ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FRIARS’ MANNER OF LIFE AND MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD:
BENEFACTORS.
Lost records.--Mendicancy.--Procurators and limitors.--Career of Friar
Brian Sandon.--Charges of immorality against the friars.--Their
worldly manner of life before the Dissolution.--Poverty of the
Convent.--Sources of income.--Annual grants from the King and
others.--Frequency of bequests to the friars.--List of
benefactors.--Classes from which the friars were drawn.--Motives which
led men to become friars.
Of the internal economy of the Franciscan house at Oxford, or indeed of
any friary in England, little is known or ever can be known. The
_Registrum Fratrum Minorum Londoniae_ is, in Brewer’s words, ‘the only
work of the kind extant. A painful proof, if such were needed, of the
utter devastation committed when the Franciscan convents were dissolved,
and their libraries dispersed[577].’ We may here give some account of the
records which must once have existed in every Franciscan house or
province. From the earliest times an annual _compotus_[578] or
balance-sheet of income and expenditure was drawn up, and if in later days
this was sometimes omitted, an ex-warden was always liable to be called to
render an account to his successor[579]. In each convent would also be
kept a list of the brethren who died there[580]; and lists both of living
benefactors and of dead, for whose souls prayers or masses were to be
said[581], while many in their lifetime received ‘letters of
confraternity[582].’ In the decrees of the General Chapter of Paris in
1292 it is commanded[583] that each minister should have the lives and
acts of holy friars carefully collected in his province and entered in
special registers, and bring them to the General Chapter; also that all
notable excesses of friars, grave crimes, and credible accusations, the
sentences passed and punishments inflicted on the offenders, should be
noted in books kept for the purpose, preserved in the archives of the
province, and faithfully handed on to each succeeding minister. The acts
of Provincial Chapters were also kept[584]. Of these and similar records
we have, besides the London register already alluded to, only a few
letters of fraternity[585]. Of English Franciscan records originated by or
relating to the convent at Oxford, not one (unless the list of lectors and
the account of the controversy with the Dominicans in 1269[586] can be
called records) is known to exist[587]. Any account, therefore, of the
internal life of the convent must be meagre and unsatisfactory in the
highest degree.
The hours and numbers of daily services seem to have differed little, if
at all, from those observed in other monastic institutions[588]. We may
therefore omit this subject and treat of the points which receive
additional elucidation from documents relating to Oxford.
The first means of livelihood of the Mendicant Friars was naturally
begging. Certain of the brethren were appointed by the Warden to ‘procure’
food for the convent during some fixed period[589]. There were no definite
rules as to how many friars should be sent as ‘procuratores’ or
‘limitors’[590]; the details depended on the necessities of the convent
and the will of the Superior[591]. Each house had definite ‘limits’
assigned to it, within which its members might beg[592]. The friars went
two and two, accompanied by a servant or boy[593] who carried the
offerings, which were usually in kind. The friar in Chaucer’s ‘Sompnoure’s
Tale,’ himself a ‘maister[594]’ in the schools, after preaching in the
church went round the village--
‘In every hous he gan to pore and prye
And beggyd mele or chese, or ellis corn[595].’
A good deal of private begging was done by the student friars to obtain
the means of study[596]. Roger Bacon appealed to his brother in England,
to his powerful and wealthy acquaintances, for money to carry out the
commands of the Pope[597].
‘But how often (he writes to the latter) I was looked upon as a
dishonest beggar, how often I was repulsed, how often put off with
empty hopes, what confusion I suffered within myself, I cannot express
to you. Even my friends did not believe me, as I could not explain the
matter to them; so I could not proceed in this way. Reduced
(angustiatus) to the last extremities, I compelled my poor
friends[598] to contribute all that they had, and to sell many things
and to pawn the rest, often at usury, and I promised them that I would
send to you all the details of the expenses and would faithfully
procure full payment at your hands. And yet owing to their poverty I
frequently abandoned the work, frequently I gave it up in despair and
forbore to proceed.’
Begging of this kind would either be unauthorized or legalized by special
license. The statutes of the Order[599] enact that every convent shall
have its ‘procurator’ or ‘syndicus,’ who shall transact all the legal
business of the house and receive in the name of the Roman Church for the
use of the friars all pecuniary alms and bequests, or all such alms and
bequests as can be changed into money. The express object of these
constitutions was to
‘preserve the Order in its purity and prevent the brethren being
immersed in secular affairs[600].’
It would appear that at Oxford in the fourteenth century the office of
alms-collector was held by one of the brethren. This conclusion, however
contrary to the spirit and letter of the statutes, seems warranted by a
remarkable legal document of the year 1341[601]. It is the record of a
suit in the Hustings Court, in which Friar John of Ochampton, Warden of
the Friars Minors at Oxford, ‘through Friar John de Hentham his attorney,’
charged ‘Richard de Whitchford minor[602],’ with refusing to render an
account of the sums received by him when he was ‘receiver of pence of the
said warden,’ and with embezzling sixty shillings or more, which he
obtained from various people on the Monday after the feast of St. Michael,
1340. Two of the sums are specified, namely, one mark by the hands of
Richard, servant of John de Couton, and 12_s._ by the hands of Thomas of
London. The Warden claimed to have suffered loss to the extent of one
hundred shillings; Richard de Whitchford could not deny the receipt of the
money, but on his request the court appointed two auditors, Richard Cary
and John le Peyntour; to these he rendered an account, and was found to
be sixty shillings in arrears; ‘and,’ the record continues, ‘as he cannot
make satisfaction he is committed to prison.’
