RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



shared largely in the liberality of the conquerors ; 

 amongst other things the mysterious ' Black 

 Rood ' of Scotland, said to possess miraculous 

 powers, and the banners of the Scottish nobles 

 were offered at St. Cuthbert's shrine.^" 



The relations between Edward III and the 

 convent seem to have been peculiar. They were 

 perpetually going to law with each other about 

 the right of presentation to various prebends and 

 benefices,^^* yet the king made a good many con- 

 cessions to the monks,"* and, on the other hand, 

 seems to have had no hesitation in asking favours 

 from them. On many occasions he sent old or 

 disabled servants of his own to receive sustenance 

 in the priory ; ^'^ and his demands for loans, both 

 in money and kind, were frequent.^'' At last in 

 May, 1347, a demand for five sacks of wool 

 produced a remonstrance from the monks. ' The 

 Scots,' they wrote to the Privy Council, 



have plundered our manor of Beaurepaire. At By- 

 well, Merrington, and Ferryhill we and our tenants 

 have had great losses. Also the monks of our cell of 

 Coldingham have been obliged to leave Scotland, and 

 are staying with us to our great charge. Wherefore 

 we must for a time seek means to live, and there are 

 no merchants and friends here to aid us. If we let 

 the king have five sacks of wool we must have them 

 allowed in the diocese. Pray excuse us, in considera- 

 tion of our losses and of what has been at Durham 

 against the Scots for all England."* 



At the same time the prior wrote to the arch- 

 bishop of York, describing the spoliations of the 

 Scots and the beggary of the brethren from the 

 cells of Coldingham, Fame, and Holy Island, all 

 of whom had taken refuge at Durham and had 

 to be supported there. These cells had derived 

 their subsistence from three churches in Scotland 

 (Edenham, Ederham, and Ercildoune), which 

 were worth ;^300 a year. The prior asked the 

 archbishop to write to the pope about the appro- 

 priation of the church of Hemingbrough to the 

 convent, to make up in some part for their 

 losses."' Henry Lord Percy wrote direct to the 

 pope, urging this appropriation, as the convent 

 was on the verge of ruin.'^" 



To add to the universal distress early in 1349 

 there was a terrible outbreak of plague in the 

 northern province. In March the archbishop 



"' Surt. Hist. Dur. i, p. 1. 



'" Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. 2,m. 34; Close, 18 Edw. 

 Ill, pt. I, mm. 25, 21 d. ; Pat. 18 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, 

 mm. 35, 4812'. 40a'. 22 ; Pat. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. I, 

 mm. 28, 24 ; Pat. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 7. 



'" Close, 5 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 7 ; Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, 

 pt. 2, m. 25 ; Pat. II Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 25 ; 

 Close, 15 Edw. Ill, pt. 3, m. i. 



'"= Close, 4 Edw. Ill, mm. 36a'. 30 a'.; 12 Edw. Ill, 

 pt. I, m. 35 d. ; 14 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m.- 24 d. 



'" Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 13 ; Close, 12 Edw. 

 Ill, pt. 2, m. 22. 



"* Reg. Secund. Prioris et Conv. Dunelm. I 30a. 



'" Raine, Northern Registers (Rolls Ser.), 392. 



''" Ibid. 400. 



forwarded to the convent a letter from the pope, 

 allowing everyone to have his own confessor ; '^^ 

 and by the autumn the pestilence had swept 

 away so many of the clergy that there were not 

 enough priests left to administer the holy sacra- 

 ments, and the archbishop was authorized to 

 hold additional ordinations to supply the want.^'^ 

 An example of the depreciation in the value of 

 property consequent upon all these troubles is 

 afforded by the prior's manor of Paxton in Ber- 

 wick, one-third of which had been worth five 

 silver marks {^t, 6s. 8c/.) in time of peace, and 

 was now (in 1363) worth £2 only ; whilst the 

 fishing in the Tweed belonging to it had fallen 

 in value from twenty marks (^^13 6j. 8^.) 

 to ;^io."5 



In 1357 licence was granted for the appro- 

 priation by the convent of the church of Hem- 

 ingbrough,^''' and shortly afterwards the churches 

 of Blyborough, co. Lincoln,^^' and Appleby, co. 

 Leicester,'-^ were also appropriated to Durham. 

 In 1376 Bishop Hatfield gave to the monks a 

 messuage in Holy Island in return for a special 

 prayer daily at high mass, and a solemn mass 

 yearly after his death, in the church of Holy 

 Island.^-' He also bestowed on them an annual 

 pension of 6j. Sis'.'"* and in 1379 granted a licence 

 for the alienation in mortmain to them by John 

 of Bamburgh, clerk, of the manor of Rilley, and 

 of messuages and lands in Wolviston, Billing- 

 ham, Great Burdon, Aycliffe, Ferryhill, Monk 

 Hesleden, Edmondbyers, Hett [Hect], Hebburn, 

 Spennymoor, Aldin Grange, Hebenis [sic). North 

 Pittington, Moorsley [Moreslawe], and Durham, 

 amounting in all to twenty-seven messuages and 

 about nine hundred acres of land, besides crofts, 

 tofts, cottages, gardens, and rents.^^^ 



In March, 1380-1, the monks complained to 

 the king that the Scots had harried the barony 



'"Ibid. '"Ibid. 401. 



'" Inq. p.m. 36 Edw. Ill, I, No. 118. 



"* Inspex. Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. 3, mm. 12, 11. 



Edw. I had granted to the convent an annuity of 

 £j\.o from Berwick Exchequer, in honour of St. Cuth- 

 bert, until he should provide them with a benefice of 

 that value (Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 5). Six years later 

 this was vacated because the convent had letters of 

 licence (7 March, 30 Edw. I) to appropriate the 

 church of Hemingbrough ; but in 13 10 the annuity 

 was again being paid (Close, 3 Edw. II, m. 2). In 

 1426 the monks stated that they had surrendered to 

 Edw. Ill the annuity and the advowson of Simon- 

 burn Church, and that he had licensed the appropria- 

 tion of Hemingbrough, of which they already had 

 the advowson ; but this could not take effect for lack 

 of the pope's consent. Henry VI therefore granted 

 them leave to erect Hemingbrough parish church 

 into a collegiate church (Pat. 5 Hen. VI, pt. I, 

 m. 19). 



"' Inspex. Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. 3, mm. 12, 11. 



"" Ibid. 



'" Dur. Curs. Rolls, Rot. 2, Hatfield, m. 1 1 a*. 



"' Dur. Epis. Reg. Hatfield, fol. i 5 I </. 



'" Inspex. Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. 3. mm. 12, 11. 



99 



