RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



ton.' In 1330 William de Horkesle and Emma 

 his wife obtained a licence to grant a messuage 

 in Northampton which was held of the king by 

 a service of 2s. yearly towards the farm of the 

 town payable by the bailiffs to the master and 

 brethren of the hospital of St. John to find a 

 chaplain to celebrate daily in the church of the 

 said hospital for the souls of the faithful de- 

 parted.- A chantry for the souls of William 

 and Emma was formally ordained in the church 

 by the bishop of Lincoln in 1339.* In the 

 following year another chantry for the soul of 

 John de Duglington was ordained at an altar on 

 the west side of the lady-chapel ' next the 

 organs.' * Robert de Clendon, clerk, obtained 

 permission in 1337 to grant a messuage and 

 thirty-six acres of land in Piddington to the 

 brethren to provide two wax lights to burn 

 before the altar of the Blessed Virgin in their 

 church on festival days whilst divine service was 

 being celebrated, for the souls of him and his 

 ancestors." 



The church of the hospital, towards the re- 

 building of which in 1309 Bishop Dalderby 

 licensed the brethren to beg alms, as well as for 

 the maintenance of the poor flocking to the 

 hospital,^ seems to have been one of considerable 

 size for an institution of this kind, as the 

 diocesan in 13 10 issued a licence for the dedi- 

 cation of four altars therein.^ A burying ground, 

 a very important part of a large hospital, was 

 apportioned to the house in early days ; accord- 

 ing to one of the borough documents a vacant 

 piece of land was conveyed to the brothers of 

 St. John for enlarging their cemetery in 1286.^ 

 On two occasions Edward II. exercised the royal 

 prerogative of imposing pensioners as on a house 

 of the king's foundation or patronage. In 1314 

 Ela Druel was sent to the master and brethren 

 to receive the allowance of a brother in their 

 house,* and in 1325 they were enjoined to 

 admit into their hospital and provide necessary 

 food and clothing for William of the Hall, who 

 had long served the king and his father, and was 

 now wholly unable to work more.'" In the same 

 year the diocesan issued a mandate desiring the 

 master and brethren to receive William, son of 

 Walter Piddington, into their house as a brother.'' 



Various debts are recorded about this time. 



1 Pat. 27 Edw. I. m. 32. 



* Ibid. 4 Edw. III. pt. I, m. 42. 



8 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Burghersh, f. 374. 

 Mbid. f. 375. 



6 Pat. 1 1 Edw. III. pt. 2, m. 6. 



* Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of D.ilderby, f. 105. 

 The brethren obtained a licence to beg for alms 

 again in the year 1321. Ibid. Memo, of Burghersh, 



f- 39- 



7 Ibid. Memo, of Dalderby, f. 177. 



8 R(c. of Borough of 'Northampton, ii. 334. 

 8 Close, 7 Edw. II. m. led. 



1" Ibid. 18 Edw. II. m. 1 2d. 



11 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Burghersh, f. I47d. 



In July of the year 1325 John of Upton, 

 master of the hospital, in conjunction with 

 Thomas de Chellesfeld of London, and Richard of 

 Ofton, dyer of London, acknowledged a debt of 

 ;^ioo due to Adam de Salesbury of London, 

 and in the following August the master acknow- 

 ledged another debt of 25 marks due to a 

 merchant of Florence.'" In 1334 the brethren 

 appear as debtors to the amount of j^i6 ioj. to 

 the executors of the will of the late parson 

 of Kislingbury, the enrolment of the debt being 

 subsequently cancelled on payment.'^ 



Towards the close of the century the condi- 

 tion of the hospital gave rise to complaint, and 

 on I March, 1381-2, the bishop appointed a 

 commission for the administration of the goods 

 and temporalities of the house, having found at a 

 recent visitation that the inmates were neglecting 

 previous injunctions ; that they were voluptuous 

 both in food and clothing ; and were dissipating 

 the property of the hospital instead of providing 

 for the poor and needy.'* The master, John of 

 Grafton, obtained a licence in 1387 on payment of 

 afineof ;^I0 in the hanaper to acquire in mortmain 

 lands and tenements of the yearly value of ;^io 

 in aid of the maintenance of poor people living 

 upon alms of the hospital." On John's death, in 

 1389, the bishop appointed Nicholas Goldsmith 

 of Northampton to the custody of the hospital 

 during the vacancy." 



Injunctions were issued by Bishop Bokyngham 

 in 1345 for the regulation of the house, to the 

 effect that there was to be silence kept in the 

 church and dormitory and also in refectory when 

 there were no guests ; the dress should be uni- 

 form, of one colour, and with a black cross on it ; 

 the brethren were never to leave the hospital 

 save in the habit ; there was to be a weekly 

 chapter, when all sins and excesses should be 

 confessed and redressed without respect of 

 persons ; brethren sent out to beg should give a 

 full account of all money or contributions in 

 kind within three days of their return ; the con- 

 stitutions of Bishop Grossetete should be read three 

 times a year, and no novice was to be accepted 

 unless he excelled in reading and was otherwise 

 suitable." 



The means of the hospital lessened in the 

 fifteenth century, and in 1433 Bishop Gray dis- 

 pensed the brethren from the obligation of 

 finding a secular priest to celebrate, as their 

 funds were impoverished, and licensed one of the 

 brethren to officiate in his place.'* 



Early in the sixteenth century Anne Wake, 

 widow of William Wake of Hartwell, by her 



13 Close, 19 Edw. II. m. 3od. 33d. 



'3 Ibid. 8 Edw. III. m. 34. 



1* Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Bokyngham, f. 234. 



16 Pat. II Ric. II. pt. I, m. 19. 



16 Line. Epis. Reg. Memo, of Bokyngham, f. 360. 



17 Ibid. f. 420b. 



18 Ibid. Memo, of Gmy, f. nob. 



'57 