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Oxford friars sometimes
employed laymen to represent them in the courts[603]; sometimes the Warden
appeared in person[604], but most of the legal business in the
Chancellor’s court at Oxford was undertaken by one of the brethren. From
1507 or before, to the Dissolution, this duty was entrusted to Friar Brian
Sandon. His name does not occur in the University Register, and he was,
though a priest[605], probably not a student; indeed, his administrative
business would hardly have left him time for other occupations. Between
1507 and 1516 and between 1527 and 1534, he appears as plaintiff or
defendant in some fifteen suits in the Chancellor’s court[606]. Some of
these afford glimpses into the life of the friars. On the 26th of March,
1512[607], Father Brian instituted an action against John Morys, his
proctor, alleging that the latter
‘did not according to the convention before entered into between the
said friar and John Morys, bring corn to the house of the friars
minors;’
and on April 5th John Morys was committed to prison ‘at the instance of
the provost (_preposeti_) of the friars minors for a debt[608].’
But if the friars did not grow corn, they seem to have made use of their
meadows as pasture land. On the 20th of May, 1529[609], Friar Brian sued
Margery, widow of John Lock, for 7_s._ 8_d._,
‘for certain cheeses which the husband of the said Margery bought from
the aforesaid Brian Sanden.’
Eventually the case was submitted to the arbitration of William Clare the
elder, and Edmund Irishe, bailiffs of Oxford, with the addition of a third
if necessary, each party binding itself to abide by the decision of the
majority under penalty of 40_s._, in case of disagreement, to be paid to
the party willing to accept the judgment.
While these and similar actions were instituted by Brian in fulfilment of
the duties of his position, he was undoubtedly engaged in others of a
private nature. At one time he acts as attorney for a priest[610]. At
another he is charged with wrongfully keeping a knife, the property of
_dominus_ Galfred Coper[611]. In 1531[612] he had a dispute with his
tailor and appealed to the law, alleging
‘that, whereas he had given to William Gos[613], tailor, three yards
and three quarters of woollen cloth to make him a habit, the said Gos
had purloined one quarter of a yard, and that in consequence his
clothes were too short (_nimis brevem et succinctam_).’
Brian having declared on oath that he had supplied the above-mentioned
amount of cloth, Gos promised to give him 14_d._ as satisfaction for the
missing quarter of a yard. But later in the day he again appeared and
charged the friar with perjury. After some more recriminations an
agreement was come to out of court, and we hear no more of the habit.
That his litigious spirit should sometimes have brought Friar Brian into
trouble we cannot wonder. Several times in the latter part of his career
he was in danger of ‘bodily injury;’ in 1532[614] he made application to
have Robert Holder bound over to keep the peace, and in 1534 the judge
ordered that James Penerton should not be released from Bocardo till he
found sufficient sureties that he would not inflict bodily harm on Friar
Brian or his friends (_familiaribus_)[615]. The same year he complained of
having been libelled by one Giles Mawket, a carpenter (_fabro lignario_),
in the parish of St. Ebbe’s[616]. This was probably a slander on his
character, which was not above suspicion. In 1535[617] ‘a woman of Radley
named Anna’ asserted in the Commissary’s court that she was with child by
Thomas Denson, Bachelor of Laws:
‘qui Denson (as the record puts it, reciting the evidence of Joanna
Cowper, another woman of ill-fame) egre tulit ut extraneus quisque
familiaritate dicte Anne uteretur; because (it is added in the margin)
he tok fryer Bryan wrastelyng w{th} her in a morning[618].’
The records of the Chancellor’s court contain charges of immorality
against two other Friars Minors[619]. The first was ‘_dompnus_’ Robert
Beste[620], who was summoned before the court together with a scholar of
Broadgates Hall,
‘on grave suspicion of incontinence and disturbance of the peace.’
‘Then the judge commanded ‘_dompnus_’ Beste to go to the prison house,
namely le Bocardo, and remain there for half-an-hour’--
apparently while his case was considered. It does not appear what the
charge against him was, or what (if any) further steps were taken[621].
His companion was warned to moderate his attentions to the same Joanna,
wife of William Cooper or Cowper, of St. Ebbe’s, who appeared in the trial
above referred to.
Joanna seems to have taken a special interest in the Minorites. At the end
of 1533[622] Friar Arthur, B.D., appealed to the court to stop her
spreading evil reports against him, which she had failed to prove; she was
ordered to abstain in future
‘from defaming the said friar or any of his house on pain of a fine of
40_s._ to be paid to the Convent of friars minors, and banishment from
the town; also that she shall not in any way lay traps (_paret ...
insidias_) for the said Arthur or any of his Order or cause such traps
to be laid, under the aforesaid penalties.’
