RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



is a list of questions to be put at a visitation of 

 Selby in 1343.''* These questions are too long 

 to be quoted in full, but they are very important 

 in showing that besides the personal inquiries 

 into matters wrhich might come under the visi- 

 tor's notice on these occasions, a series of ques- 

 tions had to be formally replied to, very probably 

 in writing. The questions proposed to the 

 abbey of Selby on this occasion included 

 inquiries such as whether the abbot or prior 

 was circumspect in all matters, whether after 

 the notice of the visitation or the rumour that 

 it would be held became known the president 

 had in any way imposed silence as to any matters, 

 and whether the conversi as well as the brethren 

 had been summoned. Then come questions as 

 to silence, correction of abuses, immorality, 

 &c. Two questions at the end are of interest : 

 one is whether all go to confession at least 

 once a month, and the other whether all re- 

 ceive the Sacrament on the first Sunday in the 

 month. 



In 1 3 8 O- 1 ^° the abbot was taxed at ;^9 \2s.1\d. 

 and there were twenty-five monks, each taxed at 

 3.. ^d.^' 



In 1393 ^' Pope Boniface IX granted a relaxa- 

 tion of enjoined penance to penitents who 

 visited and gave alms for the conservation of the 

 chapel of the Holy Cross in the Benedictine 

 monastery of Selby. 



The Abbots of Selby were from early times 

 summoned to Parliament. The privilege was 

 not always appreciated, and when Abbot 

 Geoffrey de Gaddesby was summoned to the 

 Parliament of 1 8 Edward I, he excused himself 

 personal attendance owing to his feebleness of 

 body and sent one of his monks, Walter de 

 Haldenby, with Thomas de Brayton, clerk, to 

 represent him.^® 



In the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 ^° the total 

 value is set down at j^JK) 2s. 6^d. Among 

 the reprises the following alms are mentioned : — 

 6 quarters of fine grain at 51. the quarter, and 

 3 oxen distributed in pieces to the poor, of the 

 foundation of William the Conqueror, jos. in 

 all ; money given to poor and indigent strangers 

 yearly 4.0s. ; money annually given to poor 

 persons coming within the cloister of the monas- 

 tery on Maundy Thursday, of the foundation of 

 William the Conqueror, 4.0s.; also 5 Oi. similarly 

 given yearly on the anniversary of Walter 

 ' Skirley,' Bishop of Durham. 



In the kitchener's office an heifer or two swine 

 were given to the poor on the Monday before 



" ' Selby Chartul.' (P.R.O.), fol. 4. 



"In 14 Hen. VIII the clear annual value of 

 Selby was reckoned at £606 12s. 6d. (Subs. R. 64, 

 no. 300). 



^* Subs. R. 63, no. 12. 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 455. 

 ■ " ' Selby Chartul.' fol. 6. 



"' Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 12-14. 



Lent and on Maunday Thursday a ' mase ' '*' of 

 herrings worth bs. 



The abbey was surrendered on 6 December 

 1539, and the surrender enrolled on 6 February 

 following. There were twenty-three monks 

 besides the abbot, Robert Selby alias Roger (not 

 Rogers), including Robert Mydley the prior, and 

 James Laye, Prior of Snaith. Twenty-two 

 were priests and two were acolytes only. The 

 abbot received a pension of j^ 1 00 a year, the 

 prior jTS, the others £i) 6s. 8d., £6, or ^^5 each, 

 the two acolytes receiving only 53s. 4^. a year. 



Abbots of Selby ^^ 



Benedict, 1069-97 

 Hugh de Lacy, 1097-1123 

 Herbert, 1 123-7 

 Durand, 1127-37 '^ 



(A vacancy of two years) 



Walter, 1139-43 ^^ 

 Helias Paynel, 1143-53 

 German, 1153-60 

 Gilbert de Vere, 1160-84 



(A vacancy 1184-9) 



Roger de London, 1189-95 

 Richard P^ (prior), 1195-1214 

 Alexander, 1 2 1 4 '*" -2 1 '^ 

 Richard, 1221,'^" resigned 1223'''' 

 Richard (sub-prior of Selby), 1223 '' 

 Hugh de Drayton, 1245, died 1254 

 Thomas de Whalley, 1254, deprived 1263 

 David de Cawod, 1263-9 

 Thomas de Whalley," restored 1270, deprived 

 again 1280 



'"According to Whkaker's Almanack (1908), 452, 

 herrings are still sold on the west coast of Scotland, 

 the Isle of Man, and Ireland by the ' Maze,' which 

 consists of five long hundreds of 123 each. ' Of 

 course, the older measure in Yorkshire may possibly 

 have been different in quantity. 



" This list is practically that in the Coucher Bk. 

 of Selby, i, index, 402, checked by the Calendars of 

 Patent Rolls. A few additional particulars are given 

 as to some of the abbots. 



'^ Resigned under compulsion and became a Cluniac; 

 Coucher Bk. of Selby, i [29]. 



'^ Formerly Prior of Pontefract (a Cluniac house) ; 

 ibid. [21]. 



"Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iii, 495. 



''^ P.ot. Lit. Pat. (Rec. Com.), i, 125. 



'' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. iii, 496. In 1221 the 

 abbot resigned on account of old age, and was suc- 

 ceeded by Richard, Prior of St. Ives, a cell of Ramsey. 



"= Ibid. 



"•^ He entered a stricter order in 1223 ; Cal. Pat. 

 1216-25, P- 363- 



" Ibid. 364. After him, and before Hugh, Burton 

 and others insert Alexander, but from Dugdale, Mon. 

 Angl. iii, 496, it appears he was prior, not abbot. 



"In 1270 not 1269; Archbishop Giffard's Reg. 

 (Surt. Soc), 217. 



99 



