SCHOOLS 



which was proved 12 May 1514. It provided 

 for a priest to sing for her husband's soul and 

 her own and Christian souls for three years at 

 7 marks a year. To Thomas Widerlay or 

 Weatherley she gave 10 marks, and if he died 

 before the end of his apprenticeship ' then the 

 said 10 marks to be imploid to the use pro- 

 fect and sustentaccion of the Free Scole which 

 I have fownded in Notingham.' Similar gifts 

 over were attached to three legacies of 10 marks 

 each to William, son of William Mellers, of 

 Leicester, and his brother John ; to William, son 

 of William English, and his brother John ; and 

 to Agnes, daughter of Robert Mellers. After 

 several other bequests the will sets out the pro- 

 perty she gave the school : 



Also I will that the Mayre and Burgesis of the 

 Town of Notyngham shall have possede and enjoy to 

 them and their successors for ever one measuage sett 

 in the side of Church yerde of Sent Petre in Noting- 

 ham, now in the holding of Edmund Hall, baker, 

 and 3 chamburs in the said Church yerd now in the 

 holding of Sir John Hunt, Sir Richard Morley and 

 an other vacant ; and on other measuage in the Bridel- 

 smyth gate . . . ; and on garden in Berwardgate . . . ; 

 and on garden in Sent Nycholus parich, in the holding 

 of John Cokham, and an other garden in same parich in 

 the holding of William Nicholson, walker (i.e. fuller), 

 to and for the edificacion and supportacion of the 

 said free Scole, which I have erected to be kept in 

 parich of Sent Marie in Notyngham according to 

 sooch constitucions and ordinances as I thereof have 

 maid a note and draght ; 



And for the better sustentacion and dotacion of 

 the said free scole I will and gif to the said Maire 

 and burgises and their successours all that my state, 

 title and possession and terme, which I have in any 

 measuages, landes, tenementes, or hereditamentes, by 

 reason of any leas to me or to my said late husbande 

 in any maner of wyse maid perteyning or to any of 

 us belonging ; and wher that my son William Inglisch 

 hath boght for me on measuage with appurtenances 

 lieing and sett in the Town and feldes of Ancastere 

 in the cownte of Lincoln, whereof as yet I have noo 

 possession, I will that after season (i.e. seisin) and posses- 

 sion thereof to and by me or myn assignes had, that the 

 same measuage and the appurtenances shall forthwyth 

 be delivered to the said Maire and burgesis and ther 

 successors for ever to the use and supportacion of the 

 said free scole. 



The expression in the will that the school 

 was to be conducted ' according to sooch consti- 

 tucions and ordinances as I thereof have maid a 

 note and draght ' looks as if the constitutions were 

 not then executed, which may perhaps account 

 for there being no original deed extant. But 

 however this may be they were acted upon from 

 the first, as a copy exists of part of a list of 

 subscriptions to the school beginning 2 February 

 1512-13, their supposed date, in the time of the 

 two wardens named in them. 



The Names of dyvers well desposed persons that 

 hath gyffen lands, tenements, and other yerely rent 

 and profits to and for the exhibicion and fyndyng of 



oon Scolemaster of a Free Scole, presently to be kept 

 in the parych of St. Mare in Nodyngham, in the 

 tyme of Wylliam Inglysh and Wylliam Barwell, 

 WarJeyns of the same Free Scole, begynnyng at the 

 fest of the Purificacion of our Lady, in the yere of 

 our Lord God 1512 and in the 4th yere of Kyng 

 Henre VIII, whereof the parcells and somes 

 folowe : 



In the Parish of Seynt Maries 



First, Dame Annes Mellers, fundaresse ol 



the same Free Scole, hath gyffen a 



tenement in the holdyng of Edmunde 



Halle in St. Peter's chirch-yerd by 



yere 26s. 8</. 



Item an other adjoining next it by yere 

 next it by yere 



'- '* ' " 

 in Grydelsmyth Gate by 

 yere. 



Thomas Alestre, Alderman, hath gyffen 

 3 acres of land in Todeholes. 



Wm. Kyrkby, baker, hath gyffen to gar- 

 dens, whereof oon is in the holdyng 

 of John Ca iz d. 



Item an other in the holdynge of John 



Astwyke 14^. 



John Howet, Alderman, by yere ... 3/. \d. 



John Rose, . . . 6s. 8J. 



Thomas Willoughby, Alderman, by yere . \s. od. 



John Cost, . 5;. oJ. 



Bailey, 18 who seems to have seen the full list, 

 says there were about eighty subscribers. 



The corporation, too, contributed its quota, 

 for on 6 February 1515-16, when Thomas 

 Mellors (sic} was mayor, the schoolwardens, ' for 

 the bettering, maintenance and edification of 

 the same school ' (which apparently means not 

 teaching but building), were allowed to inclose a 

 piece of land in the common fields afterwards 

 called Freschole Close. Robert Mellers, the 

 son of Dame Agnes, who succeeded to the father's 

 bell-making business, by his will 1 6 July 1515, 

 gave a close in Basford-wong and a house in 

 Bridlesmith Gate to the school ; ' but if it should 

 not be kept according to the foundacion as it 

 was granted, his heirs should re-enter and have 

 the said close . . . again.' 



The Mr. John Smyth, parson of Bilborough, 

 who was named as the first master, was a 

 Bachelor of Decrees, i.e. of canon law, when 

 instituted rector of Bilborough on 1 5 July I 502. 19 

 Mr. Corner found in the Borough Court Book of 

 1505 a memorandum ^ which shows that Smyth 

 was already in that year teaching school, or at 

 least taking in private pupils as boarders for fees, 

 at Bilborough, and in one case sued for the fees, 

 amounting to 9*. for twelve weeks, or at the rate 

 of f)d. a week. 



Memorandum that John a Pole sonne in law to 

 Thomas Samon, gentylman, come to Bylborough to 

 scole and to burde to the parsonage of Bylbrough on 



18 Ann. o/Nott. i, 372. 



19 The Forester, July 1888, from Torres MSS. in 

 York Minster. " Ibid. 



221 