But if Friar Arthur was innocent, he was peculiarly unfortunate. A few
months later[623] he again appealed for protection against the libels of
Nicholas Andrews and John Poker, scholars of Peckwater’s Inn. At this time
Dr. Baskerfeld, Warden of the Grey Friars, was acting as substitute for
the Commissary, and he heard the case in the house of the Minorites. The
accusation has been carefully obliterated in the Chancellor’s book,
evidently by the friars themselves, but the gist of it can be deciphered.
‘Judex interrogavit eosdem an voluissent prefatum Arcturum accusare et
denunciare: qui responderunt se nolle[624] hoc facere ...; a quibus
judex petiit ... an aliquid scandalosum et d ... scirent contra dictum
fratrem, et interrogavit eos quid hoc erat: et dicebant ambo hiis
verbis sequentibus (tactis evangeliis); ... they saw the seyde frere
Arctur in a chambre at the sygne of the Bere in all hollows parische
in Oxoford with a woman in a red capp ... both locked together in a
chambre, and seid to the mayd of the hous, “then ba ... why ... suche
ale here to be kept? It is not thy masters will and thy mistres that
ony suche ale shold be kept here.”’
Friar Arthur strenuously denied the accusation, and the court adjourned
for two hours. When it reassembled, the defendants refused to submit to
Dr. Baskerfeld’s jurisdiction, arguing that he was incompetent to decide a
case in which one of the members of his convent was so deeply implicated.
Two days later, however, they confessed before the judge that they would
not swear to their original statement, and both sides promised to forgive
and forget the whole matter.
Though none of these charges was actually proved, we must admit that they
show that the convent was not in a healthy state on the eve of the
Dissolution. There is certainly no trace of the religious fervour by which
even in the latter days some of the Observant convents were honourably
distinguished. We find the brethren at Oxford engaged in money
transactions, lending[625] and borrowing[626], ‘buying and selling[627].’
Friar John Arter[628] kept a horse in the town and raised difficulties
about the bill; Randulph Craycoke or Cradoc, who had charge of the horse,
would not part with it till he had received ‘about ten shillings for food
and grass,’ which sum the friar refused to pay, asserting that Randulph
had worked the horse himself (_laboravit dictum equum diversis_ (?)
_oneribus_). The court, to which the disputants appealed, reduced the
amount by 2_s._; but Arter was probably unable to pay: no one appeared at
the time appointed to claim the animal, ‘so we sent Cradoc away with the
horse until his bill should be paid.’
The Warden, Friar Edward Baskerfeld, D.D., was plaintiff in a somewhat
similar case[629], in which both sides were represented by counsel. In his
evidence the friar deposed that he had lent Master Richard Weston, LL.B.,
‘a Roane hors of the value of 20_s._ in the hostel de flore de
leust[630], and that he had handed over the horse to the servant of
the Subdean of Excestre in the name of Richard Weston, and that he
said these words, stroking (_palpando_) the belly of the horse: “how I
delyver the hors sane and sound without spurre gallyng I prey you
delyver hym so ageyn,” and that he never saw hym to this day.’
The parties agreed to submit the dispute to the judgment of three
arbitrators, and the result does not appear in the records of the court.
No doubt some of the friars had private incomes and emoluments of their
own[631] (apart from the allowance or ‘exhibition’ which as students they
still received from their native convents or from benefactors); and some
may have lived outside the walls of their monastery[632]. But the convent
itself was very poor; the love of many had waxed cold, and it was
inevitable that in order to get a livelihood they should resort to means
forbidden by their Rule.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century[633], the Warden, Dr. Goodefyld,
leased one of the gardens lying within the boundaries of the convent to
Richard Leke, brewer of Oxford. The terms of the agreement are unknown,
but the friars thought them--or Leke’s interpretation of them, very
injurious to their interests, and in 1513 and 1514 demanded the
repudiation of the contract. Feeling ran very high, and Leke was in
personal danger; the Warden was bound over to keep the peace, and promised
‘that if his friars molested Richard Leke, he would keep them in safe
custody until the matter had been more fully examined.’
Again the case was referred to arbitration and the decision is unknown. It
is interesting to find that Leke was fully reconciled to the friars before
his death[634].
The poverty of the brethren was aggravated by the irregularity with which
payments, on which they might justly reckon, were made. One of their chief
sources of income was a royal grant of 50 marcs per annum during the
King’s pleasure, to be paid in equal portions at Easter and Michaelmas. It
was first instituted by Edward I[635] in 1289, and was continued by all
the kings (with the exception of Edward V) to the Dissolution[636].
Sometimes the sum was paid direct from the treasury; but often (and this
seems to have been the general custom as regards royal benefactions to
religious houses) a sheriff or other officer was held responsible for the
payment; either he was instructed to send the requisite amount to the
Exchequer, or he paid the money directly; and the sums which he paid were
accredited to him when he produced his accounts at the sessions of the
Exchequer. As may be proved by many instances, the system did not conduce
to regularity of payment. Edward II, in December 1313, ordered Richard
Kellawe, Bishop of Durham[637], ‘to send to our exchequer at Westminster
within fifteen days of the day of St. Hilary,’ ten marks in partial
satisfaction of the grant[638]. But though this sum was to be the first
charge on the arrears in the Durham diocese of the tax of one-half of
their income[639] imposed on the clergy by Edward I (A. D. 1294), and
though writs were repeatedly[640] issued to enforce payment, we find that
on the 4th of June, 1315, nothing had been done, ‘_unde vehementer
admiramur_[641].’
