

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



was ready to treat with the Scots when directed to do so by the king. 180 

 The whole bishopric was still smarting under the wounds of the late incur- 

 sions. Raids and robbery prevented the sores from healing. 1 " Society 

 generally was in deep distress, and the king in 1334 remitted the debts of 

 the men of the bishopric in consequence. 1 " So great was the poverty of the 

 clergy that the new taxation of 1330 was enforced in place of the older 

 assessment preserved for us in Kellaw's register. Particulars of the new 

 scheme do not appear to have survived, but as the older taxatio itself had 

 been drawn up only in 1318 to meet the poverty of the period, we have 

 here an indication of the miserable impoverishment produced by the 

 Scottish wars. 123 Many of the clergy in the diocese at this time were aliens, 

 and in 1343 the king demanded a return and specified his reasons for desir- 

 ing the practice of promoting foreigners to cease. 1 " Bury's episcopate is 

 otherwise noteworthy as being the high-water mark of our manuscript 

 authorities for the history of Durham. 1 " 



Bishop Hatfield (1345-81) now follows. Personally he is not so im- 

 pressive as Bek, for instance, though the motto of the hall in the University 

 of Durham named after him describes this prelate as endeavouring to be ' vel 

 primus vel cum primis.' 18 ' His military experience gained in the French 

 wars stood him in little stead, and he figures rather as a political bishop 

 much trusted in matters of state than as a warrior. Within the Palatinate 

 his magnificence catches and retains the eye, but there is a very different 

 aspect of his episcopate due to the circumstances of the time. Its early 

 months were full of rumours of war, and in 1346 the Scotch crossed the 

 border in greater numbers than in any previous invasion, and at a moment 

 when the country was engaged in war with France. 137 Once more St. Cuth- 

 bert's sacred banner was borne at the head of the bishopric troops, which 

 formed an important element in the forces hastily gathered to repel the 

 invader. 188 Probably Durham men had more to do in the winning of this 

 battle than in any other border victory. Yet it was hardly purchased, for 

 loss and poverty crippled the district owing to the recent invasion. 18 ' The 

 most gloomy period in the history of the diocese now began, when the 

 Black Death apparently for the first time was desolating England, and 

 Durham was not spared. 180 One little incidental sentence in a roll of Bishop 

 Hatfield indicates the fearful ravages of the plague, and between the lines 

 of various documents we obtain proof that the death-roll was heavy. 181 The 



" He even purchased an armistice with the Scots ; cf. Lapsley, op. cit. 39. 



01 In 1333 the king offered the bishopric men shelter for themselves and their cattle in the southern 

 forest*. Cal. Close, 1333-7, P- IO1 - '" &/. Pat - '33-4 P- 5 28 - 



ln Taxation of 1318 ; cf. Pat. Rolls II Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 6 of 1330 ; Cal. Close 1330-3, pp. 65, 67. 

 See Hardy's remarks, Introd. Reg. Palat. Dun. iii, p. Ixi, and text of valuation, ibid. 88. For order of 1336 

 Cal. Close, i333~7, P- 7*- 



" Cal. Close, 1343-6, pp. 215, 1*4. '" Cf. Lapsley, op. cit. 319-330. 



" The words come from Chambre's description of Hatfield in Trei Serif tores, p. 137. 



117 The account in Surtees' History, i, p. xlix, is clear and not too long. An elaborate examination of 

 the battle is given in Arch. Ael. i, 171. 



"* For the history of the banner, see Arch. Ael. ii, 57. 



'" Letters from Northern Registers (Rolls Ser.). 



110 Ibid. 399, 401, important evidence for Durham and the northern province. The papal registers for 

 the next forty years give in their concessions to monastic houses conclusive proof of the virulence of the 

 outbreak in the north. 



111 Cursitor Roll, Hatfield, where special provision for a land tide is made in the event of the death of 

 the assigns during the pestilence then raging. 



19 



