A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Another and perhaps more potent reason why 

 such radical changes passed by seemingly almost 

 unheeded has been pointed out by a modern 

 historian, 158 namely, the poverty-stricken and 

 miserable condition of the inhabitants of the 

 bishopric at that period. War, famine, and 

 pestilence had swept over it time after time, 

 leaving the country bare and desolate, and the 

 poorer inhabitants reduced to a condition of 

 almost absolute savagery. A glance at the list 

 of crimes committed by those who took sanctuary 

 at Durham during the early years of the six- 

 teenth century 159 reveals the fact that murder, or 

 at least manslaughter, was as common in the 

 county then as petty larceny is in our own time ; 

 every man's hand was against his fellow ; and 

 the better sort must have been largely occupied 

 in defending their lives and property, as well 

 from their more lawless neighbours as from the 

 thieves and robbers from Scotland who infested 

 the borders. Moreover, from 1538 to 1540 the 

 plague was raging so furiously in Durham that 

 the people of the city had fled, and were living 

 on Elvet Moor in tents. 160 



This being so, perhaps it is not wonderful that 

 but little notice was taken at the time of the 

 ejection of the monks from their ancient home ; 

 the fact that Hugh Whitehead continued to hold 

 office perhaps served to mask the change, and 

 most of the church lands remained church lands 

 still ; so that possibly the poorer folk hardly 

 realized what had been done. But there can be 

 little doubt that much of the intense bitterness 

 which showed itself in the Earls' Rebellion 

 nearly thirty years later may be traced back to 

 this period. 



The revenues of the convent at its dissolution 

 are rated by Dugdale at 1,366 IDS. $d. ; 

 Speed gives the value as 1,615 J 4 J - IO ^- Out 

 of this property Henry VIII established the 

 present endowment, 161 restoring to the new cathe- 

 dral nearly the whole of the ancient possessions 

 of the convent, except those attached to the cells 

 at Finchale, Wearmouth, Jarrow, Stamford, and 

 Lytham. 162 



After the dissolution some of the monks, 

 following the example of their prior, remained 

 to form part of the staff of the new cathedral, 

 and afterwards accepted benefices under Queen 

 Elizabeth. One of these was William Bennett, 

 the last prior of Finchale. When that house 

 was dissolved in 1536 he went back to the con- 

 vent at Durham, and on its dissolution in 1540 



1M Rev. Henry Gee, D.D. 



159 Surt. Soc. Publ. vol. 5, pp. 190. 



160 Dur. Household Bk. (Surt. Soc.), 337. 



61 Dugdale, Mm. Angl. (ed. 1846), i, 231. 



16> Surt. Hist. Dur. \, Ixix, note. An inven- 

 tory of the plate and ornaments in the vestry of 

 the cathedral, taken apparently at, or soon after, the 

 time of the dissolution, is printed in Arch. Lmd. 

 xliii, 247. 



he became prebendary of the fourth stall. In 

 1571 he was vicar of Kelloe. 163 



He had a brother, Robert Bennett, who was 

 also in his younger days a Durham monk. 164 He 

 became the first prebendary of the eleventh stall, 

 and afterwards vicar of Gainford. 165 



Another monk of Durham was George Cliffe, 

 who in 1562 was rector of Elswick, and in 1571 

 became rector also of Brancepeth. 168 



PRIORS OF DURHAM 



Aldwin, app. 1083, d 1087 167 



Turgot, app. 1087, res. iiog 168 



Algar, app. 1109, d. II37 169 



Roger, app. 1137, d. H49 170 



Laurence, app. 1149, d. H54 171 



Absolon, app. 1154, d. H5& 172 



Thomas, app. 1156, res. 1162, d. 173 n63 174 



German, app. 1162, d. n86 175 



Bertram, app. 1188, d. I2I2 176 



William de Durham, app. 12 1 2, d. I2I4 177 



Ralph Kernech, app. 1214, d. I233 178 



Thomas Melsanby alias Welscome, elected 



1233, res. 1244 m 



Bertram de Middleton, app. 1244, res. I258 180 

 Hugh de Darlington, app. 16 August, 1258, 



res. 8 January, 1272-3 181 

 Richard de Claxton, app. 26 January, 



I272-3, 188 res. 27 December, 1285 183 



163 In his will, dated 1583, he calls his wife, who 

 was still living, 'Ann Bennett alias Thomsoun.' 

 Other instances have occurred of persons, who before 

 the dissolution were vowed to celibacy, speaking in 

 this way of the wives they had subsequently married. 

 (See below, Finchale Priory.) 



M Robert was bursar of Durham at the time of the 

 dissolution. See his accounts (Dur. Household Bk., 

 Surt. Soc.), 1530-5. 



184 Injunctions of Bp. Barnes (Surt. Soc.), 48. 



166 Ibid. 54. 



167 Dugdale, Man. Angl. (ed. 1846), i, 229. In 

 the following list where other authorities differ from 

 Dugdale a note has been made. 



168 Ibid. 230. 



169 Ibid. Sim. says, ' d. 1127' (Hist. Eccles. Dun. 

 [Rolls Ser.], i, xlviii). 



170 Dugdale, ut supra. (Sim. 'd. 1146.') 



171 Hutchinson, Hist. Dur. ii, 69. (Dugdale, 

 'd. 1157.') 



" Dugdale, ut supra. (Sim. 'd. 1158'; Hutchin- 

 son, 'd. 1162.') 



173 Ibid. (Hutchinson, 'app. 1162, d. 1163.') 



174 Sim., ut supra. 



175 Dugdale, ut supra. (Sim. ' d. 1 1 88.') 



176 Ibid. (Sim. 'd. 17 July, 1199'; Hutchinson, 

 'd. 1209.') 



177 Ibid. (Hutchinson, 'app. 1209.') 



178 Ibid. 



179 Ibid. 230. 



180 Ibid. ISI Ibid. 



1811 Sim., Hist. Eccles Dun. (Rolls Ser.), I, xlix. 

 (Dugdale and Hutchinson, ' 1273-4.') 

 la Dugdale, ut supra. 



102 