The fifty marks were never made a definite fixed charge on the revenues of
any one county nor were they levied year by year as a single sum; each
year some sheriff or bishop was made responsible for a fraction of the
whole amount. The annuity was on several occasions in arrear. Thus Henry
IV in the first year of his reign granted the friars ‘of his abundant
favour’ (_de uberiori gratia nostra_) all the arrears that had accumulated
during the reign of his predecessor[642]. Affairs of State made themselves
felt in the Franciscan convent. In 1450 Parliament passed a general act of
resumption, annulling all grants made since the King’s accession, and the
annuity to the friars ceased to be paid[643]. The brethren represented to
Henry VI the hardships which this loss of revenue inflicted on them, and
in 1453 the King ordered the arrears to be paid,
‘in order that the same warden and friars may be in a happier frame of
mind (_hillariorem animum habeant_) to offer up special prayers for us
to the Highest[644].’
Under the circumstances we cannot be surprised if the friars sometimes
took legal measures to recover the debts due to them. It was no doubt in
connexion with this grant, that in 1466 Richard Clyff, ‘custos’ of the
Oxford Grey Friars (first in person and afterwards through his attorney)
sued John Broghton, late Sheriff of Kent, in the Court of Exchequer, for
100_s._ due to him from the preceding year, and claimed damages to the
amount of ten marks[645]. In 1488, in like manner, Richard Salford, Warden
of the Friars Minors at Oxford, applied to the Barons of the Exchequer to
compel John Paston, Knt., late Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, to pay a
debt of £10 18_s._, and put in a claim to £10 damages; he recovered the
debt, but the damages were reduced to 26_s._ 8_d._[646] On the same day he
sued Edmund Bedyngfeld, Knt., late Sheriff of the same counties of Norfolk
and Suffolk, for a debt of ‘seven pounds of silver’ and 100_s._ damages;
the amount of the debt and 20_s._ damages were awarded him[647]. The next
year he again brought an action against the same Bedyngfeld and recovered
the debt (£4 2_s._), while the barons assessed his damages at 10_s._
instead of the £4 which he claimed[648]. We gather from these instances
that though the annuity was usually paid and was not often much in arrear,
it was not collected without considerable trouble and expense on the part
of the friars. These actions involved a journey to London and the
employment of an attorney[649]: they were never settled in one day, and
weeks or months elapsed between the first hearing and the second.
The Grey Friars were also in receipt of annual or weekly alms from others
besides the King. Durham College paid them 50_s._ yearly[650].
‘In ye accompts of S. Ebbs made before 1542, it appears in all, y{t}
ye churchwardens of S. Ebbs parish paid to ye warden of ye Grey
Freyers Oxon 6_d._ per annum[651].’
The nunnery of Godstow[652] gave every week alternately to the Friars’
Preachers and Minors
‘fourteen loaves of the best wheat’ (_pasto_), worth in money value
8_d._ a week, ‘for the soul of Roger Writtell; and the aforesaid
friars shall have the seal of the monastery to the amount of 34_s._ a
year.’
The nuns also gave annually to each of the four Orders of friars at Oxford
3_s._ 4_d._ in money, and ‘one peck (_modium_) of oytemell and one of peas
(_pisarum_) in Lent.’ Among the ‘perpetual alms’ of Osney Abbey is
mentioned a grant of 20_s._ to the four Orders, as the price of one ox, at
Christmas, and of 4_d._ a week to each Order ‘according to ancient
custom[653].’
A large part of their revenue was derived from bequests. To minister to
the sick and the dying was one of the first duties which St. Francis
practised himself and enjoined on his followers: that in this respect the
English Franciscans followed his precepts may be seen in the tradition of
them which remained in the memory of this country and which Shakespeare
has expressed in ‘Romeo and Juliet’:
‘Going to find a barefoot brother out,
One of our order, to associate me,
Here in this city visiting the sick,
And finding him, the searchers of the town,
Suspecting that we both were in a house
Where the infectious pestilence did reign,
Seal’d up the doors and would not let us forth.’
(Act V, Scene II.)
But work like this receives little notice in history, and where it is
mentioned it is usually upon the sordid aspect of the case--the greed for
legacies--that the chroniclers insist.
In connexion with Oxford there are perhaps in the extant records only two
instances of a Franciscan being found in the chamber of sickness or death.
On Nov. 24, 1357, the will of Robert de Trenge[654], Warden of Merton,
was proved by the sworn testimony of Friar John of Nottingham of the Order
of Friars Minors, and Master Walter Moryn, clerk. The will itself is dated
June 14, 1351, but in the Middle Ages it was rarely that a man made his
will until he felt that his hours were numbered, and although Robert de
Trenge seems to have lived some time longer, he was probably now lying in
expectation of death, struck down perhaps by the dreaded plague.
