57. THE PRIORY OF WARTER
The priory of Warter was founded in 1132, (fn. 1)
by Geoffrey Fitz Pain, otherwise Trusbut, who
conferred upon it the church of Warter and
6 bovates of land in the fields of that place.
Geoffrey, (fn. 2) son of William Trusbut, confirmed and supplemented the gifts of his predecessor, and his brother Robert (fn. 3) Trusbut, by a
separate charter, conceded the grants of Geoffrey
Fitz Pain and Geoffrey Trusbut, and added to
them the church of All Saints, Melton.
All these grants were confirmed by Henry III, (fn. 4)
and in 1245 (fn. 5) by Pope Innocent IV. The
pope, in addition, granted that clerks or laymen
fleeing from the world might be received ad
conversionem, and retained without dispute. Any
of their brethren, having made profession in
their church, might not leave without the prior's
licence, save for a more ascetic life (artioris
religionis). The chrism, holy oil, consecrations
of altars or basilicas, the ordinations of clerks,
the canons were to receive from the diocesan
bishop. In time of a general interdict they
might (suppressa voce and the bells not rung)
celebrate divine service with closed doors, excommunicate and interdicted persons excluded.
No one was to build an oratory in their parish
without their leave and that of the diocesan.
Robert de Ros, (fn. 6) patron or the priory in 1279,
having seen the charters of his ancestors, confirmed them to God and the church of St. James
of Warter, and John the prior, and the canons.
In other ways, and from other benefactors,
the priory obtained property in a considerable
number of villages. (fn. 7)
In 1277, (fn. 8) to save it from ruin, Archbishop
Giffard annexed the hospital of St. Giles at
Beverley to Warter, with consent of the chapter
of York and the brothers of the hospital, ordering that the priests and conversi then in the
hospital should in future abide there or at
Warter, according to the ordinance of the prior
and convent.
The prior and canons also obtained possession
of the churches of Askham, Clifton, and Barton
in the diocese of Carlisle, which were confirmed
to them by Innocent IV. Also the churches of
Melton, and a portion of Ulceby in Lincolnshire. They also had, at one time, besides
Warter, the churches of Lund, Wheldrake, and
Nunburnholme in Yorkshire; but in 1268, (fn. 9) when
the archbishop appropriated Lund to the priory,
the patronage of Wheldrake and Nunburnholme
was ceded to the archbishop and his successors.
In 1358 (fn. 10) Archbishop Thoresby ordained, in
regard to Warter, that one of the canons should
be the vicar, and have a competent portion
allowed him among his brethren.
Henry III (fn. 11) granted the prior and canons a
market at Warter, and a fair on the feast of St.
James; but the latter was forbidden by the king
in 1328, on account of certain murders committed at it.
On 21 December 1245 Innocent IV
granted an inhibition to the Prior and convent
of Warter, that no one should oblige them to
pay tithes of wool and milk, demanded contrary
to apostolic privileges, to rectors of parishes in
which the beasts of the monastery were pastured.
Archbishop Wickwane on 14 December
1280 (fn. 12) wrote to John de Queldrike that as he,
considering his feebleness and incapacity, had
tendered his resignation of the priorship, which
he had laudably exercised for some time, desiring
to spend the rest of his life in contemplative
leisure and divine services, in peace from the
turbulent waves of the age, he, the archbishop,
accepted the resignation. A notice was sent to
the sub-prior and convent to elect a successor,
and this was followed by a letter from the
patron, R. de Ros, (fn. 13) to the archbishop, relating
that John de Thorp had been elected, and that
quantum in nobis est he had admitted him to
office, and humbly and devotedly asked the archbishop ' eundem ad regimen dicti prioratus benigne
si placet admittere velitis.' This is one of the few
instances in Yorkshire in which the patron of
a religious house appears as taking part in an
election. The archbishop in this case annulled
the election as irregular, but on account of John
de Thorp's qualifications for the office, which
he enumerated, appointed him prior. (fn. 14)
In the summer of 1280 (fn. 15) the archbishop held
a visitation of the house, and no injunctions
were sent quia omnia bene se habuerunt—a pleasing
and most unusual entry. Eight years later,
however, in 1288, (fn. 16) Archbishop Romanus sent
one of the canons, Ingeram de Munceus, to
Kirkham, with a letter to the prior and convent,
ordering them to admit and keep him in their
house, as the archbishop hoped that their holy
conversation might reform his morals.
