Friaries: The Trinitarian friars of Knaresborough

103. THE TRINITARIAN FRIARS OF KNARESBOROUGH

Robert Flower, eldest son of Took or Tocklese Flower, called Mayor of York, in the reign of Richard I, renounced his patrimony, and after spending a few months in a Cistercian monastery settled as a hermit on the banks of the Nidd close to Knaresborough. The most interesting traditions about him relate to his power over animals and his kindness to the poor. His life was not that of a solitary. ' He had four servants, two whereof he employed about tillage, the third he kept for divers uses, and the fourth he commonly retained about himself, to send abroad into the country to collect the people's alms for those poor brethren which he had taken into his company.' Land is said to have been granted to him by a certain noble matron named Helena, and by William de Stuteville, lord of the forest. (fn. 1) King John visited him in February 1215-16 and gave him ' half a carucate of land in the wood of Swinesco as near to his hermitage as possible.' (fn. 2)

Robert died 24 September 1218, and on 1 February 1218-19 Henry III granted the custody of the hermitage to Alexander Dorset, clerk, rector of Knaresborough. (fn. 3) At the end of 1227 the king conferred on ' Brother Ives, hermit of the Holy Cross, Knaresborough,' the 40 acres which John had given to Brother Robert. (fn. 4) The fame of Robert's sanctity spread, and is mentioned in 1238 by Matthew Paris, who notes that 'a medicinal oil is said tor have flowed abundantly from his tomb,' which had now become a recognized place of pilgrimage. (fn. 5) He appears to have been formally canonized before 1252. In May of that year, Innocent IV granted an indulgence to ' those that help in completing the monastery of St. Robert of Knaresborough where that saint's body is buried.' (fn. 6) In August'1255 the king gave three oaks to the friars of the Holy Trinity for the fabric of the church of St. Robert. (fn. 7) The friars of the Holy Trinity and of the Redemption of Captives in the Holy Land (fn. 8) had therefore already settled here under the patronage of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who became lord of the honour of Knaresborough in 1235. (fn. 9) Before granting the honour to his son Henry in 1257 (fn. 10) Earl Richard issued a charter in favour of the friars, conferring on them the chapel of St. Robert, with the advowson of the church of Hampsthwaite, the land which King John gave to St. Robert, the field called Swinesco with an adjoining wood called Halikeldisike, on the north of the Nidd ' as far as the hanging bridge,' and on the other side of the Nidd the land called Belmond, ' between the forest and the little park of Knaresborough,' and the land called Spitelcroft, with pasture for 20 cows with their calves, 300 sheep and 40 pigs, to be held in frankalmoign of the donor and his heirs—certain rights of common being reserved for the men of Knaresborough. (fn. 11)

In the great inquest of 1275 this land is described as 4 carucates of the fee of Richmond, and the jurors stated that ' the friars also held in Thorpe fifteen bovates of land of the fee of Brus by the gift of divers persons, and two tofts which used to belong to the lepers.' (fn. 12)

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, in 1276 authorized the friars to build a mill on the Nidd to grind their own corn; if they were proved to have ground any corn except their own, they were to be fined a mark for each offence. (fn. 13)

The friars held the manor of Roecliffe near Boroughbridge, but their title to this being disputed in 1278 by Robert de Brus and Christiana his wife, the friars made over their rights to Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, in exchange for some land in Hampsthwaite, Thorpe by Scotton, and the advowson of the church of Pannal. (fn. 14) In 1280 Edmund further granted them some land in Pannal with the advowson of the church of Fewston. (fn. 15) The house was not treated as a mendicant friary, but taxed like the other endowed monasteries. (fn. 16) The proctors of the house had, however, licence in 1286, 1297, and 1303 to beg alms in churches, towns, and markets, for the ransom of captives in the Holy Land, and they probably collected alms at the same time for the rebuilding of their church, and perhaps for the establishment of a house for students of the order at Oxford. (fn. 17) The Archbishop of York in 1300 granted forty days' indulgence to those who contributed to the building of the church. (fn. 18)

