RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



out good reason he was to fast on bread and 

 water on the day following. Wanderings over 

 the moors and in the woods totaliter interdici- 

 mus ab hac hora. 



Each canon and conversus was to confess regu- 

 larly to the prior according to rule. No drink- 

 ing, &c., was allowed after compline, except in 

 cases of necessity, and at all times drinking and 

 food which tended to pleasure or lasciviousness, 

 with any unlawful and disordered actions, was 

 wholly proscribed. Gossiping, which had pre- 

 vailed in the absence of the prior, the archbishop 

 also forbade. Silence was to be observed accord- 

 ing to rule, and no letter received or sent by any- 

 one without leave of the president. Faults were 

 to be proclaimed in love and not vindictively, 

 and not more than was necessary was to be said. 

 Worn-out clothes were to be given to the poor, 

 and no one was to be admitted canon or conver- 

 sus without the archbishop having first approved 

 of his behaviour. No boarder was to be taken 

 without the archbishop's express permission. 



Certain serious defects in church, chapter- 

 house, and other buildings, were to be speedily 

 repaired. 



Corrections in chapter were to be made with- 

 out favour, with good zeal, and the sweetness of 

 charity. All were to obey the prior, and the prior 

 was to direct, and deal with all in true affection. 



A visitation was held by Archbishop Romanus 

 on 15 July 1286,^° when Johnde Lund resigned 

 and was specially commended for his services, an 

 annual pension and provision being made for 

 him. The archbishop, however, found the 

 priory so heavily in debt that it could not con- 

 veniently support its members. It would seem 

 that certain of the goods had been assigned to 

 individual members. This allocation he revoked, 

 in order to relieve the depression from which the 

 house was suffering, but it is not clearly stated 

 what it was that had been done and which he 

 annulled. His injunctions, which are very brief, 

 find no other fault with the condition of the 

 monastery. On 30 May 1 291 ^' the arch- 

 bishop wrote to the prior and convent to re- 

 admit William de Insula, an apostate canon 

 of the house, and two years later (18 April 

 1293),^* as the canons were suffering from 

 losses owing to floods and mortality of their 

 cattle so that they were unable to maintain their 

 customary hospitality, he allowed them to con- 

 solidate the chapelry of Carlton in Craven with 

 their church of Skipton. On 25 October 

 1 320 ^^ Archbishop Melton wrote to the Prior 

 and convent of Worksop that the monastery of 

 Bolton, of their order, had been so wasted by 

 the invasion of the Scots, who on various occa- 

 sions had destroyed its live stock and set fire to 

 its property, that it could no longer support its 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 27. 

 " Ibid. fol. 39. »» Ibid. fol. 4.16. 



"Ibid. Melton, fol. 1413. 



college of canons, or maintain due hospitality; 

 and he therefore sent William de Rotherham, 

 one of the canons, to reside with them for a 

 time, at an annual charge of 5 marks payable 

 by Bolton. In like manner Thomas de Menyng- 

 ham was sent to Nostell, Thomas de Coppelay 

 (soon afterwards prior) to Thurgarton, Laurence 

 de Wath to Shelford, Robert de Ripon to 

 Guisborough, Symon (or Richard)'" de Ottelay 

 to Drax, John de Selby to Warter, and Stephen 

 de Thirneholm to Kirkham. How long the 

 dispersion lasted is not exactly known, but the 

 house seems to have soon recovered, and ac- 

 cording to the account already alluded to 

 of its revenues and reprises from Michaelmas 

 1324 to Michaelmas 1325, the income was 

 ;^444 17^. 4|fl?., whereas in 1535 the revenues 

 were only ;^302 95. 3a'., in the whole, and but 

 ;£2I2 3J. 4.d. clear. 



In 1367'^ Archbishop Thoresby confirmed 

 a chantry founded in the conventual church by 

 Thomas de Bradeley and John de Otteley. It 

 was to be served by a secular chaplain, or fail- 

 ing a secular, by a regular, who was to do service 

 for the souls of Thomas de Ottirburn and Maud 

 his wife, and those of John de Bradeley and Mary 

 his wife. 



On 14 November 147 1 '^ Archbishop George 

 Nevill confirmed the election of Christopher 

 Lofthouse as prior, in succession to William 

 Man', resigned, when the following provision 

 was made for the latter. He was to receive 

 £j 6s. 8d. yearly in money, and was assigned 

 a chamber for his habitation at the west end of 

 the common hall of the priory, with a garden 

 and the easements belonging to it, sufficient fuel 

 to burn in his chamber, and fourteen loaves of 

 white bread called /ez miches, of like weight to 

 those which each of the canons was wont to 

 receive, and fourteen lagenas of the better ale, and 

 flesh, fish, and other eatables, to the amount which 

 two canons were wont to receive. Besides this, 

 William Man' was, during his life, to have a 

 servant to attend him, who every week was to 

 be supplied with seven loaves called le leverey 

 loves, half of them to be of white bread, and the 

 other half de mediocri sive de medio pane, also 

 seven loaves deterioris pants of the same weight 



'" ' Pro frater Symone de Otteley vel Ricardo de 

 Otteley' (Ibid. Melton, fol. 141^, &c.). In 1378-9 

 there were nineteen members of the house including 

 the prior and sub-prior (Subs. R. [P.R.O.], bdle. 63, 

 no. 10), and in 1 380-1 the prior, thirteen canons, and 

 five convent (Ibid. no. iz). On 27 Feb. 1397 the 

 chapter of York (sed. vac.) summoned the prior and 

 convent to appear before certain commissioners to 

 give account of the reputed disregard of the rules 

 which prevailed at Bolton, and on 1 3 Apr. following 

 they commissioned Richard de Skypse, vicar of 

 Slaidburn, to correct the abuses revealed at the ' in- 

 quisition,' but no particulars are given. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Thoresby, fol. 1463. 



"Ibid. G. Nevill, fol. 139, &c. 



197 



