A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



the chapter was revived at the Restoration. 

 The deanery remained a Crown appointment, 

 but the collation to the canonries rested with 

 the archbishop, subject to the presentation of 

 three nominees by the chapter.^ In 1836 

 the new bishopric of Ripon was founded, and 

 the number of prebendaries reduced, after the 

 vacation of two of the stalls, to four residentiary 

 canons.*' The number of honorary canonries 

 in the collation of the bishop is twenty-four. 



The 1 2th-century seal ** is a vesica, 2% in. by 

 2 in., with Agnus Dei standing on an altar, and 

 the legend : 



4- SIGILLVM SANCTI WILFRIDI RIPENSIS ECLESIE 



The 13th-century seal ** of the commissary of 

 the chapter is a small vesica, ij in. by I in., with 

 a tree, in the branches of which are a crucifix 

 and a bird. Below stands St. Wilfrid, and on 

 the other side is a kneeling monk. At the foot 

 is a lily. The legend is : 



s' commissar' capl'i ecclesie riponiensis 



The 15th-century seal of the vicars choral *° 

 is a vesica, and shows, under a canopy, a king 

 giving a sealed charter to a bishop ; on the right 

 of the canopy is a key, on the left a star ; below, 

 under an arch, is a group of heads. Legend : 



COE 



PER REGEM HENRICUM V^"" 



205. JESUS COLLEGE, ROTHERHAM 



Thomas Scot, afterwards known as Thomas 

 Rotherham, was a native of Rotherham, and be- 

 came its most distinguished son. Among other 

 dignities he held the provostry of Beverley,^ the 

 see of Rochester,' the see of Lincoln,' the 

 archbishopric of York,* the chancellorship of 

 Cambridge University, and the lord-chancellor- 

 ship.' He had the interest of his native town 

 very much at heart, and by royal licence, ob- 

 tained 28 July 1480' and 22 January 1483,' 

 he founded the collegiate church, of which he 

 laid the foundation stone on 12 March 1483,' 

 having by his own metropolitical authority drawn 

 up the statutes on I February 1483.' 



The site of the college is described as lying 

 between ' le ympyerd,' or abbot's close, and ' the 



^ Mem. ofRifon (Surt. See), ii, 258. 

 " Ibid. 



** Cat. of Seals, B.M. 3910, Ixxv, 2. 

 " Ibid. 3911, Ixi, 41. 



* ^lem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), i, 129. 



' Poulson, Beverlac, 653. ' Ibid. 



' Hunter, Domaster, ii, 5, 6. 



* Diucsati Cal. 1 907, p. 70. 

 ' Pou'.son, B:fe-Jdc, 653. 



^ Torre's MS. (Vorr:), fol. 1105. 



' Pat. 22 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 33. 



' Leach, forks. Sch. ii, p. xxxi. 



' Ibid. 109, where the statutes are fully given. 



common river.' Here, at a distance of 1 60 ft. 

 from the parish church," he erected ' the College 

 of Jesu of Rotherham.' In founding the institu- 

 tion, the archbishop had several objects in view : 

 (i) it was to be in every sense a religious house ; 

 (2) it was to be a means of securing that the 

 Word of God was preached in the neighbour- 

 hood ; (3) it was to afford chambers for the 

 chantry priests of the town, and so save them 

 from the temptation of living vagrant and idle 

 lives ; and (4) it was to be an educational insti- 

 tution, the district being ' very barayn of know- 

 ledge.' " 



The house was founded for a provost, two 

 fellows, and, funds permitting, six choristers ; and 

 later, when making his will, the founder added a 

 third fellow, bringing the total up to ten in the 

 college, and so in his will he was able to indulge 

 in the conceit that in whatsoever he might have 

 ofFended God in the ten commandments he 

 might have ten people to pray for him.^^ 



The provost was to be a priest, a doctor or at 

 least a B.D. of Cambridge, the appointment re- 

 maining with the founder during life, and after 

 his death the regents and non-regents of Cam- 

 bridge were to present new provosts to the Arch- 

 bishop of York within a month of the notice of 

 any vacancy, such notice to have been given by 

 letter within nineteen days from the vacancy." 



The provost was to keep perpetual residence 

 for the greater part of the year, to preserve the 

 college rights and honestly administer its re- 

 venues, and to preach the Word of God in the 

 diocese, and especially in Rotherham, Laxton, 

 and Ecclesfield, no Sunday in Lent ever to be 

 omitted, and specially was he to preach on Palm 

 Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Day, Corpus Christi, 

 the feast of the Assumption, and All Saints' 

 Day.^* For his stipend he was to have 20 marks 

 a year.^' To the provost belonged the correc- 

 tion and reformation of fellows, choristers, ser- 

 vants, and others within the college precincts. 



The first two fellows were Dom Edmund 

 Carter and Dom William Alanson, the masters 

 of the grammar school and song school respec- 

 tively. The third, ordered in the founder's will, 

 was to teach writing and arithmetic to youths 

 not intended for holy orders ; this third fellow- 

 ship to be held in perpetuity by the cantarist at 

 the altar of St. Katharine in the parish church, 

 which had been insufficiently endowed by 

 Mr. John Foxe, its founder.*' These four, the 

 provost and fellows, were to be a corporation 

 possessing a common seal. The fellows were to 

 be priests, or at least one of them, who was to be 



'" Torks. Chant. Surv. (Surt. See.), 201. 

 " Ibid. 



" Hunter, Doncaster, ii, 7. 

 " Torre's MS. (York), fol. 1 105. " Ibid. 



" Hunter {Doncaster, ii, 8) gives the stipend, but 

 erroneously, as ;^20. 



" Hunter, Doncaster, ii, 7. 



372 



