RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



nunnery, intended to support seven Domini- 

 can sisters, with the appropriation of the 

 Hampshire rectory of Kingsclere. Tlie 

 Bishop of Winchester was persuaded to 

 support the scheme, and he also wrote to 

 the pope soliciting permission to appropriate 

 Kingsclere to the contemplated nunnery. 

 But the various applications failed, and the 

 friars continued to hold the house according 

 to the original foundation.' 



On 20 June 1321 Bishop Asserio licenced 

 Richard de Erberfelde, Thomas de Leddrede, 

 Richard de Guildford, William de Newport, 

 John de Dene, Geoflfrey de Godalming and 

 William Mandeville, friars of Guildford, to 

 hear confessions and to preach.^ 



Pope Benedict XII. in 1336 issued a 

 mandate to the Bishop of Winchester, the 

 abbot of Netley and the prior of St. Denis to 

 carry out ordinances and concessions touch- 

 ing those who left religious orders, having 

 special reference to Arnold Lym, of the 

 order of Friars Preachers, who had left the 

 convent of that order at Guildford, and 

 desired to be reconciled.' 



Richard Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel and 

 Surrey, by will dated 4 March 1393, ordered 

 that the houses of friars should be looked 

 after by his executors, especially those of 

 Arundel and Guildford, as they were bound 

 to pray for the souls of his father, mother, 

 wife and himself. Sir Reginald Bray, knight, 

 was also a benefactor. By his will, proved 

 28 November 1503, he bequeathed to every 

 house of friars in England 40^. to pray for his 

 soul for two years, and to the friars of the 

 house where his mother lay buried the large 

 sum of ;^200, at the rate of ;^io a year, to say 

 mass for the souls of Dame Katherine his 

 wife, Richard his father and Jane his mother. 



Henry VIII. built himself a hunting lodge 

 within the precincts, and professed great love 

 and affection for the friary. Among the 

 privy purse expenses of Henry VIII. in July 

 1530 is a 'reward' of ^Ts to the friars of 

 Guildford, and also the large sum (evidently 

 for some special service) of ;{^ 12 los., through 

 the Duke of Norfolk, to a friar called Anserois 

 at Guildford. The gift of £$ to the friars 

 was renewed in July 1531.* It has been 

 conjectured that these gifts were in return 

 for the labours of some of the community, 

 who were known to be skilled in horticulture, 



* Sandale's Register (Hants Rec. Sec), pp. 

 279-86. 



' Bishop Asserio' s Register (Hants Record So- 

 ciety). 



' Cal. of Pafal Letters, i\. Ci'i. 



* Add. MSS. 20, 30, ff. 33, jj. 



in laying out the royal gardens and grounds 

 at Guildford as mentioned hereafter. 



The treaty with Scotland was ratified by 

 Henry VIII. at the house of the Blackfriars, 

 Guildford, on 2 August 1534, in the pre- 

 sence of Robert, abbot of Kinlos, ambassador 

 of Scotland, the Bishop of Winchester, the 

 Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Northumber- 

 land, Thomas Cromwell and others.^ 



John Hilsey, Bishop of Rochester, wrote 

 to Cromwell on 10 August 1536, in favour 

 of the friars of Guildford, begging that the 

 king would grant them a perpetual alms for 

 the relief of their poverty.* This was fol- 

 lowed by a petition to the Crown direct 

 from the Friars Preachers. They stated that 

 their house, which was now of Queen Jane's 

 foundation and whose first foundress was 

 Queen Eleanor, the wife of Henry III., to- 

 gether with the place of honour that the 

 king had built within their precincts, were 

 now decaying ; that they had no property, 

 but lived on alms which had of late much 

 fallen off, so that they often wanted even food, 

 and were unable to serve the king ' in setting 

 out trimming and fashioning ground and gar- 

 dens about the king's place,' and that they 

 begged the ' grant of some " benefice " prebend, 

 free chapel, corrody, commandry or order 

 and governing over any house of alms and 

 prayers.' ^ 



Sir William, the treasurer of the house- 

 hold, writing to Cromwell on i August 1537 

 from Guildford, which Henry VIII. was 

 about to visit, recommended him to lodge at 

 the parsonage of St. Nicholas ' as the Freres 

 is but a little house and will be sore pestered 

 at the King's being there.' * In October of 

 that year the king, after his sojourn at this 

 friary, granted William Cobden, the prior, 

 and the house of the Black Friars, Guildford, 

 an annuity of 20 marks in pure alms.* The 

 friars had however no enjoyment of this an- 

 nuity, for the house was ' surrendered ' by 

 Prior Cobden and six other friars to the 

 'lord visitor' on 10 October 1538." 



By ' the lord visitor ' is meant Richard 

 Ingworth, the renegade friar, then suffragan- 

 bishop of Dover. The visitor sold certain 

 goods to pay the debt of the house, and drew 

 up the following inventory : — 



'The Black Freers of Gilforde.' 

 This Indenture makith mencyon off all the 



5 L. and P. Hen. Fill. vii. 1031, 1032. 

 « Ibid. xi. 260. 



7 Ibid. 1439. 



8 Ibid. xii. (2), 415. 



9 Ibid. 1008 (33). 

 10 Ibid. xiii. (2), 580. 



115 



