A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



^Villiam de Aslakeby (prior), 1280, died 1293 

 John de Wystow I (sub-prior), 1294, re- 

 signed 1300 

 William de Ailaghby (sacrist), 1300, died 1313 

 Simon de Scardeburg (prior), 1313, died 132 1 

 John de Wystow 11,^ 1322, died 1335 

 John de Heslyngton (a monk), 1335, died 1342 

 Geoflfrey de Gaddesby, 1342, died 1368 ^' 

 John de Shirburn, 1369, died 1408 

 William Pigot, 1408, died 1429*" 

 John Cave, 1429, died 1436 

 John Ousthorp, 1436, died 1466*^ 

 John Sharrow, 1466,^^^ died i486 

 Lawrence Selby, 1487-1504 

 Robert Depyng (monk of Crowland),^ 



1504-18 

 Thomas Rawlinson, 1518-22 

 John Barwic, 1522-6 

 Robert Selby, 1526-40 



The I ith-century seal*' is a vesica, 2f in. by 

 2 in., with a figure of St. German seated and 

 blessing and holding his crozier. The legend 

 is : — 



SIGILLV SCI GER.MANI SELBIENSIS ECLESIE 



The counterseal is a Roman gem carved with 

 the head of the Emperor Honorius and the in- 

 scription DN HONORivs AVG Set in a vesica, i^ in. 

 by I in. having the legend : — 



>-p CAPVD NOSTRVM CRISTVS EST 



Abbot Richard sealed, c. 1224, with a vesica," 

 2| in. by if in., showing St. German seated and 

 holding his crozier and deliveringanother crozier 

 to the abbot who kneels before him. The 

 legend is : — 



(2* RICARd' DEI GRA MINISTER HUM .... 

 Cl'e SCI GERMANI DE SELEBI 



3. PRIORY OF SNAITH 



The church of St. Lawrence, Snaith,' about 

 the beginning of the episcopate of Gerard,^ the 



" That he viras different from the other abbot of 

 the same name is clear from allusions to him in the 

 Register of Geoffrey Gaddesby, e.g. Coucher Bk. ii, 

 372 Sec. 



" Cu'/. Close, 1364-8, p. 449. 



*° Cat. Pat. 1422-9, p. 541. 



"Ibid. 1461-7, p. 550; Vork Archiepis. Reg. 

 G. Nevill, fol. 13. He is also called ' Westhorpe' ; 

 Baildon. Mm. NcUs, i, 196. 



''' Cal. Pat. 1^61-7,^. 534. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Savage, fol. 4 3 3. 



" Cat. of Seals, 5.M. 3 9 8 1 ; Harl. Chart. 44 fol. 1 6. 



" Ibid. 3984, kxv, 10. 



' Lawton {Coll. Rerum Eccl.) erroneously gives 

 'St. Mary' as the dedication (155), doubdess 

 following Bacon in Liier Regis. 



' Gerard's episcopate was 1 1 01— 8. 



Archbishop of York, was granted by him to the 

 Abbot and con\ent of Selby.' Afterwards Snaith 

 became a small Benedictine cell under the juris- 

 diction of Selby.* 'On 14 May 1 3 10 the sen- 

 tence of William Greenfield, Archbishopof ^'ork, 

 was pronounced upon the appropriation of the 

 church of Snaith ... to the Abbot and convent 

 of Selby, and it shall be lawful for them at their 

 will and pleasure to place and remove two of their 

 monks in the church of Snaith, to be continually 

 resident; and by a secular priest (by them to be 

 substituted and displaced) to hear the confessions 

 of the parishioners, and to administer baptism to 

 children, and so perpetually to serve, without any 

 ordination of a vicar.' ° 



Before this ordination the church of Snaith 

 had been a source of considerable revenue to 

 Selby, being valued in 1292 at no less a yearly 

 sum than ^^153 bs. 8</.'' 



A quarrel arose in 1393 between the abbot 

 and the Duke of Lancaster concerning the church 

 and manor of Snaith. It was attempted to 

 include them in the liberty of the duchy. But 

 the abbot maintained his privileges, and on 

 8 October 1393 issued a decree from the 

 chapter-house affirming the rights of the abbey.' 



Shortly after this, complaints were made be- 

 cause the abbot had not caused a vicarage to be 

 ordained, but had simply had a stipendiary 

 chaplain. The whole matter concerning the 

 services and rights of Snaith, and the reciprocal 

 relations of the abbey and its cell, were then 

 settled by a decree, dated 14 March 1409, issued 

 by Richard Pittes, the archbishop's chancellor. 

 The settlement affirmed the complete jurisdiction 

 of the abbey over the priory, Snaith being declared 

 to be ' canonically united to the abbot and con- 

 vent,' - and the decree was confirmed by the Dean 

 and Chapter of York on 30 March 1409. 



Although the cell of Snaith consisted only of 

 two monks, one of them was styled prior, and on 

 1 2 October 1535 an order was issued from the 

 manor court at Snaith ' that the prior, sub-monk, 

 and all the priests of the church of Snaith, shall 

 not go forth from their own houses, or the house 

 in which they table together, after 8 o'clock after 

 noon in winter, and 10 o'clock after noon in 

 summer, on pain of forfeiting to our Lord the 

 King 6s. 8d. for each offence.' ^ 



When Selby surrendered on 6 December 

 I539>"^ Snaith, the dependent cell, naturally went 

 with it, and in the list of abbey pensions occurs : 



' Jacobo Laye 

 £6 OS. od.' " 



nuper priori de Sneath 



' Torre, Peculiars, 1 3 8 1 . * Burton, Mon. Ebor. 40 1 . 

 ' York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, fol. 78. 

 ' Lawton, Coll. Rerum Eccl. 155. ' Ibid. 



' Torre, Peculiars, 1382. 

 ' Priory and Peculiar of Snaith, 35, 36. 



Lawton, Relig. Houses, 35. 

 " Morrell, Hist, of Selby, 113. 



100 



