RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



FRIARIES 



83. THE BLACK FRIARS OF 

 BEVERLEY ' 



The friary seems to have been founded by 

 Master Stephen Goldsmith before 1240, but the 

 town, the Crown, and in the i6th century Lord 

 Darcy, claimed the privileges of founders.^ The 

 provincial chapter was held here August 1 240, 

 the king contributing 10 marks.' In 1263, 

 Henry III gave the friars fifteen oaks for timber.* 

 About 1269, Archbishop GifFard forbade them 

 in future to hear confessions of the parishioners 

 of the churches of St. Martin and St. Mary, 

 Beverley, except of those licensed by their 

 vicars.' In 1282, Archbishop Wickwane gave 

 10 marks to the friars.^ For the provincial 

 chapter held here in 1286, Queen Eleanor gave 

 lOOJ. to the provincial prior, William de 

 Hothum ' ; the archbishop (John Romanus), 

 while excusing his attendance owing to urgent 

 business elsewhere, promised to aid and defend 

 the friars to the utmost of his power.' In 1 291 

 the archbishop asked these friars to co-operate 

 with him in preaching the Crusade by sending 

 preachers on 14 September to Preston or Hedon, 

 Ravenser, and le Wyk (i.e. HuU).^ 



Edward I, when at or passing through Bever- 

 ley, gave the friars alms several times between 

 1299 and 1304, through friars Richard of 

 St. Nicholas, Walter of Grimsby, Thomas of 

 Alverton, and Luke of Woodford, his confessor. 

 From the sums given it appears the brethren 

 numbered thirty-two or thirty-three in 1299, 

 increasing to thirty-eight in 1304.*" In 13 10 

 the number had risen to forty-two, when 

 Edward II gave the friars 14.S. for one day's food 

 through Friar William de Burton.^^ In the 

 years of scarcity which followed. Archbishop 

 Greenfield gave them three quarters of corn in 

 1 314, the king one quarter (price ioj.) in 1318, 

 and one quarter (price 4/. 6d.) in 1320.*^ In 



' See ' The Friars Preachers or Black Friars of 

 Beverley,' by the Rev. C. F. R. Palmer, rorh. Arch. 

 Journ. vii, 32-43. 



" Coll. Topog. et Gen. iv, 129 ; Leland, I tin. i, 47 ; 

 Exch. Issue R. East. 27 Hen. VI, m. 3. 



' Liberate R. 24 Hen. Ill, m. 7. 



* Close, 47 Hen. Ill, m. 6. 



'' Archbp. Giffard's Reg. (Surt. See), 226. 



^ Fasti Ebor. i, 323. 



'Exch. Accts. (P.R.O.), bdle. 352, no. 7. 



'Hist. P. and L. from the Northern. Reg. (Rolls 

 Ser.), 86. ' Ibid. 95. 



'"Exch. Accts. (P.R.O.), bdle. 356, no. 21 ; 

 Liber Quotid. 28 Edtv. I. (ed. Topham), 25, 37 ; 

 Add. MS. 7966 A, fol. 25 ; 8835, fol. 5. 



" Torks. Arch. Journ. vii, 34. 



" Ibid. ; Fasti Ebor. i, 394 ; Add. MS. 1 7362, fol. 6. 

 Archbishop Melton gave them zos. in 1328 ; Hist. 

 P. and L. from the N. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 377. 



1328 the number of friars was thirty-two, in 

 1335, thirty''; and about the end of the 15th 

 century, fourteen.'* 



On Easter Sunday 1309 some friars admitted 

 to the sacraments some parishioners of St. 

 Martin's, and Friar John of Lockington even 

 admitted an excommunicate person. At his 

 prior's command he humbly begged pardon on 

 bended knees of the canons of Beverley, and the 

 prior engaged that his friars should not offend in 

 this respect in future." 



The friars held their land, or a part of it, of the 

 Archbishop of York by a rent of \s. a year, until 

 131 1, when Simon de Kent of Beverley granted 

 the archbishop another rent of 4^. in exchange.'" 

 At the same time they sought to obtain from 

 Thomas son of Alexander of Holm a rent of 

 lOi. and a void piece of ground adjacent to 

 their house ; the jurors declared the grant would 

 be prejudicial, and the royal licence was not 

 granted.^' Simon de Fymere gave them some 

 land in Beverley shortly before 1329, apparently 

 without royal licence,'* and John Waltheof 

 of Beverley released them from a rent of 2s. 

 which they paid ' to the light on the beam ' in 

 the minster quire." 



At a general chapter of the order held in 

 London, 1314, the Prior of Beverley was 

 deposed.^ The provincial chapter met here in 

 1324, the king contributing £15 for three days' 

 food.^^ Friar Robert of Querndon, who had 

 been confessor to Edward III, retired into the 

 convent of his brethren here, and when broken 

 with old age had an annuity of ;^5 assigned to 

 him, January 1 35 1-2, out of a rent which the 

 Abbot of Hailes paid to the Crown.^^ William 

 Birde, prior, and Friars Thomas Bynham and 

 John Vele were sued by Walter Dunham in 

 1434 for a debt of 40;.^' Friar William Leth, 

 O.P. of Beverley, had licence from Eugenius IV 

 in 1435 to hold an ecclesiastical benefice.^* 



"Exch. Accts. bdle. 387, no. 9; Torks. Arch. 

 Journ. vii, 34. 



'* Coll. To fog. et Gen. iv, 1 30. 



^^ Beverley Chap. Act Bks. (Surt. Soc), i, 24.3. 



'* Pat. 5 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 11. 



"Inq. a.q.d. file 73, no. 5; Torks. Arch. Journ. 

 vii, 33. Richard de Holme 1366, and John de 

 Holme 1421, desired to be buried in this church ; 

 Poulson, Beverlac, 767-8. 



" Pat. 3 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 9. 



" Beverley Chap. Act Bks. (Surt. Soc), i, p. Ixxv ; 

 B. M. Lansd. Chart. 214, 



'" Monum. Ordinis Praedicatorum Hist. (ed. Reichert), 

 iv, 73. 



"Exch. Issue R. East. 16 Edw. Ill, m. ll. 



"Pat. 26 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 33. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes (Yorks. Arch. Soc), i, I o. 



"Add. MS. 32446, fol. 58. Cal. Papal Letters, 

 viii, 542. 



263 



