PROPERTY AND BUILDINGS.
First Settlement inside the City Wall.--Acquisition of the houses of
W. de Wileford (1229) and Robert Oen (1236).--Increase of the _area_
in 1244-1245.--Grants from the King, Thomas Valeynes, and
others.--Island in the Thames, 1245.--Messuage of Laurence Wych,
1247.--Friars of the Penitence of Jesus Christ.--Their property in
Oxford granted to the Minorites by Clement V, and by Edward II,
1310.--Grants from various persons, 1310.--Richard Cary and John
Culvard, 1319.--Walter Morton, 1321.--To what classes did the donors
belong?
Absence of information about the buildings at the Grey
Friars.--Original houses and chapel.--School built by Agnellus.--The
stricter friars oppose the tendency to build, without
success.--Building of the new church, 1246, &c.--Its site and
appearance.--William of Worcester’s description of it.--Richard
Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, buried there, 1272.--Other tombs in the
church, especially that of Agnellus.--Grave of Roger
Bacon.--Cloisters, Chapter House, Refectory, and other conventual
buildings.--Conduit and Gates.
For about a hundred years from the date of their settlement in Oxford, the
Friars Minors were gradually acquiring property. We have seen that after a
short sojourn in the house of Robert le Mercer, the house of Richard le
Muliner became their first permanent abode. The position of the former
cannot be at all definitely ascertained; it was in the parish of St.
Ebbe’s[79], probably near the church and within the city walls[80]. Wood
places it between the church and the Watergate. But he is certainly wrong
in the position he ascribes to the second house, namely,
‘without the towne wall, and about a stone’s cast from their first
hired house[81].’
The house of Richard the Miller was undoubtedly between the wall and
Freren Street (Church Street). In 1244 Henry III allowed the friars to
throw down the wall of the town in order to ‘connect their new place with
the old one[82].’ Even apart from the fact that the Mercer’s house did not
at this time belong to them, it is obvious that the houses which they
acquired in 1224 and 1225 would not in 1244 be distinguished as the ‘old
place’ and the ‘new place’ respectively. The ‘new place’ refers to lands
which came into their possession about the time of this grant, and of
which Wood knew nothing, while the Miller’s house formed part of the ‘old
place.’
In fact, several years elapsed before the friars obtained property outside
the city wall, their first efforts being directed to secure the land
between the wall and Freren Street. It was not long before their cramped
area was enlarged. In the Mayoralty of John Pady[83] the citizens of
Oxford subscribed[84] forty-three marks sterling to buy from William, son
of Richard de Wileford, his house in St. Ebbe’s, with all its
appurtenances, ‘to house the Friars Minors for ever,’ the said good men of
Oxford giving to William one pound of cummin annually in lieu of all
service[85]. The next grant of which we find mention seems also to have
been an act of municipal, rather than of private, charity. In 1236[86]
Robert, son of Robert Oen, had given them a house adjoining their land, on
condition that he,
‘having been a free tenant of the prior and brethren of St. John of
Jerusalem in England in the aforesaid place,’
should have the same privilege attaching to his new house in the parish of
St. Michael at the North Gate. This house of Robert Oen’s in St. Ebbe’s
was one of the ‘mural mansions,’ on the occupiers of which the duty of
repairing the city wall fell[87]. The obligation, however, was now, when
the house came into the hands of the friars, willingly undertaken with the
King’s assent by the Mayor and good men of Oxford.
Under the ministry of Agnellus any tendency to accumulate property was
rigorously suppressed[88], nor does his successor Albert appear to have
been more lenient[89]. But under Haymo of Faversham (1238-9) and William
of Nottingham (1239-51) a different spirit began to prevail, and one far
less in accordance with the original idea of the Order. Haymo
‘preferred that the friars should have ample areas and should
cultivate them, that they might have the fruits of the earth at home,
rather than beg them from others[90].’
And under William of Nottingham the Oxford house gained a large increase
of territory[91].
