RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



produced five witnesses before the commission, 

 namely John their sub-prior, Ralph the cellarer, 

 Geoffrey de Hanworth, another of their canons, 

 George, who had been a priory servant for fifty 

 years, and Adam de Scawby, a very old layman, 

 who by their depositions most clearly [luculenter) 

 proved that the priory had received the 5 marks 

 yearly for over forty years without any inter- 

 mission, namely from the days of Bishop Walter 

 de Coutances (i 183-4) of good memory up to 

 the presentation of William de Marcham to the 

 rectory. Evidence was also forthcoming of the 

 formal confirmation of the pension of Bishop 

 Walter. The rector was ordered to refund to 

 Thurgarton the arrears of 10 marks, and hence- 

 forth punctually to pay the pension.^' 



Archbishop Giffard (1265-79) confirmed to 

 the prior and canons of Thurgarton the churches 

 of Sutton in Ashfield, Granby, Tythby, Ow- 

 thorpe, Hoveringham, Hawksworth, and Key- 

 worth.''* 



Thurgarton Priory was personally visited by 

 Archbishop Wickwane (1279-86), with the 

 result that the following injunctions or correc- 

 tions were forwarded to the house on 8 June 

 1280 : The prior was to be more discreet in 

 temporal matters and more moderate in his cor- 

 rections ; no base person, stranger, or layman was 

 to be admitted to the frater, and no one but the 

 physicians to the farmery ; no drinking after 

 compline, save for some necessary cause or in- 

 firmity in the presence of the prior ; no letters 

 to be sealed but in full consent ; gifts to the 

 canons or lay brothers from their friends were to 

 go to the indigent or for common use ; silence 

 at proper times and places, according to rule, was 

 to be strictly observed ; canons not to go out of 

 cloister (save the obedientiaries), except by the 

 leave of the president ; alms (of food) were not 

 to be imprudently consumed, but warded for the 

 poor. Carols and lockers of the canons to be 

 opened thrice a year in the presence of the prior 

 and of two or three of the most trustworthy of 

 the canons, that the vice of private property 

 might be obliterated ; the lay brothers were to be 

 faithfully instructed in devotions and works of 

 merit ; the fasts were to be observed, and canons 

 serving outside the house not to be absent longer 

 than a fortnight. These injunctions were to be 

 publicly read in full chapter at the beginning of 

 each month. ^' 



On 22 August 1284 the archbishop confirmed 

 the provision made by the Prior and Convent of 

 Thurgarton for Brother Robert de Barford, their 

 late prior. The ex-prior was to have suitable 

 good rooms in the priory where he could live 

 with one of the canons, an attendant and a boy, 

 who were to wait on him, as was seemly. 

 Provision was to be made daily for the ex-prior 



" York Epis. Reg. Gray, fol. 146^. 



'' Ibid. GifFard, fol. 78. 



" Ibid. Wickwane, fol. 137. 



at the rate of one and a half canon's portion. 

 Due provision both in board and clothing was also 

 to be made both for the attendant and the boy. 

 The ex-prior was himself to receive yearly two 

 marks for clothing, and he was to be excused 

 attending the divine offices whenever he de- 

 sired.^* 



'Arduous and urgent business' prevented 

 Archbishop Romayne, early in his episcopate, 

 from fulfilling an engagement to visit Thur- 

 garton Priory on 8 May 1286, and it was post- 

 poned to the 14th of the same month.^^ It was 

 as a consequence of this visit that Gilbert the 

 prior, who was accused of incontinence with a 

 married woman, formally purged himself of this 

 sin, publicly and solemnly, with his witnesses or 

 compurgators, before the archbishop on 19 May, 

 and was thereupon declared by his diocesan, 

 under his seal, to be of good fame.'" 



In August of the same year an episcopal man- 

 date ordered Prior Gilbert to put Alexander de 

 Gedling, a canon of that house, to penance for 

 using opprobrious, presumptuous, noisy, and 

 scandalous language in a chapel of the house 

 where the convent daily assembled for the dis- 

 cussion of business.'^ 



About the same time the archbishop addressed 

 the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton with respect 

 to one of their canons, Simon de Lincoln, who 

 had been to Rome because of his faults and had 

 now returned. They were ordered to receive 

 him back in charity and to consider his penance 

 at an end, save that he was not to be allowed to 

 leave the cloister without the president's sanction.'^ 



A request was addressed by Archbishop 

 Romanus in 1289 to Henry de Anra, the pro- 

 vincial prior of the Carmelites, to permit Richard 

 Maulovel, a fervently devout canon of Thur- 

 garton, of the order of St. Augustine, who desired 

 a stricter rule, to enter his order.'' 



In 1290 a scandal was caused at this house by 

 W. de Bingham, one of the canons, violently 

 assaulting John de Sutton, a clerk, in the con- 

 ventual church, for which he was sentenced to 

 the greater excommunication ; his eventual 

 absolution was committed by the archbishop to 

 the prior.'* 



On the resignation of Prior Robert de Baseford 

 in 1284 the convent elected two of their number 

 and presented them to Archbishop Romanus for 

 his choice, namely Alexander de Gedling and 

 Nicholas de Gameley ; but the archbishop passed 

 them both over and nominated Gilbert de 

 Ponteburg as prior." When Gilbert, however, 

 resigned the priorship he was succeeded by 

 Alexander de Gedling." 



^« Ibid. fol. 54. 



2' Ibid. Romanus, fol. 69. 



'" Ibid. fol. 69 d. As to compurgation see p. 50. 



" Ibid. fol. 70. " Ibid. 



^' Ibid. fol. 74 d. '* Ibid. fol. 76. 



5' Ibid. fol. 49. ^^ Ibid. fol. 51. 



123 



