A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



of the community of Nottingham were to hire 

 booths or stalls for any stranger, or for the sale 

 of any alien goods, but only for themselves and 

 their own wares. All men of Nottingham buy- 

 ing and selling hides, tanned or untanned, and 

 all from Nottingham passing through Lenton in 

 fair time with carts, wagons, or packhorses, were 

 to be quit of toll and custom. In return for 

 this quittance, the mayor and burgesses granted 

 to the prior and convent a building for ever in 

 the Saturday market free of charge, and that no 

 market of any kind of merchandise be held within 

 the town of Nottingham during the eight days 

 of the Lenton fair, except within houses, and in 

 doors and windows.^ 



The priory was in an unhappy financial con- 

 dition in 13 1 3. In May of that year Edward II, 

 at the request of the prior and convent, appointed 

 John de Hotham to be keeper of that house and 

 of all issues and profits and possessions, as the 

 king had taken it into his protection on account 

 of its poverty and indebtedness. After a reason- 

 able allowance had been made for the prior and 

 convent and their men, all issues were to be 

 reserved for the discharge of debts, and for making 

 good the defects of the priory. So long as the 

 priory was in Hotham's custody, no sheriff, 

 bailiff, or other minister of the king was to lodge 

 there without his licence.'* This appointment, 

 which was ' during pleasure,' was renewed in 

 the following year.'* 



In 1319, much to his credit. Prior Geoffrey 

 de Chintriaco had the courage to resist the papal 

 order to induct the proctor of Bertrand, Cardinal 

 of St. Marcellus, to the rectory of Ratcliffe on 

 Soar. In January 1320 Pope John XXII issued 

 his mandate to the Archbishop of York and the 

 Bishops of Hereford and Winchester to cite the 

 prior to appear personally before him to answer 

 for his disobedience, and at the same time to cite 

 in like manner Walter de Almiarslond, who had 

 ' thrust himself into the parish church of Radcliff 

 of which papal provision had been made to 

 Cardinal Bertrand.' Prior Geoffrey put in no 

 appearance at Rome, and was excommunicated 

 by the Cardinal of St. Susanna as papal commis- 

 sioner. For about three years the prior remained 

 contumacious, and then in November 1323 a 

 fresh mandate was issued by Pope John to the 

 Archbishop of York and two others not only to 

 renew the citation of Prior Geoffrey to Rome, 

 but also to publish and enforce the suspension of 

 the papal letters of protection granted to the 

 English Cluniacs, under which the Prior of 

 Lenton had sheltered himself in the matter of 

 Cardinal Bertrand, and to inhibit the Abbot of 

 Westminster, as conservator of the order of Cluni 

 in England, from taking any action in the matter. 

 Early in 1327, immediately after the accession of 



" Nott. Bar. Rec. i, 60-7. 



" Pat. 6 Edw. II, pt. ii, m. 11. 



'« Ibid. 7 Edvif. II, pt. i, m. 15. 



Edward III, Prior Geoffrey again disobeyed a 

 papal mandate by refusing to put Cardinal Fouget 

 in possession of the rectory of Ratcliffe on Soar. 

 Being threatened by the pope with the destruc- 

 tion of his house of Lenton, the prior petitioned 

 the king, and implored him by the love of God 

 to write letters excusatory to Rome. To this 

 petition the king acceded and wrote to Pope 

 John XXII from Nottingham on 15 May 1327, 

 and also at the same date to the Cardinal of 

 St. Susanna, explaining the situation and justify- 

 ing the prior." 



At the close, however, of 1328, the pope 

 secured the due submission of Prior Geoffrey and 

 removed the excommunication.'* In 1331 Prior 

 Geoffrey resigned Lenton, which was reserved 

 by Pope John to Guichard de Jou, monk of 

 Cluni : the priory of Montacute being at the 

 same time reserved for Geoffrey.'^ 



A grant was obtained from Edward in 1327, 

 that on any voidance of the priory no escheator 

 or other minister was to enter or intermeddle 

 with its possessions ; but that, at the request of 

 the sub-prior and convent, the sheriff or the con- 

 stable of Nottingham Castle should place a ser- 

 vant at the door for the protection of the goods 

 of the priory, taking nothing therefrom save his 

 entertainment. It was stated in the grant that 

 this was but a confirmation of the original 

 chartered privilege of William Peverel, the 

 founder,*" whom we know to have been appointed 

 castellan of Nottingham in io68. 



Edward III, on his accession, restored to the 

 priory of Lenton and sixty-four other alien 

 priories their lands in England, seized by his 

 father on account of the war in Aquitaine.'" But 

 on the resumption of the war with France the 

 Crown resumed its hold on the property of Len- 

 ton and of the other alien priories. The Patent 

 Rolls of both Edward III and Richard II abound 

 in entries of Crown presentations to the numerous 

 benefices whose advowsons were nominally in 

 the gift of the Prior and Convent of Lenton. 



The year 1329 was of some celebrity in the 

 annals of Lenton Priory on account of two law- 

 suits which were then brought to an issue. In 

 the one case a dispute had arisen between the 

 Prior of Lenton and the Abbot of Vale Royal, 

 Cheshire, in consequence of the former selling 

 the tithes of beasts pasturing in Edale, Derby- 

 shire. The abbot entreated Queen Isabella, 

 who was at that time lady of the Castle and 

 Honour of the High Peak, to instruct her bailiff 

 to see that the tithes both of deer and cattle in 

 Edale were reserved for the benefit of the church 

 of Castleton, of which the abbot was rector. An 

 inquisition on oath was accordingly held, with 



" Pari. R. ii, 393 ; Rymer, Foedera, iv, 289. 



'' Cal. of Papal Letters, i, 194, 234-5, ^^4. 



'» Ibid, i, 346. 



" Pat. I Edw. Ill, pt. iii, m. 12. 



*' Rymer, Foedera, iv, 246. 



56 