On 13 October 1291 (fn. 17) the archbishop confirmed a provision which had been made by
Robert de Brunneby, the sub-prior, and the
convent, for their prior, John de Thorp, whose
labours are highly spoken of. He was to have
a chamber on the south side of the infirmary,
with a chapel, cellar, and garden attached to it,
20 marks a year, and his portion of bread and
ale. To these the archbishop added in his
decretum, after visiting Warter, that as an
acknowledgement of his vigilance and labours,
and in response to his just request, he was dispensed from taking his meals in the refectory,
sleeping in the dormitory, or rising for matins,
except at his own inclination.
The visitation had revealed everything in good
order, as the archbishop stated in the decretum
alluded to above, dated 23 February 1292-3. (fn. 18)
All was well, 'nec apud vos, benedictus Altissimus,
quicquid corrigendum reperimus.' There was
one exception, and that related to Brother
Simon de Skyrna, who had voluntarily confessed
in the presence of the whole convent, before the
archbishop, that he had sinned against John de
Thorp the prior. His correction was left to
the prior, who, having God before his eyes, was
to enjoin on him a salutary penance. If Simon
de Skyrna did not devoutly undergo it, or conform himself in charity to the others, the archbishop would, on hearing an evil report of him,
speedily remove him elsewhere.
In the following year (fn. 19) the archbishop had to
deal with the complaint of a number of the
parishioners that they were unlawfully compelled
by the prior to make an offering in the parish
church of Warter on the feast of All Saints. It
was alleged that Godfrey, Archbishop of York,
had directed this. Archbishop Romanus held
an inquiry in porticu dicte ecclesie, on Wednesday,
the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, 1293, the
complainants and a ' multitude ' of the parishioners being present. Briefly, it was found that
Archbishop Godfrey never issued the supposed
order. The parishioners admitted that they
would freely make the offering, and the archbishop decided that it was to be regarded as their
voluntary act, and not made under compulsion.
In the year 1300 (fn. 20) the patron of the priory,
William de Ros, and others, complained to
Archbishop Corbridge that certain manslaughters
had been committed in the village of Warter by
the canons' men, and that they were providing
for the homicides with the goods of the house.
The archbishop at once ordered them not to
receive or defend or provide for the homicides
out of the goods of their house, which were for
their use and that of the poor.
In 1380-1 (fn. 21) the Prior of Warter was taxed at
29s. 8d., and there were ten canons each taxed
at 3s. 4d.
On 1 July 1388 (fn. 22) John Claworth, sub-prior,
and John Hemyngburgh, Robert Takell, and
Richard de Beverley, canons of the house,
were appointed administrators in the place of
William Tyveryngton, who was suspended from
office owing to his notorious waste of the
property of the house, and for other reasons.
Shortly after this, Archbishop Arundel took
up the rule of the diocese, and on 21
November 1388 the suspended prior resigned.
The election of his successor took place on
11 December following, (fn. 23) when, after mass
of the Holy Ghost, the canons, twelve in
number, proceeded to the election by way of
scrutiny, the three scrutators being John
Claworth, the sub-prior, John de Hemyngburgh,
and William de Tyveryngton, the late prior.
All voted for John de Hemyngburgh, except
himself, and he was declared duly elected, and
was thereafter confirmed and installed. It was
his second term of office, and he resigned again
in 1302, (fn. 24) when Robert Takell succeeded him.
William York, vicar of the parish church of
Warter, was elected prior on 1 March 1453, (fn. 25)
in succession to Robert Hedon, who had
resigned. Five years later (16 August 1458) (fn. 26)
Archbishop William Booth suspended William
York from the priorship owing to his waste of
the goods of the house, and appointed John
Stranton the sub-prior and John the cellarer
temporary custodians of the goods of the priory.
Archbishop Kemp in 1440 had forbidden all
abbots, priors, or others to sell, without the
special licence of their diocesans, within the
province of York, any wood, fallen or not.
Public report, however, had it that William York
had sold trees that had not fallen, as well as
those that had, at 'Setonwoddes, Seynt, Loy
Woddes, and Brokhirst,' belonging to the priory,
in no small quantity, so that the woods themselves were nearly destroyed. Besides this, he
had sold various trees recently growing within
the precinct of the priory. Houses, moreover,
and buildings belonging to the priory, through
his neglect and carelessness had fallen to the
ground. His general dilapidation of the property
had been to the grave injury of the house, and
the archbishop peremptorily cited him to show
cause why he should not be deposed from office.
