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The Grey Friars, Richmond, Yorkshire.

Item. There be 11 cotags adjoining the Freres Wall, besyds Punfald Grene, now in decay for lak of repa'con, nihil.

The following account of this house is taken from the Harl. MSS. 604, which, though it does not specify the lands and tenements so particularly as the preceding one, yet gives a full valuation of their goods and chattels.

The clere valew of the possessions over and above the annuall reprises, xxxis. viiid.

The number of the priors and brethren with the pencions, nothing, xv. The clere money remanynge of the yearly possessions, xxis. viiid.

The stock, store, and domesticall stuff sold with detts received, cs.

Rewards with porcions paid unto the prior, ciiis. iiiid.

The remanes of the price of goods and catells sold, nothing, the rewards exceeding the receipts (gr. exced. re.)

Lead and bells remanyng. Lead xii. fother. Bells iii. Woods and underwoods nothing. Playt and jewells xxi ounz. Detts owyng unto the howse nothing. Detts owyng by the howse nothing.

The Grey Friars for vehemently opposing Hen. VIII. in his divorce from Catharine of Arragon, and for obstinately refusing to acknowledge him as head of the Church, or rather for refusing to deny the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Pope in England, had no pensions allowed them during life, as the Monks and Canons had, but were treated with great severity by the King.

Burnet, in his History of the Reformation, says, "All the difficulty that I find made against owning the King's supremacy, was at Richmond, by the Franciscan Friars, where the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry, and Thomas Bedyll, Archdeacon of Cornwall, the visitors, tendered some conclusions to them, among which this was one, That the Pope of Rome has no greater jurisdiction in this kingdom of England by the law of God, than any other foreign Bishop; and they desired that the Friars would refer the matter to the four seniors of the house, and acquiesce in what they should do. To this the Friars said, that it concerned their conscience, and therefore they would not submit it to a small part of their house; and they

4 Book III. p. 182.

[Sept.

added, that they had sworn to follow the rule of St. Francis, and in that they would live and die, and cited a chapter of their Rule, that their Order should have a Cardinal for their protector, by whose directions they might be governed in their obedience to the Holy See".

Many of the Franciscans even suffered death for the same cause; and others, coupled together with chains, were sent to distant gaols, to end their days in misery.

The present tower, built in the richest style of late Gothic architecture, with double buttresses at the angles, supporting crocketed pinnacles, was erected not long before the dissolution, and is said not to have been finished. From this specimen, one may form a very good idea what the rest has been.

There are no other remains of the Friary still visible, except this Tower, the West windows of the South aile, a small part of the North wall, and a few scattered foundations, appearing in droughty weather above the surface, East of it, which probably were the scite of the old church. In conformity to the general orders of Henry VIII. to immediately destroy the religious houses, its situation so near the town would soon accelerate its demolition, as the stones with which it was built could so easily be carried away for the erection of modern habitations.

The founder died in 1270. His bones were buried in the choir at Coverham, but his heart, enclosed in a leaden urn, was placed by his orders in the choir of this church, under an arched recess in the wall. There were several of the Scropes, the Plesseys, and the Frankes buried here.

Leland tells us, "that at the bakke of the Frenchgate is the Grey Freres, a little withowte the waulles. Their house, medow, orchard, and a little wood is waulled yn. Men go from the market place to hit by a postern gate."

These houses were very seldom endowed with rents and revenues. These Friars, by profession mendicants, were not allowed to have any property which could be called their own, but to subsist for the most part entirely upon daily and accidental charity. Though

5 See Appendix, No. XXXIV. for a letter from the Bishop and Bedyll to Lord Cromwell.

the

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The Grey Friars, Richmond, Yorkshire.

the pomp of landed property was thus renounced by them, they never closed their hands when a large legacy was left them, either through pretence of supplying the necessities of the sick, or of clothing their brethren. As this Order was in great esteem in England, the Friars were very much trusted, and generally were employed in the making of wills and testaments. Thus seasonable opportunities among the rich were not wanting to them to prompt the dying party to acts of charity; and as their powers of persuasion at this tremendous hour were very great, they never failed to raise vast sums of money, which enabled many of this Order to erect at great cost magnificent and stately buildings and noble churches, in which several Queens and many other great personages chose to be buried, under a promise that prayers should be said daily for their souls. According to Chaucer,

"Full swetely herde he confession, And plesant was his absolution." Thus having nothing, they possessed every thing.

Piers Plowman, in his Vision, a
work of the 14th century, also says:
"The Freeres followed folke that wer riche,
And folke that wer poor at litle price they set;
And no cors in their kirkyard nor kirke was
buried,

But quick he bequeath'd them ought, or
quit part of his debt."
That is, they never gave admittance to
a dead guest, without the payment of
a large sum by the executor. Happy
was he then who could indulge the
idea of being buried within their hal-
lowed walls, wrapped up in the habit
and cowl of St. Francis. This fune-
ral dress was looked upon as a suffi-
cient security against the assaults of
the Devil, and a certain passport to
the regions of eternal bliss, from a su-
perstitious idea of the respect that
would be paid to it at the last day.

