A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



manors. The corn of the manors was to be 

 faithfully gathered in the autumn, thrashed, and 

 sold at the most fevourable opportunity, and the 

 thraves were to be sold at a fair price, with good 

 security of payment for them. The master or 

 his substitute was to go round the manors yearly, 

 soon after Easter, and make an estimate, and as 

 soon after Michaelmas as possible the final 

 accounts were to be audited. Long directions 

 follow as to the accounts and property of the 

 hospital. 



As the property scarcely su£Sced for the actual 

 needs of the hospital, all were enjoined to avoid 

 unnecessary expenses. The master under pain 

 of deprivation, and the brethren under pain of 

 ejection, were forbidden to sell or pledge the 

 books, chalices, or vestments of the church, or 

 sell corrodies or otherwise entangle the afl&irs of 

 the house. They were not to grant pensions or 

 annual robes to persons, except such as were 

 needed for the house, nor were they to destroy 

 the large oak trees, or give them away without 

 special royal licence. 



The almoner was to collect all that pertained 

 to his office, and distribute it faithfully, as he 

 believed to be best pleasing to God. The 

 common seal was to be kept under three keys, 

 one of which the master was to have, a second 

 the cellarer, and the third was to be kept by a 

 confrater chaplain, chosen for that purpose, and 

 no writings of obligation or acquittance were to 

 be sealed with the private seal of the master. 



The expenses of the house were to be set 

 down daily by the different officials, and carefully 

 examined by the master's clerk. 



A building underneath the infirmary, called 

 * Barnhous,' was to be prepared for nursing 

 exposed infants, orphans, and other indigent 

 children, for whose bringing up a sister was to 

 be appointed, and two cows, or one at least, as 

 their number required, and there was to be a 

 good chimney lest the smoke should harm the 

 children. 



There were to be two or three common 

 horses at the house for the use of the brethren 

 or others employed in its business, but the 

 servants at the manors were not to have horses 

 or men-servants, except when needed for the 

 use of the house, and no women were to be 

 allowed at the manors for fear of scandal. Other 

 directions follow, and the injunctions were rati- 

 fied and accepted by the master, Richard de 

 Ravenser, and the brothers and sisters on 

 2 March 1365-6. 



A return was made in 1376-7 '' of the state 

 of the hospital. Some of the figures are unfor- 

 tunately illegible, but the collection travarum de 

 Petercorne amounted 10^^425 19^. 8^., as against 

 ;f320 at the last previous visitation. There 

 were only eight chaplain-brothers on that occa- 



" Chan. Misc. bdle. 20, file i, no. 6. 



340 



sion, but the number returned at the new in- 

 quisition is lost. The sisters, however, numbered 

 eight, whereas there was a less (illegible) number 

 previously. There were thirty secular choristers, 

 and 199 ' cremetts,''** instead of 180 previously ; 

 seventeen corrodarii were in receipt of allowances, as 

 against ten on the former occasion. Of these, ten 

 received a livery as those of brothers, ' some' as 

 those of sisters, and three as those of servants. 



For the brothers, sisters, corrodarii, and poor 

 coming daily to the hospital, besides the servants, 

 4 quarters of corn were needed weekly, and for 

 the poor in the infirmary 4 quarters and 2 bushels 

 weekly. At the last visitation 3 quarters 2 bushels 

 of corn were expended for the poor, but a cer- 

 tain Hugh de Miton had given lands and tene- 

 ments of the annual value of 25 marks for the 

 poor of the infirmary every Thursday, for a loaf 

 called ' miche,' whereas previously the poor had 

 had no bread on that day. 



Other accounts follow, including those for 

 mutton, pork, 'scraffish,' herrings, &c. The 

 vestura of the brothers and sisters cost ^^19 151. 

 a year. Wine for celebrations, wax, incense, 

 and repair and purchase of vestments, books, 

 and other ecclesiastical ornaments came to 

 ;^8 i8x. lid.; oil for the lamps of the hospital 

 church, and in the infirmary and dormitory 

 £6 i$s. 8d. The commissioners reported that 

 the defects of the hospital church, the tower, 

 and the dormitory should be repaired, and also 

 those of the churches and manors of the hospital, 

 and that no less than £ 1 ,000 would be required 

 for this. The present master had, they said, 

 repaired and roofed half of the church, cloister, 

 and dormitory, and a portion of the infirmary of 

 the poor with lead, and the campanile with 

 boards, and placed a large bell in it, besides other 

 repairs to two kitchens and the bakehouse and 

 other buildings of the hospital and its manors, 

 spending ^^1,116 i6s. 2%d., and repairs were 

 still needed in the manors which would cost not 

 less than ;^ioo. Dikes and banks of the 

 Humber and Ouse needed repair, to the extent 

 °^ £^°- They had examined the master, 

 brothers, and sisters, and found that the hospital 

 owed Richard Ravenser its master ;^450. 



On II December 1398'' Richard II issued a 

 commission, owing to reports as to grave defects 

 in the hospital, due to the misgovernment of the 

 masters and their servants, and in consequence 

 of disputes between the master, William de 

 Botheby, and various persons attached to the 

 hospital. 



The report of the jurors revealed an exceed- 

 ingly bad state of affairs. They stated that at 

 the time that William de Botheby first became 

 master discretus vir Thomas Thurkill, a citizen 

 of York, and deputy for Robert Bayce, Botheby's 

 immediate predecessor, had ruled the hospital 

 Cremetts, or eremetts (i.e. hermits) were sick 

 " Chan. Misc. bdle. 20, no. 3. 



brethren. 



