COLLEGIATE CHURCHES
195. COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, BEVERLEY
In the preface to the Provost's Book, written
about 1417, the earliest foundation of the
church is said to have been in the time of King
Lucius, towards the middle of the 2nd century.
The writer goes on to say that it was destroyed
by Horsa and Hengist, refounded as a monastery
of black monks and nuns arid seven secular
priests by St. John of Beverley, destroyed by the
Danes under Hubba and Hingwar, and reconstituted and augmented as a college of seven
canons regular by King Athelstan. (fn. 1) Nothing is
known of the constitution of the monastery
founded by St. John of Beverley in the later
part of the 7th century. Nor can it be actually
proved that St. John's Monastery, which Bede,
his contemporary, calls Inderawuda (in silva
Deirorum), where he was buried in 721, was at
Beverley. (fn. 2) The destruction of -St. John's
foundation by the Danes is vouched for by
history as little as the destruction of the mythical
Romano-British church by the Saxons. (fn. 3) Athelstan
was regarded throughout the Middle Ages as the
real founder of the college, who, by the charter
whose grants are summed up in the phrase 'Swa
mikel fredom giue I the, Swo hert may think or
eghe see,' conferred on the church its privilege of
sanctuary, its due of four thraves from each
plough in the East Riding, and other wellknown features of its franchise. (fn. 4) The story of
Athelstan's visit rests, however, on no contemporary record; (fn. 5) while his charter is found
in no form earlier than the 13th century, and
summarizes privileges which were granted by
later sovereigns.
A small body of secular clergy may have been
gathered together, many years before the Norman
Conquest, in the church of St. John the
Evangelist, which contained the tomb of St.
John of Beverley, in the principal town of the
East Riding. (fn. 6) The canons of Beverley received
their first authentic royal charter from Edward
the Confessor. (fn. 7) The last three Saxon Archbishops of York seemed to have placed the
canons on the footing of a corporate body with
landed property. Ælfric caused a shrine to be
made for the saint, and obtained estates in
the East Riding for the church. (fn. 8) Cynesige
built a high tower of stone at the west end of
the church. (fn. 9) Ealdred built a new presbytery,
and decorated the whole church with painting
and splendid furniture. He finished the frater
and dorter, which Ælfric and Cynesige had
begun, and granted new endowments of land to
the chapter. (fn. 10) The authentic history of the
college, with its body of canons, and their common residence, the Bedern, (fn. 11) may be said to
begin at this point. It is not unlikely that an
unscientific age, searching for a royal founder,
may have hit upon Athelstan as a king whose
reign had exercised a unifying force on Britain,
and was remembered as a landmark in its history. (fn. 12)
The canons of Beverley owned a large amount
of land at the time of Domesday. (fn. 13) It is probable
that they were already seven in number, deriving
their income, like the canons at York, from a
common fund. Thomas of Bayeux is credited
with the foundation of the office of provost at
Beverley, as at York. (fn. 14) But while at York the
increase in the number of canons and the assignment of separate prebends to each led to the
discontinuance of the office, the provostry remained a permanent feature at Beverley. The
possessions of the canons were regarded as one
common prebend in which each canon possessed an
annual dividend. The corpus of each prebendal
share was regarded as consisting in the corrody
of daily rations derived from the Bedern. (fn. 15) The
most important source of income, however, was
the tribute of thraves paid by each parish in the
East Riding, (fn. 16) and, although in the course of
time thraves from certain specified parishes were
appropriated to some of the canons, (fn. 17) the scattered nature of such property prevented the
establishment of separate prebends with a fixed
area. The duty of the provost was to see to the
collection of the thraves, and to divide their
annual proceeds. He himself held no office in
the church in right of his provostry, although he
was usually admitted to one of the seven canonries. (fn. 18) He was, in fact, the officer in whom the
temporalities of the church were vested. The
chapter, in Domesday, was in full possession of
the regalities of the lands of St. John; (fn. 19) and it
is not unlikely that the office of provost, as chief
magistrate and temporal agent of the canons,
may have been established at a date earlier than
that usually assigned to it.
Each of the canonries, in process of time,
was distinguished by the name of an altar in the
church. The original seven were known by
the names of the altars of St. Andrew, St. James,
St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Michael, St. Peter,
and St. Stephen. The prebendary of St.
