RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



ordering an inquiry to be made as to whether 

 Thomas Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, lord of the 

 manor, might grant to the friars 6 acres of land 

 adjacent to their holding without injury to the 

 king or others. The jurors made a favourable 

 return, and declared the land to be worth p. a 

 year.* The royal licence was granted 7 February 

 1354-5. Edward III, Thomas Hatfield, John 

 Yole, and Helena his wife," were henceforth 

 reckoned the founders, as was also John de 

 Nevill, lord of Raby, who is said to have built 

 the church at his own expense ° ; in his will, 

 1386, he left them lOO marks for the reparation 

 of their houses.'' His sister, Margaret, wife first 

 of William, Lord Ros of Hamlake, and secondly, 

 of Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland, 

 was buried in the church (1372?).' His son, 

 Ralph de Nevill, first Earl of Westmorland, left 

 the friars of ' Alverton ' in 1424 ^^40 'to repair 

 and build the kitchen and other houses.' ' Among 

 other bequests may be noticed a chalice from 

 William de Newport, rector of Wearmouth, 

 1366,^° 40f. from Walter Skirlaw, Bishop of 

 Durham, 1401," 5 marks from Sir Stephen le 

 Scrope of Bentley, 1405-6,^^ and one ' towell 

 de werk ' from John Palman alias Coke, 1436." 



James, prior of this house, admitted Thomas 

 Gayneng and Agnes his wife to participation in 

 the spiritual benefits of the convent, 1487." 



The house was surrendered 20 December 

 1538 by William Humphrey, the prior, five 

 priests, and five novices.^" The goods were 

 bought by Henry Wetherell for £^ 1 5^. 4.d. ; 

 out of this 6s. Sd. was given to the prior, and 55. 

 or 35. 4.d. to each of the friars. There were 

 two bells, 15 fother of lead on the roof of the 

 church, and two chalices weighing 31 oz." The 

 land consisted of the site with gardens and 

 orchard (J acre), two closes of pasture, all valued at 

 20s. a year ; further, a burgage in Northallerton, 

 near Sunbek, and a close called Chaple garth, let 

 to William Hodgeson for 25^. a year.^' 



* Inq. a.q.d. file 323, no. 2 ; Pat. 31 Edw. Ill, pt. i, 

 m. 23. 



' She was buried in the quire ; Co//. Topog. ct Gen. 



iv, 75- 



« B.M. Harl. MS. 539, fol. 144 ; Co//. Topog. et 

 Gen. iv, 75. 



' Wi//s and Invent. (Surt. See), i, 40 ; Madox, 

 Formu/are, 427. 



' Co//. Topog. et Gen. iv, 75 ; cf. Leland, Itin. i, 74. 



' Wi//s and Invent. (Surt. See), i, 72. 



'° Test. Ebor. i, 80. 



" Ibid. 308. 



" Ibid, iii, 39. 



" WU/s and Invent. (Surt. Soc), i, 387. 



" Ca/. ofChiart. and R. in the Bod/. Lib. 91*. 



•* L. and P. Hen. VIII, viii (2), 1105; Dep. 

 Keeper's Rep. viii, App. ii, 33. 



'* Mins. Accts. 29-30 Hen. VIII, no. 197 

 (Yorks.) ; Harl. MS. 604, fol. 1 04. 



" Mins. Accts. 30-1 Hen. VIII, no. 166 (Yorks.) ; 

 Harl. MS. 604, fol. 104. 



The seal represents the Annunciation of the 

 Virgin in a carved and canopied niche, between 

 two smaller niches, containing on the left an 

 angel, on the right a saint, mitred, holding a 

 crowned head, probably St. Cuthbert, with 

 St. Oswald's head. Legend : — 



S : COMUN 



VM 



ORD 



RIE 



DE 



CARMELI ' 



91. THE BLACK FRIARS OF PONTE- 

 FRACT 1 



The story of the foundation of this house 

 is told by a contemporary Dominican, Ralph 

 de Bocking, in his life of Richard Wych, 

 Bishop of Chichester.' Edmund de Lacy, son of 

 John de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, and Margaret de 

 Quincy, was born in 1227. He early attached 

 himself to Richard Wych, and after the 

 bishop's death, 3 April 1253, he determined to 

 establish a house of Friars Preachers on his own 

 estates. With due deliberation he chose the 

 town of Pontefract ; and accompanied by many 

 discreet men, both religious and secular, he went 

 to the spot and laid the foundation stone with 

 his own hand, saying, ' To the honour of our 

 Lady Mary, mother of God and Virgin, and of 

 St. Dominic, confessor, to whose brethren I assign 

 this place, and also of St. Richard, bishop and 

 confessor, formerly my lord and dearest friend, I 

 wishing to found a church in this place lay the 

 first stone ! ' Whereupon the stone immediately 

 split into three parts, as though to proclaim 

 approval of the choice of the three patron saints. 

 This took place probably about 1256, some 

 six years before Richard Wych was formally 

 canonized.' Edmund, dying on 22 July 1257, 

 left his heart to be buried in the Dominican 

 church of Pontefract. 



The lands given by Edmund de Lacy, called 

 East Crofts,* comprised about 6 acres, in exchange 

 for which he granted 26 acres to the town of Pon- 

 tefract." Two later additions are recorded. In 



" B.M. Seals, Ixxiv, 90. 



' See ' The Friars Preachers of Pontefract,' by 

 the Rev. C. F. R. Palmer in the Re/iq. xx, 67-74 '< 

 Ric. Holmes, The B/ack Friars of Pontefract (1891) ; 

 Leland, Itin. i, 40 calls them White Friars. In 

 some Dissolution documents they are called Austin 

 Friars. There were no White or Austin Friars at 

 Pontefract. 



' Acta Sanctorum, 3 Ap. (Ap. Tom. i, 303). 



' Diet. Nat. Biog. xlviii, 202-4. The processes for 

 canonization were initiated by papal brief 22 June 

 1256, addressed to the Bishop of Worcester, the 

 provincial of the Friars Preachers, and Friar Adam 

 Marsh ; Ca/. of Papa/ Letters, i, 332. 



' Boothroyd, Hist, of Pontefract, 339. 



' Tor/is. Inq. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. Rec. Ser.), i, 5 1. A 

 grant of dead wood was made to the monks of St. 

 John in compensation for the loss of tithe from this 

 land, 1258 ; Padgett, C/iron. of 0/d Pontefract, 74. 



271 



