RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Each of the sixteen vicars was in receipt of 

 ^7 4*. 8^J. (including the 4. from his preben- 

 dary), their common revenues being equally 

 divided. There were also thirteen chantry priests 

 attached to the minster, whose respective in- 

 comes varied from ^8 js. ^d. to 4 i6s. $d. 

 A fabric fund brought in a clear annual income 

 of 10 I2s. 6^d. 



There was also a common fund of the min- 

 ster. To this the appropriated Nottinghamshire 

 churches of Upton, Rolleston, Edingley, Kirk- 

 lington, Barnby, and the third part of Kelham 

 contributed ^36 i6s. 8</., and the church of 

 Barnborough, Yorkshire, 16 13*. ifd. Among 

 other receipts were 8 in offerings during 

 ' Whitsandaye weike ' ; two stone of wax from 

 Thurgarton Priory ; three stone of wax from 

 Shelford Priory ; and 265. 8d. from the parish 

 church of South Wheatley to buy wax and oil. 

 The outgoings from this fund included 6 95. \\d. 

 to six poor choristers ; 635. \d. to two ' thuribu- 

 laries' ; 4. to two deacons, and 66 s. 8d. to 

 two sub-deacons ; to the master of the choristers, 

 20s. ; to the verge bearers, 3*. 4^.; and for bring- 

 ing hallowed oil and cream, I2^. 63 



When the college and chantry commissioners 

 of 1545 visited Southwell Minster, they de- 

 scribed it as ' reputed and taken for the hed 

 mother Churche of the Towne and Countie of 

 Nottingham, wherin is sedes archiepalis founded 

 by the Righte famous of memorye Edgare the 

 Kinges majesties moste noble progenitor,' 64 for 

 three canons residentiary, a parish vicar, sixteen 

 vicars choral, thirteen chantry priests, four 

 deacons and sub-deacons, six choristers, two 

 ' Thuribales,' and two clerks. The sixteen 

 prebends and the thirteen chantry priests are all 

 specified ; the latter had each a chamber and 

 share in a common hall. 65 



On 12 August 1540 the Archbishop of York 

 granted to the king the patronage of all pro- 

 motion in the collegiate church of Southwell. 66 

 On the same day the vicars choral surrendered 

 their chief house or mansion in Southwell with 

 all their possessions, and like surrenders were also 

 executed by the prebendaries and by the chantry 

 priests. 67 But these definite surrenders, through 

 some unknown influence, were suffered to pass 

 as so many dead letters, and in January 1543 

 their effect was formally annulled by a special 

 Act of Parliament, whereby ' the colledge and 

 church collegiate of Southwell ' was legally re- 

 established in every particular ; the whole of its 



63 VahrEccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 192-8. 



64 The commissioners wisely added to this state- 

 ment as to the founding of Southwell by King Edgar, 

 which seems to have been then current, that it was 

 ' without any foundation in writinge showed to the 

 Commyssioners.' , 



65 Coll. and Chant. Cert. Notts. xiii,4O. 

 M L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xv, 971. 



" Ibid, xvi, 275. 



property and officials were restored, including 

 lamps, obits, chantries, and chantry priests. 68 



Almost the whole of the upwards of two 

 hundred collegiate foundations extant throughout 

 England in pre-Reformation days, both great 

 and small, were ruthlessly confiscated by either 

 Henry VIII or Edward VI ; even the fabrics 

 were in many cases destroyed and merchandise 

 made not only of the lead and bells but of the 

 very monuments, brasses, and gravestones. In 

 some cases, like Beverley and Ripon, Southwell's 

 sister minsters, the churches were bought back 

 by the inhabitants and turned into parish churches. 

 In only five, or at the most six instances, were 

 fabrics and endowments eventually spared Wind- 

 sor and Manchester being amongst them but 

 of these by far the most ancient and famous, as 

 well as one of the largest, richest, and most 

 beautiful, was the collegiate church of the 

 Blessed Virgin of Southwell. 



It seems that at this time it was the intention 

 of the king to make Southwell the seat of a 

 bishopric. The revenue was set down as ^1,003, 

 of which one-third was to be allotted to the 

 bishop, who was designated in the person of one 

 of the prebendaries, Dr. Richard Cox, who after- 

 wards became Bishop of Ely. 69 But this idea, 

 like the great majority of paper schemes of 

 Henry VIII, came to naught. 



The commissioners of Edward VI, in 1 547-8, 

 went over much the same ground. 69a They were, 

 however, sufficiently uncritical deliberately to 

 repeat the legend as to the founding by King 

 Edgar in definite form as to each of the sixteen 

 prebendaries and the sixteen vicars. 'The 

 Thuribularies ' serving at the altar are again 

 entered as in receipt of 131. 4</., and the 'dila- 

 tion of Oyle and Creme from York ' costing 1 2d. 

 Of the chantry priests one is entered as a 

 preacher, two as ' meatly lerned,' and four as 

 ' unlerned.' Three chapels of ease are men- 

 tioned as served from the minster, namely those 

 of Halam, Halloughton, and Morton. There is a 

 curious entry to the effect that, when the com- 

 missioners of Henry VIII visited Southwell on 

 24 November 1545, the prebendaries and heads 

 of the college sold a ' Holy water Stocke of 

 Sylver,' weighing 5 1 oz., and with the money 

 provided due entertainment for the visitors. 



They found that the church had already been 

 stripped of 626 oz. of plate. They left to 

 the minster two silver-gilt chalices with their 

 patens, weighing 45 oz., for use at the Holy 

 Communion, and also 20 6s. 2d. worth of 

 vestments, copes, &c. 



The visitation of the commissionersof Ed ward VI 

 not only swept away all the chantries of South- 

 well, but the college itself, the church being con- 

 tinued as the parish church, on the petition of 



* Ibid, xviii (l), 65 (45). 



69 Strype, Mem. i, pt. ii, 407. 



691 Chant, and Coll. Cert, xxxvii, 4. 



155 



