RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



certain canons of Bridlington, who were coming 

 to colonize Roger de Mowbray's new foundation 

 of Austin canons at Newburgh. Hood remained 

 in the possession of the canons of Newburgh, and 

 became a cell of that house, and so continued till 

 the Dissolution. 



In a visitation of that house on ii October 

 1286'' Archbishop Romanus ordered that a 

 refractory conversus, named Roger de Soureby, 

 was to go to Hood, and apply himself to agricul- 

 ture, and hold the tail of the plough, in place of 

 a paid -servant. He was to fast each Wednesday 

 and Friday on bread, ale, and vegetables, and 

 receive three disciplines a week from the Canon 

 President of Hood, to whom he was to confess 

 at least once a week. 



In 1332 Archbishop Melton visited the church, 

 or chapel, of Hood, by commission.*'' Brother 

 John de Overton, the canon celebrating at Hood, 

 and certain lay parishioners appeared, and the 

 commissioners made certain corrections which 

 have not been entered in the Register. The 

 visitation reveals the fact that the church, or 

 chapel, had in some manner parochial rights, 

 and parishioners belonging to it. 



56. THE PRIORY OF NOSTELL 



The origin of the great and wealthy priory of 

 Nostell is not free from obscurity. It seems 

 quite certain that on or near the site where the 

 Augustinian priory was afterwards founded there 

 was a hermitage dedicated in honour of St. James ^ 

 in which a certain unknown number of hermits 

 were congregated. It has been said that the 

 priory of Austin canons which succeeded them 

 was founded by Ilbert de Lacy in the reign of 

 William Rufus,^ and that the order of Austin 

 canons was first introduced into England at Nos- 

 tell by a certain 'Athelwulphus or Adulphus, 

 confessor to Henry I.' ' It is clear, however, 

 that the canons were not settled at Nostell till 

 the time when Thurstan was Archbishop of York, 

 which was not till 1114,^ and therefore, although 

 undoubtedly the first house of the order in York- 

 shire, others, such as Colchester, founded in 1 105, 

 took precedence as earlier foundations in England. 

 That Ilbert de Lacy had in some manner made 

 arrangements for theestablishment of a monastery 

 at Nostell is very probable, but its actual founda- 

 tion must be assigned to his son Robert, in the 

 reign of Henry I. 



The story of the foundation, as told in a manu- 

 script compiled when Robert de Quixley, who 

 succeeded in 1393, was prior, is briefly as 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 50^. 

 " Ibid. Melton, fol. 257. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Jngl. vi, 89 ; Burton, Mon. Ebor. 

 300. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl, vi, 89. ' Ibid. 37. 



* Ibid. 92, no. ii (Charter of Henry I). 



follows." Henry I was accompanied on an ex- 

 pedition against the Scots by his chaplain, Ralph 

 Adlave,' who fell ill, and was detained atPontefract. 

 When convalescent, and on a hunting expedition, 

 he came across the hermits, whose mode of life 

 so impressed him that he decided to do what he 

 could to found a priory there, and when the 

 king returned obtained the royal consent. Ralph 

 Adlave then became an Augustinian canon, and 

 by the king's direction assumed the position of 

 head of the establishment, which then consisted 

 of eleven brethren. Henry I favoured the new 

 establishment, and made a grant of I2(/. a day to 

 it from the king's revenues in Yorkshire, Others 

 followed the king's example as benefactors, chief 

 of whom was Robert de Lacy, in whose fee of 

 the honour of Pontefract Nostell was situated. 

 He granted to God and the church of St. 

 Oswald of Nostell and the canons regular there 

 half a carucate of land where the canons' church 

 was situated, together with the churches of 

 Warmfield, Huddersfield, Batley, and Rothwell, 

 besides other land and property.' 



Henry I' confirmed these gifts of Ilbert de 

 Lacy or Robert his son,' to the church of the 

 blessed Oswald, king and martyr, near the castle 

 of Pontefract in a place called ' Nostla,' in which 

 canons regular had been established (constituti 

 sunt) by Archbishop Thurstan. Besides confirm- 

 ing the grants of Robert de Lacy, he confirmed 

 those of other benefactors, which included a 

 considerable number of churches, both in York- 

 shire and elsewhere, two of which were 

 Bamburgh in Northumberland, which became a 

 rich cell of Nostell, and Bramham, which was 

 made a prebend in the church of St. Peter, York, 

 annexed to the priorship of Nostell. In addition, 

 the king granted the canons the same liberties 

 and customs as those possessed by the mother 

 church of the blessed Peter of York. Thus, at 

 the very outset, the priory of Nostell was richly 

 endowed, and possessed of a large number of 

 churches. The king confirmed all, for the souls 

 of his father, William the Great [Willelmi Magni), 

 king of the English, Queen Maud his mother, 

 Queen Maud II his wife, William his son, 

 and all faithful departed. 



Henry II confirmed the grants again,^" in- 

 cluding some others and that of a fair at Nostell, 

 granted by Henry I on the feast of St. Oswald 

 and two succeeding days. The possessions of 

 the priory are set out hy Burton,^"- and he has 

 prefixed to them an account, derived from the 



' Burton, Mon. Ebor. 300. 



' For the reasons for supposing the name ' Ralph 

 Adlave ' to be an error see note 38. 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 91, no. i. 



' Ibid. 92, no. ii. 



' ' Sicut unquam Ilbertus de Laceio, vel Robertus 

 filius ejus,' &c. 



'° Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 93, no. iv. 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 301-9. 



231 



