A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



The bishop's supremacy over his cathedral 

 church cannot be questioned. It has been 

 already pointed out that the bishop and his 

 chapter formed one ecclesiastical corporation 

 and held the lands and spiritual possessions of 

 the church of Carlisle in common. When a 

 division of the property was made and the see 

 became an institution in some measure separ- 

 ate from the priory, care was taken to define 

 the relationship of the head of the diocese to 

 the corporate body occupying the church 

 which represented the unity of his diocese 

 and contained the seat of his jurisdiction. 

 There is little doubt that at the outset the 

 appointment of the prior was in the patronage 

 of the bishop, and perhaps of the king when 

 the bishopric was void. When the terms of 

 the arrangement for the separate endowment 

 of the see were complete, this privilege seems 

 to have been relinquished to the chapter in 

 compensation for the redistribution of emolu- 

 ments. At all events it was not until 1248 

 that the canons had the liberty of electing 

 their own superior. On 25 November in 

 that year, Pope Innocent IV. granted pro- 

 tection and confirmation of possessions to the 

 prior and convent, and especially the chapelry 

 of the church of Carlisle, with all offerings, 

 tithes, and parish rights belonging to the said 

 church, except the offering at Whitsuntide, 

 all the land formerly belonging to Walter the 

 priest, which King Henry gave and confirmed 

 by his charter, and other possessions. The 

 pope also granted to the canons the right of 

 electing the prior and prohibited the bishop 

 from disposing of their emoluments without 

 their consent. 1 



The bishop however did not give up alto- 

 gether his control of the internal affairs of 

 the priory when the property was divided. It 

 was part of the bargain that he should have 

 a voice in the selection of the sub-prior and 

 cellarer, the two principal officers of the house. 

 By virtue of an ordination made on 2 Sep- 

 tember 1249, between Bishop Silvester on 

 the one part, and R(obert), the prior, and 

 convent on the other, it was stipulated that 

 as often as the office of sub-prior or cellarer 

 fell vacant, the prior and convent should 

 nominate two or three fit persons and present 

 them to the bishop that he might select one 

 for the vacant post ; if the bishop was absent 

 from the diocese at the time, he was required 

 to issue a commission within a month after 

 the presentation had been brought to his 

 notice, that the offices might not remain va- 

 cant beyond the aforesaid period ; and that 

 it should be at the option of the bishop when 



Cal. of Papal Letters, i. 250. 



present, or of his commissioned deputy when 

 absent, to select one of those candidates nomi- 

 nated by the priory and to admit him to the 

 office. 2 This ordination remained in force 

 throughout the history of the priory, and 

 sometimes the canons were not backward in 

 keeping the bishops up to the letter of the 

 original agreement. 



A vacancy occurring in the office of cellarer 

 in 1331, while Bishop Ross was residing at 

 his church of Melbourne in Derbyshire, the 

 canons nominated two of their number, 

 Brothers Geoffrey de Goverton and Ralf Gray, 

 and requested the bishop by special messenger 

 to select one of them for the post or issue a 

 commission for that purpose. The letter of 

 nomination was dated 25 July, and the latest 

 time allowed to the bishop for signifying his 

 choice was 8 September. 'Although we are 

 not compelled by law,' so the letter runs, ' to 

 write to you while you are out of the diocese 

 (in remotis), yet for the sake of peace and 

 under protest, lest it be quoted hereafter as a 

 precedent against us, we are directing these 

 presents for this turn.' It is evident that the 

 canons were trying to impress their bishop 

 with a sense of their magnanimity by pre- 

 tending to confer a favour upon him, whereas 

 in reality it was no favour at all, as they were 

 obliged by law to do what was done. In 

 response the bishop appointed the prior of 

 Lanercost and the official of the diocese to 



1 An abstract of this ordination, recited 

 by inspeximus in Charter Roll, 18 Edw. I. (83), 

 No. 26, may be given to illustrate this important 

 point : ' Universis Christi fidelibus ad quos presens 

 scriptum pervenerit, Johannes Francus, canonicus 

 Lichefeldensis, magister W. de Glovernia, canonicus 

 Cicestrensis, et magister P(eter) Legat, officialis 

 domini Karliolensis, salutem in Domino. Noveritis 

 quod cum contencio esset inter venerabilem patrem 

 nostrum S(ilvestrem), Dei gracia, Karliolensem 

 Episcopum, ex parte una, et R(obertum) Priorem 

 et Conventum Karliolensem, ex altera, super . . . 

 Et quocienscunque Supprior vel Celerarius in 

 Prioratu Karliolensi fuerit preficiendus, predict! 

 Prior et Conventus eligent duos vel tres ad ilia 

 officia idoniores, quos presentabunt domino episcopo 

 si fuerit in diocesi, sin autem, infra mensem post- 

 quam eorum electio ad ejus pervenerit noticiam, 

 committet alicui vices suas in hac parte, ita quod 

 ilia officia per ejus defectum non vacent ultra tern- 

 pus predictum, et erit in opcione ejusdem domini 

 Episcopi, quem voluerit de illis tribus Electis 

 admittere et eidem assensum suum prebere. Pre- 

 terea ordinamus . . . Et ut omnia premissa per- 

 petuum robur firmitatis optineant, predictus Epis- 

 copus uni parti hujus scripti, et predict! Prior et 

 Conventus alteri parti, una cum sigillis nostris, 

 sigilla sua apposuerunt. Acta in ecclesia sancti 

 Laurencii de Appleby in crastino sancti Egidii 

 anno gracie MCC quadragesimo nono.' 



132 