It was in 1245 that this took place, and a remarkably full series of
records relating to the event is still extant. By a deed dated 22nd
December, 1244[92], the King gave the Friars Minors permission,
‘for the greater quiet and security of their habitation, to inclose
the street which extends under the wall of Oxford, from the gate which
is called Watergate[93] in the parish of St. Ebbe, up to the postern
in the same wall towards the Castle; so that a crenellated wall like
the rest of the wall of the same town be made round the foresaid
dwelling, beginning from the west side of Watergate, and reaching
southwards as far as the bank of the Thames, and extending along the
bank westwards as far as the fee of the Abbat of Bec in the parish of
St. Bodhoc, and then turning again northwards till it joins the old
wall of the foresaid borough on the east side of the small postern;’
and they were further allowed to throw down the old wall which stretched
across their habitation. But in 1248[94] this grant, as far as it related
to the wall, was cancelled; the old wall was to be repaired, and the
proposed new wall was not mentioned.
There can be little doubt that in December, 1244, the friars did not
possess the land which they were then allowed to enclose; it is indeed
very doubtful whether they had any property south of the wall. Possibly
they may have acquired already the place which they held in 1278,
‘of the gift of Agnes widow of Guydo[95], which the said Agnes had by
descent from her predecessors, and they pay thence to Walter Goldsmith
one pound of cummin[96].’
The value was then unknown, nor is the position specified[97]. It was,
however, no doubt situated in the suburb of St. Ebbe’s parish. Two other
plots of ground are mentioned in the same document as belonging to the
Friars: of one of these (that granted by Thomas Walonges) we have accurate
information, and shall mention it in its due place. Of the other nothing
further is known than that they held it by grant from Master Richard de
Mepham. But the grant was probably of later date than 1244. Richard was
Archdeacon of Oxford in 1263, became Dean of Lincoln in 1273, and probably
died in 1274 at the council of Lyons[98].
But the royal grant in the Patent Roll of 29 Henry III is explained by the
fact that the Franciscans, or rather their benefactors, were already
negotiating for the transfer of a large part of the property there
described, if not of the whole of it.
In February, 1245, Thomas Valeynes, or Valoignes (or Walonges as he is
called in the Inquisition of 6 & 7 Edward I), carried into effect a plan
for the benefit of the Friars Minors which it must have taken long to
bring to a successful conclusion[99]. It consisted in begging or buying
out a number of holders of property in the south-west ‘suburb of Oxford,’
and granting in one case at least tenements in another part of the town as
compensation. Thus, in exchange for two messuages with their appurtenances
on the south-west of the town, Symon son of Benedict and Leticia his
wife, received one messuage outside the North Gate, together with a
building then held by Hugh Marshall,
‘which same messuage and building were formerly held by Benedictus le
Mercer father of the foresaid Symon.’
One messuage with appurtenances was acquired from John Costard and Margery
his wife, two from Warin of Dorchester and Juliana his wife, one from
William ‘le Barbeur’ and Alice his wife, one from Henry ‘le Teler’ and
Alice his wife, and a little later[100] one curtilage ‘in the suburb of
Oxford in the parish of St. Budoc,’ from John Aylmer and Christiana his
wife. All these eight tenements Thomas de Valeynes, ‘at the petition’ of
the former owners, assigned
‘to the increase of the area in which the Friars Minors dwelling at
Oxford are lodged in pure and perpetual alms free and quit of all
secular service and exaction for ever;’
and we may reasonably conclude that they filled the space from the City
Wall on the north to Trill Mill Stream on the south, and from Littlegate
Street on the east to a line drawn from the ‘fee of the Abbat of Bec in
the parish of St. Bodhoc’s’ to the West Gate on the west[101].
