RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



archbishop on 23 October. 1 On 4 September 

 a commission of oyer and terminer was granted 

 on the complaint of Geoffrey de Welleford, 

 that, after due induction, Robert de Maidstone, 

 Nicholas his brother, and divers other persons, 

 had taken and carried, of the hospital property, 

 livestock to the value of 100, goods and 

 chattels to a like amount, as well as charters 

 and muniments. A second commission, dated 

 6 November, particularizes the missing pro- 

 perty, and increases its value to the then great 

 sum of jsoo. a 



The bishop, on 9 February, 1322, issued a 

 commission of inquiry relative to the dilapi- 

 dation of St. Cross on the entry of Geoffrey 

 de Welleford. 3 On 1 1 March, Geoffrey, by 

 proxy, promised canonical obedience, as master 

 of St. Cross, to his diocesan. 4 Geoffrey, who 

 had been thus stormily thrust into this valuable 

 mastership, died in August, 1322, having never 

 apparently set foot in the diocese. Bishop 

 Asserio was now able to make an appointment 

 of his own ; but it was no improvement on 

 that of the king. His choice for this valuable 

 and important preferment fell on his nephew, 

 Bertrand de Asserio, a clerk of the diocese of 

 Cahors. He was collated, inducted and in- 

 stituted (by proxy) on 31 August, 1322, by 

 his brother Gerald de Asserio, vicar-general, in 

 the absence at the Roman court of the bishop. 5 

 There seems no reason to imagine that Bert- 

 rand ever saw the hospital of which he was the 

 master, although he held it with a rectory in 

 the diocese (Freshwater, Isle of Wight), and 

 a prebend ot Salisbury. In August, 1330, 

 Bertrand, as warden of St. Cross, nominated 

 attorneys to act for him, as he was going across 

 the seas for two years. 8 



Provision of the hospital was made in 1333, 

 by Pope John XXIL, to Peter de Galliciano, 

 void by the resignation of Bertrand de Asserio, 

 who had exchanged it for other benefices out 

 of England. 7 Meanwhile Bishop Stratford 

 endeavoured to checkmate the papal appoint- 

 ment by sequestrating the hospital property on 

 the ground of the blindness and inability of the 

 new master, and there ensued a strife between 

 ecclesiastical and civil authorities to the great 

 bewilderment of the tenantry, 8 the sheriff being 

 called upon in October, 1334, to assist Peter de 



1 Cant. Archiep. Reg., Reynold, ff. 300, 301. 

 3 Pat. 15 Edw. II. pt. i, m. I5d. 

 3 Winton. Epis. Reg., Asserio, f. zib. 



* Ibid. f. 22. 

 8 Ibid. f. i8b. 



Pat. 4 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 10. 



7 Cal. of Papal Letters, ii. 385. 



8 Winton. Epis. Reg., Stratford, f. 78. 



Galliciano, the master, in levying rents due to 

 him. 9 



In 1344, the bishop petitioned Clement VI., 

 signifying that when the hospital of his collation 

 was vacant, he made provision of it to William 

 Edingdon, the king's treasurer, who restored 

 the buildings and improved the condition of 

 the poor therein, spending 1,000; but on the 

 report that the late Peter de Galliciano, master 

 of the hospital, was chaplain to Clement V., 

 and that the hospital was therefore reserved to 

 the pope, of which the bishop was ignorant, he 

 prayed the pope to declare valid the appoint- 

 ment of William and all that he had done. 

 To this the pope assented, and remitted the 

 fruits he had received. 10 In the following year 

 Edingdon became bishop, and the pope ap- 

 pointed Raymond Pelegrini, papal nuncio, to 

 the mastership of St. Cross, which was declared 

 to be worth 6 13*. 4^." Raymond resigned 

 in 1346, and was followed by Richard de 

 Lusteshall and Walter de Wetwang ; both of 

 which appointments were brief and disputed. 



In 1346 Bishop Edingdon appointed his 

 nephew John Edingdon, a mere lad, to the 

 mastership, who of course neglected all the 

 duties pertaining to his office as grossly as his 

 predecessors. 12 Provision was made in June, 

 1348, of the hospital by the pope, to William 

 de Farlee, notwithstanding his holding canon- 

 ries and prebends of Winchester, Romsey and 

 Salisbury. 13 But in 1349 the bishop signified 

 the pope that he had given St. Cross to John 

 Edingdon, his nephew, who was under age, 

 and already held two benefices, there being an 

 ordinance in the foundation that it could be 

 given to secular clerks ; but that as it was re- 

 ported that the pope had reserved the same be- 

 fore Richard's death, he prayed him to confirm 

 the collation. The petition was granted. 



In 1366, Edingdon, having stripped the 

 hospital and its estates, resigned, soon after his 

 uncle's death, and was followed, on exchange, 

 by William Stowell, who in his turn exchanged 

 the mastership in March, 1368, with Richard 

 de Lyntesford, for the rectory of Burghclere. 14 

 In August, 1370, Lyntesford exchanged the 



9 Close, 8 Edw. III. m. lod. 



10 Cal. of Papal Petitions, 1.51. 



11 Ibid. i. 90. 



la For the evil character of John Edingdon, and 

 the manifold preferments conferred on him by his 

 uncle, see Wilts Arch. Mag. xx. In 1368 he 

 was cited to appear in the bishop's court for having 

 embezzled the materials purchased by his prede- 

 cessor for rebuilding the chancel of the church of 

 Farnham, of which he was then rector. 



13 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 131. 



14 Winton. Epis. Reg., Wykeham, i. f. 9. 



195 



