[106]And 1 lb. pepper.
[106]And 1 lb. pepper.
In each case the demesne is described as arable, meadow, and pasture. In Stafford the Priory had burgages, orts, and gardens worth £14. Other possessions were at Amerton, Drayngton, Grindley, Newton, Lee, Acton Trussell, Colton, Salt, Hopton, Shradycote, Whitgreve, Admaston, Rycerdysctote, Lichfield (a burgage, 6s.), Byssheton, Olton, Marchington, Bednall, Walton, Hanyate, and Swynneshed, in Staffordshire. Elsewhere are Ashbourne, Duranstrope, Quinton, “villa de Wico Malbano” (where £2 13s. 4d. comes “de duobus domibus salinis,” called “Salt Howses”), besides the Manor of Penulton already mentioned.
The temporal outgoings include the following:
To the King, 2s. for “Sute silver” from the Manor of Penford, 10d. from Arberton, 12d. from Salt, and 13d. from Pennulton; to the Bishop of Lichfield, 20s. 11d. for lands in Stafford, etc.; to William Chetyn, Kt., from Stafford and Salt, 4s. 10d.; Thomas Bagott, Kt., from Admaston, 3s.; George Gresley, mil., from Colton and Admaston; to Sir John Dudley, 3s. from Penford; to Rose Cleyton of Bushbury, widow, from Penford; to Richard Egerton, clerk, Master of St. John’s Hospital at Stafford, 4s. 4d.; to the Prior of Stone, 2s.; of Ronton, 2s.; of Croxden, 2s.; of Shene, 10s. 4d.; to the presbyters of the College of Stafford, 3s. 4d.; to the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem, 8d.
The chief steward was Earl Ferrers and his fee was £4. The steward of Pennulton, Alexander Ratclyffe, received £1. Thomas Crosse, deputy steward or custodian of the Manor Courts in Staffordshire, received 13s. 8d. The bailiffs were Otto Holond at Penulton,George Boughey at Frodswell, etc., Edward Whythell at Coton and Stafford, William Russell at Drayton, William Parry at Penford, Hugh Brenn’ at Mere, John Kelyng at Apeton. Their fees ranged from 33s. 4d. to 6s. 8d.
Of these at the Dissolution[107]Earl Ferrers received a pension of 40s.; Ratcliffe, 13s. 4d.; Holland, 13s. 4d., Boughey, 20s., and Edward Whytell, 33s. 4d. There were also the following: Mr. Robert Browne, 15s.; Mr. Philip Chetwynd, 26s. 8d.; Hugh Baker, 20s.; William Harney, 10s.; William Bagley, 10s.; Richard Torner, baker, 10s.; James Cocke, 20s.; Thomas Stapleton, 10s.; and Richard Whytell, 20s. These were all, evidently, lay officials of the house, and doubtless some of them were the successors of those named inValor Ecclesiasticus.
The spiritual income came from glebe and tithes at Stowe, Bushbury, Geyton, Berkyswiche, Weston, and Aldelem (Cheshire), tithes at Cariswall and Mere, Easter dues from Stowe, Weston, Geyton, and Berkyswiche. The glebe is particularised, and amounts to £6 6s. 4d.
Spiritual outgoings include £2 4s. to the Bishop for appropriated churches, and £3 6s. 8d. every third year for visitation fees; 3s. 6d. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £18 10s. to the Dean and Chapter; and 15s. to the Priory of Coventry.
No valuation subsequent to the Dissolution is given inMonasticon. The fine for continuance was £133 6s. 8d.[108]The house was comfortably furnished, andthere were considerable quantities of stores and a fair amount of live stock, etc., as will be detailed later.
The Austin Priory of Stone had had many struggles arising out of the encroachments of the “religious” on the sphere of the “secular” clergy. In the twelfth century it employed an agent to purchase livings and many troubles arose in consequence of his success.
In the competition for appropriations and tithes which went on between the religious houses there was keen rivalry. St. Thomas, Stafford, attempted in 1278 to obtain the Church of Stone, and sought to get Bishop Longsword on its side by submitting the matter to his arbitration. But Stone retaliated by appealing to the Dean and Chapter with a gift of 10 marks. In the same century there was a dispute between Kenilworth Priory, on behalf of its dependent house at Stone, and St. Remigius, on behalf of Lapley, about the tithes of Shefford. Ultimately, they were taken from Lapley and bestowed on Stone, but in 1368 there were further disputes about the same subject.
