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. 12a)
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. 13)
In 1280 Edmund further granted them some
land in Pannal with the advowson of the church
of Fewston. (fn. 14) The house was not treated as
a mendicant friary, but taxed like the other endowed monasteries. (fn. 15) 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. 16) The Archbishop of York in 1300 granted forty days' indulgence to those who contributed to the building of the church. (fn. 17)
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. 18) 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. 19) In
both cases the friars seem to have established
their right. (fn. 20) In 1311 the minister was summoned to the provincial council held for the
trial of the Templars. (fn. 21) 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. 22) 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. 23) and similar writs were issued for the
same friar and his messengers in 1332 and
1336. (fn. 24) Further, in 1319 the friars were
allowed to appropriate the church of Pannal, (fn. 25)
which had been destroyed by the Scots, (fn. 26) and
were excused from the payment of £15 arrears
of taxes which had been owing since the time
of Edward I, (fn. 27) 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. 28) 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. 29)
and William Croke of Hampsthwaite acknowledged that he owed them £20. (fn. 30) In 1343
Robert son of William Tanner of Boroughbridge, chaplain, sued the minister, Friar John,
for a debt of £10 1s. 1d. (fn. 31)
In 1348 the minister, William de Donyngton,
and the friars assigned to William de Nesfield and
his heirs a rent of £10, (fn. 32) 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. 33) where William de Nesfield had
endowed a chaplain to celebrate for the good
estate of Queen Philippa and the grantor. (fn. 34) In
return the queen obtained licence for the friars
to appropriate the church of Fewston. (fn. 35)
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. 36) 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. 37) At this time
they were allowed to appropriate the church of
Quixlay or Whixley, valued at 15 marks a
year. (fn. 38) 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. 39) 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. 40)
In 1360 the minister of Knaresborough was
made visitor of the newly founded house at
Newcastle-on-Tyne. (fn. 41) 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. 42)
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. 43) 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. 44) 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. 45) In
the contest which ensued the minister of
Knaresborough appealed to the secular power to
arrest Robert of York as an apostate. (fn. 46) The
pope however, in 1402, being better informed,
at the petition of the English friars reversed his
decision and restored Pudsey. (fn. 47)
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. 48) 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. 49)
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. 50) 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. 51) Women as well as men were
admitted to the privileges of fraternity, which
appear to have been granted to many persons. (fn. 52)
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. 53) 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. 54) 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. 55)
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. 56) 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. 57)
Richard III was among their benefactors, (fn. 58) and
about 1490 Innocent VIII granted an indulgence
to those who gave alms to the friars of Knaresborough. (fn. 59)
The brethren do not seem to have been distinguished by learning. (fn. 60) 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. 61) Between 1411 and 1470
ten or eleven friars of the house were admitted
to the gild of Corpus Christi, York. (fn. 62) The
churches appropriated to the house were sometimes served by friars; thus in 1486, Friar
Robert Tesche, afterwards minister, was vicar
of Hampsthwaite. (fn. 63)
In March 1532-3 the minister paid Cromwell
£ 10 for restitution of temporalities. (fn. 64) 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. 65)
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. 66) 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. 67) The minister supported
the government in getting two rebels executed at
York. (fn. 68) Robert Ashton escaped to Scotland. (fn. 69)
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. 70) 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. 71)
Ministers (or Masters)
Ralph de Redinges 1280, 1284, 1286 (fn. 72)
John [Sperry] [1297], 1300 (fn. 73)
Henry of Knaresborough, 1315 (fn. 74)
John [de Spofford] 1343 [1344] (fn. 75)
William Donyngton, 1348, 1349 (fn. 76)
Alan of Scarborough, 1352, 1366 (fn. 77)
William de Pudsey, 1372-4, c. 1380 (fn. 78)
John Kyllyngwyk, c. 1380, January
1387-8 (fn. 79)
Richard Savage, 1400, 1416 (fn. 80)
William Brotte, 1425 (fn. 81)
Robert Harton, 1438 (fn. 82)
John, 1444 (fn. 83)
Richard Fawkes, 1449-50, 1454 (fn. 84)
Robert Bolton, 1461, 1484, 1491 (fn. 85)
Robert Teshe or Tesse, 1499, 1510 (fn. 86)
Oswald Benson, 1524 (fn. 87)
Thomas Kent, 1529-1536, 1538 (fn. 88)
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. 89) 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. 90)