A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



meadow at Durham because the King and 

 Queen took the whole of the first crop.' The 

 meadow in question was close to the city and 

 in the neighbourhood of Franklyn Wood, which 

 was the bishop's special preserve. For Edward's 

 expedition into Scotland in 1309 a special order 

 was received from the king to raise forces in the 

 bishopric. Next year, as the Scottish menace 

 pressed more threateningly, alarm grew, and 

 we find an instance recorded of money banked 

 within the castle at Durham for safety's sake.''- 



Bek died in 13H, receiving interment within 

 the cathedral instead of the chapter house. 

 With his successor's appearance in Durham 

 wc get the splendid palatinate register of Bishop 

 Kellaw (1311-18), the only palatinate record 

 that has survived. Since it is chiefly occupied 

 with the general affairs of the bishopric as a 

 whole, we cannot expect to find much detail 

 concerning Durham in particular. A few points 

 of local history, however, are mentioned in it. 

 We have, for instance, the bishop's confirma- 

 tion''^ of the foundation in 1312 of the chapel 

 of St. James on the New Bridge of Durham, or 

 Elvet Bridge. This chapel was situated at the 

 north end of Elvet Bridge and existed on this 

 site until the dissolution of the chantries. At 

 the south end a chapel had already been founded 

 by William, son of Absalon, between 1274 and 

 1283. Another grant of the same period as the 

 chapel of St. James was the right of free fishery 

 between the old and new bridges within the city. 

 It should be noticed that the conveyance of this 

 privilege from the bishop to the prior and con- 

 vent describes the old bridge as lying ' between 

 the market of Durham and South Street.' As 

 there is no mention of Silver Street the words 

 seem to suggest that the name now given to the 

 descent from the market place to the bridge was 

 bestowed at some later period. Kellaw's Regis- 

 ter also shows us incidentally that the church of 

 St. Nicholas was in disrepair in 1312, when a 

 survey was ordered by the bishop.** 



The most interesting local topic in Kellaw's 

 Register is the Scottish aggression. A letter 

 from the bishop in 131 1 excusing himself from 

 attendance at a Council in Rome, to which he 

 had been summoned by the pope, illustrates 

 the position at the time. He says that in 

 September Brus and his confederates swarmed 

 into the diocese burning churches, boroughs, 

 towns, crops, in their way. They spared neither 

 sex nor age and were already preparing an 

 invasion to outdo their former severities, so that 

 a general flight was in progress. The fears of 

 the bishop were verified, but his presence 

 seemed to put some heart into the citizens of 



« Reg. Pdat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 441. 

 '^ Ibid, ii, 1 173. 

 " Ibid, i, 144. 



Durham. A commission was issued to levy 

 contributions for the see, and various assess- 

 ments were made. Perhaps an indulgence of 

 forty days granted by the bishop at this time*^ 

 to all who should listen to the preaching of the 

 gospel in Durham Cathedral may be connected 

 with the general fear felt as the Scots drew 

 nearer. Next year (13 13) the Scots crept up 

 nearer and nearer to Durham. The suburbs, 

 at all events, if not the city itself, were fired by 

 Brus's troops. The vague time-marks, how- 

 ever, make it impossible to date this calamity^* 

 with any precision, if it actually took place, and 

 it seems curious that an event of such magnitude 

 should receive no confirmation from any writer 

 except the two chroniclers. Was the rebuilding 

 of the barbican before the North Gate a con- 

 sequence of this fire, or was the defence added 

 in view of the approach of the Scots ? At all 

 events in May 1 3 1 3 the bishop's order went forth 

 to estimate the loss to the rector of the North 

 Bailey Church and some others whose houses, 

 abutting on the North Gate, would have to be 

 taken down in the process of building the wall 

 of the barbican." 



There are other traces of taxation and trouble 

 about this time. In the previous year the king 

 wrote to the bishop concerning a complaint of 

 the commonalty of the city who had been sum- 

 moned, unjustly as it appeared, to pay tallage to 

 the bishop.''* Eventually, however, the king 

 did not merely acquiesce in the levy, but com- 

 manded the bishop to exact it. In 1315 the 

 king notified the bishop that he had assented to 

 the grant of murage by the latter to the city of 

 Durham. This had clear reference to recent 

 Scottish trouble, for the king's writ says : ' The 

 men of your Liberty of Durham have suffered 

 loss beyond calculation owing to the constant 

 ravages of the Scots who have pillaged and burnt 

 excessively in those parts, and all the more 

 frequently because there are no mihtary fortresses 

 or towns defended by walls wherein to find 

 refuge or shelter for the security of themselves 

 and their goods.' The petitioners beg that the 

 king would allow the grant of murage on 

 things for sale which come into the city.^* 

 This was in May : then came the most severe, 

 perhaps, of all the invasions so far, the Scots 

 sweeping right up to Durham. It might have 

 been thought that the land was bare, as though a 

 swarm of locusts had passed over it, for after 

 the great descent of 13 13 a terrible murrain had 



*5 Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 250. 



*^ Hist. Dunelm. Script. Ires (Surt. Soc), 94. 

 So Lanercost Chronicle. 



" Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 338. 



*8 Ibid, ii, 863 ; cf. ibid. 920, 935. 



*' Ibid. 1071. See Pollock and Maitland, //»/<. 

 of Engl. Law, i, 162 ; Lapsley, Hist. Palat. Dur. 

 277. 



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