Friaries: The house of Black Friars

FRIARIES

24. THE HOUSE OF BLACK FRIARS (fn. 1)

The Friars Preachers in their second general chapter held at Bologna, May, 1221, determined to establish in England the eighth province of their order. For this purpose thirteen friars were sent with Gilbert de Fresnoy at their head. Joining the retinue of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, they reached London 10 August, and thence travelled to Oxford, where they arrived 15 August, 1221. (fn. 2)

Their first habitation was in the Little Jewry, partly in St. Edward's, partly in St. Aldate's parish, (fn. 3) behind the present town hall. The donors of the site are unknown, (fn. 4) but the land, or some of the land, on which the first houses of the friars were built, belonged to the prior and canons of St. Frideswide. In the parish of St. Edward the friars held of St. Frideswide's an area next the house of Hugh the Cordwainer, (fn. 5) and in the parish of St. Aldate the plots and tenements of Isward, Sweynechild and Eylwyne Cusse; (fn. 6) these latter seem to be identical with the land granted to the priory by Robert Kepeharm about 1180. (fn. 7) Further, the friars possessed a plot of ground, 'measuring in length from the king's way to the parish of St. Edward 14 perches, and in breadth 8 perches,' which contained four messuages and the great school. (fn. 8) They also purchased from Thomas son of Thomas son of Edwin, for 100 shillings of silver, the land with its appurtenances in the parish of St. Edward lying between the lands of Robert Wyth, and that formerly of John of Navarre; for this land an annual rent of 13d. was due to the Hospital of St. John without the East Gate. (fn. 9) Peter son of Torald also sold them an annual rent of 5s. 10d. in the parish of St. Edward; the sale was confirmed 25 December, 1242, by his granddaughter, Celena, daughter of Henry son of Thomas. (fn. 10)

The friars built an oratory in honour of the Virgin Mary, and began to teach in the schools afterwards known as the schools of St. Edward. (fn. 11) For the building of these and their houses the abbot of Westminster gave them forty rafters in 1223, (fn. 12) and from 1229 Henry III gave them wood for building or fuel nearly every year. Thus, in 1229, he gave them timber for building their house; in 1233 thirty oaks in Pauncehal Forest for the work of their school; in 1237 two oaks in Windsor Forest for building a barge; in 1240, ten oaks and 40s. (fn. 13)

The oratory stood within the parish of St. Aldate on land in the fee of St. Frideswide, and a dispute arose between the friars and the canons of St. Frideswide, to whom a moiety of the parish church of St. Aldate belonged, and without whose consent the oratory could not lawfully be erected. The canons carried the matter before the pope, who constituted Alexander de Stavenby, bishop of Coventry, his delegate; and the abbot of Oseney, William archdeacon of Worcester, and Master Silurus, rector of St. Michael's, Oxford, were appointed provisors. On 16 August, 1228, these three decreed (fn. 14) that the friars should give 40s. to the canons for the escheat of the land; but if they left, nothing should be done with the lands prejudicial to the canons; that they should not knowingly admit any parishioner of St. Aldate to the offertory, and if any such voluntarily offered a gift at the altar of the oratory, the same should be reserved for the church of St. Aldate; that they should have only two middle-sized bells for their oratory; and if anyone desired to give land for enlarging the oratory or cemetery, the Bishop of Coventry should decide what indemnity was due to the canons: on these conditions the canons granted a chantry and cemetery to the friars, pursuant to the tenor of the apostolic mandate. All this Gregory IX confirmed.

In 1233 the friars had a controversy with the abbot of Oseney, concerning a gutter to be made on the wall of the abbey sollar which joined the friars' school, whereupon Peter son of Thorald, mayor of Oxford, Robert Oen, Henry son of Henry son of Simeon, and Philip Miller, bound themselves and their heirs that, if the friars failed to preserve the indemnity of the canons of Oseney as to the gutter and the building attached to the sollar, they would provide and preserve it at their own expense. (fn. 15)

In 1224 the Friars Preachers entertained the first Franciscans who came to Oxford. (fn. 16) In 1229-30, during the disturbances at Paris, Jordan of Saxony, the second master general of the order, visited Oxford; here he wrote to the sisters of St. Agnes' monastery at Bologna, 'the Lord has given us large hopes of a good capture.' (fn. 17) The first Englishman of distinction to enter the order was John of St. Giles, a famous physician and friend of Grosteste; he took the vows in 1222, probably in Paris, and seems to have taught later at Oxford. (fn. 18) Robert Bacon was admitted to the order without going through the year's novitiate, while he was regent in theology at Oxford and socius to Edmund Riche in the school, perhaps about 1230. (fn. 19) Robert Bacon was prominent in university matters, (fn. 20) and took an active part in obtaining the canonization of his old friend and teacher St. Edmund of Canterbury. (fn. 21) The first friar to incept under him was Richard Fishacre. Both of these friars continued to lecture in the new schools after the removal of the friary from the parish of St. Edward, (fn. 22) and both died in 1248, leaving, Matthew Paris thought, none equal to them in theology and other sciences. (fn. 23) In 1230 the first provincial chapter of the Dominicans in England was held at Oxford, (fn. 24) and the organization of the province was probably now completed. In 1241 another chapter was held here, for which the king gave 100s. out of the revenues of the see of Canterbury to Friar Robert Bacon. (fn. 25)

In 1233 the king gave 26s. 8d. to pay for food for the Friars Preachers and Friars Minors at Oxford on the Friday after the feast of St. Michael, (fn. 26) and food was likewise provided for them and for the poor of Oxford on the anniversary of the death of the empress, the king's sister, and at the obsequies of the queen his mother. (fn. 27)

The friars doubtless from the first aimed at converting the Jews and checking Judaizing tendencies. It was perhaps not a mere coincidence that within a year of their settlement in the Jewry a deacon who had long ago apostatized for love of a Jewess, was brought before a church council at Oseney, convicted, degraded, then condemned by the secular court, and burnt. (fn. 28) Henry III, about 1234, (fn. 29) built a 'house of Converts' for Jews, which was probably under the direction of the Dominicans. The sheriff was ordered, 2 January, 1241-2, to pay 40s. to two converts in the charge of Friar Robert Bacon, and 1 mark for their clothing. (fn. 30) A converted Jew, aspiring to the Christian priesthood, was promoted to the order of acolyte, but then relapsed; the sheriff was ordered, 6 April, 1245, to ascertain his name from Friar Robert Bacon, and keep him in custody till the diocesan should determine what ought to be done in the matter. (fn. 31) The names of several converts occur in the records of the thirteenth century, (fn. 32) but there are few direct traces of Dominican influence. (fn. 33)

The place in the Jewry soon proved too small, and as it was impossible to expand there, the friars obtained a site outside the walls in the parish of St. Ebbe. (fn. 34) Henry III was said to have granted the land, but the real donors were Walter Mauclerc, bishop of Carlisle, and Isabel de Bolbec, widow of Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford. The bishop gave them 12 acres of meadow and two mills, without the little gate, which he purchased from Henry son of Peter. (fn. 35) Henry the son of this Henry subsequently confirmed the gift and released the friars from the payment of a rent of 17s. 9d., (fn. 36) and Ranulph the tailor and Agnes his wife (probably the daughter of Henry) in 1269 formally recognized the right of the friars to the property, while in return the prior made them and the heirs of Agnes partakers in all benefits and prayers in his church for ever. (fn. 37) The countess gave them a plot of land which she bought from Stephen son of Simeon. (fn. 38)

