RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



he set was infectious, for his family, kin- 

 dred and descendants rank foremost among 

 those who contributed to the prosperity and 

 welfare of the priory. It would carry us 

 beyond the limits of this notice to refer to all 

 the benefactors who assisted in its endowment, 

 members of the families of Morville, 

 Engayne, Windsor, Denton, Castelcayroc, 

 Neuton, le Sor, Tilliol, de la Ferte, Ireby 

 and others. In common with the other 

 religious houses of the county, the small pro- 

 prietors were as forward in making bequests 

 according to their station as the great 

 magnates. 



The priory was rich in the possession of 

 churches, for over and above the five churches 

 probably all that were at that time in the barony 

 granted by the founder, the church of Grines- 

 dale was given by Richard de Neuton and 

 Robert le Sor, that of Lazonby was brought 

 into relations with the priory by Ada Engayne 

 and afterwards bestowed by her son Hugh de 

 Morvill, and that of Denton by Buethbarn, 

 the lord of the place. Ada Engayne granted 

 an annuity of three marks out of the reve- 

 nues of the churches of Burgh-by-Sands and 

 Lazonby for the souls of William Engayne her 

 father and Eustachia her mother, and for the 

 soul of Simon de Morvill her late husband, to 

 which Christian, Bishop of Whithern, and 

 Robert, Archdeacon of Carlisle, were parties. 1 

 This pension was afterwards the occasion of 

 scandal to the canons of Lanercost, involving 

 them in a contest with the monks of Holm- 

 cultram about the church of Burgh, 2 as the 

 pension out of Lazonby led to an estrange- 

 ment with the abbey of Kelso. 3 The policy 

 of appropriation was pursued with as much 

 vigour at Lanercost as elsewhere. The 

 Bishop of Whithern confirmed to the canons 



1 Reg. of Lanercost, MS. v. 4-6 ; ii. 1 5-6 ; 

 iii. 1-2 ; xii. 26. 



a Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 12-3. It is 

 rarely that we meet with a bishop using such em- 

 phatic language as Bishop Hugh of Carlisle 

 employed on that occasion. He stated that danger 

 was likely to accrue to his diocese by reason of the 

 collusion between the brethren of the two houses. 

 In gross and reckless ignorance of the canons 

 of the church they had made compositions 

 and meddled with matters with which they 

 had no concern and over which they had no 

 power. The bishop pronounced the whole trans- 

 action unlawful, and forced John, prior of Laner- 

 cost, to renounce on behalf of his house the claim 

 to an annual pension from the church of Burgh. 

 Having heard all the arguments and seen all the 

 evidences, he also awarded the patronage to the 

 abbey of Holmcultram. 



3 Reg. of Lanercost, MS. xiii. 25-6; Liber de 

 Cakhou (Bannatyne Club), ii. 351. 



the churches Robert de Vaux gave them at 

 the foundation of the priory. Americ, 

 Archdeacon of Carlisle, issued a licence at a 

 later period for their appropriation, including 

 those of later donation on the death or resig- 

 nation of the incumbents in possession, the 

 canons undertaking to discharge all diocesan 

 obligations. The bishops, when the succession 

 was restored, carried on the tradition. Bishop 

 Hugh was the first Bishop of Carlisle who 

 espoused the interest of the parishioners in 

 the matter of appropriations and made it a 

 principle of diocesan administration, a policy 

 which brought him into disrepute with the 

 religious corporations. He made it the usual 

 condition of his assent that fit vicars should 

 be presented to the bishop for the service of 

 the churches and that a competent portion 

 should be set aside out of the revenues for 

 their maintenance. Subsequent prelates 

 imitated his example, and as the power of 

 the episcopate began to strengthen after the 

 prolonged vacancy, the vicarages of appro- 

 priated churches were taxed, that is, the sources 

 of the incumbent's income were set out with 

 legal exactness in the deed of episcopal con- 

 firmation. The canons of Lanercost obtained 

 ecclesiastical recognition in customary form 

 for the appropriation of all their churches. 



In this recognition of course there was 

 included the papal sanction, an opportunity 

 rarely neglected for advancing the papal 

 influence. The confirmation of Alexander 

 III. in 1 1 8 1 is an interesting document. 

 With alacrity the pope took the church of 

 Lanercost under the protection of the blessed 

 Peter and decreed that the rule of St. Augus- 

 tine should be observed inviolate therein for 

 ever. After reciting and confirming the 

 grants to the priory, licence was given to 

 receive clerks and laymen flying from the 

 world and to retain them in the religious life. 

 No brother after profession was allowed to 

 depart without leave of the prior. For their 

 appropriated churches the canons were author- 

 ized to select suitable priests and present them 

 to the bishop of the diocese for institution to 

 the cure of souls, the priests answering to the 

 bishop in spiritual matters and to the canons 

 in temporal. In times of general interdict, 

 it should be lawful to celebrate divine offices 

 in the priory with low voice and closed doors 

 and without the ringing of bells. The right 

 of burial to all those who desired it was 

 granted to the church, 4 except for those under 



* Robert de Vaux son of Ralf de Vaux be- 

 queathed his body to the canons of Lanercost, 

 ' ubicunque et quandocumque ex hac vita migra- 

 verim ' (Register of Lanercost, MS. ii. 4). 



II 



153 



20 