After the death of Edmund of Cornwall in 1300 his widow Margaret claimed the tenements granted to the friars by her husband as part of her dower, (fn. 19) and in 1306 they complained that Sir Miles de Stapleton, seneschal of Knaresborough, prevented them and their tenants from digging turves in the forest (a right which they claimed to have received from Edmund of Cornwall), and subjected them to heavy fines. (fn. 20) In both cases the friars seem to have established their right. (fn. 21) In 1311 the minister was summoned to the provincial council held for the trial of the Templars. (fn. 22) In 1317 the friars had licence to inclose 3 acres of land in Belmond and to build houses there, and to acquire lands and rents to the value of £10 a year. (fn. 23) A serious disaster befel the friary in May 1318, when the house was ' destroyed and wasted' by the Scots. In February 1318-19 Edward II issued a writ of protection and safe conduct for three years to Friar John de Spofford, proctor, going to divers parts of the country to seek alms for the relief and sustenance of his brethren, (fn. 24) and similar writs were issued for the same friar and his messengers in 1332 and 1336. (fn. 25) Further, in 1319 the friars were allowed to appropriate the church of Pannal, (fn. 26) which had been destroyed by the Scots, (fn. 27) and were excused from the payment of £15 arrears of taxes which had been owing since the time of Edward I, (fn. 28) while their temporalities and benefices were reassessed for future taxation in consideration of their losses, the valuation of the house of St. Robert being reduced from £20 14s. 3d. (in 1291) to £5. (fn. 29) In the same year they received from Henry son of Richard de Rothewell and his wife 4 tofts and 12 acres in Pannal in exchange for a messuage in York, (fn. 30) and William Croke of Hampsthwaite acknowledged that he owed them £20. (fn. 31) In 1343 Robert son of William Tanner of Boroughbridge, chaplain, sued the minister, Friar John, for a debt of £10 1s. 1d. (fn. 32)

In 1348 the minister, William de Donyngton, and the friars assigned to William de Nesfield and his heirs a rent of £10, (fn. 33) and in 1349-52 they arranged to assign a rent of £6 to find waxlights, bread and wine for the chapel of St. Mary at Scotton, (fn. 34) where William de Nesfield had endowed a chaplain to celebrate for the good estate of Queen Philippa and the grantor. (fn. 35) In return the queen obtained licence for the friars to appropriate the church of Fewston. (fn. 36)

In 1350 the friars were authorized to beg alms for the fabric of their church by the Archbishop of York, who granted forty days' indulgence to contributors. (fn. 37) They seem to have suffered considerably from the Black Death, their numbers in 1360 being only five, while in 1375 they had risen to eleven. (fn. 38) At this time they were allowed to appropriate the church of Quixlay or Whixley, valued at 15 marks a year. (fn. 39) In 1394 they had licence to appropriate the church of Thorner, valued at 24 marks, the advowson of which had been granted them by John of Gaunt. (fn. 40) It was, however, fifty years before they obtained possession of this church, and then only at a heavy sacrifice. On 24 April 1444 the minister of the friars assigned to John Lathum, rector of Thorner, an annual pension of £23 6s. 8d. (fn. 41)

In 1360 the minister of Knaresborough was made visitor of the newly founded house at Newcastle-on-Tyne. (fn. 42) The convent having admitted the archbishop's rights of jurisdiction, Archbishop Thoresby visited the house by his commissaries in 1366, and, besides enjoining more friendly relations between the minister and the brethren, provided for the election of a prior claustralis, a cellarer, and two bursars; forbade the granting of corrodies, and ordered ' that in future the cloister and dormitory should be kept free from the invasion of secular persons, and especially of women of doubtful character, both by day and night.' (fn. 43)

At the beginning of the great schism (1378) the minister-general of the order adhered to the anti-pope. The brethren in England, having obtained from Urban VI faculty to elect a provincial prior, chose William de Pudsey, minister of Knaresborough. (fn. 44) During his provincialate William obtained (January 1387-8) from his successor at Knaresborough and the friars of the house a number of privileges; he was to be exonerated for life from quire and chapter, and upon giving up the office of provincial he was to be obliged to obey only the provincial for the time being and none other in the order; in food, drink, and service he was to be treated like the minister. The friars granted him for life a decent chamber within the cloister, with suitable sheets, napery, eight silver spoons, a bason with a laver, ware and other chamber necessaries, and a servant to be fed and clothed at the expense of the house. He also stipulated for a fireplace, 12 lb. of candles a year, food and litter for one horse to be kept with the horses of the minister and not ridden without his leave; herbage for 80 sheep; an extra horse and servant of the minister whenever he wanted them; and 100s. a year for his other necessaries. (fn. 45) Afterwards, Reginald de la Marche, minister-general, appointed Robert of York his vicar-provincial in England, and induced Boniface IX to order the Bishop of Durham to remove Pudsey from office. (fn. 46) In the contest which ensued the minister of Knaresborough appealed to the secular power to arrest Robert of York as an apostate. (fn. 47) The pope however, in 1402, being better informed, at the petition of the English friars reversed his decision and restored Pudsey. (fn. 48)

In 1402 Boniface IX authorized the minister and six other priests, secular or religious, deputed by him, to hear the confessions of the crowds who were wont to visit the church on the feasts of the Holy Trinity and of St. Peter and St. Paul. (fn. 49) In the same year, the provincial ministers and friars of the order in England petitioned the pope that they might admit persons under the age of twenty years to the order and that instead of devoting one-third of their revenues for the redemption of captives in the Holy Land, according to their rule, they might assign a quota for this purpose, as they had been accustomed to do from time immemorial. The pope gave a favourable answer to both requests. (fn. 50)

