A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



their permanent abode ; its boundaries were 

 Stonebow Lane on the north, the Foss on the 

 south, Mersk Lane on the west, and Fossgate on 

 the cast.* They were building their new church 

 here in 1300, when Edward I gave them eight 

 oaks for timber.' The cemetery was consecrated 

 in 1304, and an indulgence granted to those who 

 should visit the church on 5 October and make 

 their offerings on the high altar of St. Mary for 

 the sustentation of lights and ornaments.^" 



About this time the royal alms given through 

 Friar William de Thorpe show that the friars 

 numbered twenty-four and twenty-five.^^ In 

 131 4 they had royal licence, in consideration of 

 200 masses, to alienate in mortmain their old 

 site to Robert of Pickering, Dean of York, who 

 founded there the chapel and hospital of St. 

 Mary.^^ In October of this year the king gave 

 them those messuages and plots of land adjacent 

 to their friary in Mersk Lane which he had of 

 the gift of Geoffrey de St. Quintin," and allowed 

 them to construct a quay on their own ground 

 on the bank of the king's stew of the Foss, and 

 to have one boat in the stew to carry stones, 

 brushwood, and other necessaries to their house.^* 

 In 1 31 5 and 1 316 he granted them the land 

 with the buildings on it which he had of the gift 

 of Thomas son of William le Aguiler and 

 Cicely his wife, and the land which he had of 

 the gift of Abel de Rokhale." Archbishop 

 Greenfield gave them alms in 1313, 13 14, and 

 again in 131 5, on account of the excessive dear- 

 ness of the time." In 13 12 and 1320 the 

 Carmelites numbered twenty- six ; from 1335 to 

 1337 they varied from thirty-eight to forty-two.'' 

 Part of the new site lay within the parish of St. 

 Saviour. The convent of St. Mary's, to whom 

 this church was appropriated, protested to the 

 pope against the entry of the Carmelites into the 

 parish, but were induced to withdraw their 

 opposition on the friars engaging to pay 30J. a 

 year. Part of the site also lay within the parish 



^ Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 3 (sched.) ; Chart R. 28 

 Edw. I, m. 4 (printed in Drake, Ebor. App. p. li) ; 

 Coll. Topog. et Gen. iv, 128. 



° Close, 28 Edwf. I, m. 6. 



'" Drake, Ebor. 310 ; Audin, Handbk. to York, 170 ; 

 Fasti Ebor. 360. 



" Exch. Accts. (P.R.O.), bdle. 356, no. 7 ; Liber 

 Quotid. 28 Edw. I (ed. Topham), 38. 



" Inq. a.q.d. file 105, no. 9 ; Pat. 8 Edw. II, pt. 

 i, m. 21, 5 ; 12 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 6. 



" Pat. 8 Edw. II, m. 19. 



" Ibid. m. 17 (printed in Drake, Ebor. App.). In 

 1348 they wfished to extend their quay into the Foss 

 in order to avoid an accumulation of mud ; Inq. a.q.d. 

 file 291, no. 8. 



" Pat. 9 Edw. II, pt. i, m. 23 ; 10 Edw. II, pt. i, 

 m. 14 (both printed in Drake, Ebor. App.). 



'* Faiti Ebor. i, 392, 393, 396. 



'" Exch. Accts. (P.R.O.) bdle. 387, no. 9 ; Add. 

 MS. 17362, fol. 3 ; Cott. MS. Nero C. viii, fol. 52, 

 202, zo6l>. 



292 



of St. Crux." Archbishop Melton, in 1320, 

 ordered the friars to pay yearly to the rector a 

 sum in compensation for the loss sustained, but 

 this did not suffice for the injuries done by the 

 chapel which the friars erected above their gate- 

 way in Fossgate. On this point in 1350 they 

 had to give way to the rector of St. Crux and 

 remove the image of the Virgin from the chapel 

 and agree that no service should be celebrated 

 there, no bell tolled, and no oblation received.^" 



The friars in 1331 received two more mes- 

 suages, from John de Hathelsey of York, and 

 William de Thonthorp of Flaxton.^' Master 

 William la Zouch, king's clerk, granted them 

 3 acres with some houses in 1338;'' and 

 Roger de Fournays, barber and citizen of York, 

 in 1350 effected an exchange by which the dean 

 and chapter received three shops in St. Andrew's 

 Street, and granted to the friars a messuage in 

 'Hundegate' adjoining their dwelling.^' 



Shortly afterwards the friars induced Richard 

 or Robert son of John de Thornton, citizen 

 and apothecary of York, to take the habit when 

 a child. The boy threw off the habit before he 

 was fourteen years old, but the friars continued 

 to persecute him, call him apostate and try to 

 force him back ; at his father's petition the king 

 took him under his special protection in March 

 1357-8.^* In 1374 Friar John Wy killed a 

 fellow friar, John Harold, in this house, probably 

 by accident.^' 



In the latter part of the 14th century these 

 friars were engaged in a number of lawsuits. In 

 1 37 1 the prior sued John de Taddecastre and 

 Thomas son of Henry de Grymeston for ac- 

 counts as his receivers of moneys.''" In 1378 he 

 sued Elen, widow of Thomas de Duffeld, and 

 others for debt, and in the same year brought an 

 action against John de Housom, potter, for break- 

 ing the prior's close, digging in the soil and 

 taking away earth to the value of 10 marks. In 

 1385 the prior claimed 20 marks damages from 

 a plasterer for building an oven so badly that it 

 utterly collapsed.^' 



" Harl. MS. 6970, fol. 97-8, where some details 

 on the site will be found. " Drake, Ebor. 310. 



'» Ibid. ; York Archiepis. Reg. Zouch, fol. 49. 

 This was perhaps the altar dedicated by Archbishop 

 Melton, 5 Oct. 1328 ; indulgence granted in respect 

 of it II Oct. ; Fasti Ebor. i, 419 ; Fabric R. of York 

 Minster (Surt. Soc), 236. 



"Inq. a.q.d. file 217, no. 12 ; Pat. 5 Edvir. III. 

 pt. ii, m. 29. 



" Pat. 12 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 18. 



^ Ibid. 24 Edw. Ill, pt. ii,m. i8. 



" Ibid. 32 Edw. Ill, pt. ii, m. 28. 



" Ibid. 10 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 37 ; he was pardoned 

 in 1386. 



'* De Banco R. Trin. 45 Edw. Ill, m. 1 84 ; Mich. 

 45 Edw. Ill, m. 204. The defendants did not ap- 

 pear, and the case was postponed till the next term. 



" All these are taken from Baildon, Mon. Notes 

 (Yorks. Arch. Soc), i, 242-3. 