In the reign of Henry III there was strife between the parishioners and the Priory about the payment of tithes, and it was formally arranged that all parishioners, freemen and villeins alike, should pay the definite sum of two farthings a year, with “oblations” four times yearly.
The Canons of Stone trafficked largely in corrodies. From Edward I they obtained permission for a fair. They entered thoroughly into the affairs of the world.During the Barons’ War they were not above plundering the lands of those who were fighting: their cellarer was charged with breaking into the house of a man who was a prisoner in the hands of the Barons. The Priory suffered, however, from making itself too “secular,” and in the days of Bishop Norbury it was brought to the verge of bankruptcy by the frequent calls which were made on its hospitality by travellers on the King’s highway beside which it stood. It maintained its spirit of worldliness. In 1473 the Prior is found associating himself with one Sir Thomas Fyton, Kt., in disseising Richard Whalley of property in Darlaston, Anslow, and Aston, near Stone. Neither appeared to answer the charge, and their bail was forfeited. The Prior was fined £6, and the Knight £120, with £60 damages, he having taken the propertyvi et armis.[109]The Prior in the time of Bishop Smythe (1493–1496), whose name was Thomas Fort, acted as suffragan bishop in the diocese while the diocesan employed himself in political work.
The Prior at the time of the Suppression was William Smith. In the returns which he supplied to the Commissioners forValor Ecclesiasticus[110]there are not many details of particular interest, though the old connection with Kenilworth is shown to be still maintained.
From the Manor of Stone came £27 13s. 2d., the items of which are of tenements with their appurtenances, £8 12s.; 26 cottages, £5 7s.; demesne arable, £3 6s. 8d.; pasture, £2 10s.; meadow, £2 1s. 4d.;a water-mill, £4; perquisites of the Court, 13s. 4d.; chief rents, £1 2s. 10d. £16 came from Stallington, and smaller sums from Stoke, Walton near Stone, Aston in fee of Walton, Burston, Shebridge, Stafford (5s. 8d.), Coppenhall, Wotton, Hilderstone, and Darlaston. Among these an orchard at Aston produces 4d., and Hilderstone, “de crofto et orio,” 2s.
Temporal outgoings included 1s. 8d. to Henry, Lord Stafford, and 5s. 1d. to the heirs of Henry Vernon, mil. The chief steward was Edward Aston, mil., and his fee was £1 5s. 8d.; his deputy, Thomas Moreton, received 13s. 4d. Walter Walkeden, the bailiff, received £1 6s. 8d.
Spiritual income came as follows: £40 from Stone, £8 10s. in tithes from Milwich, £2 from Swynnerton, £1 from Checkley, and £24 from Tyso in Warwickshire. The revenue from Stone was £8 in Easter dues; tithes, £28; lesser tithes called “White Tythes,” £1, and oblations to St. Wulphade, etc., £3.
Spiritual outgoings consisted of Episcopal visitation fees £3 6s. 8d. triennially and £1 6s. 8d. annually for procurations, etc.; 13s. 4d. to the Dean and Chapter; £2 to the Vicars of the Cathedral; 19s. to the Archdeacon of Stafford; £9 to Kenilworth Abbey; and 13s. 4d. to Coventry Priory.
The payment of £9 to Kenilworth Abbey appears as £9 11s. 4d. in theValorof that Abbey, but there is no entry of the 2s. paid by the Priory of St. Thomas, Stafford (V.E., p. 111), or of the £2 3s. paid from the churches of Berkswich, Bushbury, and Weston (V.E., p. 129).