The other instance is of later date, namely 10th Dec., 1514[655]. A
scholar, John Eustas, had died intestate at Oxford;
‘at the instance of his administrators, Friar Richard of Ireland, of
the Order of Minors, appeared before us (the commissary), and
confessed that he had abstracted from the goods of the aforesaid dead
man, without competent legal authority, two mantles and thirty-one
yards of linen cloth, and in gold 13_s._ 4_d._, which goods he has
still in his possession.’
A few days later Friar Richard Lorcan was ordered by the court to restore
these goods under penalty of the law[656].
It is, however, in the wills of men and women of every rank and every
status that we get most insight into the work of the friars as visitors of
the sick. Unfortunately we possess but few wills as early as the
thirteenth or first half of the fourteenth century, while for the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when the popularity of the friars had
greatly declined, they are fairly numerous. Taking those proved in the
Chancellor’s court between 1436 and 1538, we find that one will in every
eight, roughly speaking[657], contains a bequest to the Minorites. In the
‘Old White Book’ (Oxford City Records)[658], the proportion is about one
to every four or five, and in the last half of the fourteenth century,
one-third of the wills of Oxford citizens contain bequests to the
Franciscans; and these figures are borne out by the Oxford wills scattered
through the early Registers at Somerset House[659]. The legacies come from
all ranks; tradesmen and merchants being especially well represented. Nor
were the benefactors confined to Oxford and its neighbourhood: the
Convent, like the University, occupied a national position. But it will be
best to give as complete a list as possible of the bequests to the Grey
Friars, and leave readers to draw their own conclusions.
_John of St. John_[660], clerk, by an undated will, probably about 1230,
left half a mark to the Friars Minors of Oxford.
_Martin de Sancta Cruce_, Master of the Hospital of Sherburn, near Durham,
left 10_s._ to them in 1259, with bequests to Friar Richard of Cornwall
and others[661].
_Boniface of Savoy_, Archbishop of Canterbury, left them fifteen marks at
his death in 1270[662].
_Nicholas de Weston_, citizen of Oxford, left them 10_s._ in 1271[663].
_Walter de Merton_, Bishop of Rochester, Chancellor of England, and
founder of Merton College, bequeathed twenty-five marks to them at his
death in 1277[664].
_Thomas Waldere_, of Wycombe, left them 2_s._ in 1291[665].
_Amaury de Montfort_[666], papal chaplain, Treasurer of York, &c. in an
elaborate will dated Feb. 2nd, 1300/1, ordered that ‘the goods and
revenues of the aforesaid Treasury owed to him’ should be divided into
three parts; one-third was to be subdivided into six parts; the sixth part
was to be again subdivided into three parts, one of which was to go to the
Friars Preachers of Oxford, Leicester, and elsewhere; the second
‘fratribus Minoribus, Carmelitis, Oxonii, Leycestrie, Parisius, et
fratribus ordinis S. Trinitatis;’
the third, to pay any debts he might leave. As Amaury was dispossessed of
the Treasurership in Aug. 1265 (after holding it only for a few months),
and never recovered it, these bequests were merely a pious wish.
_John de Doclington_ bequeathed 20_s._ to each of the four Orders in
Oxford in 1335[667].
_Nicholas Acton_[668], parson of the church of Wystantowe (Salop), and
owner of property in London, left the Oxford Franciscans 40_s._ in 1337.
_William de Burchestre_ left them one marc in 1340[669].
_John son of Walter Wrenche_, of Milton, spicer, by a will dated May 4th,
and proved on May 5th, 1349, gave to the Friars Preachers and Friars
Minors of Oxford each ten quarters of corn[670].
_Edmund Bereford_[671], lord of several manors near Oxford, in his will
dated Jan. 8th, 1350/1 and proved in 1354, gave, among many other pious
bequests, 20_s._ at his death and 10_s._ on his anniversary to the
Minorites.
‘Item volo quod xij trisennalia celebrentur pro anima mea, videlicet
... in quolibet ordine fratrum j trisennale.’
_Henry Malmesbury_, citizen of Oxford, left them 20_s._ in 1361[672].
_John de Bereford_[673], citizen and sometime Mayor of Oxford, bequeathed
13_s._ 4_d._ to each of the Orders in 1361,
‘ut habeant animam meam inter eorum missas recommendatam.... Item,
cuilibet ordini fratrum predicatorum Minorum Carmelitarum et
Augustinensium Oxon’, die sepulture mee 2_s._ 6_d._, et in die
commemorationis anime mee in mensem 2_s._ 6_d._, et die anniversarii
mei 2_s._ 6_d._’
_Humphrey de Bohun_, Earl of Hereford and Essex (who died 1361), devised
‘to the students of each house of the four orders of Mendicants in
Oxford and Cambridge £10 to pray for us[674].’
_Richard Bramptone_, butcher of Oxford, in 1362, left 10_s._ to be divided
equally among the four Orders of friars[675].
_Walter de Berney_[676], a wealthy citizen of London, with apparently no
near relations, was a benefactor: his will, made in 1377, contains, among
many similar bequests, the following:
‘Item fratribus minoribus Oxon’ et Cantebrig’ equaliter x li.’
_Richard Carsewell_, butcher of Oxford, in 1389 left the house in which he
lived, ‘without the South Gate of Oxford toward Grantpounde,’ to his
executors, with instructions to sell it
‘and to distribute to the poor friars minors of the money received for
the said tenement, ten marks[677].’