Shortly after this, namely, on the 22nd of April, 1245[102], Henry III
gave the Friars, to enlarge their new area,
‘our island in the Thames, which we have bought from Henry son of
Henry Simeon,’
with permission to make a bridge over the arm of the river dividing it
from their houses, and to enclose it with a wall, or in any other way
which would insure ‘the security of their houses and the tranquillity of
their religion,’ On the same day[103] the King ordered the Barons of the
Exchequer to deduct from the fine of sixty marks,
‘imposed on Henry son of Henry Simeonis because he was implicated
in[104] the murder of a scholar of Oxford, twenty-five marcs, for
twenty-five marcs which we owed to Henry Simeonis his father for an
island in the Thames at Oxford which we have bought from him, and
which said marcs he begged should be reckoned to his son in the
aforesaid fine.’
The next grant is dated the 27th of November, 1246[105]. The King
announces that he has handed over to the friars, for the enlargement of
their premises, the whole messuage, with its appurtenances, which Laurence
Wych (or Wyth), Mayor of Oxford, committed to him for that purpose,
desiring them to enclose the same as they shall see fit:
‘and the Sheriff of Oxfordshire was commanded to receive the messuage
in place of the King for the use of the said friars.’
It is quite uncertain where this land lay, and whether Wych granted it in
his public or private capacity.
For the next fifty years, excepting the undated grants of Richard Mepham
and Agnes widow of Guydo, which probably belong to this period, there is
no record of a gift of land to the Minorites. On the east they had already
reached the permanent limit of their property[106], and the Friars of the
Penitence of Jesus Christ settled about the year 1260 on the ground lying
to the west. This formed the parish of St. Budoc. In 1262[107] the King
allowed these friars to build an oratory here; in 1265[108] he granted
them, as patron, the church of St. Budoc (which adjoined their premises,
and which, owing to the removal or death of the parishioners, was too
impoverished to support one chaplain), ‘to make thence a chapel for
themselves.’ With the church they acquired[109]
‘the cemetery and the houses standing in the same and belonging to the
said church,’
with the proviso that the cemetery should always be treated as
consecrated[110] ground. The value of the church was 20_s._ a year[111].
At the Council of Lyons in 1274 the Friars of the Penitence of Jesus
Christ, or ‘Friars of the Sack,’ were forbidden to admit new members[112],
and the Order came to an end when the old members died out. The Minorites
and their friends therefore applied themselves to secure the property. As
early as 1296 Boniface VIII wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln, ordering
him[113] to allow the Friars Minors to take possession of the house or
area of the Friars of the Sack, whenever the five remaining brethren
should die or transfer themselves to other religious Orders. At the court
of Clement V, the first of the Avignon popes, the claims of the Minorites
were urged by John of Britanny, Earl of Richmond; and Clement issued a
Bull in their favour, dated the 27th of May, 1309 (VI Kal. Jun. A{o}
IV)[114].
‘In a petition exhibited to us on your part,’ runs the document, ‘it
is contained that owing to the narrowness of your place at Oxford, you
and other friars, there flocking together to the University from
divers parts of the world in great multitude, do endure manifold wants
and various inconveniences. Since therefore the place of the Friars of
the Penitence of Jesus Christ of the same place of Oxford adjoining
your place, is shortly, as is believed, to be relinquished by the said
Friars, to remain at the disposal of the Apostolic Seat, according to
the tenor of the Constitution published by Pope Gregory X, our
predecessor, in the Council of Lyons, it is humbly prayed us, that we
deign to concede to you that place for the enlargement of your place
aforesaid.’
This prayer the Pope goes on to grant ‘of his special favour,’ mentioning
the earnest supplications of John of Britanny[115] on behalf of the
friars.
The King, however, also had a claim to dispose of lands which his
grandfather had granted, and which, in default of heirs or successors,
legally escheated to the Crown. By Letters Patent dated the 28th of March,
1310[116], Edward II assigned to the Friars Minors the property which
Henry III had previously given to the Penitentiary Friars, with the same
stipulation as to the cemetery. The land is accurately described; it was
contiguous to the place of the Friars Minors, in the suburb of Oxford,
twenty and a half perches long from north to south, six perches wide at
the south end, two and a half at the north, and four perches seven feet in
the middle.
