mother and wife, that God by His great mercy, and the passion which He suffered for them and for all Christians, might have mercy on all three, and on him when he passed out of the world. The Earl was beheaded, Sept. 21st, 1397, for high treason.1

Doubtless, the annual provincial chapter for the government of the Friars' Province of England was repeatedly celebrated at Canterbury. Thorne has recorded the ceremonial which attended the assemblage of 1394, in his Chronica, De rebus gestis Abbatum Sancti Augustini Cantuariæ:"—

CO

"Anno sequenti videlicet M.CCC. XCIV. * Eodem anno die Assumptionis beatæ virginis cum paucis diebus sequentibus fratres prædicatores celebrarunt capitulum suum provinciale Cantuariæ, & ipso die Assumptionis processionaliter intraverunt ecclesiam istam, & per chorum & corpora Sanctorum incidentes ad ecclesiam sanctæ Trinitatis se diverterunt; ubi dicto sermone in vulgari ad eorum habitaculum redierunt. Hos semper sequebatur Prior ecclesiæ antedictæ pontificalibus decenter insignitus, quem archidiaconus Cantuariensis non segniter indumentis ecclesiasticis opertus sinistravit. Missa vero à præfato Priore more suo inter eos celebrata cum abbate ab eisdem diligenter prius requisito festa mandibilia in papilionibus, caricis & palliis deauratis ecclesiæ prædictæ co-opertis, & per pluvias & ventorum rabies dissutis, delaceratis, & particulatim abruptis idem prælati pariter tenuerunt. Istos primo die videlicet Assumptionis quem Dominica dies venustabat archiepiscopus licet absens decentissime. Diem sequentem Abbas & Prior antedicti suis epulis & presentia ipsos jocundissime repleverunt in expensis abbatis x. li. Et die tercia de benevolencia dominorum patriæ eciam in habundancia gustarunt. Unde prædicti fratres tanta beneficia & honores à duabus istis ecclesiis tam honorifice consecuti, beneficia spiritualia sic concesserunt, ut, videlicet, quilibet sacerdos dictorum fratrum in hoc regno consistens pro quolibet monacho utriusque ecclesiæ de illorum communi assensu vj. missas pro illorum felici prosperitate tenetur & obligatur quam cito poterit celebrare."2

At the end of the year 1395, when Friar William Boscumbe, Sac. Theol. Mag., was Prior here, the master-general of the Order, Dec. 30th, gave him a formal obedience to pro

1 Nichols' Royal Wills, p. 135.

2 Twysden's X Scriptores, col. 2197. In 1394, the Assumption fell on a Saturday.

tect and defend a certain friar, who was carrying his letters for restoring some Friars to the magisterial grade; and he also commissioned him to hold an inquiry into complaints made against Friar John de Ping, Prior of the Black-friars of London, for some breaches of his rule, and to remove him, if the testimony of six trustworthy Friars of London went against him.1

The master-general of the Order, Oct. 18th, 1398, transferred Friar Richard Lawsefield from the convent of Ipswich, and affiliating him to Canterbury, made him a conventual here.2

3

John Ropere, of the parish of St. Dunstan without the suburbs of Canterbury, by will dated June 8th, 1401, and proved April 1st, 1402, bequeathed £5 to the Friar-Preachers of Canterbury. The testator was an ancestor of the Lords. Teynham. Joan Knowght, daughter and heir of Henry Knowght, by will dated June 1st, 1459, directed her body to be buried in the church of these Friars.4 Anne Baker, of St. Alphage's parish, in 1464, willed to be buried in the church here. Thomas Baker, of the same parish, in 1473, willed to be buried here.6 John Whittill, in 1479, to be buried in the churchyard. William, son of Thomas Peny, was buried in the cloister.8 Thomas Peny, of St. Alphage, in 1482, ordered his body to be buried in the cloister of this house, near to William his son.9 John Sloden, brother of the Hospital of St. John Baptist, by his will in 1481, ordered his body to be buried in the churchyard of these Friars.10 Richard Tylle, of Selling, Dec. 17th, 1485, bequeathed 20s. to the Friar-Preachers here. John Nashe, of St. Alphage, by will made in 1486, was buried in the church.12 Weever records the burials of Robert and Bennet Browne, esqrs., without date.is

