A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



COLLEGIATE HOUSE 



19. COLLEGE OF THELE OR STAN- 

 STEAD ST. MARGARET'S 



The rectory of St. Margaret's, Thele, is said 

 to have grown so poor that at the begimiing of 

 the 14th century it was becoming almost 

 impossible to find a priest to accept the living.* 

 It was in these circumstances that Sir William 

 Goldington, the patron, the better to provide 

 for divine worship, estabhshed in the church at 

 the altar of St. Mary a chantry of five chap- 

 lains * which he endowed in May 13 16* with a 

 messuage, a carucate of land, 8 acres of meadow, 

 15 acres of wood and ^^lo rent in Thele, Am well 

 and Bowers Gifford, pasturage for six cows and 

 100 sheep in his demesne lands in Thele, and 

 the advowsons of the churches of Thele and 

 Aldham** (Essex), with leave to appropriate 

 them to their own uses. 



The rectors of Thele and Aldham having 

 resigned, Gilbert Bishop of London agreed to 

 appropriate the churches to the college on con- 

 dition that a vicarage should be ordained at 

 Aldham and that the Bishop of London should 

 present the vicar of Aldham and the warden 

 of the college, who was to have cure of souls at 

 Thele ; his choice, however, was to be restricted 

 to members of the college, vacancies in whose 

 ranks were to be filled up by Goldington and his 

 heirs.* The bishop died before he could carry 

 out his intentions, but his successor, Richard, in 

 August 1317' completed the appropriation and 

 laid down certain rules for the chaplains : they 

 were to say all the hours and were to celebrate 

 five masses daily, one of St. Mary, another of 

 the day which was to be sung, and three others 

 for the dead in a low voice ; they were to live 

 together in obedience to the warden and at 

 service were to wear black.' 



In 1348 Philip de Aungre and his wife Alice 

 gave the college three messuages and some 

 land in Chelmsford and Broomfield, co. Essex, 

 towards the maintenance of a chaplain to cele- 



* Cott. Chart, rxix, 44. 



' To pray for himself and Margaret his wife, 

 Robert Earl of Oxford and Thomas his son (Lond. 

 Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 1 99 d.). Earl Robert 

 confirmed Goldingtcn's grant to the chantry (ibid.). 



' Ibid. The royal licence for the alienation in 

 mortmain was given in February (ibid. fol. 199 ; 

 Cal. Pat. 1 31 3-1 7, P- 434)-. 



^ Morant, Hist, of Essex, ii, 201. 



* Cott. Chart, xxix, 44. 



' Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 200. Golding- 

 ton's ratification of the appropriation made at his 

 instance is dated 12 Mar. 1317-18 (Cott. Chart, v, 



46). 



" ' Superpelliciis et capis ac amiciis nigris superius 

 induantur.' 



brate for them daily,' and Alice the next year 

 bequeathed to them a place in the parish of 

 St. Bartholomew the Less, London.* The chap- 

 lains also obtained in 1353 land in Amwell, 

 Stanstead and Hoddesdon • in part satisfaction 

 of land and rent to the value of looj., which in 

 1346 they had received the king's permission 

 to acquire.*" 



The college came to an end in 1431, after an 

 existence of a httle over a century." It was 

 alleged by the Bishop of London, in his request 

 for the royal consent to its dissolution and the 

 transfer of its property to Elsingspital, London, 

 that much of its property had been alienated 

 through the carelessness, neglect, and ill- 

 governance of the wardens, and for want of the 

 defence of pleas often brought against them,*' 

 and the rest would probably soon be lost, unless 

 a remedy were provided. Yet, on comparing 

 what they then possessed with the grants made 

 to them, the difference is not striking. Pro- 

 bably the condition of the college was unsatis- 

 factory and a fresh arrangement needed to 

 secure the due performance of the rehgious 

 services. It was ordained that henceforth 

 three regular canons should celebrate in Elsing- 

 spital for the souls of the founders, and two at 

 Thele. 



Masters or Wardens of Thele College 



Richard, occurs Michaelmas 1326 and Easter 



13271* 

 Hugh, occurs 1 349 ** 

 Ralph at Hall, resigned 1384** 

 John Buk, appointed 6 August 1384," 



resigned in 1385 *' 

 John Brunne, appointed 5 May 1 385,*' resigned 



1386" 

 John Aston, appointed 4 November 1386, 



resigned in 1395** 



' Cal. Pat. 1348-50, p. 100. 



* The will was proved Nov. 1 349 (Sharpe, Cal. 0/ 

 Wills proved in Ct. ofHusting, London, i, 6i8). 



° Cal Pat. 1350-4, p. 433. 



10 Ibid. 1345-8, p. 87. 



** Ibid. 1429-36, p. 146. 



*' It is interesting to see that in one case recorded, 

 a claim by Ralph son of Amald in the Hale in i 326 

 and 1327 to land, wood and pasture in Amwell, the 

 master of St. Margaret's did not appear (De Banco R. 

 269, m. 48). 



1' De Banco R. 269, m. 48. '< Sharpe, loc. cit. 



" Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 28 d. 



" Ibid. 1' Ibid. fol. 36. '« Ibid. •» Ibid. fol. 49. 



^ Ibid. On 9 Nov. a man of the same name is 

 mentioned by the Bishop of London as preaching 

 without licence and spreading erroneous doctrines 

 (ibid. fol. 3 30 d.), but he can hardly be the warden. 



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