ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



to assign a fixed sum to vicars instead of a portion of the tithes, and the 

 amount tended to increase. The portion of the vicar of Cam was fixed at 

 20 marks in i 36 1, 1 and the vicars of Horsley and Wheatenhurst each received 

 12 marks in 1380.* If the rectory, with the exception of the tithe barns, 

 was not allotted to the vicar, the religious were bound to build him a suitable 

 manse near the church, but the cost of keeping it in repair fell upon his 

 successors. The question of the responsibility of repairing or rebuilding the 

 chancel depended entirely on the arrangement in the ordination of the 

 vicarage ; at Thornbury ' and Fairford * the burden was laid upon the vicar, 

 at Tytherington ' and Longborough * it rested with the religious, while at 

 Standish, 7 with its three dependent chapels, the cost was divided. During 

 the rule of Prior William de Cheriton (1377-1401) the convent of Lanthony 

 rebuilt the chancels of Henlow, Painswick, Haresfield, and Awre. 8 The 

 absence of any clear stipulation in the case of churches which had been 

 appropriated at an early date led to several lawsuits. John Brighampton, 

 the vicar of Winchcombe, disputed the responsibility of repairing the chancel 

 and the glass in the windows with the convent, and Bishop Brian gave it as 

 his decision that the vicar was liable.' Between thirty and forty years after- 

 wards, another vicar, Thomas Power, denied his liability and was excom- 

 municated by Bishop Wakefield. Power appealed to the Court of Arches, 

 and thence to the papal curia, appealing again after judgement had been given 

 against him in 1389. He lost his case and was condemned to pay the cost 

 of the two suits at the curia, amounting to 135 gold florins. The vicars of 

 Sherborne also went to law with the convent of Winchcombe about the re- 

 building and repairing of the chancel, but a final judgement was given against 

 them in I387. 10 In a dispute between the abbot of Pershore and the vicar 

 of Hawkesbury in 1420, the vicar alleged that since time immemorial his 

 predecessors had been free from the burden of repairing the chancel, but the 

 arbitrators decided that it ought to be done by him and his successors. 11 In 

 the ordinations of vicarages by Bishop Clifford (1401-7) the duty of maintain- 

 ing the chancel was assigned to the religious. 11 Acting upon the statute of 

 15 Richard II," which was confirmed by Henry IV in 1403," he decided that 

 the convent of Gloucester should pay 24 marks instead of 12 to the vicar of 

 Holy Trinity, Gloucester, and that the vicar of Bledington should have 

 20 marks instead of io. u 



The teaching of WyclifFe and of his chief followers among the early 

 Lollards had a strong influence in the county. John Aston, one of the most 

 zealous of the poor priests, preached at Gloucester on St. Matthew's Day, 

 1383, against the indulgences which were being sold in aid of the bishop of 

 Norwich's crusade. 1 ' John Purvey, who lived for some years at Lutterworth 

 with WyclifFe, taught and preached in Bristol, and there about 1388 he 

 probably completed his revision of the WyclifFe Bible. 17 In 1387 Bishop 



1 Wore. Epi. Reg. Brian, i, fol. 35. ' Ibid. Wakefield, fol. 133 J. 134. 



I Ibid. Maidstone, fol. 36. 4 Ibid. Orlton, fol. 54. Ibid. fol. 48 / 

 * Ibid. Cobham, fol. 1 18. ' Ibid. Bransford, fol. 139, 



' MS. Top. Glouc. C. 5, 650-2, Bodl. Lib. * Royce, op. cit. ii, 45-76. 



" Ibid. 281-4. " R( S- Seje Vac - ( Worc - Hist - Soc -) 4*8. 



II Worc. Epis. Reg. Clifford, fol. 7 z d. 7 3 J. 76. u Sttt. of Realm, 1 5 Ric. II, cap. 6. 



14 Ibid. 4 Hen. IV, cap. 12. " Wore. Epis. Reg. Clifford, fol. 72 d. 76. 



" CAroaicoti Henrici Knighton (Rolls Ser.), ii, 178. " Ibid. 179. 



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