In 1505, Friar Robert Shroggs, of this Convent, made a pilgrimage to Rome, and May 19th, was received into the

1 Ex registro Mag. Gen. Ordinis. Friar John de Ping, or Deping, was not deposed. He was appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, in Ireland, July 11th, 1397, and died Feb. 4th, 1398-9.

2 Ibid.

12 Hasted.

3 Nicolas, Test. Vet., vol. i. p. 155. 4 Ibid., p. 291. 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hasted. 11 Nicolas, Test. Vet., vol. i. p. 384. 13 Funerall Monuments (1631), p. 238.

Hospital of the English there, in formá nobilium, or as one paying his own expenses.1

Alice Elleryngton, by will in 1512, was buried in the churchyard. Henry Hatche, of Faversham, May 6th, 1533, left a legacy of five marks to the house of Black-friars in Canterbury.

The parish clerks of the city held in this Priory a Guild or Fraternity, commonly called the Brotherhood of Saint Nicholas, as appears from the following legacy of one Richard Cram, sometime of thiscity, who, by his will dated in 1490, gave to the Fraternity of St. Nicholas kept by the Parish Clerks of Canterbury in the House of the Friar-Preachers of Canterbury, 6s. 8d.*

Also John Whytlok, of St. Alphage, gave by his will in 1503, "to the brodered of Seynt Nicholas holden in the Blake Frerys, yn Canterbury, the p'ich clarkys to bere him to church, viz. St. Alphage, and that he be set yn their bed [e] roll, 10s."5

When the Reformation was set on foot in England, the Prior of the Black-friars of Canterbury stood up firmly against Archbishop Cranmer, and opposed him in his own city. In 1535, Cranmer preached two sermons, in his cathedral, against the authority of the Pope, and his "so called divine laws, and sacred canons," and in favour of the royal supremacy. Thereupon the Prior publicly maintained the cause of the Pope and the infallibility of the Church; for which he was cited to appear before the Archbishop. Cramner wrote to the king, Aug. 26th, 1536, detailing the matter in his own manner, and complaining of the Prior:

66 At my first exa'i'ation of hy', which was bifore Christmas, he said yt he p'ched not agaynst me, nor yt I had p'ched any thynge amis, but now he sayth yt I p'ched amisse in veray many thyngs, & yt he purposely p'ched agaynst me. And this he reporteth openly, by which words I am m'velously sclawndered in thies parties. And for this cause, I besech yo' grace yt I may not haue the iugement of ye cause, for so moch as he taketh me for a partie, but yt yor

1 Records of the English College at Rome: Collectanea Topographica, vol.

v. p. 62.

Hasted.

Nicolas, Test. Vet., vol. ii. p. 661. Battely's Somner. 5 Hasted.

grace wol com'ytt ye hearynge herof vnto my lorde pryvay Seale, or ells to associate vnto me some other p'son at yo' gracs pleasure, yt we may heare ye cause ioyntly togither. If this man, who hath so highly offended yor grace, & p'ched agaynst me openly, beinge Ordinary & Metropolitane of this p'vince, and yt in such matters as co'cerne ye autoritie, ye myslyvynge, & ye lawes of ye busshope of Rome, & yt also win myn own church: if he, I say, be not loked opon, I leave vnto yor gracs prudence to expende what example this may be vnto other, wt like colour to mayntene ye Busshope of Rome his autoritie, & also of what estimation I shalbe reputed hereaft', & what credence shalbe gyven vnto my p'chynge, what so eu' I shal say hereaft'."1

It is unfortunate that the name of this Prior is not given, so that his fate cannot be traced with certainty; it is probable that he followed the example of most of his religious brethren in England, and saved his life by flying into another country.

