RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



for the king's use.i A memorandum of Dr. 

 London, drawn up early in 1539, states that the 

 Grey Friars' church was covered with lead.' 



WARDENS 



Peter Hispanus,'' 1224-5 



John Wyndlowe,* surrendered 1538. 



21. THE AUSTIN FRIARS OF 

 NORTHAMPTON 



It is usually said that the Northampton house 

 of the Austin Friars or Friars Eremites was 

 founded by Sir John Longville, of Wolverton, in 

 1323; but this must have been a further 

 augmentation, for there are several references to 

 an Austin friary to the south of the town in 

 Northampton deeds between 1275 and 1290.^ 

 Divers of the Buckinghamshire family of 

 Longville were buried in the church ; Leland 

 adds — ' I heer of no men els of nobilite there 

 biried.'^ 



In April, 1330, licence was obtained for the 

 alienation in mortmain by George de Longville, 

 to the prior and Austin Friars of Northampton, 

 of a messuage and plot of land, 108 feet in 

 length by 44 feet in breadth, adjoining their 

 house, for the enlargement of their close.' 

 There was a further grant for extension of their 

 premises made to the friars by the same bene- 

 factor in 1337.^ 



Godfrey Grandfeld, born in this county and 

 a friar of the Northampton house, was a doctor 

 of divinity of Cambridge, and a philosopher and 

 divine of great repute. Going to Rome, he 

 became chaplain to the cardinal bishop of 

 Frascati. After a while he was himself conse- 

 crated bishop in partibus by Pope Benedict XI. 

 (1303), and sent into England. He acted for a 

 time as suffragan bishop of Lincoln, and left 

 behind him many sermons and lectures as 

 monuments of his learning. Dying about 1340, 

 he was buried in this monastery. 9 



William Whitfield in 1528 bequeathed 'a 

 payre of shetts to the sub-prior of the Austyns 

 in Northampton,' ' also yt ye cooke of the freers 

 Augustens shall have a fetheryng of a bedd.' 



The church of the Austin Friars had an image 

 of Our Lady of Grace of no small repute. 



* L. and P. Hen. Fill. xiii. pt. 2, 705. 

 ^ Ibid. xiv. pt. I, 3. 



' Thomas de Eccleston, De Adventu Minorum (Rolls 

 Ser.), ii. 9. 



* L. and P. Hen. Fill. xiii. pt. 2, 705. 



^ Northamplon Borough Records, ii. 523. Pat. 16 

 Edw. II. pt. I, m. 5. 



* Leiand's I tin. (Hearne ed.), i. 10. 

 1 Pat. 4 Edw. III. pt. I, m. 21. 



8 Ibid. II Edw. III. pt. 2, ra. 23, 24. 



* Stevens, Addition to the Monasticon, ii. 217; 

 Stubbs, Ball, etc. 



Margery Humphrey by will of 1 5 13 left 'to 

 Our Lady of Grace in ye Austen freers my best 

 gyrdel gilte.' Another Northampton lady in 

 1538 left the image her best ring ; and William 

 Whitfield by will of 1528 left all his goods to the 

 friars of Our Lady of Grace, in case his wife 

 predeceased him.'" 



This house was surrendered to Dr. London 

 on 28 October, 1538, for the king's use. The 

 deed was signed by John Goodwyn, prior ; 

 Stephen Barwycke, sub-prior, and seven other 

 friars, the last of whom (Robert Barrett) signs 

 himself an anchorite. John Wacklynge and 

 Thomas Williams were appointed attorneys to 

 see to the formal delivery. ^^ 



It is not necessarily to the discredit of Prior 

 Goodwyn that he incurred the hostility of Dr. 

 London. The prior and his brethren seem to 

 have done their utmost to save their small 

 property from the spoilers. The day after the 

 surrender London wrote to Cromwell saying 

 that he found the prior of the Augustines ' one 

 of the most unthrifty I have met with, yet have 

 I found few true.' He accused him of being a 

 great dicer and reveller, and said that he owned 

 to having made away with ;^ioo worth of 

 plate. He had put the prior and almost all 

 the brethren in ward to try to find out their 

 deceit.^^ 



A few days later (6 November) London 

 wrote again to his master from Godstow, and 

 referred to the Austin Friars of Northampton. 

 Forgetful of his previous statement as to ;^I00 

 of plate, he then stated that the prior had divided 

 ^^30 of plate among the brethren shortly before 

 his arrival. The prior had been put in prison 

 for it and 40^. of the money recovered.^' 



The building of a palace or royal lodge for 

 the king at Grafton Regis was in contemplation, 

 and a memorandum of London's, drawn up 

 early in 1539, stated that the Austin Friars' 

 church of Northampton was covered with lead, 

 ' and the roof meet for Grafton.' ^* 



This house was granted by the crown in 

 July, 1540, to Robert Dighton, of Stirton, 

 Lincolnshire. 1^ 



The fifteenth-century seal of this house 

 represents the Virgin in glory within a vesica. 

 The legend is defaced. ^^ 



10 Northampton Wills, A. 156, F. 28, D. 203. 



11 L. and P. Hen. VIII. xiii. pt. 2, 704. 

 1- Ibid. pt. 2, 719. 



13 Ibid. 767, and Cott. MS. Cleop. E. IV. 227. 

 There seems to have been something discreditable 

 about the appointment of this prior. In Cromwell's 

 accounts (which reveal so much peculation) for April, 

 1537, there is an entr)' of £^ received for the con- 

 firmation of the prior of the Austin Friars, 

 Northampton. L. and P. Hen. VIII. xiv. pt. 2, 

 782, p. 319. 



1* Ibid. xiv. pt. I, 3. 



15 Ibid. XV. 942 (99, 109). 



i« Cast at the B. M. Ixix. 89. 



147 



