A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Ainstable, Renwick, Addingham and Croglin. 1 (4) Deanery of Coupland. The boundaries 

 of Coupland are so well defined by nature that there is no need to name the parishes of which 

 it was composed. In 1292 it included the whole of the south-west angle of Cumberland between 

 the Derwent and the Duddon, together with Lancashire north of the Sands. At some date 

 before the valuation of 1535 the Lancashire portion was dissevered from it and constituted 

 into the deanery of Furness and Cartmel. 2 



While the institution remained a factor in diocesan administration, it does not appear to 

 have been of much consequence in the constitutional history of the church. In whatever 

 way the office was at first filled, whether by election of the clergy of the deanery or by appoint- 

 ment of the bishop or archdeacon, it may be taken that in its later history the bishop of 

 Carlisle nominated his rural deans. As so little is known of the method of appointment, we 

 may reasonably infer that it was not a patent office with delegated powers like that of the 

 official or vicar-general, nor yet a benefice with a territorial jurisdiction like that of the arch- 

 deacon. In the fourteenth century, while we have a very full record of the acts of five suc- 

 cessive bishops, no evidence has been preserved of the form of commission entrusted by them 

 to the rural deans of the diocese. The appointments of these officers were not considered 

 suitable for or worthy of record. But there is one entry 3 in the register of Bishop Welton, 

 perhaps unique in the registers of the English episcopate, which shows conclusively that the 

 method of appointment was by oral declaration or nomination without any writ or designation 

 in writing. It is a memorandum to the effect that on 10 October 1355, Bishop Welton gave 

 authority to John, vicar of Penrith, to be his dean of Cumberland. It is satisfactory to have 

 this solitary nomination, for it is sufficient to prove, so far as the diocese of Carlisle is con- 

 cerned, that rural deans, like chaplains, apparitors and bailiffs, were the personal officers of the 

 bishop, who engaged or dismissed them at his pleasure, and that their duties were regulated 

 by local custom and the will of their employers. It has been thought that it was the delivery 

 of the decanal seal 4 which constituted the office, but as the canons of the church are very 

 explicit on the use of the seal by rural deans, no claim to jurisdiction can be constructed on this 

 basis. The absence of record shows the precarious nature of the tenure by which the office 

 was held. 



If we turn to the recorded acts of rural deans and inquire into the use the bishops made 

 of them, as it suited their convenience, we shall not be left in doubt of the nature of the office. 

 We find no trace of the exercise of jurisdiction over the benefices within the deanery. The 

 deans invariably acted under mandate from the bishop. It was ' by the tenor of these pre- 

 sents ' that ' power was conceded ' to them to transact his business. In these circumstances 

 it may be expected that their duties were multifarious. They carried the bishop's summons 

 to every parsonage warning the clergy of his visitation. When a subsidy was granted in synod, 

 the deans were instructed to collect it. From several of the benefices pensions were due to 

 the bishop, and the deans annually accounted for their collection. When parsons were 

 amerced for non-appearance at synod, it was the duty of the deans to recover the fines. We 

 might enumerate a long list of decanal duties, but all of them have the same complexion. The 

 rural deans were the messengers, summoners, process servers, and tax gatherers of the diocese. 



From what has been stated it may be easily inferred that the decanal office was closely 

 associated with the diocesan registry. Year by year the deans presented their accounts to 

 the registrar. Several of these accounts are still extant at various dates between 1402 and 

 1509. They are all of the same character, each consisting of a schedule of moneys received 

 and paid on the bishop's behalf, the balance going to the registrar, who in turn rendered account 



1 The order of parishes in these deaneries has been taken from the schedules in Carl. Epis. Reg. 

 Halton, ff. 501-2, and Ibid. Appleby, MS. f. 340. Though the benefices were the same in 1292, the 

 order was different (Taxatio Eccl. [Rec. Com.], pp. 318-20). The same rule holds for the valuation 

 of 1535 (Valor Eccl. [Rec. Com.], v. 278-92). 



Compare Taxatio Eccl. p. 328 with Valor Eccl. v. 265-7, ar >d t ' le ma P ^ t ' ie diocese of Chester 

 attached thereto. 



3 ' Prefeccio vicarii de Penreth in decanum Cumbrie. Memorandum quod decimo die Octobria 

 anno domini millesimo ccc mo lv' venerabilis pater, G(ilbertus), dei gracia Karliolensis episcopus, 

 prefecit dominum Johannem vicarium de Penreth in decanum suum Cumbrie ' (Carl. Epis. Reg. 

 Welton, f. 22). Lyndwood says that rural deans were yearly elected and sworn in the diocesan synod 

 (Provincials [Oxford, 1679], p. 85). 



4 No impression of a decanal seal has come down to us in this diocese. But we know that the deans 

 used a ' seal of office ' for certifying the receipt and delivery of mandates, inquisitions de jure fatronatus 

 and such matters (Carl. Epis. Reg. Appleby, ff. 166-7, l8 4~5) 



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