RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



he was exceeding fat, and got smothered in the 

 encounter) a few months later put a check on 

 the work and on the organizing of the college ; 

 but his successor, Richard, duke of York, after 

 some years, took the matter up and obtained in 

 1432 a yearly pension of lOOJ. towards com- 

 pleting the college.^ In 1439 the college was 

 granted powers to enclose 20 acres within the 

 forest of Rockingham.^ 



Duke Richard fell in battle at Wakefield on 

 31 December, 1460, and was at first interred at 

 Pontefract. Soon after his accession the attention 

 of Edward IV. was directed to the still incom- 

 plete Yorkist foundation at Fotheringhay. In 

 the first year of his reign he granted the college 

 a new charter and refounded it, bestowing on it 

 100 acres of land, with divers liberties and 

 privileges.' 



In March, 146 1-2, the king granted to Thomas 

 Buxhale, the master, and the fellows of the king's 

 college of Fotheringhay, a tun of red wine of 

 Gascony yearly, in the port of London, at Christ- 

 mastide, for the celebration of their daily masses, 

 for ministering the holy sacrament at any time, 

 and for their sustenance ; at the same time he 

 gave them 4 acres of land, with a limekiln, and a 

 house at Woodnewton.* 



In August of the same year there was granted 

 to this same king's college the more substantial 

 endowment of the alien priory and manor of 

 Beckford, with its appurtenances in Gloucester- 

 shire and Lincolnshire ; the lands of Ashton-on- 

 Carraunt, Gloucester, sometime parcel of the 

 alien priory of Baylbek ' ; and the alien manors of 

 Brixton and Charlton, Wiltshire, and Wilsford, 

 Lincolnshire, with all appurtenances.^ 



In March, 1465, Edward granted to Thomas 

 Buxhale (who is described as one of the king's 

 chaplains as well as master of the college), and 

 the fellows, the whole of the possessions, spiritual 

 and temporal, of the alien priory of Charlton.^ A 

 year later the college received from Simon Nor- 

 wyche the handsome endowment of 85 acres in 

 the forest of Rockingham, for the alienation of 

 which in mortmain the donor paid 10 marks.' 



On 24 November, 1480, Edward IV. granted 

 to William Field, the master, and the fellows of 

 the college, quittance of all tenths, fifteenths, or 

 other contributions or subsidies granted by the 

 clergy of the realm of either province, or by the 

 commons of the realm, or of any tallage on the 

 king's demesne lands, or tenth, or other quota 

 imposed by the pope.' 



John Russell was the last master; in 1534, in 



1 Close, II Hen. VI. m. i. 

 ^ Pat. 18 Hen. VI. pt. 3, m. 9. 

 ' Chart. I Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 7. 

 * Pat. 2 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 9. 



6 Pat. 2 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 17. 

 « Ibid. 5 Edw. IV. pt. I, m. 17. 



7 Ibid. 6 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 14. 



" Ibid. 20 Edw. IV. pt. 2, m. 21. 



conjunction with Thomas Birde, the precentor, and 

 the rest of the fellows, he made formal submission 

 to Henry VIII. as the head of the Church. His 

 name also occurs in the Valor of the following 

 year, when the considerable possessions of the 

 college in the counties of Gloucester, Hunts, 

 Lincoln, Middlesex, Northants, Rutland, Suffolk, 

 Wilts, and Worcester, realized an annual value 

 of ^^419 II J. I of 1^.9 



A rubricated copy of the statutes exists among 

 the Augmentation Office records ; from the 

 entries at the end of the volume this was clearly 

 the official copy of the statutes drawn up in the 

 time of Henry V.^" The following is an abridge- 

 ment or summary of their contents rendered in 

 English : — 



1. The first statute names Edward as the 

 founder, and limits the number to a master, a 

 precentor, eleven other chaplains, eight clerks, 

 and thirteen choristers. 



2. Every chaplain on admission to take an 

 oath, in the presence of the master and precentor, 

 of canonical obedience to the master, and to the 

 lawful mandates of the precentor ; to keep all 

 the statutes and ordinances in their plain, literal, 

 and grammatical sense ; to show all loyalty to 

 the college and its founders ; to abstain from every 

 form of detraction, strife, or quarrel ; and if 

 expelled through neglect of duty or other cause, 

 not to molest or disturb anyone, etc. 



3. Chaplains, clerks, and choristers to be 

 chosen by the majority of the fellows when there 

 is a vacancy. In the case of the boys, a candidate 

 must not be more than nine if he only knows 

 plain song, but if fully taught he must not be above 

 twelve. A suitable chaplain to be chosen from 

 the fellows by the precentor and three seniors, 

 called the chantry chaplain, to instruct the 

 choristers in grammar, receiving 12 marks as . 

 salary. Another fellow to be chosen in like 

 manner to instruct in singing at a salary of 40;. 



4. The master to have a salary of 20 marks, 

 the precentor ;{^ ID, each chaplain fellow 12 marks, 

 each deacon clerk 10 marks, each subdeacon 

 clerk 8 marks, and each chorister 4 marks. 



5. The income to be spent, after payment of 

 salaries, on the necessary maintenance, repair, and 

 building of the college, and the balance to be 

 kept in the common treasury, provided that a 

 portion be distributed every year to Christ's poor, 

 according to the wish and decision of the 

 founder. 



6. The master to be a man of good and honest 

 conversation, well educated, and of approved 

 manners and condition of life, discreet in spiritual 

 and temporal matters, prudent and circumspect. 

 Within twenty days of a vacancy occurring the 

 fellows are to be summoned by the precentor to 

 the chapter house, no licence being sought from 

 founders or patrons, and after certain formalities 



» ra/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 287. 

 10 Aug. Off. Misc. Books. No. 147. 



171 