Letters Patent of the same day[117] confirmed the grant of four other
parcels of ground to the Friars Minors: some of these may have been
previously held by the Friars of the Sack. The ‘plot of ground in Oxford,’
five perches two feet from east to west, two perches and a half from north
to south, conferred on the Minorites by John Wyz and Emma his wife, may
have been within the walls, near the West Gate; the others were in the
suburb. Henry Tyeys gave land measuring six perches by five, and lying
between the site of St. Budoc’s Church and the Thames (Trill Mill Stream);
Richard le Lodere’s land, measuring fourteen and a half perches five feet,
by four perches and three feet, and stretching from the Thames to the
above-mentioned place of Henry Tyeys, was included in the grant, as was a
larger plot[118], measuring sixteen and a half perches from the Thames to
the ‘royal way,’ and ten perches in breadth; which seems to have included
the south part of Paradise Gardens[119].
All these places are described as adjoining the property of the Warden and
Friars Minors of Oxford.
It was probably at the instance of the Crown and as a protest against the
papal claims that the Minorites a few years later formally surrendered to
the King the area which had belonged to the Penitentiaries, ‘in its
entirety as it came into their hands,’ and received it back of the King’s
special favour in pure and perpetual alms[120].
One fragment of the Penitentiary Friars’ property came into the hands of
the Franciscans somewhat later. In October, 1319, an _Inquisitio ad quod
Damnum_[121] was held in Oxford to decide whether Richard Cary could,
without prejudice to the King or others, bestow on the Friars Minors a
place in the suburb of Oxford, adjacent to their property, and measuring
five perches in length and five in breadth. The jurors declared that the
grant would not be injurious to the King or others, and that Cary
possessed sufficient property in the town to discharge all his civic
duties. The place ‘at the time when it was built’ was worth 20_s._ a year,
but now, owing to its ruinous condition, only 2_s._ Cary held it for a
rent of 8_s._ a year of Johanna, wife of Walter of Wycombe, Agatha her
sister, and John son of Alice, who was wife of Andrew Culvard, the heirs
of Henry Owayn; they held it of the Prior of Steventon, paying 4_d._ a
year in lieu of all services. The plot was therefore the fee of the Abbat
of Bec mentioned above, and is probably the same as
‘the place which the Friars of the Penitence bought of Walter
Aurifaber, and they pay thence to the Prior of Steventon 2_s._[122]’
A few months previously a similar inquisition[123] was held at Oxford,
which resulted in an addition to the Minorite property on the east side
within the wall. This was a plot of ground of the annual value of 2_s._,
five perches by six, granted to them by John Culvard. The town, however,
claimed the right,
‘at all times when it shall be necessary, to have free entry and
egress thence to restore, repair and defend the wall of the said
town.’
In 1321[124] Walter Morton obtained leave to grant in mortmain to the
Franciscans a place with its appurtenances, measuring five perches by
five, in the suburb of Oxford; and similar licence was given to John de
Grey de Retherfeld[125] in 1337 to bestow on them a tenement, six perches
by five, lying next their habitation on the east side within the town.
This brings us to the end of the list of grants of landed property to the
Oxford Minorites--a list which we may claim to be fairly complete. It is
interesting to note from what classes the donors were drawn. Most of them
were men of business--the leading tradesmen of the town[126]. Three of
them, Laurence Wych, John Culvard, and Richard Cary, were at various times
Mayors of Oxford, and the two latter represented the city in
Parliament[127]. Richard Mepham belonged to the higher rank of
ecclesiastics. Master Thomas de Valeynes seems to have been a person of
some importance in Oxfordshire and the adjoining counties[128].
Buildings.
Of the buildings of the Friars Minors in Oxford we have disappointingly
little information--with the exception of the boundary wall already
mentioned there are no remains of their house now visible. Excavations
might perhaps yield interesting results, but most of the ground is thickly
built over, and the information derived from the records and other sources
is rarely precise enough to enable us to identify with any certainty the
sites of the various buildings.