On this land the friars began to erect their new buildings about 1237, for the grant of two oaks from the king for making a barge would have been of no use to them in the Jewry. (fn. 39) In 1241 the king directed the justices itinerant to pay the fifteen marks, in which they had amerced the Countess of Oxford, to the Friars Preachers for the building of their church. (fn. 40) The public records also contain other grants of money and many of wood during these years from the king. (fn. 41) In 1241 the prior was charged with obstructing or closing a road in the suburb of Oxford, and a few years later the friars had to justify themselves for enclosing part of the Thames and making dykes and walls there. (fn. 42)

The chief benefactor was the Countess of Oxford, who was considered the foundress of the new church. (fn. 43) She died 3 February, 1244-5; her body was temporarily deposited in a narrow vault in the church of the Jewry, whence it was soon carried into the new church which her munificence had raised, and there buried with great ceremony and a splendid monument erected over her remains. (fn. 44) On the feast of All Saints (1 November), 1245, the friars left their 'little dwelling' in the Jewry and entered their new habitation near the great bridge, and on the feast of the Assumption, 1246, the twenty-fifth anniversary of their arrival in Oxford, they celebrated mass in their new church. (fn. 45)

Walter Mauclerc, who also helped the new buildings, resigned his bishopric 29 June, 1246, and entered the order at Oxford. He died here 28 October, 1248, in which year the convent lost also Robert Bacon and Richard Fishacre; the latter was buried under the west wall of the church. (fn. 46)

The friars about this time sold their old site in the Jewry. The land which they bought of Thomas son of Thomas son of Edwin was purchased by Randulph de Chiltun, chaplain, for seven marks of silver; he immediately (1246) resold it to Alice Haket of Lamburne for fifteen marks. (fn. 47) The four messuages 'from the king's way to the parish of St. Edward' with the great school they sold to Richard Hamond for forty marks; on his death it devolved on his brother, Master John Hamond, who in his last testament about 1266 conferred the property on the priory of St. Frideswide in return for twenty marks. The school was at this time let for a term of years to Alan Mey. (fn. 48)

In February, 1250-1, Henry III gave the friars £10 towards making a cloister, (fn. 49) and continued till the end of his reign to make them frequent grants of wood. Thus in 1269 he gave seven good oaks in Shotover Forest 'to repair their studies.' (fn. 50) In 1256 he confirmed a donation which William de Bruere made them of a plot of land in Oxford, (fn. 51) and in 1257 licensed the abbot of Oseney to remove a weir in the Thames which was an annoyance to the friars. (fn. 52)

In 1258 the 'Mad Parliament' sat in this friary, (fn. 53) and John of Darlington, a Friar Preacher, confessor to Henry III, and afterwards archbishop of Dublin, was one of those chosen to represent the king's side in drawing up the Provisions of Oxford. (fn. 54) While the king was in Oxford in March, 1264, the friars obtained pardon for two outlaws, Walter Esendon and John de Preston. (fn. 55) Prince Edward stayed here in 1264, and he and Richard, king of the Romans, held a royalist assembly within the friary church. (fn. 56)

In 1262 the new church was consecrated on the feast of SS. Vitus and Modestus by Richard of Gravesend, bishop of Lincoln, (fn. 57) whose successors had a house at the Black Friars where they lodged when staying in Oxford. (fn. 58) One of the first persons buried in the church after the consecration was William, son of William of Fors, earl of Albemarle, (fn. 59) who perhaps was a benefactor of the house. Soon after this Richard the miller gave the friars some meadow land in St. Aldate's parish adjoining their area, freed from rent to the superior lord, the abbot of Abingdon, and also 4s. a year to sustain a light 'before the altar of the Virgin Mary in their church of St. Nicholas.' (fn. 60) In a final concord of the year 1269-70 the church is referred to as 'the church of St. Mary without the South Gate.' (fn. 61) It would appear that the friary precincts were enclosed with a wall about this time, for in 1279 William le Deweneys held a tenement worth half a mark a year from the Friars Preachers for life for the service 'of shutting and opening the gate.' (fn. 62)

The general chapter held in Paris 1246 decreed that the provinces of Provence, Lombardy, Germany, and England should each provide for the establishment of a generale studium et solemne in a suitable convent, to which every provincial prior should have the right of sending two friars to study. (fn. 63) This decree was confirmed by the general chapter in 1247 and 1248, but the provincial prior and chapter of England failed to carry it out. The general chapter at Barcelona in 1261 (fn. 64) fixed the general study at Oxford, deposed Simon the provincial prior, sent him to lecture in Germany, and enjoined on him the penance of seven days on bread and water, seven disciplines and seven masses; the diffinitores of the provincial chapter, who did not consent to students of other provinces being sent to Oxford, were suspended from acting in this capacity for seven years, deposed if they were priors, and sentenced to penances; while the prior and friars of Oxford were ordered to receive the foreign friars kindly and not willingly cause them annoyance. (fn. 65) Robert Kilwardby, who had succeeded Robert Bacon and Fishacre as master of the schools, was now elected provincial. (fn. 66) By subsequent decrees of general chapters (1289, 1298, 1300, 1301) certain provinces which had been recently divided were allowed to send only one friar each to Oxford. (fn. 67)

It is clear from the pages of Thomas of Eccleston and Matthew Paris (fn. 68) that there was much rivalry between the learned men of the two great Mendicant Orders in the middle of the thirteenth century. A curious record has survived of a controversy between the two houses at Oxford on the subject of evangelical poverty in 1269. (fn. 69) A Dominican, Solomon of Ingham, began the quarrel by accusing the Franciscans of receiving money contrary to their profession and rule. A number of the Dominicans took part in the dispute,—Robert of Newmarket, afterwards prior of the Friars Preachers of London, Vincent le Sauvage, William de Stargil, Adam de Lakeor, and his socius, William of Hotham, then 'cursor of the sentences,' and afterwards famous as a theologian, and man of affairs, (fn. 70) Ralph of Ewelme, formerly prior of the house, John de Meslay visitor of Oxford, and the provincial prior Robert of Kilwardby. Though Friar Solomon eventually withdrew his words, it must be admitted that the Dominicans had the best of the argument. (fn. 71)

A few years later the quarrel between the orders was revived in the sphere of philosophy. The doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, which placed the principle of individuation in matter, was condemned even by the Dominican Archbishop Kilwardby at Oxford in 1277. The general chapter of the Dominicans, in 1278, ordered the Friars Preachers to maintain the Thomist doctrine; and when Peckham repeated Kilwardby's condemnation in 1284, he was accused by the provincial prior of the Dominicans, in a congregation at Oxford, of being moved thereto by a desire to injure the rival order. The condemned doctrines were evidently being maintained by the Friars Preachers. (fn. 72)

In 1280 Peckham, on the accusation of Robert de Cruce, provincial of the Minorites, forbade an Oxford Dominican to act as confessor or chaplain 'in a certain college of women' on account of grave suspicion. The prior of the convent thought that the archbishop was unduly influenced in coming to this decision. (fn. 73)

Henry III granted the convent fifty marks a year, and this was continued by all the kings (except Edward V) down to the dissolution. (fn. 74) Edward I was also a considerable benefactor. He bestowed on the friars many gifts of fuel and timber (fn. 75) (further buildings being necessary to provide accommodation for the foreign students). He gave them 20s. for food on 21 December, 1276; 70s. 4½d. for three days' food in 1277; £4 16s. for three days' food in November, 1305. (fn. 76) The number of friars in these years would probably be sixty, seventy, and ninety-six respectively. The executors of Queen Eleanor of Castile gave these friars twenty marks out of her legacies in 1291. (fn. 77)

