20. THE CHANTRY OF THE VIRGIN MARY AND ST. JOHN THE EVANGelist. There certainly was such a Chantry, though whether it was identical with the Lady Chapel or St. John's Chapel is not clear. In the 14th year of Richard II. a ratification was granted to John de Ludlow " Warden of the Chantry of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist in Ludlow Church" of the estate which he then had in this chantry. Our Lady and St. John usually appear as the Patron Saints of the Palmers' Gild, and it may well be that this chantry refers to the Gild Chapel of St. John; but it seems right to call attention to this reference to a Chantry which bears the joint names, though no effort has under the circumstances been made to locate it. Possibly the Warwick Chantry may have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John. The figures of two saints, one of whom seems to be a female, appear in the frescoes upon the pillar of this Chantry, but unfortunately it is not possible to make out the emblems or ascertain certainly what Saints are intended to be represented. In later days, after the suppression of the Chantries at the Reformation, many of the Chapels which have been dealt with in this paper had other names given to them, and these later names are marked in blue on the plan. Many of these chapels were associated with the powerful trade Guilds, of which so many existed in Ludlow, while others derived their titles from the purposes for which they were used. It will suffice to give a list of these chapels with their various places in the Church, though as they have so long ceased to be used by their particular Guilds for their especial uses, it has been well nigh as difficult to identify and locate these Chapels as those which in olden days were dedicated to the various Saints. These post-Reformation Chapels were as follows: Scholars' Chancel Butchers' Chancel Fletchers' Chancel All Saints Chancel, South Aisle. South Transept. Lady Chapel. North Transept. Library Chancel Stitchmen's Chancel St. Andrew's Chapel. North Aisle. Before concluding this paper, allusion must be made to the singular ornamented recesses in the western end of the North Aisle, which are often called Prince Arthur's tomb, probably from the Tudor Rose which appears on the front. It is certain that, whatever these recesses were, they were not Prince Arthur's tomb, as apart from the improbability of Prince Arthur's heart (his body was buried in Worcester Cathedral) being buried in such a position, the inscription which up to 1723 existed in the north side of the High Chancel recorded that his heart was there buried. Prince Arthur died in 1502, and as Leland visited Ludlow Church within a few years after his death (about 1540) and recorded the graves of men of fame which he saw there, we may be confident that he would have mentioned the Prince if any such beautiful tomb had been erected in his memory as that of which the remains exist, but he does not include his name, though he mentions Beaupie, Cookes and Hosier. Churchyard, too (writing in 1577) would almost certainly have drawn attention to any handsome monument to Prince Arthur, but he also is silent on the subject.. These recesses, which bear a Tudor Rose, and probably date back to about 1520, may have been the remains of the monument of either Sir William Suliard, one of the Justices in the Marches of Wales, or Dr. Denton, who was Master of St. John's in Ludlow and Dean of Lichfield, Almoner to Mary, Queen of France (sister of Henry VIII.), and Treasurer to the Princess Mary. Dr. Denton died in February, 1532-3, and from his official position he may well have had a Tudor Rose on his tomb. Both he and Sir William Suliard, whose graves are noted by Leland, being the only ones so noted except those of Beaupie, Cookes and Hosier, were buried in Ludlow Church. It is just as probable, however, that these interesting recesses form part of a Chantry Chapel either in their present position (in which they may well have been part of St. Stephen's Chapel), or in some other place in the Church, but the whole question is one of conjecture only, which without further evidence, such as an examination of of the work might afford, must be left unsettled. Ludlow Church, with its numerous Chantries, must at the time of the Reformation have had a great store of Church Plate and of all that pertained to the service of its various altars. Alas! it has all disappeared, and Ludlow Church does not now possess a single specimen of pre-reformation plate. Every chalice and paten of that period, every cross, pyx and pax, all the basons, the spoons, the sakring bell, the crewets have all disappeared, and