For the first twenty years the Friary must have presented a very modest,
not to say mean, appearance, and the brethren were probably contented to
take the accommodation afforded by the houses, which were granted them,
with little alteration. The infirmary built by Agnellus has already been
noticed. After they had been nearly a year in Oxford, the friars built a
small chapel[129]. In 1232, the King gave them
‘thirty beams in the royal forest of Savernak for the fabric of their
chapel which they are having built at Oxford,’
adding that
‘if any one in the same bailiwick shall wish to give them timber, the
bailiff shall permit them without hindrance to carry through the
forest free of toll oaks to the number of thirty[130].’
Probably this refers to the original chapel. It had a choir where the
brethren attended and celebrated divine service[131], and at, or over, the
door of which stood a crucifix, or wooden cross[132]. It was here, in the
choir before the altar, that Agnellus was buried in a ‘leaden box,’ as
became the _zelator paupertatis_[133]. The chapel was pulled down when the
new church was finished[134]. Under the auspices of Agnellus rose their
first school, which was apparently the finest of their early
buildings[135]. Whether this was afterwards enlarged, or whether new
schools were built on the same site or elsewhere, there is no longer any
means of deciding.
These houses were situated within the wall, and it was not till the
increase of the ‘area’ between 1240 and 1250 that building on a large
scale was commenced between the wall and Trill Mill Stream[136]. The
tendency to build was strenuously resisted by the stricter party among the
friars--the party which upheld the early traditions of the Order.
Eccleston relates how an Oxford friar appeared after death to the
custodian and warned him that,
‘if the friars were not damned for their excess in building, they
would at any rate be severely punished[137].’
An obscure passage in a letter of Adam Marsh probably refers to the same
tendency; even novices, he laments, are taught to neglect the things of
the spirit
‘for flesh and blood, for mud and walls, for wood and stone, for any
kind of worldly gain[138].’
The opposition of the older generation was, however, unavailing, and a
‘stately and magnificent[139]’ convent began to rise. But of the new
friary, too, there are but scanty notices. No English king bestowed on the
house of Franciscans at Oxford that loving care which Henry III bestowed
on the Minorite Church at Reading, or Edward II on the Dominican Church
which rose over the tomb of his ill-fated favourite at Langley. From royal
grants we learn that building was going on at the Grey Friars of Oxford in
1240, when ten oaks were given to them by the King for timber[140]. In
1245 (July 7th),
‘the Sheriff of Berkshire was ordered to give to the Friars Minors of
Oxford for the works of their houses sixty shillings instead of six
oaks which the King gave them before[141];’
and a further grant of six oaks for timber in 1272 shows that the
operations were of a protracted nature[142]. From similar sources we find
that the Church, which was dedicated to St. Francis, was in process of
erection in February, 1246[143], and February, 1248[144]. At the latter
date the friars are again permitted to
‘enclose the street which extends under the wall of Oxford from the
Watergate ... to the small postern in the wall near the Castle.... We
grant also that the north side of the chapel built and to be built in
the aforesaid street may supply the interruption of the wall as far as
it is to reach, the other breaches in the wall being fully repaired as
before, except the small postern in the wall, through which the said
friars can go and return from the new place where they now live, to
the former place in which they used to live.’
It would appear from this that the street was outside the wall. Mr.
Parker, however, states positively that it was ‘the inner road’ which they
were permitted to enclose[145]; in Wheeler’s Garden, south-west of St.
Ebbe’s Churchyard, there used to be a line of old walling, running
parallel to the city wall inside, and the space between these walls may
have been the street in question[146]. It must be remembered, however,
that the friars had already in 1244 acquired the road with the right to
enclose it, and to throw down this section of the city wall. In 1248,
therefore, we may well believe that little existed of the wall, which on
the south side was never a very prominent feature. The church running due
east and west would extend along and across the site of the wall, the west
end being outside, the east end inside. From the south end of Paradise
Place, where the wall juts out southwards for a few yards, to a point
about the north end of King’s Terrace, there have long been no signs of
the city wall; and it is probably here that the Grey Friars’ Church stood.