Martin's altar was also rector of the chapel of
St. Mary; but no parish church within the
provost's jurisdiction was annexed to any separate
canonry. (fn. 20) To these was added at an unknown
date an eighth canonry, attached to St.
Katharine's altar, the holder of which was not
ex officio a member of the chapter, but attended
chapter meetings by invitation. (fn. 21) The corpus of
this prebend was half the daily offerings from
the high altar. The other half, and the whole
of all other offerings and profits accruing to the
church or common fund, were shared by the
seven other canons. (fn. 22)
The archbishop himself had his stall in quire,
to which an annual corrody from the Bedern
was attached. (fn. 23) This, however, did not give
him a place in chapter, or the right to be regarded as a canon and prebendary. The right of
collation to the provostry and canonries was in
the hands of the archbishop.
The church had no dean, (fn. 24) but there were in
it three dignitaries, (fn. 25) the precentor, chancellor,
and sacrist or treasurer. These were appointed
by the provost, and received their income from
the revenues of the provostry. They took rank
below the canons, with stalls in quire, but no
voice in chapter. The precentor had, as usual,
the control of the song-school; while the chancellor was ex officio master of the grammarschool. (fn. 26) The chief duty of the sacrist was the
care of the church and the shrine of St. John. (fn. 27)
More difficult to explain is the position of the
seven clerks known as Berefellarii, who received
corrodies from the Bedern, and evidently were
attached to the church from an early date. (fn. 28)
Their nickname has been interpreted to mean
'bear-skins,' from some distinctive feature of
their dress, or 'bare-skins,' which may imply
that they were originally poor clerks subsisting
on alms derived from the seven canons. It
seems that seven bedesmen, attached to the
foundation, were superseded by seven poor clerks,
who took their part in the services of the church. (fn. 29)
Their position improved by degrees. Although
bound to continual residence, they were frequently allowed licences of non-residence to
study at universities (fn. 30) ; and in 1324 one of
them is called magister. (fn. 31) Archbishop Thoresby
raised them to an equality with the parsons of
York Minster; and the statutes of 1391 prescribed that they should no longer be called by
the turpe nomen of berefellarii, but should be
known as parsons. (fn. 32) In 1422 their status is
described as a parsonage, office, or benefice (fn. 33) ;
and in 1471-2 they were incorporated as the
seven parsons in the quire of the collegiate
church. (fn. 34) Like the dignitaries, who were also
bound to continual residence, they were appointed
by the provost. (fn. 35)
Arundel's statutes (fn. 36) enumerate, in addition,
nine vicars or deputies of the archbishop and
canons, seven chantry priests, nine canons'
clerks, one clerk of the precentor, a clerk of
the charnel, seven clerks of the parsons or berefellarii, two incense-bearers, eight choristers, two
sacrist's clerks, and two vergers or bell-ringers.
The vicars choral, as at York and elsewhere,
were permanent institutions; and one of them
represented the archbishop in right of his corrody.
One peculiar feature of their office was that each
of the prebendal altars carried with it a cure of
souls. Archbishop Melton in 1325 ascribed
this to the original status of the minster as a
parish church, served by the canons in common,
and to the subsequent division of the parish
among the canons, to whom fixed cures of souls
were assigned by virtue of their prebends. (fn. 37)
The fact, however, was that the cures of souls
annexed to the altars had no parochial boundaries. To Melton's complaint that suitable vicars
had been instituted in none of the prebendal
parishes, save in that of St. Martin's altar, (fn. 38) the
chapter answered that the 'parishioners' of each
prebend came to their own altar in the church,
and were there duly served by the vicar of the
stall, and that, in case of sickness, the vicars
choral were ready to minister to those within
their cure. The existence of an additional clerk
in the payment of each canon was held by them
to supply an answer to any charge of neglect by
the vicars of their choral duties. (fn. 39)
The clerks of the canons, precentor, sacrist,
and berefellarii were known as 'clerks of the
second form,' and after a year of probation in
quire were admitted to minor orders. (fn. 40) Their
duty was to assist at the quire offices and serve
at the altars. 'They were under the correction
of the precentor, who examined them in song;
but their qualification for admission was an examination in letters by the chapter. (fn. 41) The
choristers received a free education at the grammar school (fn. 42) ; they were admitted to the quire
by the sub-chanter, (fn. 43) who was one of the vicars
choral. (fn. 44) The number of chantry priests, seven
in 1391, was fifteen at the time of the suppression of the college. (fn. 45) The chantry priests were
never incorporated.
