A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



it is evident that St. Thomas must have been 

 held in high esteem in the church of Carlisle. 

 At a later period we learn the cause. It was 

 in the cathedral in presence of Bishop Halton 

 that Robert Bruce in 1297 swore on the holy 

 mysteries and on the sword of St. Thomas to 

 be faithful and vigilant in the cause of King 

 Edward. 1 It must have been the possession 

 of this relic that made so great an impression 

 on that king, for on several of his visits to the 

 city he paid special veneration to the memory 

 of the saint. In 1300 the king made 

 his oblations at the altar in the church ot 

 the priory in honour of St. Thomas the 

 martyr. 2 At a later visit in 1307, a few 

 weeks before his death, the old warrior en- 

 dowed the canons with the advowson of the 

 church of Castle Sowerby for the devotion he 

 bore to the glorious Virgin Mary and the 

 relics of the blessed Thomas the martyr and 

 other saints which they had. 3 In 1536, 

 before the dissolution of the religious houses, 

 the royal commissioners reported that the 

 priory had a portion of the Holy Cross, the 

 sword with which Thomas of Canterbury 

 was martyred, 4 and the girdle of St. Bridget 

 the virgin. 



The only relics of the ancient ritual of the 

 priory which have survived to our day are two 

 copes, one of which has been ascribed to the 



Curceio fecit Deo et canonicis regularibus ecclesie 

 predicte de loco quern fundavit in honore St. 

 Thome martyris ad honorem ipsorum canonicorum 

 juxta fontem que vocatur Toberglorie in suburbio 

 de Dun, inter duas vias, quarum una tendit ad 

 Crems, alia ad grangiam de Saballo.' No vestige 

 of the site now remains. Robert son of Troite 

 forfeited his land in Cumberland because he went 

 into Ireland with John de Courcy, but he regained 

 possession in 1207 (Pipe R. 9 John). There 

 is at least one church in the diocese of Carlisle, 

 that of Farlam in Gillesland, which is entitled in 

 the name of St. Thomas of Canterbury. At an 

 early period Walter de Wyndesoure granted some 

 land to the church of St. Thomas the martyr in 

 Farlam, et sanctis ibidem adoratis, a gift which was 

 afterwards confirmed by Ranulf de Vaux, lord of 

 the fee (Reg. of Lanercost, MS. i. 20). 



1 Hemingburgh, Chron. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), ii. 

 129. 



* Liber Quot. Contrar. Gardenb<t (Soc. Antiq.), 



43- 



3 Pat. 35 Edw. I. m. 17. 



4 L. and P. Hen. Vlll. x. 364. Denton, who 

 died in 1617, said that ' the sword that killed 

 St. Thomas was at Ishall in my father's time and 

 since remaineth with the house of Arundel ' 

 {Cumberland, 68). It was probably brought from 

 the priory at the time of the dissolution to Isell by 

 Dr. Legh, the royal commissioner for the view- 

 ing of religious houses, who was a cousin of John 

 Legh of that place (ibid. v. 1447, vi. 1346). 



fifteenth century and the other to the six- 

 teenth. The older vestment has richly em- 

 broidered orfrays with representations of the 

 saints, and the other is of cloth of gold. In a 

 seventeenth century inventory of ' things to 

 be provided, corrected, ordered and done in 

 the cathedral church of Carlisle and about its 

 revenues,' it was directed ' that the two copes 

 be mended and worn by the Epistler and 

 Gospeller.' The date of the inventory 

 appears to be 1685-6. How long after they 

 continued to be worn at Carlisle is not 

 known. 8 



The revenues of the priory varied greatly 

 from time to time according to the peaceful 

 or disturbed state of the border. The value 

 of the temporalities in 1291, which may be 

 taken as a normal period, was assessed by the 

 commissioners of Pope Nicholas IV. at 96 

 19*. ; whereas in 1319, after the devasta- 

 tions of the Scottish wars, the value had fallen 

 to ^2O. 6 The spiritualities, consisting chiefly 

 of tithes and pensions, would fluctuate in a 

 corresponding proportion. The prior con- 

 tributed 4. to the subsidy granted by the 

 clergy of Carlisle to Richard II. in 1379, the 

 value of his benefice having been assessed at 

 jT20O ; each of the eleven canons contributed 

 35. 4</. 7 In the valuation of 1535 the gross 

 value of the spiritualities was set down at ^332 

 5*. iod., and the temporalities at 150 2s. 3^., 

 which make a total of 482 8s. id. The neces- 

 sary outgoings in Crown and manorial rents, 

 pensions, ecclesiastical payments, alms, and 

 fees to civil officials, amounted to 64 4*. 8^., 

 leaving a net revenue of 4 1 8 3*. \d? The 

 alms exacted of the canons by ordination or 

 foundation are of the greatest interest. The 

 schedule enumerates 9 stated sums by ordination 



6 These copes were described in detail by Chan- 

 cellor Ferguson in 1885 (Trans. Cumb. andWestmld. 

 Arch. Soc. viii. 233-6). The manuscript book 

 belonging to the dean and chapter of Carlisle, in 

 which the inventory is recorded, is entitled, ' A 

 perfect Rental of all Rents due and payable to the 

 dean and chapter of Carlisle, A.D. 16856.' 

 Henry Lord Scrope and Bishop Barnes were com- 

 missioned in 1572 to search the diocese of Carlisle 

 for vestments, copes, etc., which had been con- 

 cealed (S.P. Dam. Elizabeth, Add. xxi. 65). The 

 copes shown at Durham Cathedral were regularly 

 worn during the communion service by preben- 

 daries and minor canons until the time of War- 

 burton (Raine, North Durham, 94 ; Stuart. Rev. 

 xxxii. 273). Accounts agree that the copes 

 ceased to be used at Durham about 1780. 



6 Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 3zob, 333b. 



Exch. Cler. Sub. Dioc. of Carl. bdle. 60, No. I. 



8 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v. 275-6. 



Bishop Walter's gift of Old Salkeld in 1230 

 is omitted from this enumeration. For the health 



140 



