RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



another chantry founded by William Saucemer, 

 her late husband. 6 



Thomas Sibthorpe, rector of Beckingham, 

 obtained licence in 1349 to assign a messuage in 

 Newark to Robert de Alyngton, Robert Leef, and 

 William de Stokum, chaplains respectively to the 

 perpetual chantries founded for the souls of 

 William Saucemer, of Maud his wife, and of 

 Master William de Glentham, for them and 

 their successors to celebrate divine service for 

 the souls aforesaid, as well as for the souls of 

 Thomas and Isabel Durant. 7 



Later in the same year (which was that of the 

 Black Death, when many chantries were founded 

 by survivors) confirmation was granted of an 

 indenture of William, Prior of Shelford, and his 

 convent, granting to John deWodhouse, perpetual 

 chaplain of the altar of Corpus Christi, to cele- 

 brate at that altar for Alan Fleming and Alice 

 his wife, their sons and daughters and other 

 persons, and for their souls when dead, a rent of 

 5 marks to be paid at Newark yearly. 8 



Another chantry was founded in this church in 

 November 1349 by John Braye, king's yeoman 

 and usher of the exchequer, endowed with 6 

 marks yearly." 



The chantry priests continued to increase, and 

 somewhat later in the reign of Edward III Alice 

 Fleming (after the death of her husband in 1361, 

 to whose memory a noble brass is still preserved) 

 founded a common mansion house for all the 

 chantry priests, in order ' that they shulde be 

 commensalls and associate togithere within the 

 said mansion as by the licence of Kinge Edwarde 

 the iij dothe appeare.' 10 



When the Valor of 1534 was drawn up, 

 fifteen of these Newark chantry priests, all cele- 

 brating in the great parish church, are named, 

 together with the amount of their respective 

 stipends, which varied from ^3 8s. o^. to 



Further particulars can be gleaned as to these 

 chantries from the return of the commissioners 

 of Henry VIII in 1545, preparatory to their 

 dissolution. 



They make mention of (i) the chantry of 

 St. Nicholas, at St. Nicholas altar ; (2) the Durant 

 chantry, at the altar of St. James ; (3) the chantry 

 of Maud Saucemer, at the altar of St. Laurence ; 

 (4) the chantry of William Saucemer, at the 

 altar of St. Laurence here the morrow mass 

 was celebrated at four o'clock every morning all 

 the year round ; (5) the chantry of William 

 Wansey and others, at St. Katherine's altar ; 



'Pat. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 31, &c. (insfexlmiu 

 and confirmation). 



'Pat. 22 Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 10. 



'Pat. 23 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 1 1. 



'Ibid. pt. iii, m. 12. 



"Chant, and Coll. Cert. Notts, jciii, 28. This 

 common chantry house stood in Appleton Gate. 



"VakrEccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 189-91. 



(6) Alan Fleming's chantry, at Corpus Christi 

 altar ; (7) Isabel Caldwell's chantry, at the same 

 altar ; (8) Robert Caldwell's chantry, at the same 

 altar, for a daily mass of Corpus Christi ; (9) the 

 chantry of William Newark, Archdeacon of 

 Huntingdon ; (10) the chantry of the Blessed 

 Trinity, at the Holy Trinity altar ; (n and 12) 

 the joint chantries of All Saints and the Nativity 

 of Our Lady, founded in 1367 by Simon Surfleet 

 and other inhabitants, ' in consideration that 

 Newark is a great town and a thorowfare and the 

 vicar and his parish priest were not sufficient to 

 find the cure, to the intent that two chauntry 

 priests should say MassMattyns and other divine 

 service and pray for the founder's souls and all 

 Christian souls' : (13) Foster's chantry, founded 

 1452 by John Burton, vicar of Newark, Thomas 

 Foster, priest, and others, at the Trinity altar ; 

 (14) a chantry for Edward III and his mother 

 and his queen and for the brethren and sisters of 

 the Trinity Gild, at the Trinity altar ; and (15) 

 a chantry founded by John Leeke and others, 

 for a priest to ' continually keep the quire at 

 Mattins, Mass and Even in song' 5cc. 12 



Another report was made on these chantries, 

 immediately prior to their extinction, by the 

 commissioners of Edward VI in 1547. On that 

 occasion the report was expected to include 

 comments on the degree of scholarship possessed 

 by the chantry priests. One of the number 

 was pronounced to be ' honest and Icrned, ' 

 another ' lerned, ' a third 'somewhat lerned, ' 

 a fourth 'something lerned', whilst nine were 

 written off as 'unlerned.' 13 



On their suppression the chantry priests of 

 Newark obtained pensions, varying in accordance 

 with their age and the worth of the chantry, 

 from ^6 to 3 io*. u 



20. THE COLLEGE OF RUDDINGTON 



William Babington, son of Sir William Babing- 

 ton and Margaret his wife, obtained the licence 

 of Henry VI in 1459 to found a college at Rud- 

 dington for a warden and four chaplains ; two 

 of the chaplains were to officiate in the chapel of 

 St. Andrew within the church of St. Peter of 

 Flawforth 18 and two in the chapel within the 

 manor of Chilwell. They were to pray for the 

 good estate of Henry VI, Margaret his queen, 

 Edward Prince of Wales, William Babington the 

 founder and Elizabeth his wife, and for the souls 

 of the founder's parents, of Robert Prebend 

 sometime Bishop of Dunblane, 16 and of Richard, 



"Chant, and Coll. Cert. Notts, xiii, 14-20. 



u Ibid, xxxvii. " Brown, Hist, of Newark, 72. 



" Near Ruddington, now decayed. 



" Robert de Prebenda was consecrated Bishop of 

 Dunblane (Scotland) in 1258. Archbishop Wickwane 

 about 1280 gave commission to Robert, Bishop of 

 Dunblane (parochianiu noiter), who had constructed an 

 altar in honour of God and the Blessed Virgin and 



149 