Little is known of the internal history of the
chapter of Beverley until the later part of the
13th century. An attempt to secure the provostship for his half-brother, Morgan, was one of
the many causes of dispute between Geoffrey
Plantagenet and his subordinates. (fn. 46) The position
of the provost led to a quarrel between Fulk
Basset, provost c. 1222-40, and the canons, in
which Pope Gregory IX intervened at the
provost's request. The chief cause was the
inordinate expenditure upon food in the Bedern,
at a time when prices were high; the provost
complained that his office brought him loss,
while the goods of the church were wasted. (fn. 47)
There was less excuse for the high-handed dealings of the non-resident provost, Aymo du
Quart (1294-1304), both with the tenants of
the provostry and with the chapter, which
brought about the intervention of Archbishop
Corbridge. (fn. 48) When Aymo was elected Bishop
of Geneva in 1304 he sold goods belonging to
the provostry and the canons to defray the expenses of his journey. The chapter stopped the
unauthorized sales, and sequestrated the property
of the provostry to the maintenance of the
Bedern. (fn. 49) In 1304-5 the official of Provost
Robert of Abberwick summoned the schoolmaster of the chapter to appear in his court in
answer to a plea brought by a rival schoolmaster
within the provostry. The canons challenged the
summons with the objection that, by ancient
custom, clerks wearing their habit in the minster
and dwelling in Beverley were answerable only
to the jurisdiction of the chapter. (fn. 50) A similar
argument was urged in 1305 against the claim
of the official of the archbishop to summon a
canon on certain unspecified charges. The
chapter threatened to appeal to the Curia if the
summons were carried into execution. (fn. 51)
The growing customs of non-residence and
pluralism led to difficulties between the provost
and canons, and in the chapter itself. Aymo
du Quart was not only non-resident and a holder
of other lucrative preferments, but, as canon,
did not obey the fundamental condition of proceeding to priest's orders. (fn. 52) His successor in his
canonry found his prebendal house in need of
almost entire rebuilding. (fn. 53) By the end of the
13th century, at any rate, the corrodies of
victuals in the Bedern had been commuted for
money payments. In 1286 Archbishop Romanus
ordered the tax of a fourth payable by each nonresident to be levied on the prebends of three
canons and of the sacrist, chancellor, precentor,
and the portions of all seven berefellarii. (fn. 54) The
canons were, as a rule, clerks chiefly engaged in
the king's and archbishop's business. Thus
Master John of Nassington in 1306 was directed
by Archbishop Greenfield, whose chancellor he
was, to receive the full corpus of his prebend, by
virtue of a papal decree which authorized canons
in attendance on their bishop to count as resident
in their chapters. (fn. 55) At a convocation in 1308,
when six of the canons were present, it was
ordained that a canon going on business on behalf
of the church and at his own expense should be
accounted resident. (fn. 56) A Frenchman, Peter son
of Emery, was presented by Edward I to the
prebend of St. Martin's altar, the wealthiest
stall in the church. His admission was delayed
by his fellow canons, on the ground that he
made no effort to keep his statutory residence;
and he endeavoured to sue his three chief opponents for the fruits of his prebend before the
king's court. This action naturally led to an
indignant assertion of the chapter's right of
internal jurisdiction. The deadlock caused by
the intervention of the king was solved by a
compromise, by which Peter agreed to accept
an annual pension from the prebend, while
remitting his claims to its fruits. (fn. 57) He died in
1309, and does not seem to have visited
Beverley.
