RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



correct the abuses of that house. The Prior of 

 Bridlington was to take John de Maltby and 

 Stephen de Langetoft from Marton. All points 

 to continued disorder and misrule at Marton, and 

 Melton was not the man to treat lightly such a con- 

 dition of affairs. Henryde Melkingthorp resigned 

 in 1 32 1, and the canons elected Robert de Tick- 

 hill, one of their number, to succeed him. This 

 election the archbishop also quashed, but appointed 

 Robert de Tickhiliy«rf devoluto, provision being 

 made for Melkingthorp.^* The following year, 

 however, witnessed the dispersion of the canons 

 of Marton propter destruccionem Scotorum. In a 

 letter of 3 November 1322^' to the Prior and 

 convent of Bridlington, the archbishop related 

 that owing to the recent hostile incursion of the 

 Scots the monastery of Marton was devastated, its 

 animals and property despoiled, its villages, manors, 

 and estates, as it were, devoured by fire, so much so, 

 that it could not support the college of canons 

 serving God there. He therefore sent to 

 Bridlington Brothers Alan de Shirburn and John 

 de Soureby. At the same time similar letters 

 were sent to Warter for Simon de Branby, to 

 Drax for William de Craven, to Thurgarton for 

 John de Malteby, to Shelford for Stephen de 

 Langetoft, and to Newstead in Shirwood for 

 Ingram de Semer, canons of Marton. This 

 accounts for seven of the members, and apparently 

 the prior, sub-prior, and cellarer, who are not 

 named, continued at or near the spot, for on 

 18 November the archbishop granted licence 

 quibusdam canonicis dicte domus de Marton to 

 remain in a suitable and honest place, and to say 

 mass and divine offices, in places legitimately set 

 apart for that purpose. No doubt they remained 

 in order to superintend the reconstruction of 

 their house, and the repairing of the mischief 

 done by the Scots. 



On 17 July 1351^° William de Wake- 

 field, one of the canons professed in the house, 

 was found guilty of divers crimes, excesses, and 

 errors which are not named. He was then, 

 according to the rules of the order, imprisoned, 

 and Archbishop Zouch ordered that he was to 

 be deprived of any office he held in the house, 

 and care was to be taken lest his crimes did harm 

 to others. He was not to receive or send 

 letters, and other restrictions were placed upon 

 him. 



The prior and canons seem to have been ready 

 to lend a willing ear quite at the last to the 

 royal commissioners, and quit their habit volun- 

 tarily, before they were compelled to do so. 

 According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the clear 

 annual revenue was ;^iSi 5^. ^d."^ In 1527 it 

 was returned as £^2^ ^^^- ^^^^ 



" Yorlc Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 236. 

 " Ibid. fol. 240. "« Ibid. Zouch, fol. 171. 



'' Valor Eccl. v, 93-4. 



" Subs. R. (P.R.O.), bdle. 64, no. 303. (Return 

 made by Brian Higdon.) 



3 225 



In the account of Laurence Beckwith for a 

 year from Michaelmas 1535,^^ the receipts from 

 Marton amount to £2i() $5. 8d., and Thomas 

 Godson, the late prior, is named as being rector 

 of Sheriff Hutton. This was evidently a sine- 

 cure appointment, as Richard Moreton is else- 

 where spoken of as receiving ^^lo as perpetual 

 vicar of Sheriff Hutton. Two of the canons, 

 George Burgh and George Sutton, had bought 

 cattle from the monastery before the suppression, 

 and ' Mr.' George Davy, whom Thomas 

 Yodson had succeeded as prior in 153IJ was 

 still alive. He had, on his resignation, received 

 under the common seal of the house a yearly 

 pension for life of j^ 1 3 6s. 8d. by equal portions 

 on the feasts of St. Martin and Pentecost at the 

 altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the conven- 

 tual church, between the hours of ten o'clock 

 and noon. The house was formally ' sup- 

 pressed ' on 1 9 May 1536, when Thomas Yodson 

 was paid £25 131. 4.d. for his expenses with 

 his servants in London from 2 March to 4 May, 

 with certain legal charges, and his expenses 

 going and returning. George Sutton, one of 

 the canons, received £4. for riding to London, 

 at the order of the visitors, stopping there, and 

 returning. Eight canons, pro vad'tis, received 

 20;. each from i March to 4 May. There 

 were thirty-seven servants then in the employ- 

 ment of the house. The house was finally 

 surrendered by the prior and fifteen canons on 

 9 February 1535-6, and on 3 March 1535-6 

 Thomas Barton delivered to Cromwell a letter 

 from the Prior of Marton. If the prior left the 

 place. Barton wished to have it, as the house was 

 near where he was born, and his ancestors were 

 benefactors to it. It was well wooded and not 

 worth less than ^^200.^° 



Priors of Marton 



Herniseus, occurs before 1 1 8 1 '^ 



Henry, occurs 1203,'^ 1227 ^' 



Richard, occurs 1235'^ 



Simon, occurs 1238^° 



John, occurs 1252 ^° 



Walter, resigned 1280" 



Gregory de Lesset (sub-prior of Newburgh), 



appointed 1280,^* resigned 1286'' 

 John de Wylton, elected 1286, resigned 



October 1287 ^^ 



" Aug. Views of Accts. (P.R.O.), 17. 



»» L. and P. Hen. VIII, viii, 322. 



" IVhitby Chartul. 185. (He occurs as a witness to 

 a deed with Cuthbert, Prior of Guisborough, who had 

 ceased to be prior of that house before 1 1 8 1 .) 



" B.M. Healaugh Chartulary (Cott. MS. Vesp. 

 A. iv), fol. jb. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 128. " Ibid. 



^' Egerton MS. 2823, fol. 43. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 128. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 13, 1 1 r^ 



" Ibid. »» Ibid. Roraanus, fol. <Lob. 



"Ibid. fol. 51. 



29 



