A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



our patron shall give us all Linton and " Hwers- 

 letorp " with all the appurtenances belonging to 

 the same vill.' The chirograph then proceeds : 

 • And our prior and his assistants shall build us a 

 church, chapter-house, dormitory, refectory, and 

 other houses of sufficient size, as an infirmary, 

 cellar, hospice, bake-house, stable, granary, barn, 

 and establish a good mill there, if possible, at the 

 least cost ; the church to be covered with shingle, 

 and the claustral offices thatched. The charters 

 and evidences of Linton, and of all our posses- 

 sions, shall be acquired by us. . . . Be it known 

 also that we shall retain with the church of 

 Westowthe carucate of land belonging to it, and 

 the monks shall pay us tithes of land they may 

 cultivate in that parish, in Whitwell, and in the 



demesne lands of our patron All our 



moveables, when we leave Kirkham we shall 

 take away, that is to say crosses, chalices, books, 

 robes, and all church ornaments, including stained 

 glass windows,' for which we will make them 

 white ones. One bell shall remain for them 

 according to our choice. Vessels, and utensils, 

 and necessary articles, whether at Kirkham, or 

 Whitwell, it shall be lawful for us to take 

 away. This, however, is to be known, that we 

 will not depart from our place, or lose our prior, 

 until the things agreed between us are accom- 

 plished. If perchance within a year we shall 

 have changed our place, the property and rents 

 of our church, as they now are, shall for the 

 whole year be in our hands and possession, for 

 the acquittance of our debts. In like manner 

 the property and rents of Linton shall be in the 

 hands of the monks, for constructing our build- 

 ings. . . . Be it known also, that all the canons 

 and brothers of Kirkham now living shall have 

 the same position in the Cistercian chapter and 

 order as monks of that order.' 



There are several points to be noted. In the 

 first place the concession is spoken of in the past 

 tense — 'we have conceded and given ' {comessimus 

 et domivimus), which implies that the interchange 

 was very near actual accomplishment, and can 

 only have fallen through because some or all of 

 the conditions were not fulfilled. Then the 

 advocatus nosUr — our patron — must allude to 

 Walter Espec himself, and not, as Mr. Walbran 

 has surmised. Lord de Ros ' ; but the chief 



" 'Et fenestras ritreas coloratas nobis retinemus, pro 

 quibus illis albas faciemus.' Rievaulx Chartul. 109. 

 A very notable allusion. The Cistercians rejected 

 stained windows. 



' See Rievjulx Chartul. p. xxiv. This is clear from 

 the clause as to the 4 carucates in Thixendale which 

 it is said {Ruvaulx Chartul. 108) 'advocatus noster 

 .tJhuc tenet in manu sua.' In what is called the 

 ' Secunda Fundatio ' of Kirkham, Walter Espec granted 

 the canons 4 carucates in Thixendale, and after his 

 death 4 more carucates of land there {Rievaulx 

 Chartul. 160). These latter are those alluded to as 

 still in Walter Espec's possession. 



point is, what did the chirograph imply, and what 

 would have taken place if its conditions had been 

 carried out ? A clue seems to be given in the 

 final clause that each canon and brother was to 

 have a like standing in the Cistercian chapter 

 and order. This can hardly mean anything else 

 than that it was proposed to hand over Kirkham 

 to Rievaulx, perhaps as a cell, or at any rate as a 

 Cistercian house, and that those canons and 

 brothers of the Augustinian order who became 

 Cistercians were to have the same position they 

 held reserved to them as monks ; while it looks as 

 if a new house at Linton was to be established, 

 where we may suppose that the dissentient canons 

 of Kirkham would be formed into an Augustinian 

 monastery. It must not be forgotten that Walter 

 Espec became a Cistercian monk himself, and he 

 may have wished that his three houses should all 

 be of the Cistercian order. 



In 1 203 ^^ Innocent III ordered that persons 

 presented to the Archbishop of York for institu- 

 tion by the Prior and convent of Kirkham should 

 be admitted to their churches. There had evi- 

 dently been some obstruction on the part of the 

 archbishop, but its nature, or the ground on 

 which it had been based, is not known. 



Gregory IX decided, in 1240," on behalf of 

 the Prior and convent of Kirkham, that the 

 acquisitions of lands made by the Cistercians within 

 the parishes belonging to Kirkham were not in 

 any way to prejudice their right to the tithes. 



In 1253," when the chapel in the castle of 

 Helmsley was dedicated by the Bishop of 

 Whithcrn, the prior and convent protested against 

 it as an infringement of the rights of their church 

 of Helmsley, given them by their founder. Arch- 

 bishop GifFard, on 19 May 1269,'' commissioned 

 Magr. Philip de Staunton, if he saw fit on visiting 

 Kirkham, to receive the resignation of the prior, 

 which the archbishop had deferred doing. The 

 prior, who had pleaded his feeble state, was 

 probably Hugh de Beverley, mentioned as prior in 

 1268. 



On 4 February 1279-80 " Archbishop Wick- 

 wane held a visitation, and issued a series of 

 injunctions. In the first place he ordered that 

 laymen and outsiders were on noaccount to enter 

 the infirmary, except doctors and others whose 

 duty was to look after the sick. The prior and 

 sub-prior were several times in the year to have 

 the carols of the canons in the cloister and else- 

 where opened in their presence and their con- 

 tents shown to them. No one was to accept 

 garments {indumenta) or other things, as the gift 

 of any person, without the special leave of the 

 president, and then such were to be delivered, 

 not to the recipient, but wisely and discreetly by 

 the president to some one else. Fools, low 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 1 3. " Ibid. 187. 



" Archbf. Gray's Reg. 1 1 9 n. 



" Jrchbf). Giffard's Reg. 131. 



" Yoric Archiepis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 1 1 73. 



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