Edward I allowed the friars to make a conduit through the king's meadows from a spring at Hinksey to their house, and in 1285 gave them permission to repair it when necessary. (fn. 78) In the same year a charge made against the friars in 1275 (fn. 79) was renewed, namely that they had obstructed the king's mills and flooded his meadows owing to a stone bridge, with a stone column beneath it, which they had lately constructed near their house. After an inquiry before the justices in eyre the king gave them licence to retain the bridge. (fn. 80) In 1304 he gave them leave to quarry 100 ft. of stone at Charlegrave by Wheatley in Shotover Forest, for repairing their buildings, which sometimes suffered from floods, (fn. 81) and Edward II authorized them to use the same quarry in 1323. (fn. 82)

The general chapter of the whole order was held here on Pentecost (9 June), 1280, and Edward I honoured the assembly with his presence. (fn. 83) The master general on this occasion admitted Queen Eleanor and her children to a spiritual participation in all the good works of the order, and prescribed prayers for her in life and after death. (fn. 84) Thomas de Jorz, prior of Oxford, was one of the representatives of the province in the general chapter at Strassburg, 1295; but the chapter was put off till the following year, and in the meantime the provincial prior being made archbishop of Dublin, Thomas de Jorz, as prior of the convent where the next provincial chapter was to be held, took over the government of the province. (fn. 85)

Provincial chapters were celebrated here in 1288, in 1297—when Thomas Jorz, prior of Oxford, was elected provincial—and in 1305; in aid of these the king gave, in 1288, (fn. 86) £6 13s. 4d. through Friar Robert of Newmarket for food on one of the days; in 1297 £12 by the hands of Friar Nicholas Trivet; (fn. 87) and £10 for the chapter to be held on 8 September, 1305. (fn. 88) Edward II gave £15 for the chapter held here 28 August, 1318, and a like sum for that held here in 1326. (fn. 89) The king's confessor, Friar Robert de Duffield, probably attended the latter, as he received, 28 September, 42s. 7¾d. for the expenses of himself, his companion, horses and grooms, going on secret affairs of the king to 'the parts of Oxford.' (fn. 90)

In April, 1292, Bishop Sutton addressed a letter to the rectors and vicars in the archdeaconries of Oxford and Buckingham, instructing them to assist Friar Walter of Langley, O.P., in preaching the crusade, Friar Walter having come to England with thirty-five friars for that purpose. (fn. 91) On 2 August, 1300, six friars of the Oxford convent were licensed to hear confessions in the archdeaconry of Oxford, (fn. 92) and three days later these six, together with eight other friars, were licensed as confessors throughout the diocese. (fn. 93) In November of the same year Thomas Jorz, the provincial prior, requested Bishop Dalderby to license twenty-four friars in the convent of Oxford as confessors throughout the diocese. The bishop protested against the large numbers presented, and refused to allow more than fifty to be licensed for the whole diocese. (fn. 94) Among those licensed on this last occasion was Friar Walter Jorz, afterwards archbishop of Armagh. His more famous brother, Thomas Jorz, the cardinal, who had been prior of the Oxford convent in 1295, was afterwards buried in the choir of the church. (fn. 95)

The Oxford convent, besides being the seat of the studium generale, was head of one of the four 'visitations' into which the English province was divided in the thirteenth century. The visitation of Oxford, called also the March, included Wales and the western part of central England. (fn. 96) The visitation formed a unit for certain educational purposes; thus the visitors were bound to make diligent inquiry every year in each convent to find out promising students and co report to the provincial chapter; they had also to report on the efficiency and conduct of the lecturers, and punish any neglect of duty, but after 1314 this function devolved on the 'Master of the students.' It is possible also that each visitation contained a school of natural philosophy and an advanced school of theology, but the whole subject of the organization of the Dominican schools in England is very obscure. (fn. 97)

The friars, in 1307, established at King's Langley, Hertfordshire, a school in which the elementary branches of science were taught preparatory to the higher studies at the universities. (fn. 98) Edward II endowed it with revenues for the support of 100 friars in honour of his favourite, Piers Gaveston, who was beheaded near Warwick, 19 June, 1312. Some Black Friars carried the corpse to Oxford, where it was deposited in their church till 30 December, 1314, when it was removed to King's Langley. At Oxford the body was guarded by two custodians, who lodged in the guest house of the convent and kept at the king's expense a very hospitable table; their bill for twenty-eight days in December, 1314, amounted to £15 0s. 6½d. The prior and Nicholas Trivet, then regent master, partook of their good cheer, 24 December, 1314. Further, the city supplied the Friars Preachers at this time with food and wine to the value of 10s. 4d. (fn. 99)

The end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries witnessed everywhere a violent outbreak of hostility against the Mendicant Orders, and the quarrel between the Dominicans and the university of Oxford, which culminated in the years 1311-13, is an incident in the European struggle. The quarrel was partly a revival of the controversy which arose over the inception of the Franciscan Thomas of York in 1253. (fn. 100) It had then been decreed that no one who had not ruled in arts should incept in theology unless he had obtained a special grace from the chancellor and regent masters of all faculties; and Hugh de Musterton, then regent master of the Friars Preachers, had given his consent to the statute. (fn. 101) It was held that the vote of the regent masters must be unanimous, a single dissentient could prevent the granting of the grace. (fn. 102) However, the grace had become almost a matter of course, (fn. 103) and the friars would not have raised the question had not other causes of complaint occurred. In 1302-3 a revolutionary statute was made enacting that a statute carried by the regents in two faculties, together with a majority of the non-regents, should bind the whole university. (fn. 104) This statute was certainly directed against the Mendicants, and under the new constitution which it set up, a statute (passed in 1303) ordained that the 'examinatory sermons' required of bachelors before inception in theology should be transferred from the Dominican and Minorite convents to St. Mary's, (fn. 105) and another statute in 1310 required that theological vespers—the disputation on the eve of inception—should be held in St. Mary's; hitherto they had been held in the schools of the different masters, or often at the mendicant friaries. (fn. 106) About the same time a more important change was made. It was decreed that no one should lecture on the Bible biblice, i.e. textually and exegetically, until he had lectured as B.D. on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. (fn. 107) Friars had hitherto been allowed to lecture on the Bible on the recommendation of their superiors without formal admission to the degree of B.D. (fn. 108) The Dominicans urged that many of their order were fitted to lecture on the Bible who were not qualified for the more difficult task of lecturing on the Sentences, and prayed that the course of lecturing on the Sentences should be put after the lecture on the Bible, as at Paris. (fn. 109) The university replied that errors had arisen from the incompetence of Bible lecturers. (fn. 110) The masters having obtained from the Archbishop of Canterbury a sentence of excommunication against all who denied the validity of the new statutes, (fn. 111) the friars complained to the king (who wrote in their favour to the university 9 December, 1311) (fn. 112) and then appealed to the pope. They prayed for the repeal of the obnoxious statutes and the substitution for them of the statutes and customs of the university of Paris; according to these the consent of the masters was not necessary to the conferment of degrees on the friars. (fn. 113) When attempting to serve notice of the appeal on congregation assembled at St. Mary's (November, 1311), the proctor of the friars, Brother Lawrence of Warwick, was turned out of the church, but mounted a tombstone and shouted his message through an open window; after which he retired amid the curses of the scholars' servants, who declared it would be a good thing to block up the doors of the friary and burn the friars within. (fn. 114) Brother Lawrence being prevented from going into the chancellor's school to serve the notice, waited for him to come out and threw the document into his robes; the chancellor flung it into the mud with indignant words. (fn. 115) The appeal was also published before great multitudes of people in the Franciscan church. (fn. 116) The regent master of the Dominicans, Hugh of Sutton, having refused to take an oath to observe the new statutes, was excluded from congregation. (fn. 117) Grace to incept was refused to Friar Roger de Baketon, who had been nominated as regent master for the coming year, and Friar Richard of Huntley was prevented from taking the degree of B.D. (fn. 118) While the statutes required every candidate for the theological degrees to respond and oppose in the school of every master of theology, the masters refused to admit the friars, especially Friar Henry Croy, to their schools, and the latter were thus hindered from performing the necessary academic exercises. (fn. 119) The masters also by intimidation prevented scholars from attending the friars' schools, and both scholars and laity were deterred from confessing to the friars or being buried in their churches. (fn. 120)

