THE MONKS OF MARMOUTlER. 
77 
waste bi ought about by manitolcl causes, the revenue of the 
House, according to Pope Nicholas’ taxation, was £60 ios. 3d., 
and that should be multiplied by at least 12 to get at its 
present day value. 
About this time there were two cases of excommunication 
at the Piioiy, in 1294 and 1307? when in each instance it was 
- the Prior who suffered the penalty—two successive Priors— 
showing that there was at this period much friction between 
Bishopthorpe and Holy Trinity. 
In spite, however, of all this unrest at the Priory, and the 
unpopulaiity of the aliens, there were times when the Monks 
ot Marmoutier played a prominent part in the history of the city 
and countiy. In the year 1319? for example, the Trinity 
Monks were conspicuous in the later stages of the Scotch war. 
It v\ as on the 4th September of that year that Archbishop 
Melton wrote to the Abbot of S. Mary's and other Church 
digmtaiios asking them to meet him the following Priday at 
Holy Trinity. 
Notice that it was on a Friday. On this day, I fear, the 
monks would not have their usual excellent dinner of fish, 
which monks generally are credited with having. The well- 
known picture in the possession of the Liverpool Corporation 
representing “ Friday at a Monastery” may be very in¬ 
teresting, but like most others dealing with this subject there 
is a good deal of the fanciful in it. I be monks were by no 
means given to much eating and drinking, at least if one is to 
judge from present day monasteries. I have stayed at one for 
several days, and though they treated me well, they had little 
themselves, and I tear I rather hurt the abbot’s feelings by 
saying afterwards jokingly that they seemed to have more grace 
than meat, the grace lasting about 5 minutes, and including 
Miserere mei , Ps. 51 ! 
Well, on this particular Friday, Archbp. Melton asked a 
number of Church magnates to meet him at the Priory of 
Holy Trinity, Micklegate, to join in a solemn procession, with 
its customary Litany of supplication, for the success of the 
royal forces against the Scots. The war at that time, how¬ 
ever, must have been a forlorn hope, and while Edward II. 
was attempting to recover Berwick-upon-Tweed, a Scotch 
