A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



An interesting document has been handed 

 down from the year 1534 — interesting because 

 drawn up just before the Dissolution, and also 

 because it shows the friendly relations existing 

 between the abbey and the Scrope family. In 

 1533 Lord Scrope died. On 2 August of the 

 next year the abbey authorities issued this char- 

 ter : ' Be it known unto all people present and 

 to come, that we, Robert, the abbot of the 

 monasterie of our blessed Lady ^S. Marie and 

 Saynt Agatha, virgyne and martyre, nye unto 

 Rychmonde, of the order of Premonstratense, 

 have recevede the day of making hereof the 

 Rt. Hon. John Lord Scrope of Bolton as our 

 veray trewe and undoubted founder of our said 

 monasterye, with procession and such other 

 solempnitie and ceremonies as doth perteyne and 

 belong thereunto, according as our predecessors 

 have heretofore at all times receyvede his noble 

 ancestours, as founders of the same : Grantinge 

 unto the sayde John Lord Scrope of Bolton, and 

 his heires for ever, by these presents, as much as 

 in use is, not only to be partakers of our praers, 

 suffragies, and other devoute and meritorious actes 

 and good deids, but also all other customes, 

 dueties, pleasours, and comodites, which dothe 

 apperteyne and belonge unto the just title and 

 right of a founder, and as haith bene accustom- 

 ede and done by our predecessours unto his 

 auncestors, our founders heretofore. In witness 

 whereof, we, the said Abbot and Convent, have 

 put our scale to these presents the Seconde day 

 of Auguste, in the 26''' yere of the reigne of our 

 most drede Sovereigne Lord King Henr the 



glh ' 38 



It was in the following year that the Act was 

 passed — March, i 535 — for dissolving the smaller 

 monasteries. The visitors, Legh and Layton, 

 found a considerable amount of immorality at 

 Easby, as they said : ' 5 sod., I incon., 2 seek 

 release, founder. Lord Scrope, rents ;f 200.' ^' 

 St. Agatha's came, therefore, under the Act. 



The date of the dissolution of St. Agatha's is 

 variously given. Clarkson says it took place in 

 1535, being surrendered by ' Robert Bampton, 

 last abbot, and seventeen canons.' *" The house 

 appears in the list of ' Monasteries under ^200 ' 

 in 1536.*' The Dissolution had practically taken 

 place before 22 September 1536, for on that 

 date Chr. Lasselles offered to the Treasurer and 

 Court of Augmentations the fine of ;^6oo *^ ' for 

 S. Agathes, let to Lord Scrope for ;^300.' 



The canons at St. Agatha's did not take the 

 Dissolution without resistance, however. On 

 22 February 1537 Henry VIII wrote to the 

 Duke of Norfolk that he was to ' see to the 



" Jssoc. Archit. Soc. Rep. 1853, pp. 325-6 ; Long- 

 stafFe, op. cit. 41 ; Whitaker, Hist, of Richmmdshire, 

 i, 1 10. 



""L.and P. Hen. VIll, x, 3 64. " Richmond, 351. 



*' Cott. MS. Cleop. E. iv, fol. 290^. 



" L. and P. Hen. Fill, xi, 481. 



lands and goods of such as shall be now attainted, 

 that we may have them in safet)-, to be given, if 

 we be so disposed, to those who have truly served 

 us. . . . As these troubles have been promoted 

 by the monks and canons of these parts, at your 

 repair to .... S. Agatha's and such places as 



have made resistance, you shall without 



pity or circumstance, now that our banner is 

 displayed, cause the monks to be tied up without 

 further delay or ceremony.' *^ 



In a letter from Norfolk to Cromwell, dated 

 28 June 1537, the duke wrote : * You will also 

 receive by the bearers in a bag, sealed with my 

 seal, the Convent Seal of S. Agatha's.^* 



Among the monastic leases for 1537-8 appears 

 one to 'John, Lord Scrope ; S. Agatha's Mon., 

 Yorks., with the rectories of Manfield, Stan- 

 wyks, and Easby, and certain tithes and pen- 

 sions.' " 



In the Augmentation Office for 1538 there 

 are the following St. Agatha items among the 

 treasurer's accounts : a vestment or ' albe ' of 

 cloth of gold and red velvet ; a suit of copes and 

 vestments of red silk adorned with archers ; two 

 tunicles and a cope adorned with kings and 

 bishops, vestments with albes and a cape of 

 crimson velvet upon velvet adorned with 

 ' strykes ' of gold.''^ 



The value of the various properties belonging 

 totheabbeyat the Dissolution was ;^ 1 88 its. zd}'' 

 The deductions in pensions, charges, alms, &c., 

 amounted to £^']b i8i. 3^/., leaving a clear 

 balance of ^^i 1 1 17;. i \d. The charges include 

 payments to chaplains celebrating at St. Saviour's, 

 York, for the soul of Richard Walter ; at Wens- 

 ley for Richard Scrope ; at Middleham for 

 Richard Cartmell and Richard late Earl of 

 Salisbury ; at Kirkby Lonsdale for William 

 Middleton ; at Melsonby for Master Alan de 

 Melsamby ; *' in St. Silvester's chapel in Skir- 

 penbeck for John Romayn, archdeacon of Rich- 

 mond.'" There is no mention of the chaplain 

 whom they were bound to maintain at St, James, 

 Stapleton, for the soul of Nicholas de Stapleton.^"' 

 There were seventeen canons,'" besides the abbot, 

 and there would be the usual poor dependants 

 and servants. The abbot, Robert Bampton, 

 received a pension of 40 marks."^ 



Abbots of St. Agatha'* 

 Martin, c. 1155 " 

 Ralph, 1162,'* 1 191 



"Ibid, xii (i), 479. « Ibid. (2), 159. 



" Ibid, xiii (i), p. 588. " Ibid. (2), 457. 

 " VakrEccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 235-6. 

 ^ Egerton MS. 2827, fol. 58. 

 " Ibid. fol. 260. "» Ibid. fol. 46, 52. 



" Assoc. Archit. Soc. Rep. 1853, p. 329. 

 "^ L.andP. Hen. nil, xiii (i), p. 575, quoting 

 Aug. Bk. 232, fol. 30 (date, 1536-7). 

 " Faildon, Mon. Notes, i, 45. 

 " Egerton MS. 2827, fol. 307. 

 ^ Gasquet, op. cit. ii, I. 



248 



