A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



The constant raids of the Scots greatly 

 damaged the property of the canons.^^ In 1276, 

 before the wars with Scotland began, the goods, 

 temporal and spiritual, of the house (excluding 

 their property in Scotland) were valued at 2,000 

 marks.^' Sixteen years later they were heavily 

 in debt, and in 1328 commissioners appointed to 

 inquire into the matter certified that £16 ^* was 

 all that the canons could be fairly called upon to 

 contribute as their share of the tenth on their 

 temporal property in Yorkshire. 



Besides the property in the more immediate 

 neighbourhood, the canons received gifts of land 

 in Lincolnshire, Cumberland, and elsewhere, 

 especially in Annandale, where Robert Brus, 

 lord of Annandale, second son of their founder, 

 gave them the churches of Annan, Lochmaben, 

 Kirkpatrick, Cummertrees, Redkirk, and Gretna, 

 with dependent chapels.'' From Ivo de Char- 

 chem, or Karkem, they received, between 1180 

 and 1 1 90, the church of Hessle, in the East 

 Riding." 



In 1280 Archbishop Wickwane found much 

 that needed correction ; '' in the first place he 

 ordered the rule of St. Augustine to be strictly 

 followed. No one was to go outside the cloister 

 after compline, for the sake of frivolity [causa 

 lasciviae) or drinking, under the pretext of enter- 

 taining guests. The canons were not to keep 

 expensive schools for rich or poor, unless the 

 Chancellor of York deemed that it would be for 

 the good of the monastery. The infirmary was 

 filled with persons shamming illness. These were 

 to be turned out and punished, and the really 

 sick treated with greater compassion. In the 

 refectory the food was to be all of one kind and 

 divided equally. Alms were not to be bestowed 

 on unworthy subjects, and a costly and extrava- 

 gant household was to be put down at once. 



Silence was to be observed more strictly in the 

 cloister, whilst in the quire all were enjoined to 

 take part in the praises of God. Any who were 

 silent in quire were to be forthwith expelled by 

 the rulers of the quire and their attendants un- 

 less excused by illness. In their recreation the 

 canons were adjured in Christ to prefer discourses 

 that tended to edify, rather than scurrilous or 

 lewd tales. Keeping accounts was to be com- 

 mitted to the charge of young and sharp-witted 

 men, who would clearly understand what was 

 going on. Quarrels were to be avoided, and 

 instead of proclaiming neighbours' faults each 

 was to speak for himself. Gifts were not to be 

 received without the superior's leave, and were 

 at once to be assigned to common use. Expedi- 

 tions outside the priory were strictly forbidden, 

 unless in accordance with the rule. Agents 

 who became rapidly enriched by managing the 



" Guisbonugh Chartul. ii, Introd. p. ix. 



" Ibid, i, 102, no. ccxix. 



" Ibid, ii, Inuod. p. ix n. " Ibid, ii, 340-5 2. 



'*Ibid. 255. ''Ibid. Introd. p. xiv. 



manors were to be removed at once. The 

 conversi, if skilled in the management of temporal 

 affairs, were to be made use of, so that their 

 sagacity might avail to the benefit of the house. 



The prior was not to be too lenient or, worse 

 still, fearful in correcting, but, as a considerate 

 and prudent prelate, was to instruct and teach 

 the flock committed to his charge. The sub- 

 prior, in hearing confessions and in other matters 

 which belonged to his ofKce, was to act with 

 such moderation and care that at the Last Judge- 

 ment he might receive a recompense full of 

 peace. Certain canons, William de Beverley, 

 Stephen de Kyrkeby, William de Scelton, Walter 

 de Stocton, and John de Salkoc, the first four of 

 whom had already been blamed in the earlier 

 part of the decretum, and who had made them- 

 selves notorious for quarrelling and caballing, were 

 debarred from promotion and were committed to 

 the prior and sub-prior for condign punishment. 

 Finally, the archbishop exhorted all, by the wit- 

 ness of the Cross, not to rejoice in or hasten 

 one another's fall, but to show true compassion 

 in all things, with all fear lest a like calamity 

 should befall themselves. 



The most important event in the earlier his- 

 tory of the priory is undoubtedly the fire in 

 1289, by which the conventual church was 

 completely destroyed, when, according to Walter 

 of Hemingburgh," a number of most valuable 

 books on theology, as well as nine chalices, the 

 vestments, and sumptuous images, perished, owing 

 to the carelessness of a plumber who with his 

 two men had gone to repair the roof of the build- 

 ing, and left the fire not properly extinguished 

 in the roof. The wind blowing the sparks 

 about set fire to the beams. In consequence of 

 this disaster the prior and convent petitioned " 

 the king for licence to impropriate their churches 

 of Easington, Benningholme, and Heslerton, 

 and licence was granted 18 Edward I (1290) 

 for that purpose, but the impropriation does not 

 appear to have taken place.^" The reparation of 

 the church must have taken a considerable time, 

 for in 1309 Archbishop Greenfield granted an 

 indulgence of forty days to all who contributed 

 to the rebuilding of the conventual church, 

 which by the sudden fury of a fire had been 

 devoured, together with the buildings, books, and 

 other properties of the convent. In 1 31 1 

 Richard de Kellaw, Bishop of Durham, granted 

 a similar indulgence on account of the fire.^' 



^^ Guisbonugh Chartul. ii, 353, where Heming- 

 burgh's account is reprinted in full. 



" Anct. Pet. 1 5 4 1 4. " Guisbonugh Chartul. 354. 



"The canons also excused themselves to Edward II 

 from granting a livery {liberationem) to Robert de Ry- 

 burgh, who was named for it by the king (in place of 

 Henry le Charecter, who had previously held it on the 

 nomination of Edward I), on the score of their im- 

 poverishment owing to the fire and the raids of the 

 Scots, &c ; ibid. 356. 



210 