_John Ocle_ or _Okele_, of Oxford, ‘skinner,’ left in 1390, 20_s._ a year
for three years to Friar John Schankton, of the Order of Minors, to
celebrate masses for the soul of the testator and his friends, in the
Franciscan church at Oxford. To the convent of Friars Minors he bequeathed
5_s._, to celebrate divine service for him on the day or the morrow of his
death[678].
_Sir John Golafre_, of Langley and Fyfield, knight, by will dated Jan.
19th, 1393/4, left the Minorites £10, if he were buried in their church:
‘et si ita contingat quod corpus meum sepultum fuerit alibi, tunc volo
quod predicti fratres minores non habeant nisi tantum x li[679].’
_Richard de Garaford_, of Oxford, who was buried in the Dominican
cemetery, left the Friars Minors 6_s._ 8_d._ in 1395[680].
_John de Waltham_, Bishop of Salisbury, left them 6_s._ 8_d._ in the same
year ‘to pray specially for his soul[681].’
_John Maldon_, Provost of Oriel, left 3_s._ 4_d._ to each of the Mendicant
Orders at Oxford in 1401[682].
_John Bannebury_, of Oxford, left 40_d._ to the Grey Friars in 1401[683].
_Matthew Coke_, of Oxford, in the same year, bequeathed 30_s._ to be
divided among the Orders of friars, ‘to celebrate for my soul,’ and added
the hope:
‘et ultra hoc spero in voluntate uxoris mee[684].’
_John Thomas_, priest, left by will made at Oxford 1413, 10_s._ to the
Friars Minors there,
‘to say one dirige for me with their other usual suffrages[685].’
_Lady Alienora de Sancto Amando_ in 1426 left £8 to be divided amongst the
four Orders at Oxford ‘to celebrate for her soul[686].’
_Robert James_, Esq., lord of Borstall, left 6_s._ 8_d._ to each Order at
Oxford in 1431[687].
_Agnes_, wife of _Michael Norton_[688], in 1438 willed to be buried in the
Minorite church at Oxford, and gave instructions that her tenement in St.
Ebbe’s should be sold and that
‘from the money so acquired an anniversary should be held in the said
church of the friars Minors of Oxford for my soul and the soul of
Thomas Clamiter (?) my late husband, for the space of twenty years,
the friars receiving for each such anniversary 6_s._ 8_d._’
_James Hedyan_, LL.B., and Principal of Eagle Hall, in 1445 bequeathed
8_s._ to the Franciscans, in whose church he was buried, and 20_d._ to
Friar Giles (his Franciscan confessor?)[689].
_Reginald Mertherderwa_, doctor of laws and rector of the parish of St.
Crida the Virgin in the diocese of Exeter, in 1447 left 6_s._ 8_d._ to
each of the four Mendicant Orders at Oxford; and to the convent of Friars
Minors
‘to provide one breakfast or dinner among them, that they may the more
devoutly pray for my soul, three shillings and four-pence[690].’
_William Skelton_, clerk, rector of the parish of St. Vedast, London, left
the Minorites 3_s._ 4_d._ in the same year[691].
_Walter Morleyse_, ‘de alta Sebyndon,’ Co. Wilts, left them 5_s._
(1451)[692].
_Richard Browne, alias Cordon_[693], LL.D. and Archdeacon of Rochester,
Canon of York, Wells, etc., provides in his will dated 1452, that if he
dies in or near Oxford, every Order of friars there shall have one noble
(6_s._ 8_d._)
‘for the labour of masses and other suffrages to be said for the
salvation of his soul and the souls of all the faithful dead.’
Further, ‘I give and bequeath to Friar David Carrewe, Minorite, Master
in Theology, 6_s._ 8_d._’
_William Lord Lovell_[694] made arrangements before his death ‘to be
buried at the Grayfreris of Oxenford;’ (will dated 18 March, 1454/5,
proved Sept. 1, 1455). In the arrangements a bequest would no doubt be
included.
_Master Philip Polton_, Archdeacon of Gloucester (buried in All Souls
Chapel), left 40_d._ to each Order of friars of Oxford by will dated
1461[695].
_John Dongan_ in 1464 desired to be buried ‘in the cemetery of the Friars
Minors of the University of Oxford,’ to whom he gives 40_d._[696]
_John Russel_, of Holawnton, Wilts, made his will in 1469[697].
‘Also I give and bequeath to the iiij ordyrs off ffrerys w{t} in þe
Vniuersite, of Oxford iiij nowbles to haue myne obyte holden ther and
to pray for my sowle and the sowlys of sir Robert Russell, Knyght’
(and other members of the family).
_William Dagvyle_, gentleman, left 30_s._ to the five Orders of friars at
Oxford in 1474[698].
_William Chestur_, ‘marchaunte of the staple of Caleys and Citezein and
Skynnere of London,’ bequeathed in 1476[699],
‘to euery of þe iiij ordres of ffreres in Oxenforde xxxiij_s._
iiij_d._’
_Robert Abdy_, Master of Balliol College, left £4 to the four Orders of
friars at Oxford in 1483[700].
