A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



the Raby lands were held on condition of pre- 

 senting a deer at the abbey on St. Cuthbert's 

 feast in September. The destination of the 

 animal is in itself interesting, for the lord of 

 Raby was in no sense a baron of the prior but 

 of the bishop. It seems probable, therefore, 

 that this custom was a reminiscence of the 

 earlier period when Canute gave the manors of 

 Raby and Staindrop to the congregation of 

 St. Cuthbcrt about 1018. Probably the prior 

 still received the payment even after the division 

 of lands between bishop and convent, and 

 apparently the arrangement was confirmed after 

 Flambard's death in I131. There was no 

 difficulty until 1290, when the third Lord 

 Nevill, Ralph, who was then in possession of 

 Raby, made claims upon the prior in return 

 which caused much trouble. This Ralph has 

 been mentioned in a previous article^* as one 

 of those who induced nearly all the knights and 

 freeholders to revolt against Bek. In 1290 he 

 was probably asserting himself in preparation 

 for the leadership which he afterwards assumed. 

 On this occasion he brought the deer and made 

 the unheard-of demand that not only he him- 

 self, as always, but all his retinue should be 

 entertained by the prior. It was the great 

 gala day in the Durham year when the city 

 was filled to overflowing and the prior's hospit- 

 ality was probably strained to the utmost. The 

 prior perhaps refused on the score of difficulties 

 of service, whereupon Ralph said that his own 

 servants should wait, but that all his retinue 

 should dine with the prior. Since a knight's 

 retinue was no small company Prior Hotoun 

 refused again and gave orders that the deer 

 should not be accepted when and if Nevill 

 brought it with the customary pomp to the 

 shrine of St. Cuthbert. Nevill meant to come 

 and to dine with all his following, and accord- 

 ingly he issued many invitations for the spectacle. 

 In vain John Balliol of Barnard Castle advised 

 him to yield his claim, but Nevill refused and 

 presented himself at the church door with his 

 offering. A procession was formed and with 

 much winding of horns paced up to the shrine 

 carrying the stag with great pomp, not to the 

 hall of the prior, but right up to the Nine Altars. 

 When the prior saw what was intended he 

 refused to have the animal received in this 

 tumultuous manner. Hereupon the servants 

 of Nevill proceeded to bear it ofl towards the 

 kitchen in order to cook it, apparently for the 

 lord of Raby and his friends. A disgraceful 

 struggle arose and monks and men were soon at 

 strife within the church. The monks caught up 

 the candles round the shrine and using them as 

 weapons drove back the servants of Nevill. 

 Two suits followed, the one before the Pope 



M V.C.H. Dur. ii, 153. 



at Rome for hindering the divine offices, and 

 the other before the bishop's justices for 

 assault, but both parties in the end agreed not 

 to proceed on the earnest entreaty of some who 

 strove to mediate between them. 



We have now come well into the reign of 

 Edward I and the restless episcopate of Bishop 

 Bek. A franchise such as that of Durham was 

 not likely to escape the king's notice, while Bek 

 was not the man to let his liberties and dignities 

 suffer any eclipse if he could help it. For 

 nearly twenty years no collision took place, but 

 troubles began in 1293, when the king made a 

 review of franchises and titles. He acted with 

 promptitude, seizing all such liberties into his 

 own hands for due scrutiny and decision. 

 Accordingly, for the time being, he resumed into 

 his own hands all the jura regalia of the pala- 

 tinate. A regular inspection was carried out, 

 as has been said in another volume,^* and the 

 final award notifies various matters of right 

 which affect the city of Durham as well as 

 others which touch the bishopric more generally. 

 In these clauses the importance of Durham 

 comes out very clearly. Thus the bishop held 

 pleas of the Crown at Durham ; he had his own 

 gallows and mint within the city ; he had his 

 own market and fair. The market was the 

 Saturday market, which is, at least, as old as the 

 time of St. Godric in the 12th century. The 

 fair refers chiefly to that at the Translation of St. 

 Cuthbert (4 Sept.), but also to the spring festival 

 on 20th March. The document shows that 

 the prior had the old Elvet liberties still, as he 

 had had them since the days of St. Calais. This 

 document belongs to a period when the King 

 of England was already trying to get a hold in 

 Scotland through John Balliol. Next year the 

 prior was deputed by the king as his commissary 

 to collect all dues accruing to the Crown within 

 the bishopric. This brought him, as similar 

 action brought the various collectors elsewhere, 

 into grave disrepute with the commonalty of the 

 bishopric, undoing the popularity of the last 

 priors. Bek was much troubled by the ampli- 

 tude of the prior's position, which had been 

 steadily growing. It was, possibly, in part to 

 regain the importance of earlier bishops that Bek 

 became a builder. In various ways he asserted 

 himself, and gained a prestige which the last 

 bishops had somewhat lost. He built the 

 magnificent hall at the castle, so long attributed 

 to Bishop Hatfield, and in all probability placed 

 there the two ' seats of regality ' which Bishop 

 Fox altered in or about 1499. These, it may 

 be conjectured, were thrones for his dual 

 capacity as bishop and as ruler of the palatinate. 

 Before the one, no doubt, the barons of the 

 bishopric took their oaths of allegiance, and 



39 r.C.H. Dur. ii, 152. 



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