A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



rights and liberties within the city and suburb, 

 refused to allow measures to be tested, abused 

 the power of excommunication for base motives, 

 interfered with the city bailiffs, and assumed the 

 office of a coroner, &c., &c." The abbot ably 

 defended himself, denying the various charges of 

 illegality. These angry disputes went on until 

 at last Archbishop Thoresby brought them to 

 an agreement in 1343.'* 



In the year 1344 Archbishop Zouch made 

 a visitation of St. Mary's. He questioned by 

 what right the abbot and convent received the 

 tithes, portions and pensions from a great many 

 places which were specified. They exhibited a 

 number of papal bulls and other 'evidences,' and 

 the archbishop declared their title good and suffi- 

 cient.'^ 



The public records abound with references 

 to the great Benedictine abbey of St. Mary. 

 The abbot had his seat in Parliament ; exercised 

 jurisdiction over many towns, villages, churches 

 and dependent houses *" ; was frequently in a 

 position to furnish loans to the sovereign *' ; 

 supplied necessaries in the time of war " ; acted 

 as collector at various periods for tenths and 

 fifteenths," papal and royal ; had his London 

 residence and several country houses ^^; and had 

 numerous possessions in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire 

 and many other counties. Licences in mort- 

 main granted to the abbey '"for the acquisition of 

 various properties were numerous, and also the 

 appropriation of churches,^' the royal permission 

 to elect new abbots when vacancies arose, and 

 the seizure and restitution of the temporalities.''^ 

 In addition to manors, lands and vills, 

 the advowsons of a great number of churches 

 belonged to the abbey, many of which were ap- 

 propriated and vicarages ordained in some of 

 them. In the city of York there were seven 

 such churches ; in other parts of the county 

 thirty-three ; and several in other counties.'" 



Indults were granted to the abbot, Thomas, 

 in 1415 and 14 17,'' to hear the confessions of 

 the monks and to grant absolution, imposing 

 penance. This abbot was elected Bishop of 

 Rochester ^ on 7 April 1421. 



'"Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 23. 



"^ Drake op. cit. (small ed.) ii, 231 ; Eboracum, 434. 



" }ilcn. Angl. iii, 566-7, quoting York Archiepis. 

 Reg. Zouch, fol. 9. 



"fiWt. Assoc. Handbk. (1906), 146. 



"Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 30. 



" Pat. 7 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 13. 



"Ibid. m. 28. 



"5nA Asscc. Eandbk. (1906), 146. 



''Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 7. 



"Ibid. 32 Edw. I, m. 22. 



'"Ibid. 13 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 20. 



" Lawton, ReRg. Houses, 3S, 39. 



*' Cal. of Papal Letters, vii, 59. 



" Before his consecration he was appointed Bishop 

 of Hereford by papal bull, 17 Nov. 142 i. (Le Neve, 

 Tasti, i, 465). 



Archbishop Lee visited St. Mary's Abbey on 

 7 September i 534," and issued his injunctions the 

 following year, 1 1 September I 535." He ordered 

 that the Benedictine rule should be strictly kept, 

 and that offending monks should be duly 

 punished. The aibot, whom he addressed as 

 John,'' was charged with being, according to 

 report, too familiar with Elizabeth Robinson, a 

 married woman, of Overton. He was ordered 

 to abstain from all intercourse with her or any 

 other suspect woman, and to reside always in 

 the monastery unless hindered by legitimate 

 cause. The monks were ordered not to wear 

 worsted or other costly garments, as some of 

 them had been in the habit of doing, but all 

 were to wear garments of cheap material and 

 of the same colour. Once a year, in the presence 

 of the whole convent or certain members elected 

 ad hoc, the abbot should render an account 

 of the state of the house and his administration ol 

 it. Wine was not to be sold in the abbey prt;- 

 cincts nor any wine-stand permitted therein, anc 

 the abbot was not to use silk in his hood oj 

 sleeves, nor gilt spurs, saddles or bridles. Thes^ 

 injunctions were issued from Bishopthorpe or^ 

 II September 1535, just a week before the king 

 inhibited the archbishop from making any further 

 visitations." 



In the Valor Ecclesiasticus '* a very interesting 

 account is given of the alms and distributions 

 at St. Mary's Abbey. There was a distribu- 

 tion made daily to three poor people at the 

 time of the high mass, for the soul of William 

 Nesfield and of his foundation. Like alms 

 were distributed on the anniversary of Dom. 

 William Wells, formerly Bishop of Rochester, 

 A 'widow-right' was distributed every Sunday 

 to ten widows, each receiving id. Similarly, oi 

 the foundation of William the Conqueror, s 

 distribution was made to the ten above-named 

 widows and to ten other poor people, called 

 ' Frereright,' and to other poor people in bread 

 and ale, of 105 qrs. of wheat at 5^. per qr. and 

 of 135 qrs. of barley malt among the said pooi 

 and others in want coming to the monastery or 

 Wednesdays and Saturdays each week. There 

 was also the interesting educational charit) 

 already dealt with.'^ 



With the passage of the years the propertiei 

 of various kinds belonging to St. Mary's becam< 

 enormous. In the Taxation of 1291 they an 

 valued at £js^ 3^- 4'^->" and at the Dissolutior 

 the abbey was worth no less an annual sum that 



"forks. Arch. Joum. (1902), 425. 

 "Ibid. 426. 



''The abbot of this date was William Thorntoi 

 alias Dent (Z,. and P. Hen. Fill, xv, 552). 

 " Torks. Arch. Joum. (1902), 446-7, 426. 

 " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 6. 

 « V.C.H. Torks. i, 421. 

 " For details see Men. Angl. iii, 561. 



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