RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



the details given in the Minister's Accounts of 

 1539-40. The lands are there described as 

 containing 10 a. besides eight cottages and 

 yielding ^^3 1 2s. 8d. yearly.'^ 



The seal is a pointed oval, and represents the 

 Annunciation of the Virgin, in a niche v/ith 

 canopy of two arches ; from the hand of the 

 archangel hangs a label bearing the words ' Ave 

 Maria ' ; on the ground between the two 

 figures a vase of flowers ; in base a half figure 

 praying. Legend : — 



SIGILLUM CONVENTUS FRM PREDICATORUM 



D lARV. 



if 33 



98. THE BLACK FRIARS OF YORK 1 



About the end of 1226 Henry III instructed 

 Martin de PateshuU and his fellows, justices in 

 eyre, to consult the Mayor and good men of 

 York about a site for the Friars Preachers in 

 that city. They recommended the chapel of 

 St. Mary Magdalen with a plot of land behind 

 it, situated in Kings-tofts just within the city 

 ditch, on the south bank of the Ouse. The 

 sheriff was ordered, lo April 1227, to go in 

 person with the mayor and good men and make 

 over the chapel and plot to the friars.^ By 30 

 December the friars had already inclosed part 

 of the land with a wall, and they were given 

 free access to the river through the city dike.' 

 The land extended from the dike and curtilage 

 , of William de Malesoures along the city ditch 

 to the curtilage of Robert son of Baldwin.* In 

 1236 the king granted the place which William 

 Malesoures held of him to the friars,' and in 

 1 24 1 he ordered the bailiffs and citizens of York 

 to let them have as much of the land near their 

 house as they could without loss to the city, as 

 the stench of the place was great and caused the 

 friars much annoyance.' 



In 1236 the prior, Alan, committed to prison 

 a man whom he had found on examination to 

 have ' bad opinions on the articles of faith.' 

 The king warned him, 9 June, that he had no 

 jurisdiction for exercising secular judgements, 

 and gave orders that, as there were, it was said, 

 many infidels in those parts, the sheriff should 



" Mins. Accts. 30-1 Hen. VIII, no. 166. 



'' B.M. Seals, Ixxv, 20 ; Tcrks. Arch. Journ. xxxvii, 

 191, 192. 



' See ' The Friars Preachers of York,' by the Rev. 

 C. F. R. Palmer, O.P. in Yorks. Arch, and Topog. Journ. 

 vi, 396-419- 



' Close, II Hen. Ill, m. 13 ; Chart. R. 12 Hen. 

 Ill, m. 6 ; Drake, Eboracum, App. xlv. 



'Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 14, 11 ; printed in 

 Shirley, RoyalL. Hen. Ill (Rolls Ser.), i, 316, 323. 



* Close, 12 Hen. Ill, m. 8. 



' Ibid. 20 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



« Ibid. 25 Hen. Ill, m. 3. 



283 



arrest and imprison such at the prior's mandate, 

 without favour to the rich or others.' 



It is possible that the friars had been tempo- 

 rarily housed in Goodramgate before the king 

 settled them in Kings-tofts, for they had land 

 hereof thegift of Alice, sometime wife of Nicholas 

 de Bugthorpe, of Helen de Puciaco, sometime 

 wife of Adam son of Alan son of Romund, and 

 of William son of William son of Sigerich. This 

 they subsequently made over to Archbishop 

 Gray who granted it to John de Bulmere, 16 

 March 1253-4.' 



Henry III made the friars several grants of 

 timber from the forest of Galtres ; the earliest 

 is a gift of 20 fuita in 1235 ' to repair their 

 houses,' ' the latest a gift of 10 oaks and 40J. 

 carriage in January 1251-2.^" Building was 

 thus going on for more than twenty-five years ; 

 from this it may be inferred either that alms 

 came in in small amounts, or that the convent 

 was continually growing. 



The convent of York was head of one of the 

 four visitations into which the English province 

 was divided. The visitation of York included 

 the houses of York, Lincoln, Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, Lancaster, Scarborough, Yarm, Carlisle, 

 Beverley, Pontefract, Bamburgh, and probably 

 Berwick." Provincial chapters were held here 

 in 1235, 1246, 1256, 1275, 1289, 1306, 1329, 

 and doubtless in other years. Grosteste wrote 

 to Friar Alarde the provincial prior, and the 

 diffinitores of the chapter of 1235, asking that he 

 might be allowed to keep some Friars Preachers 

 with him.^^ Towards the expenses of the 

 chapter in 1246 Henry III gave 20 marks," 

 in 1256 he gave iooj. and six pike." Arch- 

 bishop Giffard provided whatever Oliver d'Eyn- 

 court considered necessary fo. the chapter in 

 1275." Edward I gave 20 marks for two days' 

 expenses in 1289"; in 1306 the brethren 

 were bidden to pray for the king and his 

 family.!' In 1329 Edward II gave ^^15 to 

 Robert de Holme, Prior of York, towards the 

 expenses.'' 



Adam, the rector of Askham, entered the 

 Dominican Order in 1268." 



' Ibid. 20 Hen. Ill, m. 1 1 d. 



' Archbp. Gray's Reg. (Surt. Soc), 272, note. 



° Close, 19 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 3. 



'» Liberate R. 36 Hen. Ill, m. 16 (?) ; Close, 36 

 Hen. Ill, m. 27. 



" Cf. Wore. Cath. Lib. MS. Q. 93 (fly leaf). 



" Grosteste, Eplstolae (Rolls Ser.), 61. (The date 

 is not quite certain.) 



" Liberate R. 30 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



" Ibid. 40 Hen. Ill, m. 4 ; Close, 40 Hen. Ill, 

 m. 3. 



'' Giffard" s Reg. (Surt. Soc), 271 ; Fasti Ebor. i 

 3«4- 



'' Exch. Accts. bdle. 352, no. 18, m. 3. 



" Rymer, Toed. (Rec. Com.), i, 990. 



'* Exch. Issue R. (Pells) East. 4 Edw. Ill, m 8 



" Giffard!' s Reg. (Surt. Soc), 28-9. 



