66 the mass of requiem or of the day, according to his devotion; for the welfare of the Columbers family, and of King Edward III. as also for the repose of the following deceased benefactors, William Martyn & his wife Alianora, William de Hastyng, and John de Lacy. The hospital was to provide twenty wax tapers, each of one pound weight, to be placed on the catafalque super herciam" of William Martyn and Alianora his wife, who were interred in the Dominican church of this city; which lights were to burn during the dirge there to be performed on their respective anniversaries, viz. on William's anniversary, the Feast of St. Catharine the Virgin; and on Alianora's, the Feast of St. Blase the martyr. On each of these anniversaries the hospital was to pay 6s. 8d. to the said Dominican convent, and was also to perform a solemn service in their own church for the repose of the souls of the above-mentioned benefactors. In fo. 5. of the same vol. it is stated that Walter Stapeldon, late Bishop of Exeter, had intended to found a grammar school in St. John's Hospital, and to appropriate to it the advowson of Yarnscombe Church, near Barnstaple. His lamented and untimely fate prevented the execution of his pious intentions. Bishop Grandisson, with a zeal and spirit equally honourable to his head and his heart, entered into the benevolent views of his predecessor, and, by his protection and munificence, may justly be styled the founder of the establishment. The deed of foundation is dated 1332, and sets forth, that two poor children shall be chosen from the Archdeaconry of Barum; one or both of whom, if judged proper, to be taken from Yarnscombe parishone or two from the Archdeaconry of Totnes-two from the Archdeaconry of Exeter-one or two from the Archdeaconry of Cornwall-three from amongst the chorister boys of Exeter Cathedral, and one at the nomination of the Columbers family. The schoolmaster was, if possible, to be in priestly orders. In another document, vol. 1. fo. 184. bearing date 31. March, 1354, the same Bishop acquaints us that on his promotion to the See of Exeter, he found this charitable establishment in the most deplorable con dition; the only inhabitants were then, one Priest and a few infirm persons; that he had succeeded in` increasing the number of the clergymen unto five, one of whom was to hold the office of Superior or Prior— that the number of poor persons on the foundation should be twelve in future--that there should be also eight boys with a master to teach them grammar-and that he had enjoined the clergymen to adopt the order and observance of St. Augustine. He adds, that he had sometime before dedicated a spot of ground contiguous to their church, to serve as a burial place for their community. From a memorandum, fo. 128. of the same vol. we learn that the dedication of this cemetry, as also of the nave of the church from the entrance as far as the choir, "navem Ecclesie, viz. ab ingressu ejusdem navis usque ad introitum chori," was performed 16. Sept. 1351, the Feast of St. Lambert, Bishop and martyr. See again 1. Regist. Stafford, fo. 241. The high altar of the hospital church had been dedicated by Bishop Grandisson, 12. Nov. 1336.-Vid. 2, Regist. fo. 205. I believe there is scarcely a will in the episcopal registers, wherein a legacy is not bequeathed to this. charitable foundation. Of the Priors or masters of the hospital, I have recovered the following succession:- 1. John Bolchill, admitted Prior 10. Feb. He died 26. July, 2. Richard Wodeford succeeded. A. D. 1349 1384 He died 6. August, 1428 3. John Dowrysshe followed. He died 2. May, 1451 Thus these Priors governed the house for more than a century. 4. John Colyford succeeded five days after. He died in the spring of 1468 5. Robert Combe, admitted 4. May, same year. He was living in 1498. 6. John Olyver. 7. Richard Hyll. 1 meet with in leases in 1515 and 1524 8. Robert Lawrence. He was living in 9. Richard Harrys. 1518 This was the last Prior, and he subscribed to the supremacy 13. July, 1534, with three of his bre thren. The annual income of the hospital was rated at £102. 12. 9. On the 11. May. 1539, the following members of the hospital were gratified with pensions. Richard Harrys, late Prior or Master John Broderidge John Scotts £. s. d. 16 13 4 3 6 8 3 6 8 In several leases now before me, I find the hospital had property in Clyst, in Heavitree, in St. Sidwell's parish, as also certain tenements in the parishes of SS. George, Kerian, Martin, Stephen, and Lawrence, and in the Friernhay, within the city of Exeter. On 29. March, 35. Hen. VIII. Hugo Ffrye, of Exon, purchased of the Crown the rectory of Yarnscombe, for a term of twenty-one years, for the annual sum of £10. FRANCISCAN CONVENT, EXETER. THE Franciscan Order was first confirmed by Pope Innocent III. 16. April, 1209. About eleven years after, Brother Agnellus, with eight companions of the same Institute, arrived in England, and were graciously received by King Henry III. As far as I can trace, the Franciscan Convent in Exeter was established about the year 1250. “It was situated," says Leland, "betwixt the North and West gate, neere the towne waulle, now a plain vacant ground caullid Ferenhay." This convent must have been greatly straitened for room; as most of the land in that quarter of the city belonged to the ancient and royal Monastery of St. Nicholas. Hoker asserts, that Bishop Quivill, at first promised, but afterwards refused, to provide them with a more convenient situation; and he says, that Peter Kenefeld, a Dominican and his Confessor, had succeeded in poisoning his mind against these Religious. Godwin, without the least evidence, is inclined to believe that, in revenge for his opposition, the Friars managed to take the Bishop off by a very strong poison. "Existimassem veneno rapido, illorum machinatione extinctum."!!! In the appendix will be given an interesting letter of the Primate, Archbishop Peckham, in 1281, to Bishop Quivill. From its tenor, we think it probable that our respectable Prelate did startle in the beginning at the extraordinary privileges of the Franciscan Order; that he might have considered them as so many encroachments upon the episcopal authority; and perhaps hesitated to acknowledge them, until satisfactory proof was brought that they had really been granted by the Apostolic See. But that he truly esteemed the Order, befriended its members, and allowed their privileges, is manifest from the 6th chapter of the Synodus Exoniensis which he held here in the year 1287. "Quia de rebus transitoriis nihil superest, quod animarum saluti debeat anteponi, Praecipimus quod cùm Fratres Prædicatores & Minores, tam in Quadragesimâ quam extra, eum transitum fecerint per Parochias, Confessiones Fidelium liberè audiant & penitentias injungant. Et si Sedes Apostolica eis amplius indulserit vel indixerit indulgendum, hoc ab omnibus observetur. Et quoniam ipsorum Fratrum prædicatio & sancta conversatio in ecclesià Dei produxisse fructum non modicum dinoscitur, ubicumque per nostram Diocesim transitum fecerint, honorificè admittantur & procurentur honestè." If the venerable Prelate could not serve them more effectually, why not attribute it to the short period of his government, and to the difficulties he had to encounter in re-building a new cathedral? In Bishop Bytton, Quivill's successor, the Friars experienced a generous benefactor; "he removed. them from the Friernhay ;" and, as Leland informs us, "he builded them an house a little without the South gate." Bishop Bytton's Register, which might have thrown considerable light on this foundation, is entirely lost the other registers afford but little information respecting this eommunity. In the appendix, is the copy of the donation of a library to their convent, in the year 1266, by Roger de Thoris, Archdeacon of Exeter. If I may judge from the lists of their Ordinandi, the community must have been numerous. It was certainly in high repute for learning and piety. I must here remark, that Jenkins's* account 66 See p. 48. of his History of Exeter. When this man was conscious," as he tells us in his preface, "that he was unequal to such an undertaking;" why attempt it? |