In the valuation after the Dissolution (Monasticon,vi, 233), Coppenhall and Darlaston are omitted, but Myford, 3s.; Fulford, 8s.; Tittensor (tithes), £2 13s. 4d., and Burston (tithes), 10s. 4d., are added; also a fulling-mill at Stone worth £1 6s. 8d., and Madeley Rectory, £9 6s. 8d. Decreases are the demesne at Stone (to £5 0s. 4d.), rents in Stafford (3s. 4d.), Stone Rectory (£39 10s.), Tyso Rectory (£22), Milwich Rectory, £4. The rents at Stone had increased to £49 8s. 10d., at Stallington to £23 6s. 8d., at Walton to £6 0s. 4d., at Stoke (with Aston, Darlaston, and Burston) from £3 16s. to £7 11s. 6½d., at Shebridge to £2, at Walton to £8 0s. 5d., and at Hilderstone to 5s. The Court perquisites at Stone Manor had also risen to £1 6s. 8d.; this with the decrease in the value of the demesne and the enormous increase in rents shows that a considerable part of the demesne had been let. The total valuation is £199 19s. 1½d.
The Priory of Trentham had always been an aristocratic house, intimately connected in its early days with the Earls of Chester and later with the Earls of Lancaster, their successors. It had, of course, been involved in the struggles of its patrons. In the early days of Stephen, during one of the periods when Earl Ralf was on Matilda’s side, he allowed her (1139) to nominate the Prior of his house at Trentham. The Prior was declared to be appointedtam largitione quam presentacione venerabilis Domine nostre Matilde.[111]
During the rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster Prior Richard de Lavynden died (1321). Lancaster promptlyasserted his claim to the presentation, forcibly entered the house against the wish of the Canons—or so they subsequently asserted when Lancaster fell—and insisted on the election of Richard de Dulverne. Dulverne petitioned the King, immediately after Lancaster’s execution, to allow his election. Edward II assented, on receiving a fine of forty marks, but asserted that the right of preservation had “always” belonged to the Crown.[112]Edward II also enforced his claim to nominate to corrodies at Trentham with vigour and harshness, andValor Ecclesiasticusshows that the claim was still maintained in the reign of Henry VIII. But the royal patronage of Trentham did not avail to protect the Priory in times of disorder. In 1428 Prior Thomas had his goods plundered by Richard Twigg of Ashbourn, who also laid in wait to kill him, so that he had to keep a bodyguard of defenders.
The Prior in 1535 was Thomas Bradwall. According toValor Ecclesiasticus,[113]the main part of the temporal income came from the Manor of Trentham (£39 6s. 6d. out of £83 19s.). There were demesne lands worth £26, arable, meadow, and pasture, and a water-mill. The remainder was chief rents (18s. 8d.), 11 tenements, another water-mill, and 16 cottages “cum pertinentibus” in Trentham (£11 15s. 10d.), and the perquisites of the Courts (12s.). The remaining property in Staffordshire was at Longton, Kybbulston, Blurton, Cokenage, Newstead, Hanchurch, Cleyton Gryffin, Chaldon, Mere juxta Caryswall, Elkeston, andNewcastle-under-Lyme. The proceeds from Longton include 4 barbed arrows, and there was a water-mill worth 30 shillings at Chaldon. In Warwickshire Fenny Compton produced £2 and in Leicestershire Gaddesby produced 13s. 4d.
Outgoings included 11s. 6d. to the King for lands, etc., in Newcastle, and 2s. 6d. for lands in Chaldon; 4s. to the Bishop of Lichfield; 3s. 6d. to the heirs of Robert Sheffield (Newcastle and Clayton Gryffin); 4s. 4d. to the heirs of Henry Vernon (Kybbulston). William Chetwyn is chief steward (£1) and his deputy is Thomas Ironmonger (13s. 4d.). The bailiffs were Henry Bredehurst (Franchises of Trentham, 13s. 4d.), and Richard Gynne (Elkeston, 13s. 4d.). Laurence Bradwell was receiver and was paid £2.
Henry Akers had a corrody of £2 a yearex dono regis.
The spiritual income came from the parishes of Trentham (£12 3s. 4d.) and Barleston (£6 14s. 4d.) in Staffordshire, Barkeley in Leicestershire (£5 13s. 4d.), and Sutton in Derbyshire (£12 13s. 4d.). The amount left to Sutton was £4 16s. 8d. From Trentham came Easter dues, £3; tithes of grass, £6 13s. 4d.; tithes of sheep, £2 10s.; and oblations, 10s. From Barlaston came Easter dues, 13s. 4d., tithes of grass and hay, £5 0s. 8d.; tithes of sheep, 13s. 4d.; oblations, 3s.; lesser tithes (called “White Tythes”), 3s.
