RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



prior and canons were fervid in religion and lovers 

 of peace and concord. After praising them most 

 highly the diocesan laid down, for their still 

 better rule, that the third prior was to regulate 

 cloister discipline when the prior and sub-prior 

 were not present ; that the prior and sub-prior, 

 with three or four canons, were at least once a 

 year to hear from the cellarer and other obedien- 

 tiaries an account of the expenses and receipts of 

 all matters under their control ; that when this 

 audit was finished they were to present to the 

 convent the state of the house and what money 

 was owing ; that they were to make a special in- 

 ventory of the rents and of the stock of every 

 kind, stating sex and age, that it might readily 

 appear whether the goods of the house were 

 increasing or decreasing ; that one copy of the 

 account was to be in the charge of the treasurer 

 and another in the charge of the cellarer ; that 

 the seal of the convent, sealed with the seal of the 

 prior, should be in the treasury in the custody of 

 some discreet canon, nor were any letters to 

 be sealed with it save in the presence of the 

 convent or of the senior part of it ; that the 

 collection and custody of alms should be put by 

 the prior into the hands of some honest per- 

 son ; that the cloister, refectory, and other places 

 appropriated to the canons be guarded from the 

 access of boys and dishonourable persons ; and 

 that these injunctions be read twice a year before 

 the convent. 32 



Archbishop Geoffrey de Ludham (1258-65) 

 personally visited Newstead on 4 July 1259 anc ' 

 approved of the statutes made by Archbishop Gray, 

 adding certain injunctions of his own. The prior, 

 considering the evil days in which they were living, 

 was to do his best to obtain grace and favour with 

 patrons ; he was personally to receive guests with 

 a smiling countenance (vultu prout decet hilari et 

 jocundo)znA to merit the love of his convent, doing 

 nothing without the counsel of the older canons. 

 Medicines were to be reserved for the sick ; any 

 brother noticing the infringement of a rule was 

 to speak ; there was to be no drinking after com- 

 pline, nor wanderings outside the cloister ; and a 

 canon was to be specially deputed to look after 

 the sick. 33 



It is often forgotten that all the chief religious 

 orders had their own scheme of visitation, inde- 

 pendent of the diocesan. An interesting reminder 

 of this occurs in an entry of a Newstead visitation 

 which took place on 16 July 1261 ; it was 

 subsequently entered in GifFard's register. The 

 visitors on this occasion were the priors of the 

 two Austin houses of Nostell and Guisborough, 

 who were at that time the duly appointed 

 provincial visitors of the order. They enjoined 

 that a good servant, with a boy, was to be placed 

 in the infirmary, and that one of the canons was 



" York Epis. Reg. Gray, fol. 210. 

 Jl This visitation is entered in Giffard's Reg. fol. 

 9 83. 



to say the canonical hours for them, as well as 

 celebrate mass, according to the rule of the Blessed 

 Augustine. 34 A chamberlain was to be appointed 

 to provide clothes and shoes for the convent ; he 

 was to have a ho.se to attend fairs and a servant 

 assigned him to buy necessaries. The canons' 

 dishes were to have more eggs and relishes, but 

 within moderation, never more than three eggs. 

 No one was to drink but in the refectory after col- 

 lation, and then to attend compline. Accounts were 

 to be rendered twice a year. Canons were to make 

 open amends in chapter on Sundays for trans- 

 gressions. A lay brother (conversus) was to look 

 after the tannery, with a canon to superintend 

 and to see to the buying and selling. Another 

 lay brother was to have charge of the garden, 

 under the sub-cellarer. Finally, the prior was 

 ordered to bring Canon Richard de Walkering- 

 ham with him to the next general chapter ; he 

 was to testify whether these injunctions had been 

 obeyed. 36 



On 24 October 1267 the resignation of Prior 

 William, who had held office for thirty-seven 

 years, was accepted by Archbishop Giffard, in 

 consequence of age and infirmity. 36 



Consequent on a personal visitation of New- 

 stead, Archbishop Wickwane, on 4 July 1280, 

 issued injunctions, wherein he charged the prior 

 to be earnest about divine service and the spiri- 

 tual refreshment of the brethren ; to punish 

 impartially ; and to obtain the convent's consent 

 in matters of business. The sub-prior was 

 exhorted to be zealous in his office, to see that 

 silence was kept as appointed and the rule gener- 

 ally observed. Those who were really ill were 

 to be well treated ; nothing was to be drunk 

 after compline, save in illness ; the carols were 

 to be unlocked twice a year, and oftener if there 

 was occasion, in order to eradicate the vice of 

 private property ; clothes were to be allotted 

 from a common store, the distribution of money 

 for this purpose to be altogether abandoned ; the 

 roofs of the frater and dorter were to be re- 

 paired ; visits of outsiders to cloister, frater, 

 farmery, or the precincts of the monastery were 

 interdicted ; letters to be sealed before the whole 

 convent and the seal to be in safe custody ; two 



54 ' The master of the infirmary ought to have mass 

 celebrated daily for the sick, either by himself or by 

 some other person, should they in anywise be able to 

 come into the chapel ; but if not he ought to take his 

 stool and missal and reverently at their bedsides make 

 the memorials of the day, of the Holy Spirit and of 

 Our Lady ; and if they cannot sing the canonical 

 hours for themselves, he ought to sing them for them, 

 and frequently in the spirit of gentleness repeat to 

 them words of consolation, of patience, and of hope in 

 God ; read to them, for their consolation, lives of 

 Saints ; conceal from them all evil rumours ; and in no 

 wise distress them when they are resting.' Willis 

 Clark, Customs of the jiugus.inian Canons, 205. 



35 York Epis. Reg. Giffard, fol. loo3, 101. 



36 Ibid. fol. 983. 