They are further [the friars complained] stirring up the clergy and laity throughout the whole province against the friars, so that the necessary means of livelihood, good name and affection are withdrawn from them, and thus students from foreign provinces afflicted with hunger, worn out by insults and deprived of their accustomed teaching, have entirely left the convent. (fn. 121)

The university, pleading poverty, was eager to have the cause tried in England; the friars declared that they would not get justice except in the papal curia. (fn. 122) Clement V, 1 May, 1312, addressed a letter to the Bishops of London, Worcester, and Llandaff, papal commissioners, ordering them to admit Friars Roger de Baketon and Richard de Huntley to the degrees of D.D. and B.D. respectively, and after an exhaustive statement of the points in dispute, announced that if the parties would not agree they were to be cited to appear before the pope within six months. (fn. 123) Accordingly, at the beginning of 1313, the case was before Cardinal Richard Petronus of Siena at Avignon, but a few months later it was being heard before the papal commissioners in England. (fn. 124) The litigants, represented on the one side by Edmund de Mepham and Anthony Bek, on the other by Friars Luke of Woodford and Ralph of Seton, appeared several times before these papal commissioners, and at length (November, 1313), agreed to submit the case to arbitration, each side depositing £200 with the prior of St. Frideswide, to be forfeited if they refused to accept the award. The arbitrators were John, bishop of Llandaff, Gilbert of Middleton, canon of Lincoln, Friar Peter de Kenyngton, O.P., and Friar Thomas Everard, O.P. (fn. 125) The award was to be confirmed by the king's court, and the courts of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Lincoln. The royal confirmation was given, 7 April, 1314. (fn. 126) The award was mainly in favour of the university, but certain concessions were made to the friars:— (1) Every B.D. was to preach one sermon in the Black Friars' church, but the preacher was not to pay anything to the friars—a stipulation inserted at the request of the friars themselves. (2) The grace to incept in theology could not be refused to a friar, who had not ruled in arts, by the vote of a single master, but only by the judgement of the majority of masters of theology. (3) A statute must be passed by a majority of masters in three faculties, not of two, together with a majority of the non-regents. (4) The Friars Preachers were to have the schools in their house free and under their own control as to lectures, disputations, and determinations. This agreement was accepted by the university. The Friars Preachers were allowed to resume their lectures, their regent master (1314-5) being the famous Nicholas Trivet. (fn. 127)

It was, however, more than six years before the friars desisted from litigation. Perhaps the general chapter of the order, which was held in London in June, 1314, objected to the agreement. The friars sought help from Edward II, who in 1312 and again in 1313 ordered the university to submit the new statutes to him and his council, and meanwhile to revoke any statutes they may have attempted to make to the injury of the friars. (fn. 128) Early in 1318 the king took the friars under his special protection, (fn. 129) and ordered the chancellor of the university to desist from aggrieving them and from attempting to exercise jurisdiction over them. (fn. 130) However, in November of the same year, in the Parliament of York, the royal power was thrown wholly on the side of the university, and the papal privileges which the friars claimed were repudiated. (fn. 131) On the death of Winchelsey, a supporter of the university, Walter Reynolds became archbishop of Canterbury. As bishop of Worcester he had been conservator of the privileges of the Friars Preachers, and had rebuked the chancellor of the university in 1312 for presuming to punish a friar, John de Merston; (fn. 132) as archbishop he wrote to the cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1316 urging him to support the friars against the university, and commending to him their proctor Thomas Everard. (fn. 133) This renewed appeal to Rome may have delayed the papal confirmation of the award of 1314 till 16 October, 1317, (fn. 134) and may have led to the issue of two letters of John XXII on 25 October, 1317, declaring that mendicant friars may be made masters in theology without having ruled in arts. (fn. 135) The provincial chapter—perhaps that held at Oxford in 1318 (fn. 136) —discussed and revised the articles of peace, and sent Friars Nicholas de Stratton and John de Wrotham to bring the matter again before the pope. (fn. 137) John XXII referred the case once more to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Exeter, and the Bishop-elect of Winchester (August, 1320). (fn. 138) The latest document we have on the controversy—dated 11 December, 1320—merely authorizes Friars Peter de Kenyngton, Luke de Wodeford and William de Ebrynton to act as proctors on behalf of Thomas of Westwell, prior, and the Oxford convent in making peace and concord with the university. (fn. 139)

Some apostate Friars Preachers took advantage of the quarrel to publish appeals in the university against their prelates, who had, they alleged, subjected them to inhuman treatment. The archbishop forbade the chancellor to pay attention to such appeals, and the sheriff of Oxford was ordered to arrest any friars publishing these scurrilous writings, especially Stephen de Sydolvesmere, their proctor. (fn. 140)

Among the more distinguished inmates of the friary about this time we may mention (besides Nicholas Trivet) Thomas Waleys or Wallensis and Robert Holcot. Thomas Waleys, S.T.B., went to the papal court with the king's recommendation in 1318 or 1319 on business of the order, (fn. 141) perhaps in connexion with the controversy just described. He was imprisoned by the pope for heretical views on the Beatific Vision: his writings, however, remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. Robert Holcot lived later under the patronage of Richard of Bury, and is probably the real author of the Philobiblon. (fn. 142)

In 1329 the Friars Preachers of Oxford wrote to the pope in support of Ralph of Shrewsbury, chancellor of the university, who had been elected bishop of Bath and Wells in defiance of a papal provision of the see. (fn. 143) A provincial chapter was at Oxford in August, 1330. (fn. 144) It met in troublous times, for the provincial prior, Simon de Burniston or Boraston, had been implicated in the recent rebellion of the Earl of Kent, and banished. (fn. 145) The fall of Mortimer enabled Simon to return, and he was still in office in 1333. (fn. 146) The last years of his life he seems to have spent in composing works on theology and law at Oxford. (fn. 147) To the chapter of 1330 Edward III contributed £15, and he gave ten marks to the Oxford convent in March, 1354-5. (fn. 148)

Durandus de Bugwell in 1352 bequeathed to the friars after the death of his wife Alice a messuage in Grandpont, through which was the access to their house. (fn. 149) When the attack on the friars led by Richard Fitzralph was at its height, Richard White, a citizen of Oxford, left by will in 1358 the reversion of his tenement in the parish of St. Michael in the South Gate to the Friars Preachers, after the death of his wife. (fn. 150) The floods of the Thames having damaged much on the south side of their dwelling, the friars in 1367 obtained from the king a piece of ground along the river bank 20 ft. in breadth to enable them to protect their property. The town authorities opposed the concession on the ground that the stream would be obstructed, but without success; they continued to dispute the point till they were ordered by the king in 1376 to desist from molesting the friars any longer. (fn. 151)

In the controversies with Richard FitzRalph and his supporters the Oxford Dominicans do not seem to have taken a prominent part. They joined with the other orders in instituting proceedings both before the king in council and at the court of Rome to obtain the repeal of the statute of 1358 which forbade the mendicants to receive novices under the age of eighteen. (fn. 152)

In 1358 a Friar Preacher, who had in a sermon attacked the 'Sophists' as persons who want to appear wise but never attain true wisdom, was supposed to be aiming at the Faculty of Arts (whose students were known by that name), and was compelled publicly to retract his 'foolish, indiscreet, and ignorant' words. (fn. 153) A member of the convent, William Jordan, wrote a treatise against Utred Boldon in defence of mendicancy. (fn. 154) Several of the Oxford Dominicans took part in condemning the Wicliffite heresies; (fn. 155) but the only two who call for special mention are Roger Dymock, who addressed to Richard II a treatise against twelve errors and heresies of the Lollards—probably the Lollard conclusions which were produced in the Parliament of 1395, (fn. 156) and Thomas Palmer, who wrote on the adoration of images. (fn. 157) Throughout this period the Dominicans are less prominent than the Carmelites or the Franciscans. The internal affairs of the convent were perhaps of more absorbing interest.

