A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



the diocese during the vacancy, had died also in 1186, or had become 

 so hopelessly crippled with debt that he was obliged to resign his charge. 

 The occasion was opportune, as the King was in Carlisle, and as the 

 need was urgent the canons of St. Mary's petitioned him for licence to 

 elect a bishop. The choice of the chapter fell upon Paulinus de Ledes, 

 master of the hospital of St. Leonard's, York, who was known as an 

 honest, prudent and accomplished man. The election was very popu- 

 lar in the city and diocese, and great rejoicing was manifested every- 

 where, for the see had been so long bereft of the consolation of a chief 

 pastor, the vacancy having continued since the death of Adelulf, the first 

 bishop, in 1156. But unfortunately Paulinus was not willing to accept 

 the nomination, though the King urged him to it by the offer of an 

 annual rent charge of three hundred marks issuing from the churches of 

 Bamborough and Scarborough, from the chapel of Tickell, and from 

 two of the royal manors near Carlisle. 1 



It may be taken that King Henry did not despair of ultimately 

 filling the vacancy, in spite of the abortive attempt in 1 186, for a revei- 

 sion to the old condition of ecclesiastical government by means of an 

 archdeacon was not permitted for at least two years. The custody of 

 the bishopric was kept in his own hand, and no archdeacon was ap- 

 pointed to the office vacated by Robert during that period. On no 

 other supposition can be explained the singular entry in the Pipe Roll 

 of 1 1 88 when the sheriff accounted to the Exchequer for the issues of 

 the archdeaconry as well as the bishopric for the two years in question. 

 The sheriffs return gives a welcome insight into the episcopal revenues 

 at this early period. The sources of receipts from ' the bishopric of 

 Carlisle for two years' are set out as the fees of two synods in the dio- 

 cese and archdeaconry, oblations at Whitsuntide, issues of the churches 

 of Carleton, Melburn, Dalston and the school of Carlisle, besides the 

 pleas and perquisites of the diocesan court. It will be seen that at this 

 date the bishopric, as distinct from the priory, was not endowed with 

 any real property, the total revenue, which amounted in two years to 

 52 IO..T. 6d. being exclusively of spiritual obligation. While the cus- 

 tody remained with the King, the whole of the issues, with the excep- 

 tion of a balance of 50.;., was spent on building operations, then in pro- 

 gress at the great altar and pavement in the cathedral church and the 

 dormitory of the canons. The only expenses of a purely episcopal or 

 archidiaconal nature amounted to the small sum of 14.?., which was the 

 cost of holy oil for the Easter sacrament and its carriage from London, 

 the archbishopric of York being then vacant. The King's attempt to 

 fill the bishopric having failed, the old system of administration through 

 an archdeacon was revived in 1 188-9, when Peter de Ros was appointed 



' Benedict Abbas (Rolls Series), i. 349, 360 ; Hoveden (Rolls Series), ii. 309 ; Walter of Coventry 

 (Rolls Series), i. 340. Paulinus de Ledes was afterwards mixed up in an interesting plea about the 

 advowson of the church of Clifton between Richard de Marisco and the Canons of Wartre in 1199 (Rot. 

 Curiae Regis [Rec. Com.], ii. 32-3). 



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