RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



there in the stricter meaning of the word, and 

 apparently the connexion with St. Wandrille was 

 severed in the time of Edward III. 



Priors of Ecclesfield 



Peter de Sancto Romano, occurs 1287 *' 

 Robert de Bosco, occurs 1308,*° instituted 



vicar also 1311,*' res. 1328** 

 John de Fauvell, appointed 1328,^' died 



1347'" 

 Robert Gulielmus, appointed 1347 ^' 



John Burdet, occurs 1372 '^ 



214. HOLY TRINITY PRIOR Y, 

 YORK 



This priory was the successor of a pre-Con- 

 quest house of canons, which in 1089 was 'almost 

 reduced to nothing,' though it had been ' formerly 

 adorned with canons and rents of farms and 

 ecclesiastical ornaments.' ^' At what date this 

 house of canons was built is unknown but by the 

 year 1089 it was in the hands of Ralph Paynell, 

 who in that year re-established the house, as a 

 priory of Benedictines, subject to the abbey of 

 Marmoutier, near Tours.'* 



In the foundation charter of the Benedictine 

 cell the invocation is given as the ' Holy Trinity ''' 

 but frequently it is referred to as ' Christ's 

 Church,' '^ and in Domesday Book we find both 

 ascriptions.'' In post-Conquest days 'Holy 

 Trinity' was the name generally used, but as 

 late as 1 175 ''we find it referred to as ' Christ's 

 Church.' The latter seems to have been the 

 original dedication, but eventually disappeared.'^ 



Ralph Paynell's charter was practically a re- 

 foundation. Many of the churches and lands 

 which he conferred upon the Benedictine house 

 had formerly belonged to it as a house of canons. 



There were fourteen churches, tithes from 

 seventeen places, lands in numerous parts of 

 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, a fishery at Drax, 

 and the tithes of other fisheries.'" This muni- 

 ficent beginning was increased in the following 

 centuries by numerous benefactors. 



During its existence the priory acquired 

 several cells, the first of which was Allerton 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Romanus, fol. 8gl>. 



'* Ibid. sed. vac. fol. 106. 



"Ibid. Greenfield, fol. 51^. 



'' Ibid. Melton, fol. 175^. •' Ibid. 



"> Ibid. Zouch, fol. 37/5. " Ibid. 



" Baildon, Mm. Notes, i, 50 (he was not vicar of 

 Ecclesfield). 



*' Stapleton's paper, vircA. Inst. Proc. York, 1846, 

 p. 18. ** Yorks. Arch, and Topog. Journ. iv, 236. 



"Dugdale, Mm. Jngl. iv, 682. 



*« B.M. Cat. of Seals, i, 823. 



" Stapleton's paper, Arch. Inst. Proc. York, 1 846, 

 p. I, and Bawdwen's Domesday, 196. 



^ Dodsworth MS. 7, fol. 198 (Bodl. Lib.). 



" See York Diocesan Mag. for 1903, p. 23. 



™ Stapleton's paper, ut supra, 18, i g. 



389 



Mauleverer."^ The connexion was of short 

 duration, however, for Allerton soon acquired its 

 independence, being subject only to Marmoutier 

 from about the year mo. The second cell 

 was the priory of Hedley'^ founded c. 1 125, and 

 the third was the priory of Tickford in the 

 county of Buckingham, which was placed under 

 Holy Trinity at the suppression of alien houses. °' 

 There was also a famous chantry chapel in York 

 under the priory and served by its monks — the 

 chapel of St. James's on the Mount.^^ 



Being an alien house. Holy Trinity suffered 

 much during the various wars with France. 

 The monks were sometimes suspected as granting 

 asylum to French spies ; they were charged 

 with sending supplies to the enemy ; and fre- 

 quent disturbances took place at the priory in 

 consequence of the unpopularity of the house 

 during these years of conflict between the two 

 countries. At such times the priory possessions 

 were seized into the hands of the king, and in 

 the Patent and Close Rolls there are numerous 

 references to royal appointments to the churches 

 belonging to Holy Trinity ' on account of the 

 war with France.' 



In 1402 Parliament asked the king to resume 

 into his hands all alien priories ' except conven- 

 tual priories.' "^a The Prior of Holy Trinity at 

 that time, John Castell, satisfactorily showed that 

 his house was conventual," and whilst in 141 4 

 nearly all the aliens were suppressed, amongst 

 the number being Hedley and Allerton Mau- 

 leverer, Holy Trinity was spared ; '^ and being 

 naturalized on their own petition in 1426,'' the 

 house was thenceforward free from all connexion 

 with Marmoutier, itself having practically the 

 status of an abbey, and being frequently so 

 referred to.** 



Some time during the reign of Henry VI 

 (1422-61) the priory received the grant of 

 another religious house, the hospital of St. Nich- 

 olas in the suburbs of York.*' 



Another hospital of the same dedication was 

 granted to the priory shortly afterwards — 

 19 May 1466 — the hospital of St. Nicholas by 

 Scarborough.™ 



During the 15 th century the priory had 

 become impoverished through the wars, the 

 calls formerly made on them from Marmoutier, 

 losses, misrule and misfortune, and in 1446 it 



" Cal. Doc. France, if ^i. 



*' Tanner, Hotlt. Man. quoting 'MS. v. cl, Ricardi 

 Rawlinsoni.' »' Ibid. Bucks, xxvi. 



" Cal. Pat. 1461-7, p. 375. 



"^ Cott. MS. Cleop. F. iii, fol. 32^-36. 



** Proc. 0/ Privy Council (Re:. Com.), i, 191. 



»« Ibid. " Pat. 4 Hen. VI, pt. ii, m. 8. 



^ See virill of Joan Marshall, 22 Mar. 1427, in 

 York Reg. 



^^ York Corp. House Bks. vi, fol. 3. See account 

 of St. Nicholas Hospital, above. 



'» Pat. 6 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. 20. 



