A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



manuscript before mentioned, of the growth of 

 the monastic buildings under the successive 

 priors. The site was changed, at a very early 

 date, to one a little northward of the original 

 chapel or church of St. Oswald, by authority of 

 a bull of Calixtus 11.'^ The change was made 

 to bring the monastery nearer to a certain pool, 

 often referred to in the charters. 



In 1 1 53" Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, 

 then lord of Pontefract, disputed the canons' 

 right to the site on which they were building 

 the house. But he relinquished his claim when 

 he joined the Crusade. 



The priory had no less than five cells 

 attached to it, the two more important being 

 Bamburgh in Northumberland, and Breedon in 

 Leicestershire. A third was that of Hirst in the 

 Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire, and the two 

 others those of Woodkirk otherwise Erdislaw, 

 and Scokirk otherwise Tockwith in York. 

 Much of the revenues of the priory was derived 

 from Bamburgh, and when, at times, the reve- 

 nues from Bamburgh failed, owing to Scottish 

 raids, the priory felt the loss severely. 



The churches which the canons possessed in 

 whole or part numbered over thirty, besides 

 others from which they received a pension, or 

 of which they only possessed part.'* 



In 1312," when Prior William de Birstall 

 resigned, the produce of Bamburgh was sold for 

 ^^383 IIJ. <^d. The priory had then a large 

 number of servants, viz., eleven in the malt- 

 house and bakery, five in the kitchen, besides the 

 master and cook, three in the brewhouse, nine in 

 the smithy and carpenter's shop, five carriers, 

 sixteen ploughmen, besides others at manors, 

 making in all seventy-seven. In autumn the 

 reapers' expenses ran tO;^i,274, and the kitchen 

 expenses ;f 224 i8j. 4a'., besides what was taken 

 out of the stores. The farm stock included 

 2,540 sheep, 100 cows, four bulls, seventy-two 

 oxen, sixty-one heifers, and thirty-three calves. 

 There were then twenty-six canons in the house. 



In 1328 the priory was held by several 

 creditors to whom it owed ^^ 1,0 1 2 41. id. ; the 

 profits of Bamburgh had been lost for fifteen 

 years, amounting in the whole to j^4,450, and 

 the church of Birstall, which used to bring in 

 j^ioo a year, for six years had only brought in 

 j^40, so that the canons had lost £2^0. 



In three years the canons lost 1,200 sheep, 

 fifty-nine oxen, and 400 cows, calves, &c., but in 

 two years John de Insula, prior, managed the 

 afiairs so well that he was able to pay off ;^540 

 of the debt, and left ^^319 in the treasury. 



In 1372, when Prior Thomas de Derford 

 died, he left 8,000 sheep in the pastures, and 800 

 marks of silver in the treasury. Yet in 1390, 



" Burton, Mon. Ebor. 301. " Ibid. " Ibid. 309. 



" These particulars have been derived by Burton 

 {Mon. Ebor. 301, 302) from the manuscript volume 

 previously mentioned. 



when Prior Adam de Bilton resigned, the house 

 owed 1,200 marks. 



In 1217'° Pope Honorius III inhibited the 

 Prior of St. Oswald, on the petition of the sub- 

 prior and convent, from receiving any person 

 as canon, or disposing of any of the benefices, 

 without the consent of the convent, or the major 

 part of it. 



A very strange story is revealed in another 

 mandate, issued by the pope in the same year, to 

 the archbishop. '' The prior and convent had 

 complained to the pope that the archbishop had 

 despoiled them of two of their churches, viz.. 

 South Kirkby and Tickhill, and they related 

 that the archbishop had broken the cross, and 

 cast to the ground the sacred host, which the 

 canons and their lay brothers held in their 

 defence, and that he had expelled them from 

 their churches, beating some so severely that 

 one was said to have died, and others were 

 dangerously hurt. The archbishop likewise, as 

 they said, had broken down the altars, excom- 

 municated the prior and canons, and absolved 

 clerks, vicars, and others from payment of their 

 dues. The entry in the papal register is 

 cancelled. It ordered the archbishop to restore 

 the churches within fifteen days, and make com- 

 pensation. It is impossible to believe that Arch- 

 bishop Gray took any personal part in such an 

 affray ; but there was probably some unseemly 

 scuffle in one of the churches between his 

 officials and certain canons and conveni during 

 which the host was thrown (probably by accident) 

 to the ground, and some present were more or 

 less hurt. It is interesting to find the canons 

 protecting themselves by carrying the host.'* 



Archbishop Wickwane held a visitation of 

 Nostell Priory in 1280," and there is a brief 

 memorandum in his register stating that no 

 injunctions were issued quia omnia bene. On 

 25 October 1290^ Archbishop Romanus sent 

 Gilbert de Ponteburgo, who had just resigned 

 the office of Prior of Thurgarton,^' back to 



" Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 42. " Ibid. 4.4. 



" In the foundation charter of Robert de Lacy the 

 church of South Kirkby is included as one of his gifts. 

 In the confirmation of Henry I it is said to have 

 been given by Hugh de Laval ; Dugdale, Mon. Angl. 

 vi, 92. Tickhill was given by Archbishop Thurstan. 

 There had been previous trouble as to the prebend of 

 Bramham, which, in 1 2 1 6, the pope ordered the 

 dean and chapter to restore to the prior and convent ; 

 Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 45. 



"York Archiepis. Reg. Wickwane, fol. 35. The 

 statement that all was well at the visitation is one of 

 the very few entries of the kind in any of the 

 registers. St. Mary's York, Warter, and Whitby 

 were similarly distinguished on this occasion. 



'" Ibid. Romanus, fol. 36^. 



" He was elected Prior of Thurgarton 9 July 

 1284. There seems to have been a charge of 

 incontinence brought against him at Thurgarton; 

 Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 190. 



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