A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Scotch rebels having inhumanly cut off his hand 

 whilst engaged in the king's service.^ In 1 31 6 

 Nicholas Russell, who had also been maimed 

 while in the king's sen'ice in Scotland, was sent 

 to the hospital to receive maintenance for life,' 

 and in December of the same year Ralph de 

 Wakefield, another broken-down soldier, was sent, 

 but the community apparently resisted further im- 

 position, and the grant of life-maintenance in this 

 case was changed on 15 February to the prior 

 and convent of Breamore.' The master and 

 brethren received the royal commands on 4 March, 

 1322—3, to admit Thomas de la Garderobe, a 

 maimed servant of the king, in the place of 

 ' Russellus del Aumoneri,' deceased.* Edward III., 

 following the example of his predecessor, sent 

 Lawrence le Charetter, in October, 1327, to the 

 hospital of St. John, Brackley, to receive the same 

 allowance that John Russell, deceased, had therein 

 by the late king's order.' 



The patronage of the hospital, which had passed 

 into the hands of the earl of Winchester by the 

 marriage of the Countess Margaret, grand- 

 daughter of the founder, came into the hands of 

 Sir Alan la Zouch in 1296, on the death of Ellen 

 his wife, daughter and co-heiress of Roger de 

 Quincy, earl of Winchester.' In 1 5 14 the es- 

 cheator beyond Trent was directed to deliver to 

 Robert de Holand and Maud his wife, youngest 

 daughter and co-heiress of Alan la Zouch, the 

 advowson, inter alia, of the hospital of St. John, 

 Brackley, which was then declared to be of the 

 yearly value of 110s.'' Andrew of Brackley was 

 instituted in January, 1331-2, with the consent 

 of the patron, Maud, widow of Sir Robert de 

 Holand.8 John Dome was collated to the master- 

 ship by the bishop of Lincoln, on 12 December, 

 1384 ;' he resigned in 1388, and was followed 

 by John de Brokehampton.^" This last was vicar 

 of St. Michael's, Northampton, from 1400, and 

 in 141 7 he was appointed master of the hospital 

 of St. Leonard, Brackley. For these pluralities 

 the papal court was responsible ; as warden of the 

 hospital of SS. James and John, Brackley, he 

 obtained a dispensation in 1399 to hold another 

 benefice with cure or a dignity, his income not 

 exceeding loomarks.^^ In 141 1 PopeJohnXXII. 

 confirmed to him the double appointment of war- 

 den of Brackley Hospital and rector of Sheepy.^' 

 In the same year a papal mandate was issued to 



1 Close, 8Edw. II. m. 35d. 



2 Ibid. 9 Edw. II. m. i id. 



3 Ibid. 10 Edw. II. m. lyd. 

 ^ Ibid. 16 Edw. II. m. 14. 



5 Ibid. I Edw. III. pt. 2, m. II. 



^ In 1274, this lady, as patron, presented John de 

 Chenoure to the diocesan, to be instituted as master of 

 tlie hospital. Line. Epis. Reg. Roll of Gravesend. 



^ Close, 8 Edw. II. m. 32. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst, of Burghersh, f. 194. 



9 Ibid. Inst, of Bokyngham, ii. f 129. 



10 Ibid. " Cal. of Pupal L. V. 1 86. 



13 Ibid. vi. 271. 



the archdeacon of Taunton, directing him, accord- 

 ing to the petition of the warden and brethren of 

 the poor hospital of SS. James and John, Brack- 

 ley, to inquire into the statutes of the said hospital, 

 which were reported to be obscure, and never 

 yet confirmed by papal or ordinary authorities, 

 and to interpret, amend, and approve the same.'* 

 It is not, perhaps, greatly surprising, to find that 

 on the death of John de Brokehampton in 1423 

 it was reported that the revenues of the house 

 had been grossly misused, and that it was with- 

 out inmates. The master was bound by the 

 constitution of the house to be in holy orders, but 

 there was no obligation as to residence, and 

 though he was sometimes termed the prior, there 

 was no kind of religious rule to be observed by 

 him or the secular chaplains.^* 



An inquisition was held on 29 July of that 

 year, 1423, as to the patronage of the hospital 

 of SS. James and John at Brackley. The king 

 had granted the custody of the hospital to his 

 clerk Thomas Morton, the jury declared that 

 the hospital was vacant and had been so since 

 the death of John de Brokehampton on 3 May 

 of that same year, and that the presentation was 

 for that time in the hands of the king on account 

 of the minority of William, Lord Lovell,i^ j^^j 

 because the fellows to whom pertained the right 

 of election had ceased to exist. They stated that 

 at the last vacancy John of Brokehampton was 

 canonically elected by his brethren of the hospital, 

 the leave of the patron having previously been 

 sought and obtained ; that the rules of the 

 hospital provided for such a canonical election, 

 but that the office of master could not now be an 

 elective one, as no fellows or brethren of the 

 hospital remained, and, therefore, for the present 

 the patron held the presentation to the hospital ; 

 that the master presented should be admitted and 

 instituted by the ordinary, to whom pertained the 

 discussion and confirmation of any election so far 

 as admission and canonical institution were con- 

 cerned. They further stated that there was not 

 at that time within the hospital a single fellow 

 or brother, though the statutes provided for both 

 brothers and paupers, the brothers acting as 

 secular chaplains ; that there was no approved 

 rule or any regularity of living within the 

 hospital ; that there were no insignia of religion 1* 



18 Ibid. 294. 



1* Line. Epis. Reg. Fleming, cited by Baker, Hisf. of 

 Northants. i. 581. 



1^ John of Brokehampton was instituted on the 

 presentation of Sir John Lovell in 1388. In 1420 

 Maud, widow of John, Lord Lovell, granted her 

 manors of Bagworth and Thornton, in Lincolnshire, 

 to trustees for the purpose of transforming the hospital 

 within the next ten years into a house of Dominican 

 friars, to consist of thirteen of that order, ten of whom 

 should be chaplains and one of them prior. Dugdale, 

 Moti. vi. 617. Lady Lovell died, however, in 1423, 

 and her wishes were never carried out. 



IS ' Insignia religionis.' 



152 



