A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



de Nevill, lord of Raby, granted them ij acres 

 of meadow in 1383.' Richard le Scrope of 

 Bolton left the friars ;^io in his will, 1400 ; '" 

 and Sir Stephen le Scrope of Bentley left 10 

 marks to the house and 6s. Sd. to each friar in 

 January 1405-6." Sir Ralph Fitz Randal, kt., 

 left them 7 marks in 1458.^^ In May 1484 

 Richard III ordered GeofiFrey Franke, receiver of 

 Middleham, ' to content the friars of Richmond 

 with 12^ marks for the saying of a thousand 

 masses for King Edward IV.' ^' On the death 

 of Margaret Richmond, anchoress in the parish 

 church of Richmond, a dispute arose between 

 William EUerton, the Abbot of St. Agatha, and 

 William Billyngham, warden of the Grey Friars, 

 on the one part, and the burgesses on the other, 

 and was referred to arbitration. The arbitrators 

 decided 30 April 1490 that the warden and 

 friars should have the goods of the late anchoress 

 remaining after the debts had been paid and the 

 place restored, because she took the habit from 

 the friars ; that the abbot should dispose of the 

 goods of the present anchoress for a similar 

 reason ; while the nomination to the anchorage 

 should be in the hands of the bailiff and twenty- 

 four burgesses of the great inquest of Richmond.^* 

 The comic ballad of ' The Felon Sow of 

 Rokeby,' dating probably from the 1 5th century, 

 tells how Ralph Rokeby of Morton gave a 

 savage sow to the friars of Richmond, ' to mend 

 their fare,' when Friar Theobald was warden, 

 and relates the exciting adventures of Friar Mid- 

 dleton and his assistants in their attempt to catch 

 the beast, the final capture, and triumphant return 

 to Richmond : 



If ye will any more of this, 

 In the Fryers of Richmond 'tis 



In parchment good and fine ; 

 And how Fryar Middleton that was so kend, 

 At Greta Bridge conjured a feind 



In likeness of a swine." 



The house was surrendered 1 9 January 

 1538-9 by Robert Sanderson, S.T.P., the 

 warden, thirteen priests, and one other.^' The 

 goods were sold in gross to Ralph Gower, mer- 

 chant, and Richard Crosseby, both of Richmond, 

 for loOi. The warden received 131. 4^., the 

 other friars sums varying from lOs. to 45., and 

 amounting in all to ;^5 35. id. The lead on the 



' Pat. 6 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 8. 



'» Test. Ebor. \, 274. " Ibid, iii, 39. 



" Richmondshire Wills (Surt. Soc), 4 ; cf. 9. Other 

 legacies will be found in Clarkson, op. cit. and in 

 Test. Ebor. i, 58, 80, 199, 261, 266, 386. 



" Harl. MS. 433 ; Clarkson, op. cit. 219. 



'* Test. Ebor. ii, Il4n. 



" Sir Walter Scott, Rokeby (compl. ed. 1 847), 

 Canto V, Stanza ix, note 3 ; also printed in Whitaker, 

 Hist, of Craven. 



'* Clarkson, op. cit. App. no. xxxiii ; L. and P. Hen. 

 VIII, xlv (I), 96. 



church was estimated at three fothcr, the three 

 bells at 2,000 lb., and the plate weighed 31 oz." 

 There was a conduit of water at the Friars, the 

 only one in the town.'* The site, which was 

 inclosed by a wall and comprised nearly 1 6 acres," 

 was valued at 31J. a year, and was leased to 

 Ralph Gower for twenty-one years in 1539.^ 



The seal is pointed oval and represents St. 

 Francis standing on a corbel, lifting up the right 

 hand in benediction, in the left a book ; on each 

 side a tree with birds on it, representing * the 

 Wilderness,' or St. Francis preaching to the birds. 

 Overhead, under a trefoiled arch, two shields of 

 the arms of Nevill.*^ 



93. THE GREY FRIARS, 

 SCARBOROUGH 



The Franciscans settled in Scarborough a* 

 early as 1239, for on 5 February 1239-40 

 Henry III ordered the Sheriff of Yorkshire ' to 

 provide food for the Friars Minors of Scarborough 

 one day every week.' * The Cistercians, to whom 

 the church of St. Mary was appropriated, strongly 

 resisted the establishment of rivals in their ter- 

 ritory, and appealed to Rome for support. The 

 pope, probably Innocent IV, instructed the 

 Bishop of Lincoln to cause the buildings of the 

 friars to be demolished if things were as described 

 in the apostolic letter. Grosteste having sum- 

 moned the friars to appear before his official, 

 their proctor argued that the summons involved 

 a breach of a papal privilege granted to the friars 

 by Gregory IX ^ and was consequently invalid. 

 But on the third day a friar waived all these 

 arguments aside, maintaining that their profession 

 was the Gospel, which said 'If any man will 

 sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let 

 him have thy cloke also ' ; he declared on behalf 

 of his brethren that they would give up the place, 

 and falling on his knees before the monks prayed 

 pardon for the offence. This produced a great 

 effect. The monks present realized that their 

 reputation would suffer if the friars left Scar- 

 borough in these circumstances, and agreed with 

 Grosteste to suspend operations till they had 

 consulted the Abbot and convent ofCiteaux.' 



" Harl. MS. 604, fol. 104 ; Mins. Accts. 29-30 

 Hen. VIII, no. 1 97 (Yorks.). 



" Leland, Itin. v, 109. 



" Whitaker, Hist, of Richmondshire, i, 99. 



" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xv, p. 556. 



" B.M. Seals, Ixxiv, 105 ; Clarkson, op. cit. 217- 

 18; Whitaker, Hist, of Richmondshire, i, 99. The 

 founder's daughter, Mary, married Robert Nevill of 

 Raby. 



' Liberate R. 24 Hen. Ill, m. 19. 



' Bullar. Franc, i, 1 84. 



' Grosteste, £//■//. (Rolls Ser.), 321-3 ; Matt. Paris, 

 Chron. Majora (Rolls Ser.) iv, 280 ; Mon. Franc. 

 (Rolls Ser.), i, 406. 



274 