According to the rules of the Order, there was no real estate belonging to this house, except the site of it, and the Friars' Closes, containing near eighteen acres, which the walls enclosed. Even these were given to the town in trust for their use, by reason of their incapacity to enjoy them as their own.

The seal which belonged to this house must have been made about the year 1270, when Robert Neville

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married Maria, the heiress of the founder, as, instead of Or, on a chief indented Azure, a lion passant of the first, the arms of Randal; a saltire, the shield of Neville, is placed twice upon it, one on each side of the figure of St. Francis in the desert. Round it is, . Comune Fratrum Minorum Richmund. It was seldom that houses of this description were so far finished by the founders as to be capable of being inhabited, and of acquiring a seal, but were generally left to be com pleted by their successors.

In the 32d of Edw. I. a Friar of this house stealing some goods, and flying from the monastery, the King ordered him to be imprisoned by his writ " De Apostata capienda," and directed that he should be delivered up to the convent, to be by them punished according to the rules of their Order, and further commanded, that the stolen goods should be restored. The writ is preserved in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. III. p. 10426.

tion", containing an account of the grants of King Edward V. and Richard III. there is the following entry: " A warrant to Geoffrey Franke, Receyvor of Middleham, to content the Freres of Richemunde, with twelve marks, six shillings and eight pence, for the saying of 1000 masses for King Edward IV. Given at York, the 27th of May, anno primo Ricardi iii.”

In a MS. in the Harleian collec

The curious tale with regard to two Friars of this house, Frere Theobald, then warden, and the felon sow of Rokeby, will be found in the Appendix, No. XXXV. It was first printed by Dr. Whitaker in his History of Craven, from a MS. in his possession, which mentions that it was written in the time of Henry VII.

At the dissolution, the lands and possessions belonging to the religious houses were in many cases not sold, but granted on leases for a term of years. As these leases were very beneficial, the lands and their appurtenances frequently retaining the same privileges and immunities which belonged to their former possessors, they were much sought after; and before the old leases were expired, the reversion of them was granted by the Crown

6 It is also given by Mr. Clarkson in his History of Richmond. 7 No. 433-1888.

to

204

Grey Friars, Richmond.-On Dilapidations.

to other persons upon the same terms, or sold in fee, on paying a certain quit rent. The Crown lessees having in general made very advantageous bargains, likewise disposed of the remainder of their term of years, which will account for the Abbey lands passing so frequently from one possessor to another, so as sometimes to cause a kind of contradiction in the descent of this property. Also, to increase the confusion, when a part of them was sold off, or granted upon lease, it was called the possessions of such a house, and so of the rest, all being styled by the same name. They likewise not unfrequently reverted to the Crown by forfeiture, or want of heirs.

The possessions of the Friars Minors did not long continue after the dissolution, in the Crown, for Henry VIII. 26th of May, in the 31st year of his reign (1539), granted to Ralph Gower of Richmond, all the site of the Freerage, with the garden lying near the outer gate, and another near the choir of the church, containing in the whole, by estimation, ... acres, one piece of waste lying on the East part of the house, and one parcel of land called the Orchard on the West, containing, by estimation, one acre, one close containing seven acres, one tenement in Bradgate (Briggate), with all the buildings near the wall of the house towards Pinfold Green, and all other buildings in Richmond, belonging to the said house, reserving to himself, however, all the large tree's and woods growing and standing thereupon; all which premises were to be held from the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel last past, for the term of twenty-eight years, ou his paying to the King and his successors thirty-one shillings and eight pence a year, at the Feasts of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and St. Michael, by equal portions.

In 1545, six years after the grant to Ralph Gower, these premises were again granted for a term of years to John Bannyster and William Metcalfe; and in 43 Eliz. to Robert Bannyster. In 1553 there remained in charge three pounds in corodies".

8 It may reasonably be supposed, that these premises were part of the possessions of John Gower, son of Ralph, who was attainted of high treason in 1569, and all his estates confiscated to the Crown.

[Sept.

Ralph Gower, on the 25th of March,' 1552, 5 Eliz, released and quit claimed to the Burgesses of Richmond an annual rent of three shillings, payable by them out of a house commonly called the Plum House, situated within the precincts of the house, late of the Freers Minors, which rent he had lately received from the gift and feofment of the said Burgesses.

The next account to be met with of the Freerage is, that it was granted in 15 Eliz. to Thomas Wray and Nicholas Metcalfe, and the heirs of the said Thomas, for the term of 2000 years, and by mean assignment from Sir Wm. Wray, came to Sir Cuthbert Pepper, who in the 3d of James, assigned over his lease to Sir Timothy Hutton, his executors and assigns, for all the term therein. This lease of the Freerage, after the death of Sir Timothy, was, Nov. 30, 1631, valued at 3501. and a "lead cisterne standing in a lone roome in the garners within the Fryerie at forty shillings," being part of his personals.

