RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the dormitory. The prior and sub-prior were to 

 punish faults equitably in chapter, and the sub- 

 prior was to guard the cloister more vigilantly. 

 John de Swaledale, who occupied the office of 

 sacrist against the will of the prior and convent, 

 was to be removed. Geoffrey ' Niger ' of Kilham 

 and Walter de Spaunton were forbidden to go out 

 of the cloister for a year, and Walter, whose most 

 recent demerits had notoriously accumulated, was 

 to be kept alone in safe custody, and on one day 

 each week was to fast on bread and water, till 

 the archbishop should order differently. Geoffrey 

 'Rubeus' of Kilham and Peter de Herrington 

 were to be kept within the precincts of the 

 monastery for half a year, Adam de Wyhton for 

 a quarter of a year, and Reginald de Thyrnum 

 for two months. And by ' cloister ' the arch- 

 bishop stated that he understood the four inside 

 angles by which the dormitory, chapter-house, and 

 refectory were contained. 



On 27 April 1291 ^' the archbishop directed 

 the sub-priors of Kirkham and Warter to proceed 

 to Bridlington and make inquiry concerning a 

 certain Simon, a novice, whose disregard of the 

 duties of his profession as regarded divine ser- 

 vice, &c., had caused murmurs to arise among 

 the canons. 



On 8 October 1295 "the archbishop wrote to 

 the prior and convent in respect of Brother J. de 

 Ockham, one of the canons, whom they had sus- 

 pected of suffering from leprosy, in consequence 

 of which they had foolishly suspended him from 

 ministering at the high altar or celebrating the 

 Lady mass, not considering how full of peril such 

 a censure was, if not made on reasonable grounds. 

 The archbishop had had the canon carefully 

 examined by doctors, who found that he was 

 wholly free from the disease, and he enjoined 

 the convent to admit him 'ad omne genus com- 

 munionis fraterne, illo non obstante.' 



On 25 February 130 1 -2 " Archbishop Cor- 

 bridge sent Peter de Melbourne, who had 

 resigned the priory of St. Oswald's Gloucester, 

 to Bridlington for a time. 



In 1309^^ Archbishop Greenfield wrote re- 

 specting Canon Simon le Constable, who, priding 

 himself on his noble birth, refused to conform 

 to the rule, and as a corrupter of morals was 

 to be transferred to Guisborough, whither the 

 prior was ordered to send him, with a decent 

 equipage, necessary habit, and honest company. 

 In another letter the Prior of Guisborough was 

 ordered to receive him ; the latter exhibited some 

 reluctance in the matter, which is perhaps ex- 

 plained by the nature of Simon le Constable's 

 offence, indicated by the terms of his penance. 

 A rather long correspondence took place in 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 64^. 



" Ibid. fol. 68^, 



"Ibid. Corbridge, fol. 35. 



" Ibid. Greenfield, i, fol. 99. 



201 



regard to the case." The penance imposed on 

 Simon le Constable, while at Guisborough, was 

 briefly as follows : '' he was not to minister in 

 any office at the altar, and was to abstain from 

 receiving Holy Communion. Every day, secretly 

 prostrating himself before one of the altars, he 

 was to say the seven penitential psalms and litany, 

 with grief and lamentation, and continual smiting 

 of his breast, in expiation of his heinous sins. 

 Every day from the prior, sub-prior, or president 

 he was to receive, in the spirit of humility, pri- 

 vately, a discipline. In addition he was to read 

 daily attentively, by himself, in secret, the eigh- 

 teenth and nineteenth chapters of Genesis and 

 the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. 

 From these portions of the Bible which he had to 

 read it is manifest what his sin had been. 



On 20 February 13 13 " Archbishop Green- 

 field promulgated a general sentence against all 

 those who adored a certain image of the Blessed 

 Virgin in the monastery of Bridlington. 



On Saturday after the feast of St. John of 

 Beverley 13 14 ^^ Archbishop Greenfield held a 

 visitation of Bridlington, and issued the following 

 injunctions. The services of our Lady, and 

 those for the departed, and others said without 

 music, were to be distinctly and clearly recited ; 

 there was to be no gabbling of the verses of the 

 psalms, one side beginning before the other had 

 finished. None were to make any innovations in 

 the habit worn within or without the house. Alms 

 were to be duly collected by the almoner, and 

 given to the poor in charity, &c. The prior was 

 to keep convent in church, cloister, refectory, 

 and dormitory, unless looking after notable guests, 

 or otherwise lawfully hindered. The prior and 

 sub-prior were not to license claustral canons 

 to wander about the country. In recreations 

 the prior was to be circumspect, and grant the 

 greater favour to those whom he saw most to need 

 it. He was to take counsel with his canons in 

 difficult matters, and was not to permit canons to 

 dwell, as members of the household, with secular 

 persons without the archbishop's special licence. 



The archbishop, as usual, found the house 

 heavily in debt, and he forbade the sale of pen- 

 sions, liveries, or corrodies, and exhorted all to 

 use such economy that their house might speedily 

 recover itself. The archbishop, while visiting 

 the house on 13 May 1314," admonished Gerard, 

 the prior, that within a year he should cause a 



" All the letters and documents are printed in full 

 in the Guisborough Chartul. (Surt. See), ii, 379-85. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Greenfield, i, fol. 112. 



" Ibid, ii, fol. 119. At a later period Thomas 

 Covell, vicar of TopclifFe, by will dated 1463 left to- 

 the high altar of the monastery of Bridlington %d., 

 ' item offerendos ad ymaginem Beate Marie in eadem 

 ecclesia vocatam Melrose' izd., and also a bequest to 

 the image of St. Eloy in the same church. York Reg. 

 of Wills, ii, fol. 483. 



'» Ibid. fol. 121^. " Ibid. fol. 120. 



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