An indulgence of three years and forty days was granted by the pope soon after this to those who helped to support the friars of Knaresborough. (fn. 51) And on payment of a fee John XXIII in 1411 gave the minister, brethren and sisters of the house the right to choose their confessor. (fn. 52) Women as well as men were admitted to the privileges of fraternity, which appear to have been granted to many persons. (fn. 53)

The friars were frequently charged with encroaching on the rights of others, appropriating the king's soil, blocking the roads and levying a toll at Grimbald Bridge. (fn. 54) In 1450 Richard Faukes the minister obtained a crown lease of the Little Park for twenty years at 4s. a year, and the friars seem to have retained possession of this coveted area, in which the Dropping Well was situated. They made a stone conduit from the well across the river to their house; this, however, had fallen into ruin before the Dissolution. (fn. 55) In 1440 William Emmote, butler of the house of St. Robert, carried off Joan, wife of William Glover of Knaresborough and goods of William's to the value of 20s. (fn. 56)

Bequests to the house of St. Robert are not infrequent in the 15th century; thus in 1402 Sir John Depeden, lord of Healaugh, left them 5 marks; Sir John Bigod in 1426 a quarter of corn; (fn. 57) Alan of Newark, master of the hospital of Sherburn near Durham, in 1411 left to the minister 13s. 4d., to each friar being priest 3s.4d., to each friar not being priest 1s. 8d, and 6s. 8d. as a pittance at the time of his exequies. (fn. 58) Richard III was among their benefactors, (fn. 59) and about 1490 Innocent VIII granted an indulgence to those who gave alms to the friars of Knaresborough. (fn. 60)

The brethren do not seem to have been distinguished by learning. (fn. 61) In 1408 J. Foxton, chaplain, made and gave them a Kalendar of York use, with cosmography, prognostication, &c., which is now in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. (fn. 62) Between 1411 and 1470 ten or eleven friars of the house were admitted to the gild of Corpus Christi, York. (fn. 63) The churches appropriated to the house were sometimes served by friars; thus in 1486, Friar Robert Tesche, afterwards minister, was vicar of Hampsthwaite. (fn. 64)

In March 1532-3 the minister paid Cromwell £ 10 for restitution of temporalities. (fn. 65) According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the temporalities were worth £24 11s. a year, the spiritualities, the rectories of Hampsthwaite, Pannal, Thorner, Fewston, and Whixley, £62 4s. 10d. Sums were due to the king, the vicars of the churches, and other officials amounting in all to £51 4s. 9d., leaving as the net annual value only £35 11s. 1d. (fn. 66)

The friars were accused of stirring up the rebellion in 1536, making bills and proclamations that the king was going to claim 6s. 8d. of every plough, 6s. 8d. of every baptism, and 4d. of every beast. (fn. 67) The most active was Friar Esch or Ashton, a ' limitor' for the house, who with a passport from William Stapleton raised the country round Malton. (fn. 68) The minister supported the government in getting two rebels executed at York. (fn. 69) Robert Ashton escaped to Scotland. (fn. 70)

The house was dissolved 30 December 1538, the deed of surrender being signed by Thomas Kent, the minister, nine priests (one of whom signs with a mark), and one undescribed. (fn. 71) The commissioners found the clear annual value of the house to be £93 12s. 6d. This revenue was charged with £56 6s. 8d. for pensions to the minister and friars, the minister receiving £13 6s. 8d. Goods sold and debts received brought in £63 8s., out of which £27 2s. 8d. was expended in giving rewards to friars and paying debts. The woods were estimated at 6s. 4d. a year, the lead at 18 fother. There were five bells and 82 oz. of plate. (fn. 72)

Ministers (or Masters)

Ralph de Redinges 1280, 1284, 1286 (fn. 73)

John [Sperry] [1297], 1300 (fn. 74)

Henry of Knaresborough, 1315 (fn. 75)

John [de Spofford] 1343 [1344] (fn. 76)

William Donyngton, 1348, 1349 (fn. 77)

Alan of Scarborough, 1352, 1366 (fn. 78)

William de Pudsey, 1372-4, c. 1380 (fn. 79)

John Kyllyngwyk, c. 1380, January 1387-8 (fn. 80)

Richard Savage, 1400, 1416 (fn. 81)

William Brotte, 1425 (fn. 82)

Robert Harton, 1438 (fn. 83)

John, 1444 (fn. 84)

Richard Fawkes, 1449-50, 1454 (fn. 85)

Robert Bolton, 1461, 1484, 1491 (fn. 86)

Robert Teshe or Tesse, 1499, 1510 (fn. 87)

Oswald Benson, 1524 (fn. 88)

Thomas Kent, 1529-1536, 1538 (fn. 89)

The seal of the convent was pointed oval and represented the Trinity on a carved throne under a canopy; below, under a carved arch, a man, probably St. Robert, seated to the right, under a tree, reading a book. (fn. 90) The seal of the minister showed the figure of a saint, probably St. Robert, seated to the right with an open book on his knees, under a tree. The legend in both impressions is fragmentary. (fn. 91)