The result was that York ' renounced' the
priorship, and on 13 October (fn. 27) the archbishop
sent a monition to him that he was to remove
himself within three days from the priory, and
was not to molest the prior or his brethren. A
concurrent order was sent (fn. 28) to William Spenser,
the new prior, that he was to remove William
York within three days from the priory,
retaining the monastic belongings which he had,
but allowing him to keep his own. He was to
be kept from consorting with the brethren, lest
by his malice and evil ambition he should make
the sheep who were whole dissatisfied, overthrow
the monastery, and bring to naught the observance of religion. He was, however, granted on
25 November (fn. 29) a pension of 8 marks a year for
his maintenance, and on 8 December the archbishop granted him letters testimonial, and a
licence to study at any university. In this way,
it seems, Warter got rid of him.
In 1526 (fn. 30) the clear annual value was returned
at £118, and according to the Valor Ecclesiasticus, (fn. 31) £144 7s. 8d.
In 1534 Archbishop Lee included it among
the houses which he visited. The injunctions
which he then issued have been printed, (fn. 32) and
only a brief summary is needed here. The
first portion of the injunctions were of a general
character. These include, however, a direction
that immediately after compline the cloister
doors were to be locked and the keys kept by
the prior or some discreet brother deputed by
him, and were not to be unlocked until 6 o'clock
in the morning in summer, and 7 in winter.
A more important injunction forbade the prior,
or any canon, to talk to women except in the
presence of two other canons who could witness
what was said and done. Any who infringed
this restriction would be held guilty of incontinence. May this be charitably taken to explain
some of the cases of incontinence (which are
common) as being technical in character,
rather than actual breaches of the moral law?
The special injunctions to Warter directed
that the canons were to sleep in the dormitory,
each in his own appointed bed. They were to
eat together in the refectory, on common food,
and were not to use belts adorned with gold or
silver, or wear gold or silver rings, and were not
to go out without the prior's leave, and the prior
was only to grant leave for good reason. The
prior was to hold an inquiry twice a year to
prevent private proprietorship, and once a year
was to render an account of all receipts and
expenses to the convent.
There were ten canons at the Dissolution, and
the priory and its entire property was granted in
1536-7 to Thomas, Earl of Rutland, so that
there was no time for returning to the Court of
Augmentation the annual account. (fn. 33)
Priors of Warter (fn. 34)
Joseph
Ralph
Richard (abbot)
Yvo (abbot), occurs 1132 (fn. 35)
Nicholas, occurs 1206 (fn. 36)
Richard, occurs 1209 (fn. 37)
Thomas, occurs 1223, (fn. 38) ruled six years
Ranulph, occurs 1229, (fn. 39) ruled six years
John Leystingham, occurs 1235, (fn. 40) ruled six
months
John de Dunelm, occurs 1236, (fn. 41) ruled eight
years
Robert de Lund, succeeded 1249, (fn. 42) ruled
fifteen years
John de Queldrike, succeeded 1264, (fn. 43) ruled
sixteen years
John de Thorp, succeeded 1280, (fn. 44) ruled thirtythree years
Richard de Welwyk, succeeded 1314, (fn. 45) ruled
forty-four years
Robert de Balre, succeeded 1359, (fn. 46) ruled four
years, resigned (fn. 47)
William de Ferriby, confirmed 1364, (fn. 48) ruled
sixteen years
Henry de Holm, succeeded 1380, (fn. 49) ruled three
years, died
John de Hemyngburgh, 1383, (fn. 50) first time ruled
one and a half year
William de Tyveryngton, 1385, (fn. 51) ruled four
years, deposed and expelled
John de Hemyngburgh, confirmed 11 Dec.
1388, (fn. 52) second time, ruled two and a half
years, died (fn. 53)
Robert Takell, elected 1392, (fn. 54) ruled seventeen
years
Thomas Ruland, succeeded 1410, (fn. 55) ruled ten
years seven months, resigned
William Warter succeeded, occurs 1423, (fn. 56)
ruled twenty-five years, died (fn. 57)
Robert Hedon, confirmed 1445, (fn. 58) ruled eight
years nine months, resigned (fn. 59)
William York, elected 1453, (fn. 60) 'renounced'
priorship and expelled, (fn. 61) ruled four years
William Spenser, succeeded 1458 (fn. 62)
John Preston, confirmed 1483, (fn. 63) died (fn. 64)
Thomas Bridlington, confirmed 1495, (fn. 65) resigned (fn. 66)
Thomas Newsome, elected 1498, (fn. 67) died 1526 (fn. 68)
William Holme, confirmed 1526 (fn. 69)