A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of lead attached to the well, and a lead pipe to 

 convey the water to the buttery. In the master's 

 chapel there were three chests with locks, one of 

 which had painted on the side 'a man and woman 

 pulling apples of a tree ' ; the taker of an inven- 

 tory for confiscation purposes was apparently shy 

 of referring to the first sin of Adam and Eve. In 

 another of the chests that was banded with iron 

 were some organ pipes. Two clocks were men- 

 tioned, one with ' a lyttell chyme.' Mention is 

 also made of a large number of hangings for the 

 quire of divers colours, some of which were of 

 silk embroidered in gold ; they were all ringed 

 for speedy use ; of two pieces of white silk with 

 the founder's arms ; of three lectern cloths of 

 flowered changeable silk ; of 63 albes and the like 

 number of amices ; of ' the vele of lynyn stayned, 

 wliich hunge before the quire in lent' ; of ' two 

 red clokes of red sarcenet for lent ' ; two pairs of 

 organs and their cases, with two chairs belonging 

 to them ; the ' latten lecterne with the egle ; and 

 the brase that covereth the founder's grave.' 



Almost immediately after the completion of this 

 second edition of the Fotheringhay inventories, the 

 goods of the college were seized by the commis- 

 sioners of Edward VI., and the church, which had 

 sustained one of the most stately rounds of continu- 

 ous services of a melodious and magnificent charac- 

 ter throughout the whole of England, was stripped 

 of all the beautiful accessories of worship. 



At the Dissolution all the fellows and servants 

 of the college received their full salary for one 

 quarter. Of the fellows, Richard Ward, chaunter, 

 received 361. 8d. ; Thomas Topclyf, overseer of 

 the choristers, 225. 6d. ; John Gylbert, sacrist, 

 2 6 J. 8d. ; John Stany borne, steward, 235. 4.^. ; 

 Thomas Styrope, John Flynt, Thomas Thorp, 

 Robert Stores, Robert Webster, Robert Hemsley, 

 and John Horton the curate, each received 20s. ; 

 whilst John Rysham received is. 3;/. more 

 because he kept the clock key. Of the seven 

 clerks, Richard Ball received 2 5 J. ; and the rest, 

 including John Robynson, ' organ-pleyar,' 155. 

 Twelve of the thirteen choristers received 31. ^.d., 

 but Richard Wattell only 2od. The thirteen 

 house servants received sums varying from 8j. ^.d. 

 to the cook, down to 3s. to the under-brewer ; 

 the payments to seventeen husbandry servants 

 varied from loj. to ^d. 



The pension list was drawn out on 6 March, 

 1548. Richard Ward was assigned ^8, Thomas 

 Topclyf and John Gilbert £4. 6s. 8d., John Stan- 

 gare jf 4 31. 4^., and the rest of the fellows £4.. 

 Master Russell must have died before this date. 

 No pensions were assigned to the clerks or 

 choristers, though they were on the foundation ; 

 but small sums were bestowed on them when 

 they were discharged to the total of £6 1 6s. 8d., 

 the largest share of which, 26s. 8d.y went to the 

 organist. 



The certificate as to the value of the college 

 in 1547 gives ;^536 19/. j^d. as its income, and 

 ^471 lis. 6\d. as its expenditure. 



The actual surrender of the college and its 

 liberties to the crown took place in 1539, but 

 it was allowed, as we have seen, to continue 

 until the second year of Henry VIII. 's successor. 



The commissioners of 2 Edward VI. declared 

 the clear annual value of this college to be 

 £SZS 6^- 2^. 'Memorandum that for as muche 

 as my Lorde Admeralle Smith had entryd in the 

 seyd College and Surveyed the same before we 

 came downe to survey the same We are not 

 able to make any perfecte Certificate of the state 

 of the same howse.' ^ 



The college was granted by Edward VI. to 

 Dudley, duke of Northumberland, who imme- 

 diately pulled down the quire of the great church 

 (the nave was parochial) and unroofed the college 

 buildings for the value of the lead. On the 

 duke's execution, the site of the college reverted 

 to the crown and was sold shortly before Queen 

 Mary's death, in July, 1558, to James Cruys. 

 From an estimate made previous to the sale, it 

 appears that the site of the college with its two 

 courts, woodyard, orchards, and garden occupied 

 nearly 3 acres. At that time there was in the 

 eighty-eight windows or lights of the cloister a 

 good deal of painted glass, but much broken and 

 considered of no value when pulled down. The 

 library must have been a fine room ; it had seven 

 windows. In the rooms and chambers of the 

 cloister were eighteen doorways of freestone, valued 

 at 35. 4.d. a door. 3 The cloister windows had 

 been glazed, temp. Edward IV., when William 

 Fielde was master, with pictures of the miracles 

 of the Old Testament, with verses below them 

 from the Eclogues of Theodulus.* When 

 Queen Elizabeth first visited Fotheringhay, she 

 professed herself dismayed and shocked at the 

 desecrated and despoiled tombs of the royal dukes 

 of York, Edward and Richard, and of Cicely 

 Nevil, Richard's wife. The queen ordered the 

 disinterment of the bodies from amid the ruins of 

 the quire, and their re-burial at the east end of the 

 parish church, with monuments over them, which 

 Camden rightly described as ' very mean for such 

 great princes, descended from kings, and from 

 whom the kings of England are descended.' * 



Masters of Fotheringhay' 



John Buckland 

 John Maston, 1423 

 Thomas Peckam, 1434 

 Richard Vautort, 1437 

 Thomas Buxhall, 1461 

 William Feild, about 1480 

 Robert Bernard, about 1500 

 John Russell, 1521 



1 Chan. Cert. xxxv. 48. 



2 Harl. MS. 608, fF. 6ib, 62. 

 ^ Leland, Itin. i. 5-7. 



* Camden, Britannia (Gibson), i. 407. 

 ^ The Episcopal Registers at Lincoln supply the 

 following list of masters. 



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