In 1355, the year after the riot on St. Scholastica's Day, there were troubles about the students from the province of Ireland, which was authorized to have two students at Oxford. (fn. 158) The general chapter ordered the provincial of England to make inquiries as to the refusal to admit Irish students to the universities, while the master general was to see that their exhibitions were paid and the arrangements made concerning them were carried out generally, especially with reference to Friar John Tropt, lecturing on the Sentences at Oxford, and Friar Walter Sorel, lecturing on the Sentences at Cambridge. (fn. 159) In 1357 the general chapter ordered the Irish friars to send their contribution to the Oxford convent by the hands of the definitor of the general chapter. (fn. 160)

In 1370 there broke out among the students of the convent a rebellion caused by some actions of the provincial prior in his visitation. The provincial, William de Bodekisham, appealed to the secular power; and a royal mandate of 4 May charged Master Robert de Sustede, LL.D., parson of Willingham, and John de Watlyngton, his serjeant-at-arms, to aid the provincial or his vicar in reducing the rebels to order, to secure him a peaceable entry into the convent, and to place it at his full and free disposal; and prohibited any armed assistance to be rendered to the insurgents from without, under pain of the loss of the arms and incarceration for any who abetted them. (fn. 161) The rebellious friars were John de Chesham, Adam de Styvele, John Banastre, Henry of Saxony, Henry of Gloucester, John Wycombe, John Cherdyslee, Thomas Fairford, Nicholas Maidenhead, John Staundon, Lupus of Spain, Facinus of Genoa, Fortanerius de Candareru, Richard Lowe, Egbert of Dacia, Thomas Sharpmor, and John Lynlowe. Five or six (fn. 162) out of the seventeen were foreigners. Henry Alberti of Saxony was appointed by the general chapter this year to lecture on the Sentences at Oxford. (fn. 163)

The master of the order, Elias, visited England in 1372 or 1373, made ordinances for the refcrmation of the religion, and deposed the provincial prior, Thomas Vichor or Russhock. (fn. 164) The master's decrees relating to promotions in the universities and to the treatment of foreign students met with opposition in the English province. The royal council, 18 October, 1373, ordered the prior of Oxford to remove from the convent many foreigners who under the pretence of being friars and students were said to be spying out the country and giving information to the enemy. (fn. 165) This measure was suggested by some of the English friars, and the general master appointed a vicar to investigate the matter and punish those who had denounced their brethren. (fn. 166) The council replied by a writ, 28 August, 1374, warning Friar Stephen Coulyngs that he or any other who should punish an English friar openly or secretly would be treated as a rebel and made an enduring example to all other friars: and of this he was to inform the master general as soon as possible. (fn. 167) The vicar of the master and many friars were said to have been imprisoned at the instance of the rebellious party in the English province. The general chapter of 1378 renewed the master's sentence of deposition on Thomas Vichor or Thomas Russhock the provincial, appointed John of Paris vicar in England, deposed twelve priors, summoned Friars G. de Benchiniquis, S.T.P., Thomas Boquerelli, S.T.P., and G. de Bencanor to answer accusations in the Roman curia, annulled the licences previously given to friars to proceed to the master's degree in Oxford, and forbade John de Bruscore, William Boconde, William Dambasus, and John Cellers to perform any scholastic act within or without the university, until they had answered certain grave charges. (fn. 168) Meanwhile the provincial, who was about this time appointed confessor to Richard II, appealed to Rome, and the parliament of Gloucester (10 November, 1378) warned the Dominican Friars, though in ambiguous terms, to disregard the sentences of the general master and chapter. (fn. 169) Some of the enemies of the Mendicant Friars at Oxford took advantage of the schism within the order to refuse degrees to certain Friars Preachers, and were ordered by the king to desist (22 May, 1379). (fn. 170) The decision of the curia (25 August, 1379) was wholly in favour of the provincial prior. (fn. 171)

The quarrel between the English province on the one side and the general chapter and master on the other continued for many years. It was really a struggle for the control of promotions in the university. Each of the four visitations into which the province was divided, Oxford, Cambridge, London, and York, presented friars for degrees in turn, with the sanction of the provincial chapter; sometimes a visitation seems to have presented several friars (one result of this practice being a glut of candidates), and the general chapter tried to limit the right to a single nomination. (fn. 172) Further, every third year or every third vacancy was reserved for foreign students. The appointments of foreigners were usually made by the general chapter; thus in 1376 (fn. 173) the chapter appointed Vincent of Lisbon to read the Sentences at Oxford; 'for the second turn due to foreigners, we appoint John de Belverano of the province of Aragon; for the two intermediate years we commit appointments to the provincial prior and chapter of England.' (fn. 174) But the general chapter of this year expressly claimed for itself the right of nominating the English friars for promotion at Oxford as well as foreign friars. (fn. 175) In 1378 the general chapter at Carcassonne appointed Friar John de Gesta as regent and Friar Thomas de Bascho to incept under him: for the degree of B.D., in the present year, Friars Robert Biton and John Valreijraij: for the next year Friar Stephen Almi or Friar Nicholas Chioful; 'and, so far as in us is, for the first year due to foreigners Friar Dominic Januarii of Provence.' (fn. 176) In 1380 the general chapter at Lausanne committed the appointment of foreigners at Oxford and Cambridge to the master general, the appointment of native students to his vicar. (fn. 177) The province resisted these measures, and the provincial chapter went on nominating candidates for degrees. (fn. 178) The nominees of the master seem to have sought degrees elsewhere, by petitions to the pope and others; it was probably against them that the Friars Preachers in England induced Richard II to issue the writ, 1 December, 1390, declaring that

'whereas some friars of their order, notoriously vicious, apostate, and for their crimes condemned to prison, cross the seas and by fraud obtain degrees, though Oxford and Cambridge are the places in which doctors of the said order have hitherto been examined and promoted to degrees, no such friar shall be admitted to the privileges pertaining to doctors in theology.' (fn. 179)

In 1393 the general master appointed as his visitors in the visitations of London and Oxford ('Marchia'), Friar Thomas Palmer, and in those of Cambridge and York, Friar William Bakthorp, to deal with those who opposed the graces and ordinations of the master: (fn. 180) at the same time he appointed candidates for the B.D. for each visitation; among them Thomas Feknam, of the visitation of Oxford, was appointed to read the Sentences at Cambridge, William Sawnisford of the visitation of Cambridge, John Cawd of the visitation of York, and William Scorbinus, probably of the visitation of London, were appointed to read the Sentences at Oxford. (fn. 181) Thomas Palmer was about this time elected provincial, (fn. 182) and to him the general master committed the government of the convent of Oxford. (fn. 183) But in 1395 the master instituted an inquiry into Palmer's conduct—especially as to 'whether he had vexed the foreign students at Oxford contrary to the privileges conceded by us and the general chapter at Venice'; in February, 1395-6, he confirmed these privileges and deposed Palmer. (fn. 184) The privileges included exoneration from the 'obedience' as well as the use of private chambers and exemption from the choir services. Once more the secular power intervened; a royal writ 12 July, 1396, commanded the prior of the Oxford friary to remove from the convent with all speed, and under pain of forfeiture of life and limbs, all students who were not living according to the accustomed 'obedience' of the community. (fn. 185)