The question of non-residence was taken in
hand by Archbishop Romanus, whose attention
was called to the state of the church by his
quarrel with Robert of Scarborough, the prebendary of St. Stephen's altar and Dean of
York. (fn. 58) On 20th June 1290 he agreed with
the canons upon an ordinance by which twentyfour weeks of residence was required yearly of
every canon, and the first twelve weeks were a
qualification for a share in the portions of nonresidents. (fn. 59) This ordinance was followed by
another, binding the dignitaries and berefellarii to
continual residence. (fn. 60) It was said later that the
chapter was induced to accept the decree by the
promise of a church worth at least 60 marks, to
be given to their common fund. (fn. 61) Romanus
fell out with the canons in 1295. On the
death of Peter of Chester, the chapter sequestrated the goods of the provostry; but Romanus
drove out their servants and took the property
into his hands. A commission was appointed
by the Crown to try the case, which probably
found for the chapter (fn. 62) ; but a formal mandate
from the archbishop was duly obtained at the
next vacancy. (fn. 63) Romanus was also accused of
dragging a sanctuary-man from the house of one
of the canons, and was ordered by the king to
set right one or two high-handed acts of which
his predecessors had been guilty. (fn. 64)
At a visitation held by Archbishop Corbridge
in 1302 it was decreed that one canon at least
must be found in residence to hold chapters,
although leave was given to appoint a deputy, in
case of unavoidable absence. Of Corbridge's
remaining statutes, the most interesting relates
to the candles which the vicars procured at matins
and vespers from the sacrist. These were to be
required only when necessary, and the vicars
were to return the unused candle-ends to the
sacrist. (fn. 65)
Archbishop Greenfield's visitation in 1306 led
to a new ordinance as to residence. The archbishop found that the vicars and clerks were
changing the conditions of life in the Bedern,
no doubt to their own advantage, and ordered
the canons to keep a watch on what was done
there, until his decree was issued. (fn. 66) The decree
(17 April 1307) reduced the statutory residence
of each of the seven primary canons to twelve
weeks in the year, after the manner of the lesser
residence at York. The corrodies of the seven
canons were now permanently united to the prebends; but for his share in the oblations of the
high altar and other daily distributions, each
canon had to qualify by residence. (fn. 67)
Throughout these years the work of the fabric
of the nave was advancing. A new shrine was
made for the body of St. John, and on 21 June
1308 Greenfield dedicated the new high altar in
honour of St. John of Beverley. (fn. 68) His fee was
raised by levying a tenth on each prebend. (fn. 69)
Archbishop Melton, formerly provost and canon,
in 1325 blamed non-residents for exacting their
full shares in the daily distributions and for leaving the parochial cures attached to their prebends
without sufficient vicars. He complained of the
inroads made on tithe by the exactions of thraves,
and of the spiritual jurisdiction claimed by the
chapter over their tenants and parishioners. The
chapter returned clear answers to Melton's
charges. The question of the thraves was reserved for further discussion; but the spiritual
and temporal jurisdiction of the chapter was
boldly asserted. Greenfield's ordinance as to
residence was held to cover the archbishop's
complaint against non-resident canons. (fn. 70)
In 1329 the rectors of the deanery of Harthill protested against the encroachment made
upon their tithes, owing to the inability of poor
proprietors to pay both tithe and thraves. According to custom, each canon claimed one
thrave of wheat, one of barley, and two of oats
from each plough; but the rectors asserted that
now the canons tried to get two of wheat and
two of barley in lieu of the customary four, so
that the payers, in order to satisfy these demands,
were forced to buy. The canons were also accused of defending recusant tithe-payers against
their rectors, and of exacting thraves on an
artificial assessment of the number of ploughs. (fn. 71)
The rectors were apparently instigated by a
foreign pluralist who held the benefice of Kirk
Ella. (fn. 72) The canons acted promptly against the
'conspiracy.' Provost Huggate in 1331 made
a special journey to London at the expense of
the chapter, (fn. 73) and laid the case before the king.
