A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



competent chamber, with a chimney and other 

 necessaries, to be made for the prior, and for the 

 reception of the archbishop when visiting the 

 priory, under a penalty of ;^20. 



Archbishop Melton held a visitation of Brid- 

 lington on 6 April 1318,'^ and issued a series of 

 general injunctions. One item, that the canons 

 were to keep no superfluous dogs or horses, is 

 apparently the only thing out of the common. 

 The house was then heavily in debt, as before, 

 and the same restrictions and exhortations were 

 made. Rather later in the year one of the canons, 

 Richard de Kirkeby, was sent to Bolton for cor- 

 rection.^ 



In 1321 ** there was another visitation, when 

 a short and unimportant series of injunctions was 

 issued ; but it must have been a time of some in- 

 ternal disorder or mismanagement, for the sub- 

 prior and cellarer were removed from office, the 

 prior resigned somewhat later, and Richard de 

 . Kirkeby was again sent away, this time to Shel- 

 ford, but what was the cause of all the trouble 

 does not appear. There is, however, an unusual 

 and perhaps significant order, addressed to the 

 sub-prior and convent on 3 September," that as 

 Peter de Wynthorp had resigned the office of prior 

 and his resignation had been accepted by the arch- 

 bishop, his seal of office ought no longer to remain 

 unbroken in his possession, and that having sum- 

 moned him to chapter they were to receive the 

 seal from him, and in the presence of the whole 

 convent break it, and reduce it to a mass {et in 

 massam redigatis). 



On 15 July 1324-^ Archbishop Melton held 

 another visitation of Bridlington, when he directed 

 that the sub - cellarer was to render weekly 

 accounts of the daily expenses, and of all kinds of 

 food. All were to abstain from inviting 

 strangers, and to refrain from all superfluous 

 expenses; whatever was left of the food in the 

 refectory or other places was to be given as alms 

 to the needy poor. 



On 3 January 1362-3*^ Archbishop Thoresby 

 issued a commission to confirm the election of a 

 prior who was destined, not long after his death, 

 to receive formal canonization. JohndeThweng 

 belonged to an old Yorkshire family which de- 

 rived its name from Thwing, a small parish in 

 the East Riding. The Thwengs also owned 

 Kilton and Kirkleatham in Cleveland, and another 

 member of the family rendered himself conspi- 

 cuous,"^ as patron of the church of Kirkleatham, 

 in opposing the papal encroachment on the rights 

 of patrons. Members of the family were bene- 

 factors to the priory of Guisborough, and a 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 273. 



" Ibid. fol. 228. " Ibid. fol. 2853. 



"Ibid. fol. 285. « Ibid. fol. 2963. 



'" Ibid. Thoresby, fol. 20-b. 



" Sir Robert de Thweng, temp. Henry III ; see 

 Burton, iilon. Ebor. 4^, and elsewhere, as to him and 

 the action he took. 



shield bearing their arms (three popinjays) is 

 still to be seen carved on the splay of the noble 

 east window of the priory church there. 



John de Thweng was noted for his sincere 

 piety and genuine goodness of life. He ruled 

 the priory with zealous care for many years, and 

 soon after his death stories began to be told of 

 miracles he had wrought in his lifetime, and of 

 others which had taken place at his tomb. 

 Eventually Archbishop Alexander Nevill ** issued 

 a commission to inquire into the matter, which 

 reported to the pope, and on 24 September 

 1 40 1 ^ Pope Boniface IX issued a decree 

 formally canonizing the late Prior of Bridlington, 

 who was henceforth known as St. John of 

 Bridlington. In the decree the pope declared 

 that the Blessed John, sometime prior of the 

 Augustinian priory of Bridlington, although 

 born of honourable parents,'^ had from his tender 

 years frequented churches. Before he had com- 

 pleted his fourteenth year he had made his 

 profession as a canon of Bridlington. After 

 being promoted to holy orders he filled divers 

 offices, and was elected prior, showing an example 

 of a severe and holy life. The pope mentions 

 some miracles worked by him before and after 

 his death, viz., the multiplication of corn in the 

 priory barn, his walking on the sea to rescue 

 certain men in a rowing-boat caught in a storm, 

 his raising to life five persons. He had healed a 

 woman ill of the plague, a cousin of one of the 

 canons, also a halt and impotent man, as well 

 as others possessed with devils, and others deaf 

 and dumb. For other of his miracles the pope 

 referred the faithful to the authentic books in 

 which they were set forth, and for a proof of 

 them to the votive offerings at the tomb and 

 the pictures {ymagines) placed there. Further 

 the pope ordained 10 October, the day of his 

 death, as his feast day, and for his office the 

 office of a confessor, not a bishop. To all peni- 

 tents who on the saint's feast day visited his 

 sepulchre the pope granted relaxation of seven 

 years and seven quadraginae of enjoined penance. 

 The body of the saint was removed to a 

 shrine at the back of the high altar, which 

 became a place of pilgrimage. In this case, 

 without accepting the marvels recorded in the 

 papal decree, Bridlington's sainted prior was 

 much more worthy of the distinction than others 

 elsewhere. Possibly because of the glory which 

 St. John's life shed on the house of which he 

 had but recently been prior. Pope Alexander V" 

 on 1 5 October 1 409 granted that Prior Thomas 

 and his successors should wear the mitre, ring, 

 and other pontifical insignia in the priory and 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Alex. Nevill, fol. 99. 



" Ca/. of Papal Letters, v, 458. 



" The inference intended would seem to be that, 

 although born to a life of ease and comfort, he had 

 devoted it to religion. 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, vi, 161. 



202 