In 1397 Raymond of Capua, the master general, assigned William Snayth for the degree of doctor, and Friars John Parm, Philip Raymundi, and John Leek of Yarm, for other scholastic acts in the university of Oxford. (fn. 186) He also appointed a vicar for each of the visitations— John Bromyard, D.D., being the vicar for the Oxford visitation—and made Friar John Chesham (who had been one of the rebels in 1370 and afterwards as S.T.M. joined in condemning Wiclif's teaching) vicar in the Oxford convent. (fn. 187) He also annulled the punishment inflicted by the last provincial chapter on the native friars of this house, because they had refused to admit to an election certain friars sent to the convent by the 'pretended' chapter held under Thomas Palmer. (fn. 188) In January, 1398-9, Friar Thomas Stanley had licence from the master to go to the Roman curia to expedite certain matters for the convent of Oxford, on condition that he attempted no other business. (fn. 189)

The names of several Oxford friars who sought degrees abroad during this period are preserved; Hugh of Stamford, assigned by the provincial chapter for the degree of master, petitioned the pope for the degree in 1363, 'because by reason of the multitude of candidates he would have to wait too long' at Oxford. (fn. 190) John Gilberti, B.D., of Oxford, a foreigner, obtained leave from the pope in 1366 to continue his course at Paris because he had incurred the enmity of the chancellor and master of Oxford by supporting his Order in a dispute with the university in the Roman court and elsewhere. (fn. 191) In 1397 the master of the schools of the sacred palace was ordered to confer the master's degree on Friar Dominic de Fighino, who had studied at Oxford and elsewhere. (fn. 192) The university occasionally rejected candidates for degrees in theology on the ground that they had not ruled in arts, as in 1387, when the king ordered the chancellor to deal favourably with the religious. (fn. 193)

Though some Friars Preachers were implicated in plots against the Lancastrian dynasty (among them being Friar John Ketylby of the Oxford convent), Henry IV supported the English province in its struggle against the general chapter and master, and issued a mandate 1 May, 1402, to the prior of Oxford that all students, in spite of the master general's exemptions, should live conformably with the rest of the students in obedience to the prior on pain of immediate removal. (fn. 194) In 1405 he forbade all priors and brethren of the order to send contributions to the master general. (fn. 195)

The general chapter at Erfurt in 1403 decreed that no one should be promoted S.T.P. in any university except by the general chapter; and if the candidate were an Englishman he must have studied at Oxford and must be presented by his provincial chapter. (fn. 196) Difficulties about the Irish students seem to have arisen again at the end of the fourteenth century. (fn. 197) The expulsion of the 'wild Irish men' from the English universities by Act of Parliament in 1423 was probably not unwelcome to the Dominican authorities. (fn. 198) In 1426 the general chapter declared that friars from Ireland should not in future be received in any English convent, but should be compelled to return to their province, unless they were willing to take their share in the common expenses in England, and especially that in the convents of Oxford and Cambridge no Irish friar, except the two sent for purposes of study, in accordance with the statutes of the order, should be received under pain of grievous fault. (fn. 199) At the same time Friar Jacob Buti of Siena was assigned to read the Sentences at Oxford 'for the first place due to foreigners.' (fn. 200) Various appointments were made in the general chapters of 1431 and 1434, friars from Aragon, Sicily, Portugal, France, and Rome being nominated to lecture or study at Oxford. (fn. 201) In 1442 the general chapter at Avignon decreed that

whereas the English province has omitted to send to general chapters for many years, and neither the provincial prior nor the brethren have paid attention to the acts of the chapters nor sent any excuse, we will that those responsible be punished by the Master or his Vicar. (fn. 202)

In the general chapter at Siena in 1462 all the friars appointed to Oxford were English—namely, for the first and second year, Nicholas Suton as regent, John Valiton as B.D., John Eye as master of the students, John Mores as biblicus; for the third year, John Eye as B.D., Thomas de Bectris as master of the students. (fn. 203) In 1476 John Hille of Bishop's Lynn was appointed to read the Sentences at Oxford. (fn. 204) Appointments at Oxford were committed in 1478 to the master general, (fn. 205) in 1481 (with the exception of Peter Alue appointed B.D. by the general chapter) to the provincial prior. (fn. 206) The general chapter in 1484 approved Hermand Nighemberch as lecturer, (fn. 207) and in 1491 appointed Michael of Genoa and Raynald of Sicily as regents, leaving the other appointments to the provincial prior; (fn. 208) but in this year the master assigned John Bunelli of Caen as lector at Oxford, ordering him on pain of excommunication to go there within nine days. (fn. 209) In 1505 the master assigned Sebastian de Vigtore (?) as 'student of arts' in the convent of Oxford. (fn. 210) The provincial was authorized in 1512 to promote two bachelors, about whom he had written to the master, in the university of Oxford, 'according to the custom of the province,' (fn. 211) and in 1526 Robert Miles the provincial received from the master licence (fn. 212) to promote three persons to the degree of master and twenty to the degree of bachelor in some university after rigorous examination and with the consent of the province. In this year the master general issued an important decree to the provincial and to the priors of Oxford, Cambridge, London, York, Salisbury, and Exeter to the effect that every convent of the province was to send one student to Oxford or Cambridge, the numbers being divided equally between the two universities as the provincial prior should decide, and each convent was to supply its student every year with two angelots or three ducats at least. (fn. 213) This reform came too late to be carried out.

Among Dominicans who attained some prominence in the affairs of the university in the fifteenth century was Dr. Wilnale the prior, one of the commissioners appointed to regulate the bequest of Cardinal Beaufort in 1447, (fn. 214) and Dr. John Wattys who was cancellarius natus in 1463. (fn. 215) The conventual priors of London and Oxford were commissioned by the master of the order to confirm or cancel the election of the provincial prior in 1474 and 1484. (fn. 216)

In the reign of Henry VI and Edward IV the friars were several times in danger of losing the annual grant of 50 marks owing to acts of resumption in 1450, 1464, 1467-8, 1473, (fn. 217) but on each occasion—sometimes after considerable delay—the grant was exempted. The friars, however, often had to sue for the payment, as the sum was generally charged on the revenues due from a sheriff or other royal official. Thus in 1464 the bailiff of the abbot of Westminster and the sheriff of Staffordshire, in 1469 the sheriff of Northamptonshire, in 1491, 1495, 1498, 1507, 1515 the sheriff of Devon, were sued either for the whole or for part of the 50 marks. (fn. 218)

Among other sources of livelihood were small annual or weekly grants in money or kind from Durham College, the nunnery of Godstow and Oseney Abbey. (fn. 219)

