A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



The Lincoln registers supply the names of the 

 successive deans of Irthlingborough ; the other 

 canons and clerks do not appear to have received 

 episcopal institution. 



In a Peterborough register the presentation by 

 the abbey of Thomas Othemoor to an Irthling- 

 borough canonry is entered, under date 8 June, 

 1 410, hac vice spectante.'^ In the same volume 

 the receipt of the pension of 13$. \d. from Dean 

 Martefield is recorded in February, 1411;' 

 whilst under the year 141 6 a full account is 

 entered of the ordination of the college of 

 St. Peter, Irthlingborough, with the statutes per- 

 taining to the election of the dean, canons, and 

 clerks.^ 



On 29 August, 1534, William Stokes, dean, 

 Henry Bird, and four other canons, signified 

 under their common seal submission to the king's 

 supremacy.* 



The Valor of 1535 testifies that the college 

 was in receipt of rents from Irthlingborough, 

 Wellingborough, Finedon, and Northampton, to 

 the extent of ^17 i6j. lo\d., and £^6 from the 

 rectory of St. Peter's, Irthlingborough. In addi- 

 tion to this it received rents from the parish 

 of St. Martin's-juxta-Ludgate, London, of £1"]., 

 giving a total income of £']0 lbs. lO^d. Its 

 outgoings included a pension to the bishop of 

 Lincoln of ly. j^d. ; to the archdeacon of 

 Northampton of 3^. 4^/., and to the abbot of 

 Peterborough of 33J. 4<f., and los. "jd. for pro- 

 curation and synodals to the archdeacon. 

 Amongst London outgoings was the sum of 51. 

 to the churchwardens of St. Martin's. The 

 salary of William Stokes, the dean, was 

 ^^13 bs. 8<f., whilst Giles Cowper, Robert More, 

 Henry Birch, John Halesworth, and William 

 Francis, chaplains and fellows, each received 

 ;^8. Henry Birch also received an additional 

 salary of 13J. 4^. for celebrating the divine 

 offices and administering the sacraments to the 

 parishioners. Twenty-five shillings were annually 

 distributed in pence to the poor of Irthlingborough 

 on the obit or anniversary of Sir Thomas Pyel, 

 in accordance with the 23rd chapter of the 

 college statutes. Two clerks of the college (the 

 number had been reduced from the original four) 

 each received £^ 35. j^d. The cost of the wax 

 and oil for use in the church the previous year 

 was los.; and %s. iid. had been spent at the 

 obit of Sir Thomas Cheney. There was a 

 balance in hand of 31. o^d.^ 



The certificate of Henry VIII. states that the 

 college of St. Peter's was founded to find a dean 

 or master and five canons, and ' to kepe hospi- 

 talite ' ; that the college church was the parish 

 church of Irthlingborough, and served by one 

 of the canons ; that its annual value was 



1 Add. MS. 25,288, f. 173. 



2 Ibid. f. 19*. 3 Ibid. fF. 65^72. 

 * Rymer, Fcedera, xiv. 522. 



6 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iv. 309, 310. 



;^73 4i. \od. ; that the king's tenths were 

 fji 95. 3^(/. ; rents 6ij. \d. ; the master's stipend 

 ^^13 6j. 8(/. ; the five canons ^i^b 13J. \d. ; the 

 organ player £\ ; and steward's fees 5 31. i^d., 

 leaving a balance of 56$. \o\d. The value 

 of the goods and chattels was estimated at 

 lb 131. \dfi 



On the suppression of the college, William 

 Alcoke and the other canons were granted yearly 

 pensions of ;^6, Alcoke 's services being also re- 

 tained as vicar. This pension Alcoke and three 

 others were still drawing in 1553.^ 



Deans of Irthlingborough 8 



Richard Frysseby, died 1400' 



Richard Martefield of Frisby, occurs 1410^" 



Thomas More, instituted 141 5 



John Blaunchierd 



Richard Lynne, instituted 1453 



Thomas Honyborn 



John Townesende, instituted 1483 



Roger Tockett, LL.B. instituted 1490 



William Rawlyns, instituted 1 49 1 



John Wyseberde, instituted 1494 



Giles Cowper, instituted 1 5 09 



William Taillard, LL.D., instituted 15 18 



Richard Stocks, S.T.B., instituted 15 19 



William Lane, LL.B. instituted 1526 



William Stokes, instituted 1528 



William Alcoke, instituted 1537 



Pointed oval seal of the fifteenth century 

 taken from cast at the British Museum repre- 

 sents a saint seated with defaced emblems in a 

 canopied niche. An ivy leaf in base. 



Legend defaced : sic . . . colles . . y^ 



45. THE COLLEGE OF ALL SAINTS, 

 NORTHAMPTON 



The fifteenth-century college of All Saints 

 is an interesting instance of a union of the 

 priests of an important town church for the 

 better and more economical church work of the 

 parish. The college held property in common, 

 the members lived and boarded together, and 

 owed obedience to their warden ; but they had 

 no cloister nor chapter-house like other similar 

 foundations on a larger scale. 



The object of the foundation of this union of 

 priests is clearly specified in the licence for its 



^ Coll. and Chant. Cert, xxxvi. 3. 



7 Browne Willis, Mitred Abbies, ii. 159. 



8 These names, save the second, arc taken from the 

 Lincoln registers, cited by Bridges, Hist, of Northants, 

 ii. 237. 



8 The date of the death of the first dean is given 

 on 'an antique marble' within the chancel of the 

 church. Ibid. 238. 



10 Add. MS. 25,288, f. i()b. 



11 B. M. Seals, Ixix. 95. 



180 



