the archbishop, or, the chair being vacant, into the hands of the dean and chapter, or, in case of neglect, the mayor and citizens of York.

The master, on his appointment, shall take a corporal oath, and shall perform every useful thing for the men of the hospital, and shall eschew everything not advantageous. Of all goods he shall make an inventory, and reside in the hospital.

In the said hospital there shall be thirteen poor and feeble persons continually dwelling, and two poor clerics, scholars, at the choice and election of the warden, who shall pay them 4d. of silver every week. In the election of the poor, all partiality and carnality must be avoided, and the choice made with piety, justice, and judgment. If any of the inmates fall from virtue, and sin habitually, another shall be chosen in his place.

The master shall receive ten marks yearly for his own victual and sustenance; nor must he convert any more of the goods to his own use; but that which is left beyond the said sum, and beyond the money paid to the poor, shall be applied to the augmentation of the funds of the hospital, and faithfully preserved. And when the funds shall attain six marks beyond the sums recited, then another fit chaplain shall be nominated by Mr. John de Roucliff and his heirs for the said warden, and he shall receive the said six marks yearly for four years, by equal portions quarterly. The said chaplain shall reside with the warden in the hospital, and bodily there abide, etc. If the funds of the hospital increase, the number of the poor shall be proportionately increased.

The warden and chaplains shall say everyday the suffrages for the departed, and three times a week the seven penitential Psalms with the Litany. Masses shall be celebrated very frequently with all due devotion within the said hospital for the good estate of our lord, Edward, King of England, and for John de Roucliff while they shall live, the mayor of the city of York, and the officials of the Court of York for the time being, the brothers, sisters, and benefactors of the said hospital, and the poor and needy therein. Also for the souls of Philippa, late Queen of England, of our lord the king, and of John de Roucliff when they shall have departed this world, and for the souls of the mayor, officials, brethren, sisters, the poor and needy, and for the souls of all the faithful departed. The chaplains shall be removed for incontinency.

Given at Thorpe, near York, 27 day of August, A.D. 1373, in the twenty-first year of our translation, and in the forty-seventh of Edward III.

The advowson of the Hospital passed from John de Roucliff, the founder of the chantry, to Agnes his daughter, wife of William Wacelyn; and from Wacelyn to Nicholas Warthill, whose son, John Warthill, in 1430, alienated it to John Branthwayt, John Bery, Will. Ledall, and Thomas Swynburn, chaplains. In 1436 the advowson seems to have reverted to John de Warthill, "clericus," by whom it was granted to Robt Yarum and Thomas Kyrke. In 1512 the presentation for one life only was given to

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