The tradition is still preserved in the name Church Place. Of the
appearance of the church we know little. The roof was tiled[147], like
that of the Grey Friars’ Church at Reading; it is probable the east end
was flat, and there was no triforium[148]. Wood thinks that one of the
eight towers which figured in the pageant at the inthronization of Warham
in 1504, represented the tower of the Grey Friars[149]. William of
Worcester has left a somewhat puzzling[150] description of the church in
1480[151].
‘The length of the choir of the church of St. Francis at Oxford
contains 68 steps. The length from the door (_valva_) of the choir to
the west window contains 90 steps; so in the whole length it contains
150 (?) steps. The width of the nave of the said church on the east
(_ab orienti parte_) contains with the aisle 28 steps. The length of
the nave from the south side to the north door contains 40 steps only,
and there are ten chapels in the said north nave of the church. The
width of the north nave of the church contains 20 steps. The width of
each chapel contains 6 steps, and so the width of the whole nave of
the church with the ten chapels contains 26 steps. And each chapel
contains in length 6 steps. And each glass window of the ten chapels
contains three dayes (or lights) glazed.’
Reckoning William’s ‘steps’ at half a yard each[152], and correcting his
apparent mistake in addition, we find that the church measured
seventy-nine yards from east to west, the choir containing thirty-four
yards, and the nave forty-five. At its widest part the church measured
twenty yards, ten yards of which were taken up by the north aisle. Hence
the width of the nave properly so called, and of the choir, which in
friars’ churches is, where it exists, of the same width as the nave[153],
was ten yards. The choir was aisleless, and the north aisle was probably
the only one in the church: this, too, narrowed from ten yards to four
towards the east end of the nave. In 1535 Friar Henry Standish, Bishop of
St. Asaph, bequeathed £40 ‘for the building of an aisle joining to the
church of the Grey friars, Oxon[154],’ probably on the south side, but it
is almost certain that this was never built.
The wider aisle must have extended nearly the whole length of the nave to
allow space for the north door and the ten chapels, all of which were
built on to the north wall. They would be in part sepulchral chantries,
supported by noble families or gilds, often containing the image or shrine
of some saint, while the shrine of the patron saint stood behind the high
altar. They were presumably later additions, and whether the church in its
original form attained the proportions here described must remain
doubtful. But there is no reason to suppose it was afterwards enlarged to
any great extent. In the thirteenth century, benefactors, great and small,
were willing and eager to help the friars to raise those splendid
buildings which drew forth the fierce denunciations of later reformers;
and though much of the church was doubtless built, like that at London,
‘from good common alms[155],’ there can be little question that the chief
‘founder and benefactor’ was the wealthy Richard Plantagenet, Earl of
Cornwall, and King of the Romans[156]. It was in the choir of this church
that his heart was buried[157]
‘under a sumptuous pyramid of admirable workmanship[158].’
Here, too, five years later the remains of his third wife, Beatrice of
Falkenstein, were interred, ‘before the great altar[159];’ and many other
monuments of nobles and famous men must have given the interior of the
church an imposing appearance. Among those buried here were several of the
Golafres: the tomb of Sir John Golafre, who died at Quinton, Bucks, in
1379[160], was in the chancel; that of his younger brother, William, was
probably in the same part of the church[161]. Sir John’s illegitimate son,
John Golafre, knight and lord of Langley, bequeathed his body to be buried
next his father’s, if he should die in England[162]; but
‘at the time of his death (1396) he altered his will in that part in
which he bequeathed his body to be buried in the chancel of the church
of the Friars Minors at Oxford, and willed and also bequeathed his
body to be buried in the Conventual Church of Westminster where our
lord the King shall dispose[163].’
William Lord Lovell, by a will dated 18 March, 1454/5, made provision
‘to be buried at the Grayfreris of Oxenford in suche place as I have
appoynted[164].’