The suppression of the houses of the Mendicant Orders in England and Wales was carried out mainly by F. Richard Ingworth, suffragan-bishop of Dover. On his tour of destruction, in 1538, he thus wrote to his patron, Lord Cromwell :-

"My synguler goode lorde, In my vmble man', pleseyth youe to vnderstonde that I haue receyueyd the howse of whyte fryers in Aylysforde in to the kyngs hands, and the xiij day of dece'ber I cam to ca't'bury wher yt I fynde iij howseys, more in dett than all yt they have ys abull to pay, & specyally ye austen fryers. .... the blacke and gray be abull wt ther inpleme'ts to pay ther detts and for ow costs, and lytyll more. & so this sonday I woll make

an ende in ca't'bury, and on mu'day to sandwyche..

Hence, it seems, the Convent of Black Friars here was dissolved on Saturday, Dec. 14th, 1538.

The lands of this Priory were enumerated amongst the possessions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which, in 1536, came to the crown by exchange; in the earliest years of Elizabeth as amongst the lands and possessions of Thomas Cheney, Lord-warden of the Cinque Ports. This seigniority

1 Cotton MSS., Cleopatra E. VI. fol. 232.

2 Miscellaneous Letters, temp. Hen. VIII, series 2 vol. viii., p. 114.

3 Ministers' Accounts, infra.

extended, of course, only to the services of certain small rents and feudal rights. Immediately after the suppression of the house, the house and lands were let to tenants. The site of the Priory, with the churchyard, gardens, orchards, etc., was let to John Batehurst, for 40s. a-year; a garden to James Thomson, for 2s.; and another garden to Thomas Lawrence, for 2s. 8d. The Friars had already demised a garden to Robert Hunt for 20s. a-year; and a chamber near the river, late in the tenure of Friar Richard Mede, a fuel house near the door of the chamber, and a chamber or cell in the dormitory, to Robert Collens, LL. Bac., for 13s. 4d. a-year; and both leases were continued. So the total rent to the crown was 78s.1 Hunt's garden was demised, Feb. 6th, 1543-4, to Richard Burchard, for 21 years, at 13s. 4d., increased in 1549 by 20d. for a house built in the garden wall; making the total yearly rent 73s.2 Batehurst got a similar lease, Nov. 12th, 1547, for what he, and Thomson, and Lawrence held, at the old rents. The whole, including lands and buildings, was rated Jan. 26th, 1556-7, for Sir Edward Waldegrave, and May 15th following, for John Anthony, at 34 years' purchase, or £132 12s.4 The sale was made to this Anthony, alias Johnson, along with other church property, but these lands were subsequently withdrawn from the bargain, and Nov. 17th, he was allowed his full purchase money for them. In the mean time, they had been granted, July 3rd, to Thomas Wiseman and John Smith, gent. (his trustee) and the heirs and assigns of Wiseman, to be held as of the manor of East Greenwich, in socage and by fealty only. But before the following Michaelmas, they were in the crown again, and were rated, Oct. 27th, 1559, for William Hovenden of Canterbury, at 30 years' purchase, or £109 10s., and about April following for John Harrington. The grant was made, July 5th, 1560, to John Harrington and George Bur

1 Ministers' Accounts, 30-31 Hen. VIII, no. 105.

2 Ibid., 2-3 Edw. VI, no. 24.

3 Enrolment of Leases: Miscellaneous Books of Court of Augmentations, vol. 218. fol. 161.

Particulars for Grants, 3-4 Philip & Mary; Waldegrave grantee, sect. 2. 5 Harl. MSS., cod. 607, fol. 118 in ched.

6 Rot. Pat., 3, 4 Phil. and Mary, p. 3, m. 30.

7 Particulars for Grants, 1 Eliz.; Herrington grantee.