The payment from Barkeley is described as “extra ecclesiam predictam appropriat’ monasterio Prat’ Leic’”; and that from Sutton was from glebe and tithes of grass.
The spiritual payments included 10s. synodals from Trentham and 10s. 7d. synodals and procurations to the Bishop of Lichfield; 13s. 4d. to the Archdeaconof Stafford; £3 17s. 4d. every third year to the Bishop as visitation fees; £2 13s. 4d. to the Priory of Tutbury for Sutton, and £1 to the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem for the same church. 7d. annually is paid to the heirs of Lord Mountjoy out of the glebe at Sutton. The 16s. 8d. paid by Hulton Abbey (p. 107) does not appear in the receipts, nor the 20s. from Dalbury (p. 167).
The valuation after the Dissolution (Monasticon, vi, 397) amounted to £156 8s. 10d. Omissions are the rents at Kybbulston, Blurton, Cokenage, Newstead, Hanchurch, and Mere. Additions are rents at Wyttemore, 4s.; Meyford, 1s.; Schebrige (crofts), 4s.; Wall Grange, £6 13s. 4d., Bradborne, £1 1s. 8d. At Trentham Manor the demesne and mill had increased to £32 15s. 10d., and rents had increased to no less than £44 13s. 1½d. Trentham Rectory also had increased to £15 15s. 4d. Rents at Longton had increased to £2 8s. 6d., at Chaldon to £3 6s. 8d., at Newcastle to £7 10s. 4d., at Clayton Gryffin to £14 10s. 2d. Perquisites of the Court are 7s. 10d. Barleston Church had fallen in value to £2. The other items are practically identical.
Tutbury was another house which had always had aristocratic connections, and its history had been influenced by its proximity to Tutbury Castle, one of the great houses of the Dukes of Lancaster. Its dependence on St. Peter-sur-Dive was ended in consequence of the French Wars, though Lancaster had some difficulty to enforce his authority.
On a vacancy occurring in 1337 in the headship of the Priory Henry Earl of Lancaster claimed the presentation, alleging that the Prior who had just resigned had been appointed on his nomination. The monks claimed the right of election, and asserted that the last Prior, though he had been nominated by Lancaster, had been rejected and another elected, whose election, however, had been set aside by the Abbot of the parent house of St. Peter-super-Divam. Against this exercise of authority on the part of the parent house they had appealed to Rome. The suit was still pending, and they alleged that the Prior had only resigned through conviction that judgment would be given against him. But they could not deny that Lancaster was patron of the house, and he won his case, and his nominee was ordered to be admitted by the Bishop.[114]
The new authority was not more effective than the foreign had been, and Bishop Norbury found at Tutbury general disorder, incontinency, addiction to hunting, and even a military spirit. It is to be feared that the Kings valued the control they had acquired over the houses with foreign connections mainly for its financial advantage. Henry IV gave his Queen Joan charges on the revenues of Tutbury and we have already seen that the claim to nominate to a corrody there was enforced as late as 1532.[115]
In 1535 the Prior was Arthur Meverell. He had only just been appointed. His predecessor had died in the January of the very year the Commissioners visited the Priory, and the Earl of Shrewsbury had immediatelywritten to Cromwell begging the preferment for the Sub-Prior, “Dn. Arthur Meverell.” Even before the late Prior was dead, a recommendation of Meverell for the post soon to be vacant had been sent in, and an unknown hand has endorsed it: “He was my godfather, and I knew him a comely grave man.”[116]The Bishop wrote to Cromwell on May 7th: “I beg you will not be displeased in the matter of the Prior of Tutbury. I have your letters wherein you desired me not to meddle therein. But now your pleasure known the bond shall be substantially made and the penalty sent to you with all diligence”; and on May 28th: “I sent to the Prior of Tutbury to repair to you.”[117]Dn. Arthur Meverell was, apparently, to judge from his later history, one of the “divers abbottes that could be perswaded or were ... for the purpose placed ... [and who subsequently] made surrender of their houses and conveied them to the Kinge by order of lawe, and had competent pencions.”[118]
The summary of Tutbury is arranged in counties; firstly, the temporal income from Derbyshire, then that from Staffordshire; then comes the spiritual income: annual “pensions” from various counties grouped together (£25 11s. 4d.), and tithes arranged in counties. The outgoings are arranged under the headings of “pensions,” fixed rents, annual fees, and alms.
