

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



severity. Thus Nicholas Conon, of Eye, was charged, in 1431, with having 

 on Easter Day, when all the parishioners were in procession, mocked and 

 derided the congregation, going about the church the other way. Nicholas 

 not only acknowledged that the charge was true, but affirmed that in so 

 doing he did well. He was also charged with having, on Corpus Christi 

 Day, at the elevation of the host, when all were devoutly kneeling, gone 

 behind a pillar with his face from the altar and mocked. A third accusation 

 was to the effect that on All Hallows Day, when many parishioners carrying 

 lighted torches proceeded to the high altar and knelt there in devotion, 

 Nicholas Conon, carrying a torch, went up to the high altar, but stood there 

 with his back to the altar whilst the priest was celebrating mass. To these 

 two other charges he not only pleaded guilty, but again told the court that 

 he had done well. 1 



A return was ordered to be made, by a parliament of Richard II which 

 sat at Cambridge in the autumn of 1388, of all the gilds and brotherhoods 

 of the kingdom, with details as to their foundation, statutes, and properties. 

 The gild certificates pertaining to Suffolk which are now extant are thirty- 

 nine in number and are comparatively brief, save that in three cases, all of 

 Bury St. Edmunds, the statutes and ordinances are set forth in full. 2 Almost 

 .all these gilds, besides providing lights before particular images or the rood, 

 were also expected, according to their rules, to contribute towards the general 

 repairs of the church, as is usually expressly stated. Thus the gild of 

 St. Andrew, Cavenham, is entered as having at the last Eastertide con- 

 tributed ten shillings pro securam trabis in eadem ecclesia. The members 

 for the most part attended mass and feasted together at certain festivals, 

 and attended the funerals of the brethren or sisters, usually contributing 

 to the expenses. 



There is an interesting entry in the register of Bishop Alnwick relative 

 to the admission of a hermit at the old Suffolk borough of Sudbury. The 

 entry is in English, and records a petition from John Hurt the mayor and 

 ten other parishioners of St. Gregory's, dated 28 January, 1433-4. A 

 previous application for the admission of one Richard Appleby of Sudbury 

 to a hermit's position had failed, but the mayor and leading parishioners 

 begged the bishop to reconsider the case. They stated that Richard was 

 * a man as to owre conscience knowne a true member of holy cherche and a 

 gode hostly levere ' (honest liver) ; that it was better to live in a solitary place, 

 where virtues might increase, and vices be exiled ; that they had examined 

 him, with the aid of the church-reeves and others ; that Richard was 

 desirous of living with John Levyington in his hermitage, made at the cost 



1 Shirley, Ftiscufi Zizaniorunt, Ixx, 417, 432 ; Foxe, Acts and Monuments (ed. Townsend), iii, 587-99. 



' These three are the Gild of St. Botolph in St. James's church, founded time without memory ; the Gild 

 of St. Nicholas in the church of St. Mary, founded in 1282 (the ordinances of the Gild of St. Nicholas have 

 been printed in full, with a translation, by Mr. V. B. Redstone, Proc. Stiff. Arch. Inst. xii, 14-22) ; and the 

 Fraternity of Corpus Christi of St. Mary's church, founded in 1317. Short particulars are given of fifteen 

 other gilds, all of the abbey town, which will be found in the topographical section of this history. The 

 others whose certificates temp. Richard II remain, were : Barton, Gilds of the Assumption and of St. John 

 Baptist ; Beccles, Fraternity of Corpus Christi and Gild of Holy Trinity ; Cavenham, Gilds of St. Andrew, 

 St. Mary, and of the Holy Trinity ; Gazeley, Gilds of All Saints, St. James, and St. Margaret ; Herringwell, 

 Gilds of St. Ethelbert and St. Peter ; Icklingham, Fraternity of the Holy Cross and Gild of St. James ; 

 Kensford, Gild of St. John Baptist ; Kettlebaston, Fraternity for lights and repairs ; Monks Eleigh, Fraternity 

 for lights ; Stradishall, Fraternity of St. Margaret ; and Tuddenham, Gilds of St. John Baptist and Holy 

 Trinity. 



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