RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



a plot of land loo ft. by 60 ft. for the enlarge- 

 ment of their house without royal licence.' 



In 1348 they obtained the grant of the church 

 of St. Michael Conesford from Sir Edmund de 

 Thorp, lent. The friars were permitted to in- 

 clude the church within their precincts on 

 undertaking to have there a chapel in honour of 

 St. Michael, to the reverence of the saint and for 

 the devotion of the faithful, who were frequently 

 to make mention in their prayers of the deceased 

 whose bodies rested in the churchyard. The 

 friars further undertook never to apply the church- 

 yard to any other use than for preaching, for 

 sepulture, or for the building of a church, and to 

 have three masses celebrated in the chapel every 

 week by one of their own priests, in especial re- 

 membrance of the Thorp family.^ 



On their much enlarged site these friars pro- 

 ceeded to build a fine church, with cloister on 

 the south side, of which William of Worcester 

 gives the dimensions.' 



One of the most interesting of the numerous 

 bequests made to these Austin Friars, as cited by 

 Kirkpatrick and Blomefield, is that of Margaret 

 Wetherbey,i457, late wife of Thomas Wetherbey, 

 esq., who willed to be buried in the friary church 

 by the side of her husband. She left 100 marks 

 for building a new library, on condition that the 

 names of her husband and herself were inscribed 

 on the glass of the windows and on each of the 

 book-rests. 



Weever gives an account of various distinguished 

 persons who obtained sepulture in this conventual 

 church. His list includes such names as Bigot, 

 UfFord, Hastings, Clifton, Morley, and Wynd- 

 ham.* 



Various gilds held their services in the nave of 

 this church, namely, the gilds of St. Christopher, 

 of St. Margaret, of the Holy Cross, and of St. 

 Austin pertaining to the shoemakers.' 



Several of the bequests refer to masses at Scala 

 Cell in connexion with this conventual church. 

 The Scala Celt or Ladder of Heaven was the name 

 of a celebrated chapel and altar at Rome, to which 

 special indulgences were granted. The Lady 

 chapel of the Austin church at Norwich was 

 permitted to bear this name, and a like privilege 

 was granted to chapels at Westminster and Boston. 

 To each of these English Scalae Celt indulgences 

 were assigned almost as great as those at their 

 Roman counterpart. This Austin Scala Celt was 

 a great attraction to the devout of East Anglia.^ 



The house of the Austin Friars was dissolved 

 It eventually came into 



29 August, 1538.' 



' Pat. 9 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 37. 



' Kirkpatrick, Relig. Old. ofNortv. 136-8. 



' Itin. (Rolls Ser.), 307. 



' Weever, Fun. Monti. 804. 



' Toulmin Smith, Gilds, 22 ; Kirkpatrick, Relig. 

 Ord. ofNorvi. 147. 



' Kirkpatrick, Relig. Ord. o/Norw. 145 ; Blomefield, 

 Hist, of N Off. iv, 90. 



' L. and P. Hen. I'll!, xiii (2), 1 14. 



the hands of the Duke of Norfolk, and the site 

 was known as ' My Lord's Garden.' 



' These friars,' says Blomefield, ' to do them 

 justice, were always reckoned a society of learned 

 men, good disputants, and eloquent preachers, 

 and were truly industrious in propagating litera- 

 ture ; the most remarkable men among them 

 were priors thereof.' 



Priors of the Austin Friars of Norwich ' 



Benedict, Janus, or Bennet of Norfolk (titular 

 Bishop of Sardis), and suffragan to Bishop 

 Bek, died 1340 



Richard ChefFer, died c. 1354 



Richard de Lammesse, 1367 



Roger Twyford, 1390 



John de Sloley, 1420 



John Tony, 1478 



John de Langham 



Hugh Lovemere, 1 501 



Dr. Stokes 



A 



(if in 



cast of the oval thirteenth-century seal 

 by I in.) of this house shows a finely-cut 

 St. Michael in combat with the dragon. Legend : 



S' PRIORIS . ET . FRATRU . ORDINIS . SCI . 

 AUGUSTINI . NORWICi' 



57-59. FRIARS OF THE LESSER 

 ORDERS, NORWICH 



The short-lived sojourn of the Friars of the 

 Sack at Norwich has been mentioned under the 

 account of the Black Friars. 



The Friars of St. Mary, or ' De Domina,' 

 were in Norwich as early as 1290, for in that 

 year Roger de Tybenham gave them a legacy. 

 Their house stood on the south side of the 

 churchyard of St. Julian, with the east end 

 abutting on the street. They continued here 

 till the Black Death of 1349, which so grievously 

 afflicted Norwich, when they perished, and their 

 house became private property.'" 



The Friars ' de Pica,' or Pied Friars, are said 

 by Blomefield to have had a house at the north- 

 east corner of the churchyard of St. Peter 

 Mountergate. At the time when they were 

 obliged to join one of the four principal orders 

 their house became the property of the hospital 

 of Bek. The master of Bek made it his city 

 house, and their various chanting priests and 

 others lived after a collegiate fashion." 



60. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF 

 THETFORD 

 The Friar Preachers were not established at 

 Thetford until the year 1335, an unusually late 



* Blomefield, Hist. o/Norf. iv, 90, 91. 

 ='B.M. Iviii, 17. 



'» Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. iv, 83 ; Diigdale, Men. 

 vi, 161 1 ; Taylor, Index Monasticus, 45. 



" Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. iv, 96 ; Dugdale, Mon. 

 vi, 161 1 ; Taylor, Index Monasticus, 46. 



433 



55 