_Alice Dobbis_, ‘wif of John Dobbis of y{e} town of Oxenford Alderman,’
gave and bequeathed 6_s._ 8_d._ to the ‘ffreris Minours’ in 1488[701].
_James Blacwode_, of Oxford, in 1490 left to the Minorites there ‘V{s} et
unum Gublet de Argento pouncede[702].’
_Master John Martoke_, elected Fellow of Merton College in 1458, left each
Order of friars at Oxford 6_s._ 8_d._ (will executed 1500, proved
1503)[703].
_Margaret Goldsmith_ in 1503 left 13_s._ 4_d._ to be divided among the
four Orders[704].
_Thomas Banke_, Rector of Lincoln College, willed in 1503
‘that the friars of each of the Religions in the town of Oxford should
celebrate exequies for him, and that each house should receive of his
goods 6_s._ 8_d._[705]’
_John Pereson_ (buried at St. Mary Magdalen), left the four Orders 13_s._
4_d._ in 1507[706].
In the same year, Thomas Clarke, the executor of the will of _John
Falley_, promised to pay Dr. Kynton, Minorite, 26_s._ 8_d._ in four
instalments[707].
_Edmund Crofton_, M.A., who made bequests to Brasenose College and the
convents of St. Frideswide, Osney, and Rewley, left 26_s._ 8_d._ to the
four Orders (1508)[708].
_William Hasard_, of Magdalen College, Proctor of the University in 1495,
by a will dated 19th Aug. 1509 and proved 31st Aug. of the same year,
bequeathed 10_s._ to each house of friars,
‘praying each Order to celebrate one trental for his soul with the
exequies of the dead and a mass on the day of his death[709].’
‘_Richard ffetiplace_, of Estshifford[710] (Berks) Squyer,’ made a will in
1510 containing the entry:
‘Item I bequeth to the iiij orders of freers in Oxford xxvj_s._
viij_d._, and eueryche of theym to kepe a solempne dirige and masse
praying for my soule.’
‘Dame _Elizabeth Elmys_ of Henley upon Thamys’ in 1510 left to each of the
four Orders in Oxford, if she died in that neighbourhood, 10_s._ for a
trental, &c.
‘And I will that thos said places of freeres to whom my legacies shall
come, Immediatly aftir shall syng in their places oon masse of Requiem
w{t} placebo, dirige, laudes, and commendacion[711].’
‘_Sebyll Danvers_,’ widow, of Waterstoke, in the diocese of Lincoln and
county of Oxford, in 1511 left the four Orders 13_s._ 4_d._ to be divided
equally among them[712].
_Thomas Dauys_, of St. Edwardstowe, Worcester diocese, in 1511 gave in his
will
‘to the iiij orders of freeres for iiij trentalles to be said in
Oxford xl_s._[713]’
_William Perot_, of Lambourne, Salisbury diocese, in 1511 left to the
‘Grey freres of Oxon xx_d._[714]’
_Richard Harecourt_, Esquire, of Abingdon, left 26_s._ 8_d._ to the four
Orders in Oxford in 1512[715].
_William Besylis_, Esquire, in 1515 bequeathed ‘to the grey ffryers in
Oxenfford vj_s._ viij_d._’[716]
_Robert Throkmorton_, Knight, willed in 1518[717], that
‘ther be said for my soule in as shorte a space as it may be doon
after my deceas twoo trentalles in the Graye ffrieris of Worceter, ij
Trentalles in the grey ffreris of Oxford, ij trentalles in the grey
ffreris of Cambrygge, ij trentalles in the blake ffreris of Oxford
(and same of Cambridge), and for euery of thes trentalles I will there
be gyven x_s._ apece.’
_Sir Richard Elyot_, ‘Knyght, one of the Kinges Justices of his commen
benche,’ willed in 1520, that the four Orders at Oxford and elsewhere,
‘haue at my burying or moneth mynde to kepe dirige and masse for me
iij_s._ iiij_d._’[718]
_John Tynmouth_, Franciscan friar, Bishop of Argos, Suffragan of Sarum,
and parson of Boston, left to the Grey Friars of Oxford £5: the will was
made in 1523, and proved in 1524[719].
In 1526 _Richard Leke_ or _Leek_[720], ‘late bruer of Oxford,’ bequeathed
4_d._ to each Grey friar of Oxford being a priest, and 2_d._ to each
‘being noo prest;’ 6_s._ 8_d._ to the friars ‘to make a dyner in their
owne place;’ 6_s._ 8_d._ to the Warden ‘to prouide for the premisses;’
20_s._ for altars; and an additional 10_s._ to be paid in three
instalments, namely, ‘at my burying,’ ‘at my monethes mynde,’ and ‘at my
yeres mynde.’
_Walter Curson_, of Waterperry[721], ‘gentilman,’ bequeathed a legacy in
these terms:
‘Also I woll and gyue to the iiij orders of ffreers in Oxforde for
iiij Trentalles to be doēn and had for my soule and my ffrendes soules
xl_s._ eqally to be dewyded that is to wit to euery one of them x_s._’
(executed 24 Nov. 1526, proved 2 May, 1527).