The temporal income from Derbyshire was £141 14s. 3d. and from Staffordshire, £29 4s. 1d.;£38 11s. 5d. from Doveridge and £8 from the demesne lands called Doveridge Holt there; demesne lands (£5) at West Broughton, and Tutbury (“Chapel Yard,” £3 16s. 10d., and “Prior’s Holmes,” £2 6s. 8d.); perquisites of the Courts at Doveridge, Matherfield, Kirkbroughton, and Marston, 16s. 8d.; lands, etc., at Somersall, Osmaston, and Edulneston, Wotton, Ednaston, and Holington, Kirkbroughton, Duffield (John Prince), Norbury (called “the lands of the demesne”), Fenton, Brailsford, Overton, and Matherfield. At Mulneston is a mill worth (with lands) £2 0s. 9d.
The temporal outgoings included £2 0s. 8d. in fixed rents and £18 13s. 4d. in annual fees. The former comprised 5s. “Sheriff’s Geld” for Wetton; 2s. 4d., chief rents in Tutbury; 3s. 4d., “Palfrey Money” in the Hundred of Apultre, and £1 10s. to the Keepers of Needwood Forest at the Feast of the Purification. All except the last item went to the King.[119]
Annual fees comprised £3 6s. 8d. to the Chief Steward, George, Earl of Shrewsbury; £1 6s. 8d. to Henry Pole, Clerk of the Manor Courts; £2 to Francis Basset, Auditor, and £2 to Humfry Meverell, receiver of the bailiffs, Roland Heth (the franchises of Tutbury and West Broughton) paid £2, and the others £1 6s. 8d. each as follows: William Hyll (Wetton), Ralf Wodcoke (Matherfield), Richard Lane (Edlaston and Osmonston), William Wetton (Adnaston and Hollington), Thomas Wyllot (Marston and Duffield), Henry Mylward (Doveridge).
The spiritual outgoings comprised 13s. 4d. to the Bishop for the appropriated church of Broughton;£6 13s. 4d. to the Dean and Chapter for the church of Matherfield; £8 2s. 2d. to the Archdeacon of Derby (Richard Strete) for Kirkbroughton and Marston (procurations and synodals); £5 to Thurston Courtnay, Vicar of Tutbury; £6 13s. 4d. to Robert Gaunt, Vicar of Kirkbroughton; and 15s. to the Archdeacon of Stafford for procurations for Matherfield and Tutbury.
The alms were £2 given to the poor at Corpus Christi, by ancient foundation, and £1 given on the anniversary of the death of the founder.
The valuation subsequent to the Dissolution, as given inMonasticon(iii, 399), is impossible to compare with that ofValor Ecclesiasticus, the items and allotments being so grouped and apportioned that they do not correspond with the earlier arrangement in the great majority of cases. New rents appear at Doveridge to the amount of nearly £48, and the demesne there has risen from £8 to £25 7s. Doveridge Rectory is increased exactly £2. At Wetton, demesne is given worth £8 16s., rents £36 16s. 10¾d., and the Rectory, £8 6s. 8d. Matherfield Rectory was only worth £4 10s. in tithes. The tithe at Sudbury is called “St. Mary’s Tithe,” and appears at only half its former value. Sales of wood and perquisites of the Court are mentioned at Churchbroughton, Edelston, Calton, Wetton, Shirley, Hollington, Esteleke (Leics.), Hatton, Tutbury, Langley, and Doveridge, but in every instance the amount is stated asnulla.Redditus mobilesare mentioned at Wetton (£4 4s.), and Doveridge (13s. 6d.). At Hollington £15 13s. 4d. is given as “payment in lieu of pigs” (Pens’ sive Porc’) and at Wymondham the tithes of pigs appear as having beenleased at a rent of £1 9s. 8d. [Firm’ Porc Xmaead Firm’ dimiss’). The total valuation was £358 2s. 0¾d.
