RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The priory was vacant on 6 May 1214, when 

 the king bestowed the latter church on Odo de 

 Ledreda his clerk. 1 



In the summer of 1214 four canons of 

 Carlisle were deputed to carry the record of 

 the election of a new prior for the confirma- 

 tion of King John. 2 On 25 August in that 

 year the king informed the archdeacon of 

 Carlisle by letters close that Brother Henry, 

 canon of Merton, was canonically and with 

 his assent elected to the priory of Carlisle and 

 had done homage : he was to be admitted 

 without delay to the office. 3 The Chronicle 

 of Lanercost, which gives his name as Henry 

 de Mareis, adds that the appointment re- 

 ceived papal confirmation in November 1214.* 

 After the death of Bishop Bernard, Prior 

 Henry confirmed the appropriation of the 

 church of Crosby Ravensworth made by that 

 bishop to the abbey of Whitby, 5 and did a 

 similar service to the priory of Lanercost 

 in respect of certain of their churches. 8 



Bartholomew was prior during some por- 

 tions of the episcopate of Bishops Hugh and 

 Walter. He was not only a witness to the 

 charter whereby the former bishop confirmed 

 the spiritual possessions of the priory of Laner- 

 cost, but also granted a charter to the same 

 effect on behalf of the convent of Carlisle. 7 

 This prior did a similar service to the abbey 

 of Whitby 8 in respect of the church of 

 Crosby Ravensworth in Westmorland. He 

 witnessed a charter which Bishop Hugh 

 granted to the priory of Wetheral, confirm- 

 ing to the monks the churches of St. Michael 

 and St. Laurence, Appleby ; 9 and in com- 

 pany with Bishop Walter and Archdeacon 



1 Rot. Chart. (Rec. Com.), i. zo6b. There can be 

 little doubt that the year of the vacancy was 1214. 



2 Rot. Lift. Claus. (Rec. Com.), 16 John, i. p. 



3 Ibid. 211, 2 lib. 



* Chron. de Lanercost, 14. It is probable that 

 Prior Henry was a brother or relative of Richard 

 de Mareis, the notorious chancellor of King 

 John, afterwards Bishop of Durham. Richard 

 had been Archdeacon of Richmond and North- 

 umberland in 1213, when the king conferred on 

 him a canonry of York (Rot. Lift. Pat. John [Rec. 

 Com.] 105). The same person is also found act- 

 ing as official of Carlisle in Bishop Bernard's time 

 (Reg. of Lanercost, MS. viii. 3, 4). Merton was 

 an Augustinian priory in Surrey. 



8 Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. xii. App. vii. 322 

 (Rydal Hall MSS.) ; Chart. of Whitby (Surtees Soc.), 

 i. 43. In the latter reference Canon Atkinson has 

 called him Prior Hugh in error. 



6 Reg. of Lanercost, MS. viii. 4. 



* Ibid. viii. 7, 8. 



8 Whitby Chart. (Surtees Soc.), i. 45-6, 262. 



* Reg. ofWetherhal, 53-5, 67-8, 118, etc. 



Gervase he was a witness to the charter of 

 Ivo de Vipont, granting lands in Alston to 

 the priory of Hexham. 10 He also confirmed 

 a charter of Bishop Hugh to the abbey of 

 Newminster, 11 and witnessed the licence given 

 by the same bishop to the priory of Conis- 

 head to appropriate the church of Orton in 

 Westmorland. 12 Prior Bartholomew died in 



I23I. 1J 



Ralf Barri, nephew of Bishop Walter, suc- 

 ceeded Bartholomew in 1231 and ruled the 

 priory till his death on 9 February 1247." 

 When Bishop Walter confirmed the church 

 of Burgh-by-Sands to the abbey of Holm- 

 cultram on 12 April 1234 Prior Ralf and 

 Archdeacon Gervase were witnesses to the 

 charter. The same prior afterwards issued a 

 charter to the same effect on behalf of the 

 convent of Carlisle. 18 With Bishop Walter 

 and William, prior of Wetheral, he wit- 

 nessed the charter whereby Roland de Vaux 

 granted certain land of his fee in Treverman 

 to the canons of Lanercost for the soul of 

 Robert de Vaux his brother. 18 In 1235-6 

 Ralf de Duffeld and Emma his wife brought a 

 suit in the king's court against Bishop Walter 

 and Prior Ralf for an unjust ejectment from 

 their free tenement in Sebergham, which 

 had been previously bestowed on Prior Ralf 

 by William Wasthose, father of the said 

 Emma. 17 About the same period the dispute 

 between this prior and the abbey of Holm- 

 cultram about the tithe of fish caught in the 

 river Eden was submitted to the adjudication 

 of Walter, Bishop of Carlisle. 18 Prior Ralf 

 was a party to several deeds and leases belong- 

 ing to the priory of Wetheral. 18 



When Robert succeeded in 1247 tne cus " 

 tody of the lands of John de Vipont was 

 delivered to him on the same condition 

 as Ralf his predecessor had held it, the 

 lands having been taken into the king's hand 

 by reason of the death of the said Ralf, 

 prior of Carlisle. 20 On 22 October 1248 



10 Priory of Hexham (Surtees Soc.), ii. 120-1. 



11 Newminster Cartul. (Surtees Soc.), 2167. 

 11 Duchy of Lane. Chart. Box A, No. 412. 

 " Chron. de Lanercost (Maitland Club), 41. 

 Ibid. 41, 53. 



Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 17, 1 8. 

 16 Reg. of Lanercost, MS. ii. 21 ; v. 2 ; vii. 1 8. 

 Bracton't Note Book (ed. F. W. Maitland), 

 No. 1153; Plac. de Quo Warr. (Rec. Com.), 125. 



18 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 20-1 ; Harl. 

 MS. 3891, f. 29b. 



19 Reg. ofWetherhal, 182, 200, 205-6, etc. 



20 Rot. Orig. (Rec. Com.), i. 10. This prior is 

 called Robert de Morvill by some writers, but no 

 contemporary authority for the surname has been 

 found. 



143 



