A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



13th century. An attempt to secure the pro- 

 vostship for his half-brother, Morgan, was one of 

 the many causes of dispute between Geoffrey 

 Plantagenet and his subordinates." The position 

 of the provost led to a quarrel between Fulk 

 Basset, provost c. 1222-40, and the canons, in 

 which Pope Gregory IX intervened at the 

 provost's request. The chief cause was the 

 inordinate expenditure upon food in the Bedern, 

 at a time when prices were high ; the provost 

 complained that his office brought him loss, 

 while the goods of the church were wasted.*' 

 There was less excuse for the high-handed deal- 

 ings of the non-resident provost, Aymo du 

 Quart (i 294-1 304), both with the tenants of 

 the provostry and with the chapter, which 

 brought about the intervention of Archbishop 

 Corbridge." When Aymo was elected Bishop 

 of Geneva in 1304 he sold goods belonging to 

 the provostry and the canons to defray the ex- 

 pen'^cs of his journey. The chapter stopped the 

 unauthorized sales, and sequestrated the property 

 of the provostry to the maintenance of the 

 Bedern.*' In 1304-5 the official of Provost 

 Robert of Abberwick summoned the school- 

 master of the chapter to appear in his court in 

 answer to a plea brought by a rival schoolmaster 

 within the provostry. The canons challenged the 

 summons with the objection that, by ancient 

 custom, clerks wearing their habit in the minster 

 and dwelling in Beverley were answerable only 

 to the jurisdiction of the chapter. '^ A similar 

 argument was urged in 1305 against the claim 

 of the official of the archbishop to summon a 

 canon on certain unspecified charges. The 

 chapter threatened to appeal to the Curia if the 

 summons were carried into execution." 



The growing customs of non-residence and 

 pluralism led to difficulties between the provost 

 and canons, and in the chapter itself. Aymo 

 du Quart was not only non-resident and a holder 

 of other lucrative preferments, but, as canon, 

 did not obey the fundamental condition of pro- 

 ceeding to priest's orders." His successor in his 

 canonry found his prebendal house in need of 

 almost entire rebuilding.'' By the end of the 

 13th century, at any rate, the corrodies of 

 victuals in the Bedern had been commuted for 

 money payments. In 1286 Archbishop Romanus 

 ordered the tax of a fourth payable by each non- 

 resident to be levied on the prebends of three 

 canons and of the sacrist, chancellor, precentor, 

 and the portions of all seven herefellarii.^ The 

 canons were, as a rule, clerks chiefly engaged in 



"See 'Ecd. Hist.' above, p. 22, n. 61. 



" ArMp. Grafs Reg. (Surt. Soc), 175 (Addenda, 

 no. xlix) ; see also Chapter Act Bk. (Surt. Soc), ii, pp. 

 xxiii, xxiv. 



" Chapter Act Bk. (Surt. Soc), i, 1 5. 



"Ibid. 21-2. "Ibid. 58-60. 



"Ibid. S7-9. "Ibid. 14-15. 



"Ibid. 324. " Ibid, ii, 150. 



the king's and archbishop's business. Thus 

 Master John of Nassington in 1306 was directed 

 by Archbishop Greenfield, whose chancellor he 

 was, to receive the full corpus of his prebend, by 

 virtue of a papal decree which authorized canons 

 in attendance on their bishop to count as resident 

 in their chapters." At a convocation in 1308, 

 when six of the canons were present, it was 

 ordained that a canon going on business on behalf 

 of the church and at his own expense should be 

 accounted resident." A Frenchman, Peter son 

 of Emery, was presented by Edward I to the 

 prebend of St. Martin's altar, the wealthiest 

 stall in the church. His admission was delayed 

 by his fellow canons, on the ground that he 

 made no effort to keep his statutory residence; 

 and he endeavoured to sue his three chief oppo- 

 nents for the fruits of his prebend before the 

 king's court. This action naturally led to an 

 indignant assertion of the chapter's right of 

 internal jurisdiction. The deadlock caused by 

 the intervention of the king was solved by a 

 compromise, by which Peter agreed to accept 

 an annual pension from the prebend, while 

 remitting his claims to its fruits." He died in 

 1309, and does not seem to have visited 

 Beverley. 



The question of non-residence was taken in 

 hand by Archbishop Romanus, whose attention 

 was called to the state of the church by his 

 quarrel with Robert of Scarborough, the pre- 

 bendary of St. Stephen's altar and Dean of 

 York."* On 20th June 1290 he agreed with 

 the canons upon an ordinance by which twenty- 

 four weeks of residence was required yearly of 

 every canon, and the first twelve weeks were a 

 qualification for a share in the portions of non- 

 residents." This ordinance was followed by 

 another, binding the dignitaries and berefellarii to 

 continual residence.'" It was said later that the 

 chapter was induced to accept the decree by the 

 promise of a church worth at least 60 marks, to 

 be given to their common fund.'^ Romanus 

 fell out with the canons in 1295. On the 

 death of Peter of Chester, the chapter seques- 

 trated the goods of the provostry ; but Romanus 

 drove out their servants and took the property 

 into his hands. A commission was appointed 

 by the Crown to try the case, which probably 

 found for the chapter'^; but a formal mandate 

 from the archbishop was duly obtained at the 

 next vacancy.*' Romanus was also accused of 



" Chapter Act Bk. (Surt. Soc), i, 135-6. 



^Ibid. 2l9et8eq. "Ibid. 99-101. 



** Ibid, ii, 154. References to this quarrel are 

 plentiful in Romanus' register. Its real reason seems 

 to have been Scarborough's refusal to indemnify the 

 archbishop for expenses in a suit before the Curia 

 relating to the advowson of Adlingfleet. 



"Ibid, ii, 162. "Ibid. 168-9. 



"Ibid. 1,192. "Ibid, ii, 21-2. 



"Ibid, i, 15. 



356 



