ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



the parish church/* The negligences of Gilbert de Murself, rector of 

 Benington, were corrected." In 1420 Richard Field, the vicar of North 

 Mimms, was deprived ; it was proved in July of that year that he had 

 administered the sacraments in the church from Pentecost to the following 

 Lent but had not been seen since.^' From the wording of the depositions 

 in this case it seems that the real cause of his deprivation was not, however, 

 non-residence, but the fact that he had made absolutely no provision for 

 serving the cure, which had been neglected ever since his departure." The 

 prevalence of the custom, indeed, apart from the remarks of Porteus, shows 

 that the bishops were generally ready to grant dispensations for non-residence 

 provided that a competent curate was supplied. Until the end of the i6th 

 century, indeed, if not later, the curate was essentially one placed in charge 

 of a parish by or for the absent incumbent,*' though the term might also 

 be used for a coadjutor during the illness of the incumbent, and very 

 occasionally for a chantry priest ; the application of the word to the assistant 

 of a resident parish priest is a later use not found generally before the close 

 of the following century. The number of ' curates ' employed should therefore 

 give the actual, though not the legal, number of non-resident incumbents. 

 For the early years of the i6th century the evidence on this point is very 

 full for the diocese of Lincoln, though deficient for that of London. The 

 visitation of the archdeaconry of Huntingdon in i 518— 19 shows that there 

 were non-resident incumbents at Welwyn, All Saints Hertford, Letchworth, 

 Kelshall, Aspenden, Therfield, Ashwell, Radwell, Westmill and Wallington.*' 

 In only one case is any indication of the cause for non-residence given, but 

 the rector of Kelshall was away on the queen's service. A similar visitation 

 made in 1530 gives a similar result, non-residence being the rule at Welwyn, 

 Gaddesden, Aldenham, Ayot St. Lawrence, Great Munden, Kelshall, Ther- 

 field and Wallington.'" By a fortunate coincidence a clergy list of but four 

 years earlier has been preserved, and a comparison of these two documents 

 brings to light the actual non-residence of the sixty-six Hertfordshire 

 benefices of the diocese of Lincoln assessed in 1526"; no less than thirty-five 

 were served by curates who are found in charge of all the livings said to be 

 held by non-residents in 1530 except Kelshall, Therfield and Wallington, 

 where the duty was apparently discharged by stipendiary priests. The 

 practical result of non-residence was seen in the report in 1518 that at 

 Radwell the chancel was in ruins. At Welwyn both rectory and chancel 

 were badly in need of repair, while at Letchworth the curate was 

 ' insufficient.' The state of affairs at Ashwell was particularly scandalous ; 

 the curate would seem to have followed his vicar's example of non-residence, 

 for he was beneficed elsewhere and the vicarage-house was let to farm. In 

 1530 the report was rather better, but the chancel at Aldenham and the 

 churchyard wall at Therfield were both in a ruinous state. These numbers 

 may be compared with those furnished by a similar list made in 1543,^' 

 when the Reformation was in its earlier stage. At only twelve places is 



^ Line. Epis. Reg. Gynwell, Memo. fol. 134. 



*' Ibid. Burghersh, Memo. fol. 1 1 1 . 



8« Ibid. Fleming, Memo. fol. 241 d. ^7 jbid. 88 ggitej.^ op. cit. Introd. 



8' Atwater's Visit. (Line. Epis. Reg.). 



80 Visit, of Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, 1530 (Line. Epis. Reg.). " Salter, op. cit. 



" Visit, of Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, 1543 (Line. Epit. Reg.). 