Soon after the death of Sir Timothy, his son Matthew sold, in 1633, the Friary and demesnes to a Mr. Robinson for 6007, the then rental 407.

The site of the tower and the premises within the walls now belong to John Robinson, esq. in whose family they have continued since 1713, purchased of one Goddard. This gentleman has made great improvements, by clearing the tower and grounds of many useless modern buildings, and making some ornamental plantations.

Mr. URBAN,

Sept. 2.

LTHOUGH I am fully sensible A of the difficulty of touching subjects of ancient practice, and of the hazard of barely suggesting any alteration in usages which the wisdom of ages has sanctioned, especially of an Ecclesiastical nature, yet where this is done without a design to offend, and in terms which may not render the discussion obnoxious, little apology seems necessary. Your well-known candour, and that of your numerous Ecclesiastical Readers, will judge fairly; and the publick, on whom I shall propose to remove the burden, will not, I trust, find much cause for censure. The Dilapidation of Parsonage Houses is fixed by the existing law to be the duty and charge of the Incumbents

1823.]

On Dilapidations of Parsonage Houses.

cumbents to repair; the cases are numerous, in which both the income of the cure, the extent of private fortune, and the uncertainty of life and tenure, offer insuperable difficulties: the Clergy are not, very generally, free from some incumbrances, when a living is presented to them their tenths and first fruits, and the charges of admission, are then to be provided for; it is not until a considerable time afterwards that they reap any pecuniary advantage from their new benefice-while some of the outgoings and incidental expences, such as removal, furniture, &c. are immediately incurred; the insurance of their life at a certain sum would at that time be a measure of prudence, but it is seldom, if ever adopted, from the want of immediate supplies. The time allowed for the payment of tenths and first fruits is enlarged according to the annual value of the living-but this is not always complied with, until the Incumbent has had recourse to the secular practices of raising money at interest. This incumbrance upon a private fortune often remains unliquidated for many years, and even beyond the period of life, when it is left to the legal representatives to discharge; so that unless an Incumbent live to enjoy his benefice many years, his fortune is probably much the worse for his preferment; which affords an additional reason for the insurance of his life. All these are grounds for the measure which I am venturing to propose, because with such incumbrances it is more than probable that the parsonage house and premises should remain unrepaired, except in a degree barely necessary to conifort. It is to be considered also, that the more liberal and learned may have been the education and researches of the individual, the less has his mind been devoted to accumulate the means of discharging such numerous obligations. The duties of his cure, also the preparation of his discourses, necessarily demand his utmost attention, so that the periods for payment arrive upon him, as it were, suddenly, and unprepared for; possibly the ill-health of his family, the increasing number of his children, and perhaps to these may be added his own shaken constitution, combine to render it utterly impossible for him to provide the means which are requisite to answer

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the demands-but should his life be attacked by any fatal disorder, he leaves behind him not only his unliquidated debts, but a distressed family to struggle with their burden!

Before the pungent regrets for his loss have sunk into silent grief, and while the tears of the widow and orphans are yet wet upon the sod which covers his remains, a new Incumbent, with honest joy at his presentation, arrives to take possession, and to proceed to the ceremonies of his induction the moment, though expected, is of keen importance to them, for it gives the signal for their departure; thus they are at once bereaved of many friends whom they had loved, of personal respect, of comfortable residence, and of support!--the house is then to be set in order for its new master-estimates are made for its repair-and the state of suffering already described is increased in its pungency by a legal demand for their amount! the total inability, from whatever cause it may arise, of the late Incumbent, is not considered in extenuation, and the demand is enforced! His errors, if such they were, are now charged upon the widow and his orphan children; and the consequences are too obvious.

The recent augmentations of poor livings, and curacies, have perhaps gone as far as might have been expected, but they could not meet all the exigencies of every case: the suggestion now offered is designed to relieve at least one of these burdens; and why should not that burden be removed from the Minister and from his surviving relatives, when it may be so divided and extended as to become too light for complaint?

The Incumbent is the Minister of the parish for the cure of souls-a dwelling is in most, though not in all instances, provided for his residence, that he may be near to his Church, and in the centre of his flock, that their spiritual wants may be readily supplied, and that they may have continual access to him on all occasions for their own benefit: he dwells there amongst them from a sense of propri ety, of duty, and of convenience, not always agreeably to his will; and although his own edification, and that of his family come under his care, yet it is for their advantage, and for their whole population, that he is called to and

planted

On Dilapidations of Parsonage Houses.

planted on that spot. It is alleged that they pay him tithes of what they possess, and fees for the several offices which he performs for them; but none of these when united are sufficient in many livings, and especially in those usually denominated "small livings," to support his family and repair the parsonage buildings-and too frequently the most fair and gentle request of some increase in their amount is treated with as much opposition as in those instances where it is improvidently demanded. It must indeed be confessed, that the demand by new Incumbents has too often been made in terms little calculated to inspire a conciliatory agreement.