The friars received many bequests: among their benefactors may be mentioned—John of St. John, clerk (c. 1230); (fn. 220) Nicholas de Weston, 1271; (fn. 221) Walter de Merton, bishop of Rochester, 1277; (fn. 222) Nicholas of Croyland, canon of Chichester, 1287; (fn. 223) Thomas Waldere of High Wycombe, 1291; (fn. 224) Sir Hugh Plesset, knt., lord of Cudlington, 1292; (fn. 225) John de Doclington, 1335; (fn. 226) Edmund de Bereford, 1350; (fn. 227) Elizabeth de Burgh, lady of Clare, 1360; (fn. 228) Henry of Malmesbury, citizen of Oxford, 1361; (fn. 229) Walter de Berneye, 1377; (fn. 230) Thomas Golafrey, 1378; (fn. 231) Robert Wathington, 1387; (fn. 232) John Okele, skinner of Oxford, 1390; (fn. 233) John de Waltham, bishop of Salisbury, 1395; (fn. 234) John Maldon, provost of Oriel, 1401; (fn. 235) John Bannebury of Oxford, 1401. (fn. 236) Elizabeth de Bohun countess of Northampton, bequeathed to them in 1356, 100 marks, two vestments with two old copes, two cloths of gold of one suit, and a chalice. (fn. 237) Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, left them £10 in 1361. (fn. 238) Richard de Garaford, 1395, was buried in their churchyard and left them money and goods. (fn. 239) Sir Amalric, third Baron de S. Amando, K.B., directed his body to be buried in the choir, beside Lady Ida, his first wife, and bequeathed 20 marks to Friar John Chesham of this house, his confessor, in 1403. (fn. 240) Lady Eleanor de S. Amando, his second wife, was buried next her husband before the high altar, and left 20s. to the church and £2 to the convent. (fn. 241) John Thomas, priest, was buried here 'before the image of St. Peter of Milan,' 1413. (fn. 242)

The knightly family of Bessels, of Bessels Leigh, near Abingdon, was closely connected with this house. Sir Peter Bessels, knt., by will dated 20 December, 1424, and proved 7 March following, directed his body to be buried in the church next his father. (fn. 243) Sir Peter Bessels, knt., by will dated 23 October, 1424, and proved 25 October, 1426, directed that '£120 be paid to the Friars Preachers of Oxford to make six windows in their church, in the north aisle, as has been begun.' (fn. 244)

Other benefactors were Robert James, esq., lord of Borstall, c. 1428; (fn. 245) Reginald Mertherderwa, LL.D., 1447; (fn. 246) William Skelton, rector of St. Vedast, London, 1447; (fn. 247) Walter Morlayse de alta Sebyndon, co. Wilts, 1451; (fn. 248) William More, master, who was buried here 1452; (fn. 249) John Russel of Holawnton, co. Wilts., 1469; (fn. 250) William Chestur, merchant of the Staple of Calais and citizen and skinner of London, 1474; (fn. 251) Richard Abdy, master of Balliol College, 1483; (fn. 252) William Bishop of Burford, 1485; (fn. 253) Alice Dobbis, wife of John Dobbis, alderman of Oxford, 1488; (fn. 254) James Blacwode of Oxford, 1490; (fn. 255) Thomas Banke, rector of Lincoln College, 1503; (fn. 256) William Hasard (proctor in 1495), 1509; (fn. 257) Richard Fettiplace of East Shefford and Bessels Leigh, esq., 1510; (fn. 258) Dame Elizabeth Elmys of Henley on Thames, 1510; (fn. 259) Sebyll Danvers of Waterstoke, widow, 1511; (fn. 260) Thomas Davys of St. Edwardstowe, dioc. Worcester, 1511; (fn. 261) William Perot of Lambourn, dioc. Sarum, 1511; (fn. 262) Richard Harcourt of Abingdon, esq., 1513. (fn. 263) John Kyrkeby, citizen and merchant tailor of London, 1511, bequeathed to the friars 1d. a day for ten years, to be paid to them once a year 'for the amending of their fare'; for this 'they shall daily after their dinner done say de profundis for my soul, the souls of Walter Stalworth and Edith his wife and all Christian souls.' (fn. 264)

William Hope who was buried in St. Frideswide's, 1511, bequeathed to the Friars Preachers two houses which he recently bought from Thomas Low of Witney, and 13s. 4d., in money; to Friar W. Dyngyll he left 26s. 8d., to celebrate thrice a week in the church of St. Clement for one year; the residue of his goods was to be divided equally between his children and the Friars Preachers, according to the discretion of his executors, Thomas Andrews of Islip and William Howse. The witnesses were Dr. Howden (prior of the Black Friars), Friar W. Dyngyll (who appears at the dissolution as an anchoret), and W., rector of the church of St. Clement. (fn. 265) John de Vere, earl of Oxford, by will proved 1513, ordered 2,000 masses of requiem to be sung by every friar, being priest, in the house of the Black Friars at Cambridge, Oxford, and elsewhere, and left to the Black Friars of Oxford his 'image of St. Bartholomew silver and gilt.' (fn. 266) William Dewre, an Irishman, principal of Bull Hall, was buried here, 1514, before the image of St. Patrick. (fn. 267) William Bessels, esq., 1515, directed his body to be buried in this church; bequeathed to Dr. Howden, prior, 20s.; to the house 10 marks. He also charged his lands in Longworth with the payment of £4 yearly for four years to be paid to some honest priest of the house to say mass daily for the souls of himself, his wife, ancestors, and friends. (fn. 268) His widow, Alice, desired to be buried here if she died near Bessels Leigh (1526). (fn. 269) Among the latest bequests are those from Sir Robert Throckmorton, knt., 1518-20(?) (fn. 270); Sir Richard Elyot, knt., justice of the Common Pleas, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of William Bessels, and widow of Richard Fetiplace, esq., 1522; (fn. 271) Richard Leke, brewer of Oxford, 1526; (fn. 272) Walter Curson of Waterperry, esq., 1526; (fn. 273) John Seman of Oxford, 1529; (fn. 274) John Burton of Abberbury, 1530; (fn. 275) William Furborne of Salford, 1531; (fn. 276) Elizabeth Johnson of Oxford, widow, 1537; (fn. 277) William Clare of Holywell, Oxford, 1532; (fn. 278) Jane Foxe of Burford, 1535; (fn. 279) John Claymond, president of Corpus Christi College, 1536-7. (fn. 280)

John Hyde, sometime bailiff of Oxford, in 1447 let to Walter Wynhale, prior of the Friars Preachers, for five years a quarter of Aylriches Eyte and the island called Spitels Eyte near Grandpont, for the nominal rent of a rose. (fn. 281)

In 1505 Richard Hastings Lord Willoughby and Joan his wife gave David Huys or Hewes, D.D., prior, 200 marks of gold for making and building the 'queer and dorter.' In return the friars made the donors partakers in their prayers for ever; they also covenanted to find two priests to say two masses daily at the altar of St. Mary Magdalen in their church for the family and friends of the donors. Every succeeding prior before confirmation in his office was bound to swear to observe these covenants; in default of fulfilment £20 yearly was to be paid to the president and scholars of Magdalen College, who should have power to make scrutiny. (fn. 282)

The granting of 'letters of fraternity' was also a source of income to the friars; but the value of them had sunk low by 1534, when Sir Adrian Fortescue obtained the privileges of fraternity for 12d. (fn. 283)

Of the library of the friary very little is known. Leland (fn. 284) notices two books—a treatise called Scutum falsely ascribed to Bede, (fn. 285) and William Rowel's commentary on the Sentences. From notes by Thomas Gascoign we learn that the library possessed parts of the Summa of Alexander of Hales, and a tabula of Richard Fishacre's commentary on the Sentences. (fn. 286) The MS. of Simon of Burniston's compilation De ordine judiciario, &c., was finished in this friary. (fn. 287)