The dispute however, did not end till 1334,
when Archbishop Melton obtained a monition
from the king on behalf of the chapter. (fn. 74)
A curious controversy concerned the status of
the lay officers of the Bedern. In 1304 the two
cooks obtained a royal mandate to stop a suit
against them in the court of the chapter, by
which their offices were defined as lay fees. (fn. 75)
The official of the provostry supported the cooks
in their defiance of the chapter, and the Bedern
kitchen became for the time being a cave of
Adullam, where the cooks and sanctuary-men
did what they pleased, holding banquets in the
hall, and burning large fires, which smoked out
the vicars. (fn. 76) The dispute ended with the withdrawal of excommunication from the cooks in
1306. (fn. 77) Such quarrels tended to the relaxation
of discipline in the Bedern. Notes of corrections
made by the chapter show that the morality of
the vicars was not above suspicion; (fn. 78) and, during
the same period, the chancellor, Robert of
Bytham, and William of Lincoln, one of the
resident canons, became notorious for their gallantries. (fn. 79)
From the death of Provost Huggate in 1338
the internal history of the church is scantily
recorded, with the exception of one event. This
was the quarrel of Archbishop Alexander Nevill
with the canons in 1381. (fn. 80) For some time before
he had endeavoured to usurp the extraordinary
privileges of the chapter, interfering with the
administration of probate, sitting to try causes in
the chapel of the chapter altar behind the quire,
and excommunicating those who did not appear. (fn. 81)
Nevill's claims rested solely upon the assumption
that the archbishop, by virtue of his corrody, was
a prebendary of the church and could exercise
the chapter's jurisdiction as its head. On
2 March 1380-1 he gave notice of a visitation of the chapter. (fn. 82) The canons appealed and
claimed the protection of the Curia. (fn. 83) On
27 March only the precentor, a berefellarius, and
a chantry priest appeared at the visitation to
make their obedience. (fn. 84) Two days later the
vicars were present, but refused to submit to
visitation, on the ground that they were afraid
of their principals, the canons, and then went
out laughing. (fn. 85) Their determined contumacy is
one of the leading features of the business. The
chantry priests and berefellarii were more amenable, and three of the canons eventually obeyed
the summons. (fn. 86) A writ of venire facias from
the king (fn. 87) was disregarded by Nevill, who excommunicated the vicars (fn. 88) and his two chief foes
among the canons, Richard of Ravenser and
John of Wellingborough. (fn. 89) His violence was
checked by a further royal mandate, (fn. 90) but he was
still able to keep his opponents out of their
canonries. (fn. 91) The vicars were maintained at
Lincoln during their exile by Ravenser, who
was Archdeacon of Lincoln. (fn. 92) Nevill fell into
disgrace a few years later, and early in 1388 a
royal commission was appointed to restore five
vicars, one berefellarius, and the chaplain of
Queen Isabel's chantry to their benefices. (fn. 93)
Nevill made a serious effort to enforce regular
residence upon the canons. His decrees provided for the reform of the common life in the
Bedern, and abrogated Greenfield's ordinance in
favour of the stricter constitution of Romanus. (fn. 94)
The statutes of Archbishop Arundel in 1391
settled the conditions by which the church was
governed until its suppression. (fn. 95) Detailed instructions are given as to the order of stalls in
quire, the presentation and admission of members
of the foundation, and sums of money to be
paid yearly out of the provostry. The archbishop
was recognized as a genuine canon and prebendary, and as president of the chapter when resident. No order was taken for the residence of
the canons; but the three 'officers,' the berefellarii, vicars, and chantry priests were directed
to be constantly at their posts, and to take part
in the quire services. The corrodies of the
canons, including the archbishop, were settled at
annual payments of £10 a year each; the corrody of the chancellor was raised to a like amount.
Extra payments out of the Bedern, over and
above those decreed by the statutes, were cancelled; and, in order to avoid any excess of
expenditure over revenue, the offices of goldsmith
and master mason were terminated by the death
of their existing holders, and the care of the
shrines and fabric thenceforward committed to
the chapter.
Arundel's assertion of the presidential status
of the archbishop was probably regarded as a
dead letter. The Provost's Book, drawn up in
his time, expressly calls the provost Robert of
Manfield, who was senior canon and prebendary,
the president of the chapter. (fn. 96) Manfield appears
to have been concerned in Archbishop Scrope's
rebellion, for in February 1407-8 he received a
royal pardon. (fn. 97) His enemies in the provostry
translated his letters of pardon into English, and
fixed copies to the doors of the inns of Beverley,
pretending that they were his letters of orders.
