A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



may be noted the long deferred ordination of Skipton Church (1326) " and 

 of Swine (1338).'* To the new foundation at Haltemprice were appro- 

 priated Wharram Percy (i 327) and Cottingham (i 338).'' In 1331 Aber- 

 ford Church was appropriated to Oriel College, Oxford.^' Melton established 

 his right of visitation over the chapter of York, in 1328." His liberality to 

 the minster made the completion of the nave possible." The new work in 

 the nave of Beverley Minster was begun in his time and the decoration of the 

 chapter-house of York probably finished. An important document is his com- 

 position with the Archdeacon of Richmond, allowing to the archdeacon his 

 extraordinary powers, but reserving to himself the right of occasional visitation 

 of the archdeaconry." He appointed the ex-Archbishop of Armagh his assis- 

 tant in 1333,^° and commissioned John, Bishop of Glasgow, who was a 

 refugee in England, to ordain in the diocese."' 



A curious feature of the religious life of Yorkshire at this time was 

 the popular devotion paid to Thomas of Lancaster at Pontefract. Since 

 St. William, the county had produced one canonized saint, Robert Flower, 

 the hermit of Knaresborough.^^ A year after Thomas's execution (1322) 

 unauthorized pilgrims were crowding to his tomb ' with as much danger to 

 their bodies as to their souls.'" Melton forbade these assemblies ; but after 

 the death of Edward II Henry of Lancaster pressed an inquiry into the 

 miracles wrought at his brother's tomb,^* and Melton wrote to John XXII 

 about canonization." Archbishop Zouche countenanced the devotion ; a 

 chapel was built on the site of Thomas's execution,^" and Legh and Layton 

 long afterwards found the girdle of the earl reverenced for the assistance 

 which it afforded to women in travail." Another Yorkshire saint who met 

 with recognition before the end of the century was John Thweng, Prior of 

 Bridlington, who died in 1379.^* 



A month after Melton's death at Cawood the chapter elected their dean, 

 William la Zouche (May 1340).°' Edward III had another nominee in the 

 field, and the cause was debated by the rivals at Avignon.'" Eventually 



" Lawton, op. cit. 26 (see note 44 above, p. 34). " Ibid. 603, 'Ducarel's Repertory.' 



" Ibid. 284, 334. "Ibid. 45. 



" Stubbs, Hist. Ch. Tork (Rolls Sen), ii, 416. See also Dixon and Raine, op. cit. 412, 412 n. 



" Stubbs, Hist. Ch. fork (Rolls Ser.), ii, 41 7. The seated statue of a prelate over the v/est door is no 

 doubt that of Melton. 



" Hist. Ch. York (Rolls Ser.), iii, 248 seq. 



"Ibid. 253,254. 



" Lett. N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 299, 300. 



" Matt. Paris mentions miracles at Robert's tomb in 1239 {Ciron. Maj. [Rolls Ser.], iii, 521). The 

 growth of unauthorized devotions in the county is illustrated by a mandate from Melton (9 Apr. 131 5) for- 

 bidding the adoration of an image of our Lady recently placed in the church of Foston-on-the- Wolds (Law- 

 ton, Coll. 298). 



" Lett. N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 323 seq. 



" Letter in Lett. N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 339, 340. 



« Lett. N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 340 seq. « Ibid. 385. 



L. and P. Hen. VIII, x, p. 141. An office of St. Thomas of Lancaster, containing inter alia a hymn 

 beginning ' Pange lingua gloriosi comitis martyrium,' is quoted in Political Songs (ed. Wright, Camd. Soc. 1 840), 

 268 seq. 



^ Lett. N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 420, 421, contains a letter from the Vicar-General of York, dated 

 26 July 1386, on the subject of the miracles reported at Prior Thweng's tomb. See Diet. Nat. Biog. xxix, 

 451- 



" Melton died 5 Apr. (Stubbs, Hist. Ch. York [Rolls Ser.], ii, 417). 



Cal. Pot. 1340-3, p. 1 10 : appointment of royal proctors to object against appointment of Zouche at 

 Avignon, accusing Zouche of treachery and murder. Edward's candidate was William of Kilsby ; Stubbs, 

 Hist. Ch. York (Rolls Ser.), ii, 417, 418. 



38 



