A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



excommunication or interdict, with due respect 

 to the rights of other churches. The liberty 

 of free election of the prior, conceded by the 

 founder, was also recognized and confirmed. 

 Later popes laid down strict rules for the 

 regulation of the priory in its relations to the 

 diocese. It was stipulated by Honorius III. 

 in 1224 that the chrism, holy oils and ordin- 

 ation of clerks should be procured from the 

 diocesan bishop if he be a catholic and in com- 

 munion with the holy Roman See, and no 

 one should be allowed to erect a new chapel 

 or oratory within the bounds of any of their 

 churches without the bishop's licence, saving 

 only the privilege of the Roman pontiffs. 1 



Notwithstanding the privileges of the 

 Holy See, the priory of Lanercost was an 

 integral portion of the diocese of Carlisle, and 

 the bishop's ordinary power of visitation was 

 effective and unimpaired. Again and again 

 was it exercised by successive bishops for the 

 correction of abuses and the maintenance of 

 discipline. The author of the Chronicle of 

 Lanercost describes the first visitation of 

 Bishop Ralf Ireton on 22 March 1281, the 

 year after his consecration. The canons 

 vested in their copes met the new prelate at 

 the gates of the priory, as they had met King 

 Edward and Queen Eleanor a few months 

 before. Having given his benediction, the 

 bishop received them to the kiss of peace, 

 kissing first their hands and then their lips. 

 In the chapter house he preached from the 

 text, ' Lo, I myself will require' ; the preaching 

 being ended, the bishop proceeded with his 

 visitation, 'during which,' says the chronicler, 

 ' we were compelled to accept new constitu- 

 tions.' 2 



There are several monitions on record in 

 the episcopal archives by which intimations 

 were given of visitations by various bishops. 

 Bishop Kirkby gave notice on i February 

 1344-5 that he intended to visit the priory, 

 in head and members, in their chapter house 



1 The whole of these ecclesiastical confirmations 

 will be found in the eighth part of the Register of 

 the priory of Lanercost, where they form an 

 interesting series. 



a 'Finita przdicatione, visitationem suam prose- 

 cutus est in qua coacti sumus novellas constitutiones 

 recipere ' (Chron. de Lanercost [Maitland Club], 

 p. 1 06). This passage is fatal to Stevenson's con- 

 tention that the Ckronicon de Lanercost was written 

 by a Minorite of Carlisle and not by an inmate of 

 Lanercost. The visitation referred to was clearly 

 that of the priory and not of the diocese. He has 

 mistaken the meaning of the passage altogether. 

 The new constitutions were issued ' finita praedica- 

 tione,' when his sermon, not his visitation, was 

 ended (Cbron. pp. vii. viii.). 



154 



on a stated day. 3 The like was done by 

 Bishop Welton in 1356 and 1358,* and by 

 Bishop Appleby in 1368 and I373. 8 



In many ways the bishop of the diocese 

 exercised a pastoral oversight of the house 

 other than by the function of visitation. It 

 was his office to confirm the election of the 

 canons when the priory was vacant, to insti- 

 tute the new prior and to lay down rules, if 

 need be, for his future guidance. According 

 to custom he required the nominee of the 

 canons to be in priest's orders, of canonical 

 age and legitimate birth. Having been 

 satisfied in these matters, the bishop admin- 

 istered the oath of canonical obedience and 

 then issued his letters to the Archdeacon of 

 Carlisle or some diocesan official like a rural 

 dean to induct the new prior into the temporal 

 possessions and to assign him his stall in the 

 choir and his place in the chapter. The 

 form of the oath of obedience to the diocesan 

 is of some interest : ' In the name of God, 

 Amen. I, Brother Thomas of Hexham, 

 prior of the priory of Lanercost of the Order 

 of St. Augustine, of the diocese of Carlisle, 

 will be faithful and obedient to you my 

 venerable father in Christ and lord, the Lord 

 Gilbert, by the grace of God, Bishop of 

 Carlisle, and to your successors canonically 

 appointed, your officials and ministers, in 

 canonical and lawful demands. So help me 

 God and these holy Gospels of God, and 

 this I subscribe with my own hand.' 6 Some- 

 times the bishop dismissed the new prior with 

 the injunction to promote amity among the 

 brethren and exercise mildness, as his station 

 required, in the internal administration of the 

 convent. 



According to the idiosyncracies of the 

 bishop or the necessities of the occasion, more 

 stringent obligations had to be undertaken by 

 a new prior before his institution. Bishop 

 Welton exacted a formidable list of promises 

 in 1354 from Prior Thomas of Hexham 



3 Carl. Epis. Reg., Kirkeby, f. 477. 



Ibid. Welton, ff. 26, 44. 



B Ibid. Appleby, ff. 197, 254. 



6 Ibid. Welton, f. 12. The form of obedience 

 subscribed by Prior Richard de Ridale in 1355 is 

 as follows : ' In Dei nomine amen. Ego frater 

 Ricardus de Ridale, ordinis sancti Augustini, in 

 Priorem Prioratus de Lanercost, Karliolensis dio- 

 ceseos, postulatus, et in eiusdem loci Priorem canon- 

 ice confirmatus, ero fidelis et obediens vobis vener- 

 abili in Christo patri et domino meo, domino 

 Gilberto, Dei gracia, Karliolensi episcopo, vestris- 

 que successoribus canonice intrantibus, officialibus 

 et ministris, in canonicis et licitis mandatis. Sic 

 Deus me adiuvet, et hec sancta Dei evangelia, et 

 hoc propria manu mea subscribe ' (ibid. f. 20). 



