RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Walter, I256 1 



John of Galloway (de Galwythia), circa 



1271, resigned with a pension in 



1283, died in 1289 2 

 Symon de Driffeld, elected 16 August 



I28 3 3 



Henry (de Burgo), circa 1310, died 9 

 December 1315* 



Robert de Meburne, elected in Decem- 

 ber 1315 5 



William de Suthayk, died in 1337 



John de Bowethby, elected in 1337, 

 died in 1338 8 



John de Bewcastle (Bothecastre), elected 

 in 1338, resigned with a pension 

 in 1354' 



Thomas de Hexham (Hextildesham), 

 elected 2 December 1354, died in 



July 1355" 



Richard de Ridale, elected in 1355, 

 custody of the priory delivered to 

 Martin de Brampton, canon of the 

 house, in 1360, during Prior Rich- 

 ard's absence 9 



1 Reg. of Lanercost, vii. 21, ix. 4. 



1 Ibid. ix. 14, xii. 13, xiii. 9 ; Cbron. de 

 Lanercost, 113, 133. 



s Symon appears to have ruled the house for a 

 long period, as a prior of that name exemplified a 

 papal dispensation in 1306 to a canon of Laner- 

 cost (Carl. Epis. Reg., Halton, f. 101). 



* Chron. de Lanercost, 232. There is good 

 reason to believe that this prior was the same per- 

 son as Brother Henry de Burgo, or Brother H. as 

 he was oftener called in the Chronicle of Laner- 

 cost, who was the poet of the house for some 

 time before his election to the priorate, and 

 whose muse supplies a perpetual source of diver- 

 sion to the readers of the Chronicle. The verses 

 between 1280 and 1290 may be regarded as his 

 best, notably his ironical effusion on the subsidy 

 exacted by Bishop Ireton from the clergy in 1280 

 and the accounts he wrote of his detention in 

 prison for three days at Durham in 1282. The 

 versification introduced after 1290 was anonymous, 

 and contributions of this sort ceased altogether 

 after 1315, the year of Prior Henry's death. 



Carl. Epis. Reg., Halton, f. 1 80. 



Ibid. Kirkby, ff. 356-7. 



7 Ibid. ff. 379-80 ; Pat. 32 Edw. I. m. 10. 



e Ibid. Welton, ff. 12, 20, 21. 



9 Ibid. ff. 20, 21, 73. Bishop Welton stated 

 in his commission that Prior Richard had forsaken 

 his post and withdrawn himself to some remote and 



Peter Froste, circa I379 10 



John, 1380" 



William, circa 1385-90 



Alexander Walton, 1434" 



John Werke, installed in 1465 13 



Richard Cokke, received benediction in 



H92-3 

 John Robinson, circa 1534-9 



The seal of Lanercost 1 * is of the usual 

 monastic pattern, pointed oval with the figure 

 of Mary Magdalene on a platform holding a 

 palm branch in her right hand and a covered 

 unquent pot in her left. In the field on each 

 side a wavy branch of flowers and foliage, 

 above which is on the left a crescent and on 

 the right a star. The legend is S : CAPIT'LI : 



SCE : MARIE : MAGDALENE : DE : LANRECOST. 



distant place, and as the bishop wished to provide 

 for the house during his absence, he committed the 

 priory to Brother Martin with the injunction that 

 he should give the bishop, while the prior was 

 absent, or to the prior when he was present, a 

 faithful account of his administration. 



10 Exch. Cler. Subs. bdle. 60, No. i, dioc. of 

 Carl. The value of the prior's benefice was set 

 down at 20, the amount of his assessment being 

 lo/. The canons of the house were Thomas 

 Prest, Richard Felton, John Forth and Robert 

 Estwake, who paid I zd. each to the subsidy. 



11 Ibid. No. 23. Prior John of Lanercost and 

 Abbot Robert of Shap were commissioned by 

 Bishop Appleby to collect the sixteenth granted 

 by the clergy of Carlisle to Richard II. in the third 

 year of his reign. 



12 Jefferson, Leatk Ward, 495. 



13 In the compotus of William Raa, registrar of 

 the diocese, from the morrow of Michaelmas, 4 

 Edw. IV. to the vigil of Easter, 5 Edw. IV., that 

 is for a year and a half, we find this entry : ' Et 

 de xl/. receptis de Johanne Werke (Clerk cancelled) 

 canonico pro installacione sua in prioratum de 

 Lanercoste, etc.' In a similar compotus of Robert 

 Fisher, registrar, from 6 March, 7 Henry VII. to 

 1 1 March, 8 Henry VII., there is recorded this 

 item of episcopal revenue : ' Benedictiones abba- 

 tum et priorum. Et de xLr. receptis pro bene- 

 dictionibus Ricardi Cokke, prioris de Lanercost 

 hoc anno.' 



i* Attached to deeds dated 1310 respecting an 

 arrangement made between the canons of Laner- 

 cost and the priory of Durham, which are now in 

 the possession of the Dean and Chapter of Dur- 

 ham. See also B.M. Seals 3395. Hodgson in his 

 History of Northumberland, ii. pt. iii. 546, has re- 

 produced a poor impression of this seal. 



II 



161 



21 



