A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



neighbouring church of Burgh-by-Sands was 

 bestowed by Hugh de Morvill for the purpose 

 of finding lights, wine and all things neces- 

 sary for the adornment of the abbey church, 

 the ministers of the altar and the sacraments 

 of Christ. In sanctioning the appropriation 

 Bishop Hugh provided that the monks should 

 appoint a fit vicar to have the cure of souls 

 and pay episcopal dues, and assign him a 

 competent maintenance. 1 Burgh-by-Sands 

 was the only church in England that the 

 monks possessed till 1332, when the Lady 

 Margaret de Wigton gave them the church 

 of Wigton in consideration of their great 

 losses by the perpetual forays of the Scots. 

 For this grant the house was under obligation 

 to find four monks of the Order to celebrate 

 divine offices daily in the abbey church and 

 to found a chantry of two secular chaplains 

 to do the same at Wigton. 2 The relations 

 of the abbey with the Scottish church of 

 Kirkwynny were often disturbed by political 

 or ecclesiastical contingencies. In a roll 

 dated 17 June 1391, presented to the 

 anti-pope Clement VII., it was stated 

 that this church, which used to be served by 

 one of the monks of Holme, had been for 

 some time neglected and committed to lay- 

 men ; it was therefore petitioned that the 

 monastery of Glenluce might serve it. 3 

 This church was committed to Holm- 

 cultram free of synodals and all episcopal 

 burdens by Joceline and other Bishops of 

 Glasgow. 1 



Though the papal bulls are lengthy and 

 numerous, there is little of special or local 

 interest in the privileges which the monks 

 of this house enjoyed. By these bulls 8 

 the bishop in whose parochia the abbey 

 was founded was prohibited to call the abbot 

 or monks to synods or outside conferences ; 

 nor should he presume to visit the monastery 

 for the purpose of celebrating orders, trying 

 causes, or calling public assemblies ; nor 

 should he meddle with the election, institu- 

 tion, or removal of an abbot contrary to the 

 statutes of the Order. But the bishop should 

 be requested with becoming respect to give 

 benediction to new abbots, and on these 

 occasions the abbots were instructed not to 

 go beyond the form of profession allowed by 

 the Cistercian institutes. In the matter of 



1 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 13-7. 



2 Pat. 6 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 12 ; Carl. Epis. 

 Reg., Kirkby, ff. 245-9, 280-1 ; Dugdale, Man. 

 v. 599. 



3 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 576. 



4 Reg. of Holmcultram, MS. ff. 108-10. 



6 Ibid. ff. 239 et seq. ; Dugdale, Monasticon, v. 

 599-603. 



the consecration of altars, churches and holy 

 oil, the ordination of monks, or of any other 

 ecclesiastical sacrament, the diocesan bishop 

 would bestow all these things upon them. 

 In 1357 Hugh Pelegrini, the papal nuncio, 

 requested Bishop Welton to search his regis- 

 ters carefully and make a report on the num- 

 ber of churches, monasteries and other places 

 in his diocese exempt from episcopal jurisdic- 

 tion and immediately subject to the Holy 

 See. The bishop replied that there were no 

 such places in his diocese except the monas- 

 tery of Holmcultram of the Cistercian Order 

 and the monastery of Shap of the Premon- 

 stratensian Order. 6 Notwithstanding this im- 

 munity it was usual for the abbot to attend 

 at Carlisle soon after his election and make 

 his profession of canonical obedience. 7 In the 

 ordination lists of the diocese of Carlisle the 

 monks of this house are found in compara- 

 tively large numbers. 



The abbey of Melrose was brought into 

 intimate relations with Holmcultram, and 

 often exercised an effective jurisdiction over 

 the affairs of the monastery. Its influence in 

 the choice of an abbot must have been con- 

 siderable, inasmuch as no election could be 

 canonically conducted without the presence 

 of the abbot of the mother house. When 

 Abbot Robert died in 1318 the convent peti- 

 tioned the king for a safe conduct for the 

 abbot of Melrose to attend the election of his 

 successor, as the abbey, being domus fihalh 

 domfis de M euros in Scocia, could not other- 

 wise fill the vacant post. 8 In various ways 

 we see the subjection of Holmcultram to the 

 Scottish house. In 1326-7 the abbot ob- 

 tained licence from Edward III. to visit Scot- 

 land during the truce on the ground that he 

 wished to survey his grange in Galloway and 



6 Carl. Epis. Reg., Welton, f. 33. The house of 

 Shap belonged to the Order of White Canons, 

 who lived after the reformed rule of St. Austin 

 and wore a white habit. The Order took its 

 territorial name from Premonstre in the diocese of 

 Laon in Picardy, where the rule was first used. 



7 As the abbey of Holmcultram was a papal 

 peculiar, the form of canonical profession to the 

 Bishop of Carlisle is interesting : ' Obediencia 

 abbatis de Holmo facta xxiiij die Augusti, anno 

 etc. (mccc) lxv. Ego, frater Robertus Raw- 

 bankes, abbas de Holmcultram, Cisterciensis 

 ordinis, subiectionem, reverenciam, et obedienciam 

 a sanctis patribus constitutam secundum regulam 

 Sancti Benedicti tibi, pater Episcope, tuisque 

 successoribus canonice substituendis, et ecclesie 

 tue Karliolensi, ac sacrosancte sedi apostolice, salvo 

 ordine meo, perpetuo me exhibiturum promitto' 

 (Carl. Epis. Reg., Appleby, f. 144). 



8 Pat. 12 Edw. II. pt. i, m. 28; Rymer, 

 Fcedera (new ed.), ii. 370. 



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