A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



the parishioners. John Adams, the sacrist's pre- 

 bendary, was appointed parish vicar with a salary 

 of;^20, and two others made ' assistants to the 

 cure' at ^5 each. By an Act, however, of 

 Philip and Alary {1557) *^^ chapter was re- 

 stored. Most of the confiscated property had 

 passed to John Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, 

 but he had fallen into disgrace and his estates 

 had been resumed by the Crown in payment of 

 his debts. 



After this restoration until the final dissolu- 

 tion of the chapter in 1841 the constitution of 

 the collegiate church was governed by a set of 

 statutes promulgated by Queen Elizabeth on 

 2 April 1585,''' interpreted by injunctions issued 

 by successive Archbishops of York as visitors of 

 the church and by resolutions of the chapter 

 themselves. No definite scheme of residence is 

 propounded in these statutes, which leave the 

 performance of this duty to the will of the several 

 prebendaries.'' Provision was mnde for the per- 

 formance of the sacred offices by insistence on 

 the continued presence of at least six vicars 

 choral, preshyteri et musici, assisted by six choir- 

 men and an equal number of choristers.''' A 

 new officer, elected by the canons from among 

 their number and known as the vicar-general, 

 was created at the same time to exercise the 

 ecclesiastical jurisdiction belonging to the chap- 

 ter.'' For the edification of the officers of the 

 church weekly or fortnightly lectures in theology 

 were instituted ; and in the afternoon of each 

 Sunday the rudiments of the Faith were to be 

 expounded by one of the canons to an audience 

 including, beside the vicars choral and chori^ters, 

 the boys of the grammar school with their 

 master.'* Advantage was taken of the existing 

 opportunity to provide for a suitable distribution 

 of the lesser offices connected with the church ; 

 and the chapter were directed to institute a 

 fitting person to see to the maintenance of the 

 fabric." The whole set of statutes is evidence 

 of a thorough reorganization, the nature of which 

 reflects much credit upon the queen's advisers, 

 among whom we may certainly reckon in the 

 present case Edwin Sandys, the reigning Arch- 

 bishop of York. 



The main feature of the constitutional history 

 of the church in the succeeding period lies in 

 various attempts made by the canons to arrange 

 a permanent system of keeping residence. In 

 1693, by a resolution of chapter, which received 

 the sanction of Archbishop Sharpe, it was decreed 

 that for the future each prebendary, in the order 

 of his seniority, should keep a term of residence 

 for three months, an arrangement which in 

 theory prevailed until the dissolution of the 



™ Printed by Dickenson, Hist. 0/ Soutitce/I (ed. i), 

 152-69. 



' Ibid. cap. 3. " Ibid. cap. 2. 



^ Ibid. cap. 23. " Ibid. cap. 12. 



" Ibid. cap. 13. 



chapter." It followed from this that the canon 

 in residence for the time being became in eflPect 

 the temporary head of the whole collegiate body; 

 he presided over the sessions of the chapter, and 

 was responsible for the conduct of the services of 

 the church. It could scarcely have been ex- 

 pected, however, that those canons who held 

 high ecclesiastical office elsewhere should consent 

 to go into retirement at Southwell for three 

 months in every four years, and in practice the 

 office of residentiary is found circulating among 

 a small number of prebendaries, mostly con- 

 nected with the neighbourhood by birth or 

 family. At last, in 1841, provision was made 

 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the 

 gradual abolition of the chapter as a whole ; the 

 decease of each successive canon after this time 

 involved the extinction of his prebend, and on 

 12 February 1873 the ancient corporation came 

 to its appointed end upon the death of the Rev. 

 Thomas Henry Shepherd, rector of Clayworth 

 and prebendary of Beckingham. 



The history of the chapter of Southwell in 

 the 1 8th century raises no points of special 

 interest. It bore very much the character of a 

 select clerical association of which the members 

 were nominated by an external authority, the 

 Archbishop of York, but which enjoyed virtual 

 autonomy in the management of its internal 

 concerns. The latter were regulated by a quar- 

 terly meeting of the chapter, which was rarely 

 attended by more than five or six out of the 

 sixteen canons, while three was a number com- 

 petent for the transaction of business. The 

 deliberations of this body were usually conducted 

 with unanimity, but a grave difference of opinion 

 is clearly reflected in the following entries taken 

 from the minutes of chapter : — " 



Decreed 



October 19th, 1780. 



That for the future, on the Installation of any 

 Prebendary the expensive Dinner of late years given 

 on that occasion shall be laid aside, and every suc- 

 ceeding Prebendary in stead thereof shall pay into 

 the hands of the Treasurer X'° > '^^ which sum at 

 least £2, according to old custom, shall be applied to 

 improve the Library, and the rest disposd of accord- 

 ing to the discretion and determination of the Chap- 

 ter. 



July 19th, 1 78 1. 



At a chapter held the 19th day of October 1780 

 it was Decreed that on the Installation of any pre- 

 bendary in future the expensive Dinner of late years 

 given on that occasion shoud be laid aside, w'ch 

 Decree appears to this Chapter to be inconvenient, 

 therefore it is now Decreed that the same be post- 

 poned. 



It is rather a suggestive circumstance that a 

 new canon was to be installed the next day. 



"■ Ibid. p. 171. 



" MS. incomplete. In the possession of Mr. F. M. 

 Stenton. 



.56 