Headed by one of the governors of the town and
other municipal authorities, the commons of
Beverley attacked the provost's house. (fn. 98) How
the matter ended is uncertain; but in 1417
Simon Russell describes the chapter as in a
flourishing state, the provost being at peace with
all the canons and ministers, and all in full
receipt of their corrodies and other payments,
so that probably the external strife was over. (fn. 99)
A difficulty arose between Provost Robert Nevill
and King Henry VI with regard to the corrody
of the butler of the Bedern, which the Crown
claimed on a vacancy. This was settled after
Robert Rolleston had succeeded to the provostship in 1427; (fn. 100) and meanwhile, on 13 March
1427-8, Rolleston obtained from the king
Letters Patent which confirmed all the rights
granted by previous charters to the provost and
chapter. (fn. 1)
Rolleston seems to have been the last provost
who was commonly resident at Beverley. The
last two provosts before the suppression of the
college were Thomas Wynter, a natural son of
Wolsey, and Reynold Lee, a relation of Archbishop Lee. Neither at his appointment was of
an age to take priest's orders; (fn. 2) but this necessary
condition was overlooked. At the time of the
second Chantries Act, under which the college
was suppressed, Reynold Lee is described as
"temporall man," i.e. administrator of its temporalities. (fn. 3)
In the Valor of 1535 (fn. 4) the revenues of the
provostship were reckoned at £109 8s. 8½d. net.
The corrodies of the canons were £7 14s. each.
Other sources of revenue, principally derived
from thraves, brought the prebends up to amounts
which varied from £48 16s. 1d. to £31 8s. 4d.
The richest was that of St. Andrew's altar;
then followed the altars of St. James, St. Peter,
St. Stephen, St. Martin, St. Mary, and St.
Michael. St. Katherine's, the eighth prebend,
was taxed on a revenue of £10 18s. 4d. The
previous taxation of 1291 (fn. 5) had found St. Martin's
the richest prebend, with £45. The next was
St. Andrew's, with £27, to which followed
St. James's (£26), St. Peter's and St. Stephen's
(each £25), St. Michael's (£17), St. Mary's
(£16), and St. Katherine's (£6 13s. 4d.). The
corrody of the eighth prebend in 1291 was
equal to the several corrodies of the chancellor,
precentor, and goldsmith; the sacrist received
£12 yearly. In 1535 the chancellor had
£13 16s., and the precentor £13 9s. 4d.; the
sacrist is not mentioned. Each berefellarius in
1534-5 had £6 13s. 4d., each vicar choral £8.
When the Chantry Certificates Were taken in
1548, two prebends, St. Andrew's and St.
Michael's, had fallen into lay hands. St. Peter's
was now the richest stall, with £42 6s. 7d.; St.
Stephen's, St. James's, St. Mary's, and St. Martin's followed. The archbishop's stall (St.
Leonard's) produced an income of £11 6s. 8d.,
and St. Katherine's of £10 12s. 10d. The
sacrist's office was worth £24 9s. 8d., only about
£4 less than St. Martin's prebend. The chancery was reckoned at £13 2s. 4¼d., and the
chantership at £12 8s. 8¾d. The total incomes
of the berefellarii and vicars give a higher dividend
than that supplied by the Valor. (fn. 6)
After the suppression of the college one of
the vicars choral was appointed vicar of the
parish, with three assistant curates chosen from
among the inferior clergy of the church. (fn. 7) The
grammar-school was continued under a head
master, the stipend of the second master being
supplied from the funds of St. William's Chantry. (fn. 8)
The lands of the church came into the hands of
various grantees of the Crown. Edward VI in
1552, and Queen Elizabeth in 1578, made
large grants out of the former possessions to the
Corporation of Beverley, who were constituted
patrons of the church and trustees of the fabric,
and continued to present to the vicarage until
the passing of the Municipal Reform Act. (fn. 9) The
patronage was then vested in the archbishop
until the purchase of the advowson of the vicarage by the trustees of the Rev. Charles Simeon.
The 13th-century seal (fn. 10) for citations is a
vesica, 3¼ in. by 2 in., having St. John seated
and holding a book, and blessing. The fragment
of the legend that remains reads
. . . . . EVERL' AD CITATIONES . . . . .
The 15th-century seal (fn. 11) of the vicars choral
is a vesica, 25/8 in. by 15/8 in., showing an altar
with chalice and candles upon it, and a sanctuary lamp above. All that remains of the
broken legend is
. . GILL' COM' VICARIOR . . . CL'IE . . . BEV . . .