Some indications may be given of the moral condition of the order and convent before the dissolution. Some of the friars had before 1520 contracted debts in Oxford and departed without paying; among them being the prior, John Capel, who this year died at Rome. (fn. 288) The general master in 1525 ordered the next provincial chapter to inquire whether Robert Miles, provincial prior and D.D. of Cambridge and Oxford, 'keeps a concubine, has sons, sells prelacies and other offices, gets drunk, and is useless and incompetent to exercise the duties of provincial.' (fn. 289) He ceased to be provincial in 1526 or 1527. (fn. 290) In 1536 Christopher Tredar was denounced to Cromwell by the Bishop of Lincoln for 'deceiving the people by conjuration and invocation of spirits for goods lost and finding goods in the ground. Divers crosses have lately been cast down to dig for money.' (fn. 291) The friar was arrested, but was soon afterwards at liberty in Oxford, and accused of having committed adultery with the wife of one Peter the Irishman. The woman admitted the charge; the friar denied it, but on the day appointed for trial the judge was absent and nothing was done. (fn. 292)

On questions connected with the Reformation the Dominicans did not take a very decided line. Dr. John de Coloribus, a foreigner, was employed by Wolsey to write against Luther. (fn. 293) John Hopton, the prior of the Oxford house, was recommended by Cromwell for the divinity lectureship resigned by Dr. Nicholas de Burgo (1535), but the university preferred a secular. (fn. 294) Hopton was thereupon promoted (1525-6) to an office 'of equal or greater value,' that of provincial prior. (fn. 295) It is clear that he had not at this time adopted the strongly anti-protestant line which distinguished him later. In 1535 John Hilsey, then provincial, begged Cromwell to confer a cell of Châlons called Portkellerd (Beddgelert) in North Wales, on Maurice Griffith, B.D., a poor friar, a scholar of Oxford, 'who in the last chapter answered de primatu Romani pontificis, but for lack of an exhibition is like to abandon his study.' (fn. 296)

After the preliminary visitation by Layton in 1535, (fn. 297) the house surrendered to Dr. John London, Mr. Banaster, Mr. Pye, and Mr. Fryer in July 1538. (fn. 298) Dr. London writing to Cromwell, 8 July, thus describes the priory:— (fn. 299)

The Black Friars hath in their backside likewise divers islands well wooded and containeth in length a ground. Their choir was lately newly builded and great covered with lead. It is likewise a big house, and all covered with slate saving the choir. They have a pretty store of plate and jewels, and specially there is a good chalice of gold set with stones, and is better than 100 marks: and there is also a good cross, with other things contained in the bill. The ornaments be old and of small value. They have a very fair conduit, and runneth freshly. There be but ten friars being priests, besides the 'anker,' which is a well-disposed man, and have 50 marks yearly of the king's coffers.

The jewels and plate pertaining to the Black Friars consisted of—
a chalice of gold and the paten set with stones weighing 36⅓ oz.: a cross of silver and gilt, 120 oz.: the foot of the same cross, 72 oz.: a chalice with beryl in the middle all gilt, 19 oz.: a chalice all gilt with a paten, 13 oz.: another chalice all gilt, 17 oz.: a pax silver and gilt, 7 oz.: two censers silver and gilt, 73 oz.: a ship of silver parcel gilt, 8 oz.: a pax with silver and ivory: two basons of silver parcel gilt, 101 oz.: and the little pyxe on the altar wherein the sacrament is contained. (fn. 300)

About 14 August Dr. London sent to Thomas Thacker, Cromwell's servant, 204 score 1 oz. of white plate from the four Oxford friaries; this was deposited, 23 November, in the royal jewel house. (fn. 301)

All the friars expressed their willingness to become secular priests. The names of those desiring 'capacities,' sent to Cromwell 31 August, were William Waterman, B.D., Thomas Borrell, Peter Fletcher, Richard Prikilbanke, Hugh Cordowen, James Norys, Guido Welsch, William Glanton, Henry Mathew, Edward Bampton, William Dingle, anchoret; Davy Jones and Henry Benet, not in orders; John Low, subdeacon. (fn. 302)

Dr. London urged that the town should have the Black and Grey Friars to set up cloth-making there, as on the friars' waters were fit places for fulling mills. (fn. 303) This was not carried out. The dismantling of the house seems to have begun at once. London proposed to sell all the stuff at once, 'as the people make waste in the friars' houses.' (fn. 304) In the accounts of St. Giles' parish are the following entries in 1539, probably for labour in taking away materials: 'Item for ale fetched to the Black Friars, 2d.: Item for the house at the Black Friars, 20s. 4d.' (fn. 305) In the accounts of the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, 1540, is the entry: 'Paid for taking down of a rood at the Black Friars with Mary and John and the carriage of them from the said Friars to our church, 20s.' (fn. 306)

On 10 August, 1540, the site was leased to William Frewers (or Freer) and John Pye for twenty-one years. (fn. 307) The property consisted of the site of the priory with houses, gardens, &c., a close or wood on the east of the church and priory containing three acres; a little grove at the back containing 6 acres—rented at 40s.; a tenement with garden at the Blackfriars Gate late in the occupation of Robert Syers, 5s.; total 45s. The land and houses of the Black Friars, with many other monastic possessions, were sold to Richard Andrews of Hailes, Gloucestershire, July, 1544. (fn. 308) Andrews sold the whole of the Black Friars in August, 1544, to William Freer and Agnes his wife. (fn. 309) Freer pulled down the church and most of the house and sold the materials. (fn. 310) Sir Thomas Pope, when he founded Trinity College, purchased stones from this priory, with which he erected the wall which enclosed the college gardens in Park Street. (fn. 311)

Though there was no revival of the friary in the reign of Mary, a Spanish Dominican from Valladolid, John de Villa Garcia, lectured at Magdalen College and was admitted to the degree of B.D. and D.D. in 1555 and 1558. (fn. 312)

Priors

Gilbert de Fresnoy first provincial, is said to have been also prior of this house. (fn. 313)

Jocius, (fn. 314) 1233

Richard of Dunstable, (fn. 315) c. 1245

William de Tyford, (fn. 316) c. 1245

Ralph of Ewelme, (fn. 317) before 1269

Thomas, (fn. 318) 1269

Oliver de Encourt, (fn. 319) 1274

Thomas de Jorz, (fn. 320) 1295

William de Brithampton (?), (fn. 321) 1300

Thomas Everard, (fn. 322) 1311

Thomas of Westwell, (fn. 323) 1320

Thomas Lucas, (fn. 324) 1392

(John Chesham, (fn. 325) vicar 1397)

John Blackwell or Brakwell, (fn. 326) 1407-18

Walter de Wynhale or Wilnale, (fn. 327) 1437, 1447, 1455

Owen Commode, (fn. 328) 1464, 1470

Peter, (fn. 329) 1474

Morgan Arnold, (fn. 330) 1491

David Huys or Hewes, (fn. 331) 1495, 1499, 1505

Roger Vaughan, (fn. 332) 1507

John Hadcum, (fn. 333) (?) 1507-8

John Howden, (fn. 334) 1510, 1514

John Capel, (fn. 335) 1520

William Arden, (fn. 336) 1520 (prior elect 1520)

John Hopton, 1528, (fn. 337) 1530, 1535, 1536

Visitors

John de Meslay, (fn. 338) 1269

Thomas Palmer, (fn. 339) 1393

John Bromyard, (fn. 340) 1397

An impression of the seal of the friary is appended to letters from the university of Oxford, the friars and others to Innocent IV, about the year 1244, petitioning for the canonization of Edmund Rich, and now or lately preserved in the abbey of Pontigny. It bears the Blessed Virgin seated on a throne, with the Infant Jesus in her arms, and a kneeling figure at her feet; under the lower arcade a suppliant friar. Legend:—

+ SIGILL' CAPITVLI FRAT. PREDICATORU' OXON. (fn. 341)