It will be noticed that no friaries have been mentioned: the Diocesan Returns ofValor Ecclesiasticusentirely omit them. The reason is possibly to be found in the remark which is made under the heading of “House of the Friars Minors at Coventry”[120]: “Brother John Stafford being examined upon oath, says that they have no lands or tenements nor any other possessions or revenues spiritual or temporal of any annual value, but only the licensed alms of the neighbourhood and the uncertain charity of the people.” That no attempt was made to estimate the worth of such “alms and charity” may be taken as indicating a certain amount of sympathetic regard for the friars.
We know, however, that the Black Friars at Newcastle-under-Lyme received rents to the amount of £2 per year. At Stafford the Austin Friars had rents bringing in £2 11s. 8d. and the Grey Friars £1 6s. 8d. The latter had some timber and growing corn, six “lands” in the common fields, a close and an orchard, and a meadow which had been given them recently by Robert Quytgrave, gent., for a yearly obit. Half of it was let at 20s. annual rent. At the Dissolution Quytgrave asked for the return of the gift as, he alleged, the bargain had not been kept.
There are other omissions which are more surprising. Woods were extensive in Staffordshire yet they are unmentioned inValor Ecclesiasticusin all the Staffordshire houses with the single exception ofBurton-on-Trent. Even in the post-Dissolution valuation of Tutbury Priory woods are only mentioned in order to record that they produce no revenue. Yet the earlier history of the houses shows that they possessed large tracts of woodland which should have yielded a profitable income. The Black Friars at Newcastle, we learn from Bishop Ingworth, had a “proper wood,” leased to Master Broke. The value of mills, whether water-mills for grinding corn, or fulling-mills, for fulling or milling cloth by beating it with wooden mallets and cleaning it with soap or Fuller’s earth, is often small, and there is no mention of any revenue from tolls or markets. A recent Act of Parliament (21 Henry VIII, c. 13) had forbidden the monks to engage in trade, and they appear to have complied with its behests. The revenue from salt-pans is small: perhaps for the same reason. Water-mills are mentioned at Burton (2), Bromley Hurst, Derby (belonging to Burton Abbey); Alton, Cauldon, and Ellaston (belonging to Croxden); Hulton, Normacot, and More (belonging to Hulton Abbey); Ronton; Drayton (belonging to St. Thomas’s, Stafford); Stone; Trentham (2), and Chaldon (belonging to Trentham Priory; and at Mulneston belonging to Tutbury Priory. The three at Hulton were only worth in all £1 5s. 8d. a year, and that at Ronton was only worth 18s. 9d. a year. The three belonging to Croxden produced at most £6 6s. 8d. a year, and the one at Tutbury £2 0s. 9d. On the other hand, the one at Stone was worth £4 a year, and the two at Burton were worth no less than £12 a year.
Fulling-mills are only found at Rocester and Stone, and their annual value in each case is small, £2 6s. 8d.and £1 6s. 8d. respectively, so that in Staffordshire at any rate it could not be said that the monasteries competed to any large extent with lay industries. Salt-pans are only mentioned in the case of Dieulacres (£3) and Ronton (£1 11s.). It is strange that no mention is made of the Pottery Works at Hulton Abbey, and the Tannery which the same house had possessed at the time of Pope Nicholas IV’sTaxatio(1288) had also disappeared. In theTaxatiofour mills had been taken into account in the valuation of Burton Abbey, one each in those of Croxden, Dieulacres, and Stone, and two each in those of Hulton, Ronton, St. Thomas’s Priory, and Tutbury.
The revenue from Courts is also small. It is as follows:
It is difficult to account for the smallness of these figures. It is idle to say the monks withheld all the information they possessed when we find the Valuers after the Dissolution deliberately stating that the revenue from all the Courts which had belonged to Tutbury was nothing. Perhaps the Court profits were in many cases included in other items, but more probably the explanation is to be found in the feelingof insecurity which must have been general throughout the whole period with which we are dealing. The shadow of the impending Dissolution must have been for some time darkening the land, and tenants would not readily take new tenancies, with the accompanying admission fees, in the general uncertainty. It shows that there had been few changes of tenants or of tenures during recent years.