RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



though the black friars and grey friars exer- 

 cised the greater influence, they were all 

 usually associated in the minds of the people 

 as the four orders of friars. 



The friars minors, having obtained a settle- 

 ment on the south-east side of the city of 

 Carlisle, were not long in starting to erect 

 their chapel and buildings. In July 1235 

 Thomas de Multon, keeper of the forest of 

 Carlisle, was instructed to supply them with 

 twenty oaks as the king's gift for the con- 

 struction of their church, and in the following 

 November the king made them another pre- 

 sent of twenty pieces of timber (fuste) for the 

 building of their houses. 1 



The friars preachers met with greater ob- 

 stacles to a final settlement when they chose 

 an habitation without the walls. There can 

 be no doubt that the statement of the Chronicle 

 of Lanercost is correct upon this point. Soon 

 after their arrival, viz. on 12 March 1233-4, 

 it was stated that the friars preachers of Car- 

 lisle had petitioned the king for a place (placid) 

 in the public highway (strata publica) which 

 lay between their chapel on the one side and 

 their land on the other, and as the king had 

 learned by inquisition that it would be no in- 

 jury to the city or loss of any one if he should 

 grant their request, the sheriff of Cumberland 

 was ordered to give them seisin of the said 

 ' place ' for the enlargement of their houses 

 and buildings. 2 But in June 1237 they were 

 obliged to remove the house they had erected 

 in the public highway without the city (extra 

 civitatem) on the ground that it was a nuis- 

 ance. 3 At this time they must have gained a 

 footing within the walls, for in 1237, both 

 before and after the injunction to pull down 

 the house outside, they obtained leave to per- 

 forate the city wall, 4 or make an excavation 

 beneath it for the purpose of carrying the 

 water conduit of their chambers extra civi- 

 tatem* Their church was not completed 



1 Close, 19 Hen. III. pt. i. m. 7 ; 20 Hen. 

 III. m. 24. 



* Ibid. 1 8 Hen. III. m. 28. 



Ibid. 21 Hen. III. m. 9. 



4 Ibid. 22 Hen. III. m. 14 ; 22 Hen. III. m. 2. 



B Some rectification of the city boundaries or 

 alteration of the walls must have taken place at 

 this period to cause the displacement of the friars 

 preachers. In 1232 the citizens had obtained 

 from the Crown a licence to levy tolls on mer- 

 chandize for two years to help them to inclose 

 the city (ad villam suam daudendam) for its security 

 and defence (Pat. 1 6 Hen. III. m. 4 ; Rymer, 

 FceJera, i. 205). Their position within the city 

 was not changed after 1237. In 1315, when 

 Bruce besieged Carlisle, their buildings are men- 

 tioned with those of the Austin canons as being 



for several years after this date, for in 1239 

 and 1244 tne y na ^ gifts of timber in Ingle- 

 wood Forest for the purpose of its construc- 

 tion. 6 



After the establishment of the houses we 

 have only occasional notices of their exist- 

 ence for a long time, except as the recipients 

 of alms from public sources or of gifts of land 

 for the enlargement of their premises. In 

 1278 the king, hearing that Bishop Robert 

 de Chause before his death left a deposit in 

 the custody of the friars minors within the 

 city of Carlisle, ordered Thomas de Norman- 

 ville, his steward, to repair thither in person, 

 and take it to the king's use in satisfaction of 

 the late bishop's debts to him. Two years 

 afterwards King Edward gave to the same 

 friars six oaks fit for timber out of his forest. 7 

 The Augustinians of Penrith were active in 

 enlarging their borders early in the fourteenth 

 century. In 1318 John de Penrith granted 

 them a piece of land for the extension of 

 their habitation, 8 and in 1331 and 1333 John 

 de Crumbewell made them gifts of tenements 

 and land for a similar purpose. 9 In like 

 manner it was found by inquisition taken at 

 Carlisle on 4 February 1333-4 that Thomas 

 le Spencer, chaplain, might alienate to the 

 friars preachers there a piece of land 240 feet 

 in length and 7 feet in breadth to form a road 

 straight from the street to their dwelling- 

 place. The land was held in chief by house- 

 gavel, and was worth 40^. a year in all is- 

 sues. 10 No licence for the transfer has been 

 recorded on the patent rolls. 



The houses of friars in Carlisle had a share 

 in all the vicissitudes which go to make up 

 the chequered history of that city. From 

 their situation close to the walls, the preachers 

 on the west and the minorites on the south- 

 east, their buildings occupied dangerous posi- 

 tions in times of siege and assault. In the 

 great fire of 1292, when the whole city in- 

 cluding the abbey and the houses of the friars 

 minors were reduced to ashes, the preachers 

 alone, says the historian, were saved with the 



near the walls on the west side, as the friars minors 

 were located on the east (Ckron. tie Lanercost, 231). 

 Leland found 'withyn the walles ii howses offreres, 

 blake and gray ' (Itinerary [ed. Hearne, 1711], 

 vii. 48). 



6 Close, 24 Hen. III. m. 19 ; Liberate R. 28 

 Hen. III. m. 5 ; Pipe R. (Cumb.), 29 Hen. III. 



7 Ibid. 6 Edw. I. m. 3 ; ibid. 8 Edw. I. m. 2. 



8 Inq. a.q.d. 12 Edw. II. No. 57; Pat. 12 

 Edw. II. pt. i. m. 19. 



Inq. p.m. 5 Edw. III. pt. ii No. 109 ; 7 Edw. 

 III. pt. ii. No. 36 ; Pat. 7 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 

 20 ; Dugdale, Man. vi. 1591. 

 10 Inq. a.q.d. 7 Edw. III. No. 1 2. 



195 