have left no trace behind them. Much of it, no doubt, was included in the general confiscation, but the inventories of Shropshire Church plate which were taken in the reign of Edward VI. show that little remained even then. The list of 1553 so far as it relates to Ludlow Church includes only "2 Chalices gilt with patens, one pyx of silver, a cross of wood plated with silver, and a Chrismatory of silver," but these must have formed a very insignificant part of the treasures of the Church. The Palmers' Gild, too, had many valuable belongings which no longer exist, but some explanation of the disappearance of the valuables both of the Church and the Gild may be gleaned from the following complaint of John Berkeley, probably a chaplain in the reign of Henry VIII. To the right worshipful Sir Richard Sackevile knight Chauncellour of the Kinges Maties Courte of Thaugmentacons She with unto yo' good mastershippe John Barkeley one of the kinges maiesties Servaunts . . . . that one gilde of our Ladye and sainte John the evangeliste in Ludlowe which at the making of the acte for the dissolution of Colledges & Chauntryes had belonging to its maners Landes & tenements in Ludlowe and elsewhere in the County of Salop of the clear yerelie vallue of 120li & then had also Jewells plate ornamentes & Stockes of money to the value of 200li whereunto the kinges maieste ys entitled by the late act was omytted and lefte owt of the last Survey of Colledges & Chauntries and since the King was entitled to them one Wm Langford who taketh upon him to be warden of the said gilde Richard Langford John Alsoppe & John Taylor alias barker hath entrewoed upon the Kinges Maiesties possession of and in the said gilde & its possessions & hath not onelie taken the rents & profittes of the same for thre years past amounting to the somme of thre hundred powndes and above but also hath taken the plate jewelles & goodes of the same gilde being worth £200 & more & hath converted all the same to their owne uses to the manifest wronge & disinherytaunce of the Kinges Maiestie Wherof this enformour prayeth that proces maye be awarded against the said William Langford &c. to appere before your mastershippe at a certen daie to aunswer to the premisses. The result of this petition is unfortunately not stated, but it is to be feared that it was not successful in obtaining restitution to the Church of the treasures of which it had been despoiled. The Chantries of Ludlow have long disappeared, and if much that was valuable went with them many superstitious uses and much that was injurious to the welfare of the Church of England passed away also. The old order has changed and given place to the new. The glorious fabric of the Church remains, and it is hoped will ever remain, a standing monument to the piety and devotion of those who have gone before us, the pride of the town and the country side, and the centre of a pure and hearty religious life of the generations to come. WILL OF JOHN TALBOT, FIRST EARL OF SHREWSBURY, 1452. EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY THE HON. AND REV. GILBERT H. F. VANE, M.A., F.S.A. Among Shropshire wills at Lambeth Palace are at least two of the famous family of Talbot. The older of these is that of Sir William Talbot, Knight, and is dated 14 April, 1425. Testator desired to be buried "in Ecclesiâ Sancti Alkemundi de Whitechurche," to the altar of which he bequeathed "unam togam de panno (aurato?)," his only other specific bequest being "unam zonam (serpatam?) cum argento et deauratam." The will is short, and is of little further interest, save that Johannes Stolbe (or Strolbe) capellanus was one of the executors, and Margaretta domina Talbot and "Johannes (Saye?) huic capellanus " were among the "supervisores." This Sir William Talbot was, I suppose, that fifth son of Gilbert Talbot and younger brother of the renowned Earl of Salop, who is stated in Collins's Peerage1 to have married Eleanor, daughter and coheir of Thomas Pearethe, and to have been killed by the servants of John Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny. If so, his wife was dead before the will was made; at least, she is not mentioned in it. And as the famous Earl married Margaret, eldest daughter and coheir of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, "in or before 1433," this would seem to be the lady who with her chaplain was to assist in supervising the distribution of the "bona notabilia in diversis Diocesis" left by Sir William. The other will is much longer and of far greater interest. It is that of John Talbot, first Earl of Salop, “Ducum Angliæ 1 Ed. 1812, vol. iii., p. 9. Vol IV., 3rd Series. ᏃᏃ |