A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



1309 Walter de Baggeliill had licence to assign 

 to the friary 3^ acres, held of the Earl of Lincoln, 

 adjacent to their house (valued at 2s. 4//. a year), 

 in spite of the unfavourable return of the jurors 

 at the inquisition, who declared that the king 

 would lose rights of wardship (valued at yd.), 

 the town rights of commonage {2d.) and the 

 rector tithes (2^.).° 



In 1342 Simon Piper, chaplain, and John Box 

 sought licence to grant a perch of land in Ponte- 

 fract and three poles of turbary in Indesmore for 

 fuel for the friars. The land, valued at I ^d. a 

 year, was granted by royal licence, but nothing 

 was said of the turbary. ' The friars also had a 

 conduit perhaps supplied from a spring in a small 

 piece of land called CockclifF Turfmore,* but it 

 does not appear how it was acquired. 



In 1267 the prior of this house was commis- 

 sioned by the archbishop to adjudicate on the 

 merits of Thomas Bek, presented by the monks 

 of Pontefract to the vicarage of All Saints.^ 



In 1269 some disputes between the Cluniac 

 monks of Pontefract and Monk Bretton were 

 settled in this friary, the prior, Oliver d'Eincourt, 

 being one of the four arbitrators : the priors of 

 the Black Friars of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Carlisle, 

 York, and Lancaster were also present.'* 



These friars established three stations for 

 preaching the Crusade in 1291 — at Pontefract, 

 Rotherham and Wakefield." In the same year 

 tliey received lOOs. from the executors of Queen 

 Eleanor.'- In 1300 Edward I with his queen 

 and family twice stayed at this friary ; he gave 

 them 2 marks as compensation for damages, 

 made offerings at the altar of the Virgin, and 

 frequently gave them alms for food by the hands 

 of Friars John de Wrotham, Henry de Carleton, 

 and John de Hoieburi." From the amount of 

 the alms it appears the numbers of the friars 

 \ aried from twenty-nine to thirty-six. 



On 9 August 1 3 10, Edward II, being at 

 Pontefract, gave the friars 131. ^d. for one day's 



' Pat. 3 Edvir. II. m. 31 ; Inq. a.q.d. file 74, no. 

 18. This property is now called Friar Wood Hill; 

 Holmes, B/aci Friars of Pontefract, 13. 



' Inq. a.q.d. file 264, no. 18 ; Pat. 16 Edw. Ill, pt. 

 ii, m. jf. Inclesmore lay south of the Ouse and west 

 of the Trent ; there is a map of it in Duchy of Lane. 

 Misc. Bks. xii, fol. 30 (P.R.O.). 



* Mins. Accts. 50 Hen. VIII; 30-1 Hen. VIII 

 (Yorks.), 166 ; Fartic. for Grants, 1193 ; Holmes, op. 

 cit. 14. 



' Giffar^s Reg. (Surt. Soc.), 22. 



'° Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 123-4. 



" Raine, Hist. P. and L. from the N. Reg. (Rolls 

 Ser.), 93. In I 505 Robert Austwick of Pontefract left 

 3/. 4</. to repair the road ' near the cross at Carlton 

 from which the friars are wont to preach and exhort ' ; 

 Padgett, loc. cit. 



" Exch. Accts. bdle. 352, no. 27. 



" Ibid. bdle. 357, no. .4 ; Liier Quotid. 28 

 Edw. I (ed. Topham), 27, 38 ; Add. MS. 7966 A, 

 fol. 23, 35^ 



food.'* When Edward III visited Pontefract 

 there were in 1330 twenty-seven friars, thirty in 

 1334, twenty-six in February 1334-5, and 

 twenty-nine in May 1335. The king in 13^5 

 gave them a cask of Gascony wine worth ^^"4 

 for celebrating masses." 



A provincial chapter was held here in Augu>t 

 1303, for the expenses of which the king ga\ e 

 j^io to the Prior of York ; '* another provincial 

 chapter was held here in August 1321, when 

 the king gave £1^ for food," and William de 

 Melton, Archbishop of York, loox.'* 



The prior, with a number of other persons, 

 was accused in 1319 of having assaulted one 

 William Hardy at York." 



Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, on his retreat 

 northwards in February 1 32 1-2 stopped at 

 Pontefract, and he and his barons held consulta- 

 tions in the friary. A friar preacher attended 

 him at his execution outside the town, 22 March, 

 after the battle of Boroughbridge.^ John of 

 Gaunt in 1373 gave the friars permission to 

 cut turves in Pontefract Park for three years as 

 they had been accustomed to do, and gave them 

 three good oaks to repair their ruinous church 

 and houses.^' The Master-General of the Order, 

 21 May 1397, ratified the concession of a 

 chamber made by the friars of Pontefract to 

 Friar John de Kirkbi, and also gave him leave to 

 go out and stay with his friends as often as 

 seemed good to him.^^ 



Sir William Vavasour, kt., left them 6 marks 

 in 1311;^' Henry de Percy by will dated 

 13 September 1349 and proved in 1352 left them 

 30f. ; " Sir Hugh Hastings, 1482, left a serge of 

 wax to be burned before the altar of St. Peter 

 of Milan in this church ; ^^ and a number of 

 other bequests will be found in the Testamenia 

 Eboracensia.^^ Of more interest is a list of 

 burials at this friary written by John Wriothesley, 

 Garter King-of-Arms, who died in 1504 : it was 

 probably taken from the obituary of the house. ^' 

 Some of the entries relate to the founder and his 

 family : the heart of Edmund Lacy, his wife 



" Reliq. XX, 69. 



"Exch. Accts. bdle. 387, no. 9 ; Cott. MS. Nero 

 C. viii, fol. 201, 202, 2041J ; Reliq. xx, 70. 



" ReRj. XX, 69 ; Close, 3 1 Edw. I, m. 7 d. 



" Reliq. XX, 70; Add. MS. 9951 ; Close, 15 Edw. 

 II, m. 35 d. ; Rymer, Foed. (Rec. Com.) ii, 453^ 



" Raine, Fasti Ebor. i, 427. 



''Pat. 13 Edw. II, m. 22 d. 



" Leland, Coll. i (z), 464, 465. 



" Duchy of Lane. Misc. Bks. xiii, fol. 182^. 



" ReRq. XX, 7 1 . 



" Reg. Pal. Dunelm (Rolls Ser.), i, 333. 



" Test. Ebor. i, 58. 



" Holmes, The Black Friars of Pontefract, 23 ; Test. 

 Ebor. iii, 274. 



" Test. Ebor.\,io-j, 124, 199, 21 1, &c. ; ii, 6, 12 i, 

 164, 177 ; iii, 176, 274, &c. ; cf. Reliq. xx, 70-1 ; 

 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Chicheley, i, fol. 47 3^^. 



" Col. Topog. et Gen. iv, 73 ; Reliq. xx, 71-2. 



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