peesident's address. J:95 



Richard I., granted further and very extensive possessions to 

 the monks. After reciting the various properties, the following 

 very suggestive clause occurs. " And we will not that any man, 

 either French or English, shall in any way intromit himself con- 

 cerning the lands of them or of their men, but themselves or 

 their ministers whom they are willing to trust. And since, as 

 we have granted to God and the Church of St. Oswj-n of Tyne- 

 mouth, and the monks of St. Albans serving God there, for the 

 redemption of the souls of us and of our parents, all liberties and 

 free customs which the royal authority can confer more freely 

 on any church we prohibit upon forfeiture to us that any one 

 in any manner presume to infringe the same. Also we prohibit 

 that any minister, that is to say, steward or butler, chamberlain, 

 dispenser, gatekeeper, or reeve be placed in their lands or houses 

 against their will or assent in the time of us or our successors 

 by the hands of any prince or justice whatsoever." 



John and Henry III. both granted confirmatory charters to 

 this monastery. 



In the twentieth year of Edward I. (1292) certain disputes 

 arose touching the rights of the monastery of Tynemouth be- 

 tween the prior and the burgesses of Newcastle. Amongst these 

 various matters that of the fisheries occupied no small space. 

 The dispute, after considerable litigation, ended in its being 

 authoritatively decided that the king had the rights claimed by 

 the monastery. That he " should recover damages. And that 

 neither at Tynemouth or Shields should there be commonly 

 made any exposure of things for sale as food or drink or other 

 things, and that the quays and other things raised by the prior 

 within the flood marks on the soil of the I'iver should be removed 

 at the cost of the prior." 



The king afterwards waived these advantages and ended the 

 matter by granting once more to the monastery all the privileges 

 it had ever enjoyed. 



The peace of the monastery does not appear to have been dis- 

 turbed by any open litigation for nearly one hundred and fifty 

 years after this. In the year 1447 a commission was issued to 

 certain persons, of whom the mayor of Newcastle was one, to 