The wills of less distinguished persons occasionally contain information
as to the interior of the church. In 1430 Robert Keneyshame, Bedel of the
University, willed to be buried in the Franciscan Church,
‘in the midst between the two altars beneath the highest cross in the
body of the church[165].’
James Hedyan, bachelor in both laws and principal of Eagle Hall, was
buried in the nave[166]. Agnes, wife of Michael Norton, was in 1438 buried
‘in the Conventual Church of the Friars Minors of Oxford before the
image of the blessed Mary the Virgin of Pity[167].’
And in 1526 Richard Leke, ‘late bruer of Oxford,’ desired
‘to be buried within the Graye ffreres in Oxford before the awter
where the first masse is daily vsed to be saide[168].’
But more honoured than any of these was the ‘fair stone sepulchre[169]’ in
which the body of Agnellus, the only Provincial Minister known to have
been buried at Oxford, found its final resting place. For the shrine of
Agnellus possessed all the fascination of miraculous association and
miraculous power. When the friars, many years after his death, went in the
night to remove the body from the original chapel before its demolition,
‘they found the little leaden box in which it lay, together with the
grave, full of the purest oil, but the body itself with the vestments
uncorrupted and smelling most sweetly[170].’
Here, too, we are told, was the tomb of one greater than Agnellus; but if
the statement of John Rouse, that Roger Bacon was buried among the
Franciscans at Oxford, is anything more than a tradition, it was perhaps
not in the church, but in the common burial place of the brethren of the
convent, that the Warwick antiquary found his grave[171].
The cloisters, of which we find no mention till the dissolution, were no
doubt situated on the south of the church, round ‘Penson’s Gardens.’
Whether the friars were buried in the cloisters, the garth, the
chapter-house, or ‘the cemetery of the Friars Minors,’ in which John
Dongan was interred in 1464[172] or sometimes in one place, sometimes in
another, is unknown. On the east of the cloisters would be the
chapter-house[173]; over it, and joining the church, a dormitory[174]. On
the south of the cloisters, opposite the church, stood the refectory. It
is possible, but not probable, that the long narrow building stretching
down towards Trill Mill Stream, which is marked in old maps of
Oxford[175], was the refectory: Bridge Street marks the site. The library
may have been on the west side of the cloisters, but no hint remains as to
the building or its position, while the contents may be more appropriately
treated elsewhere. The warden’s house is equally unknown; he may perhaps
merely have had rooms set apart in some one of the larger buildings[176],
as was probably the case with the vice-warden[177]. From the Lanercost
Chronicle we learn that in the thirteenth century the ‘master of the
schools’ had a chamber of his own[178]; and Wiclif tells us that in his
time
‘Capped Friars, that beene called Maisters of Diuinitie, haue there
chamber and service as Lords or Kings[179].’
Ample accommodation for guests was a marked feature in most religious
houses, and there is no reason to suppose that the Oxford Franciscan
Friary formed an exception to a custom which, while it excited some
animosity against the apostles of poverty, tended to ensure the favour and
secure the alms of the rich[180].
The convent was supplied with good water by a conduit of leaden pipes,
which, according to Wadding, was made in the thirteenth century by a
magnate at his own expense, and extended many miles under the watersheds
of the Isis and Cherwell[181]. In 1246-7 we hear that the Friars Preachers
and Minors had appropriated many places on the Thames, and had made there
‘ditches and walls and other things[182].’ Lastly, there were three gates:
one in Freren Street[183], perhaps an entrance to the church through
‘Church Place;’ another in St. Ebbe’s Street, opposite Beef Lane[184],
where St Ebbe’s Churchyard now extends; and a third--their principal
entrance, which existed in Wood’s time--in Littlegate Street, apparently
where the latter is now joined by Charles Street[185].
This completes the list of conventual as distinct from the farm buildings,
and if the account is meagre and unsatisfactory, we may try to console
ourselves with William of Nottingham’s retort, when a friar threatened to
accuse him before the Minister General ‘because the place at London was
not enclosed:’
‘And I will answer to the General, that I did not enter the Order to
build walls[186].’