_John Rogers_ (Exeter College) in 1527 also bequeathed each Order
10_s._[722]
_John Coles_ (1529), left the four Orders 13_s._ 4_d._ (his executors were
M.A.’s)[723].
_John Seman_, of Oxford, by will dated 1529, gave
‘vnto euery one of the iiij orders of ffryours in Oxford, so that they
be at my buryall and monethes mynde, x_s._[724]’
_Anthony Hall_, of Swerford, a considerable landowner, desired in his will
dated 1529 and proved 1530, to
‘haue a trentall of masses to be said for me, the one half at our lady
ffryers (i.e. Carmelites), and the other half at the gray
ffryers[725].’
_John Byrton_, of ‘Abburbury,’ also a farmer or landowner, left in 1530 to
the four Orders at Oxford 4_s._[726]
_Thomas Goodewyn_, of Alkerton (Oxon), a large sheepfarmer, bequeathed
2_s._ 8_d._ to the ‘gray ffryers of Oxford,’ in 1530[727].
In 1532 _William Clare_, of Hollywell, Oxford, left 3_s._ 4_d._ to each
Order of friars at Oxford[728].
_Jane Foxe_, of Burford, in 1535 bequeathed her lands and tenements and
‘ii c (200) shepe’ to her son, and 5_s._ 8_d._ ‘to the iiij order of
frears in Oxford[729].’
_Henry Standish_[730], Friar Minor, and Bishop of St. Asaph, in 1535
bequeathed
‘five marcs to buy books to be placed in the library of the scholars
of the friars Minors in the University of Oxford,’
ten marks to the church of the same friars, £40 for the exhibition of
scholars[731] in the University of Oxford, and £40 to build an aisle in
the church of the friars Minors at Oxford.
_Thomas Sowche_, of ‘Spellusbury,’ left to the ‘fore orders of freers in
Oxford, euery one of them iiij_d._[732]’
_Richard Elemens_ or _Elemeus_, of ‘Welleford’ (Berkshire?), in 1536 left
‘vnto the Gray freers yn Oxford x_s._[733]’
_John Claymond_, S.T.B., President first of Magdalen College, then of
Corpus Christi College, left 20_s._ to each of the convents of friars at
Oxford in 1536,
‘ut celebrent in ecclesiis suis pro anima ejus[734].’
_Elizabeth Johnson_, of Oxford, widow, in 1537 left
‘to the four ordres of fryers four nobles to singe dirige and masse at
All-hallowes churche at the buryall and moneth mynde.’
The will was proved on Jan. 12th, 1538/9,--after the suppression of the
friaries[735].
Many testators authorized their executors to make due provision of
trentalls and masses ‘for the wealth of their souls,’ without specifying
where they were to be celebrated: the friars no doubt came in for a share
of these. Thus Thomas Hoye, Vicar of Bampton, in 1531 gives the following
instructions[736]:
‘It is my will that the forsaid goodes be preysid and put to vendicion
and the money therof cummyng to be ordered and distributed by myn
executors for trentallys of masses off Requiem eternam and masses of
the V woundes of our lord to be celebrate and said for the welthe of
my soule and all Christen sowles. Amen.’
On the other hand, the parish priests or rectors of churches were legally
entitled to one-fourth of the gifts, bequests, and fees given by their
parishioners to the friars[737]: but it is impossible to say whether the
right was generally enforced. In 1521 Leo X,
‘owing to the importunate exaction of the funeral fourth by some
rectors of churches,’
exempted the friars from the payment[738].
Among other sources of revenue may be enumerated the institution of annual
masses for fees (of which the wills often make mention), commutations of
penances for money[739], payment by the University and others for the use
of their church, schools, and other buildings on various occasions[740],
and collections in church[741]. At the beginning of the sixteenth century
we hear of a
‘gild of St. Mary in the church of the Friars Minors[742],’
which no doubt supported one or more friars to say mass in one of the ten
chapels. Of manual labour there is little evidence; the only kind
mentioned is the transcription of manuscripts of which we have already
spoken.
We may here say a few words on two other points. Firstly, from what
classes of society were the Franciscans mainly drawn? In the thirteenth
century a very large number of men of position, of high birth, were
attracted to the Order; but that this was unusual may be gathered from the
rejoicings which took place over converts who were ‘_valentes in
saeculo_[743].’ There is every reason to suppose that the Grey Friars, as
well as the other students at the University, were mainly recruited from
the sons of tradesmen, artisans, and villeins[744]. Friar Brackley, D.D.
was the son of a Norwich dyer[745]; and the towns probably supplied the
greater proportion of the Oxford Franciscans[746]. Secondly, what led men
to take the vows of the Minorites? Excluding again the thirteenth century
(when the highest motives were predominant), and confining ourselves to
the later times, we must admit that, apart from those who entered the
Order as boys, either from choice or at the instigation or compulsion of
relatives[747]--the leading motive was a superstitious belief in the
externals of religion, in the efficacy of ‘the washing of cups and pots.’
How strong this feeling was may be seen from the fact that Latimer was at
one time in danger of yielding to it.
‘I have thought,’ he wrote to Sir Edward Baynton, ‘that if I had been
a friar in a cowl, I could not have been damned, nor afraid of death;
and in my sickness I have been tempted to become a friar[748].’