36. THE COLLEGE OF ST. EDITH, TAMWORTH
It is not known when or by whom the college of
priests at Tamworth was founded. Its dedication to
St. Edith, however, suggests that it was a royal
foundation of the 10th century. (fn. 1) The St. Edith to
whom it was dedicated was probably a sister of King
Athelstan who was married to Sihtric, the Norse
King of York, at Tamworth in 926 and widowed the
following year. (fn. 2) She is said to have retired to Polesworth (Warws.), some 3½ miles south-east of Tamworth, and after her death, which probably occurred
in the 960s, she was revered as a saint. (fn. 3) It is possible
that Tamworth was, for a time at least, (fn. 4) the home of
St. Edith and her community, (fn. 5) and there is some
uncertainty whether Polesworth or Tamworth was
the saint's burial-place. (fn. 6) It is in any case likely that
by the end of the century there was a cult of St.
Edith at Tamworth. There was also a religious
community there about that time: between 1002
and 1004 Wulfric Spot in his will left it a share in
an estate at 'Langandune' (probably Longdon) 'just
as they have let it to me'. (fn. 7) This community may have
consisted of a group of priests attached to St. Edith's.
The pre-Conquest church was evidently a substantial building (fn. 8) and could well have been a minster.
By the mid 13th century the advowson of St.
Edith's was held by the Marmions, lords of the
castle and honor of Tamworth since the early 12th
century. (fn. 9) They may have inherited it, with Tamworth, from Robert Dispensator
(fn. 10) or, possibly, have
acquired it during the civil war under Stephen. (fn. 11)
When, however, Edward I claimed the advowson
after the death of Philip, the last Marmion lord of
Tamworth, it was alleged that Henry II had held it
and had presented his clerk William de Capella to
the church. (fn. 12) There appears to be no further
evidence relating to this episode, (fn. 13) but in 1267
Henry III granted Ralph de Hotote the prebend
which had been held by Simon, a royal chaplain. (fn. 14)
The prebendal system was almost certainly introduced into the college during the period of Marmion
patronage. It is likely that the early canons of
Tamworth were portioners, sharing between them
the tithes of Tamworth parish: (fn. 15) it is significant that
when prebends were created they were all named
from farms or hamlets within the ancient parish of
Tamworth. The division of the church into prebends is unlikely to have occurred before the 1140s. (fn. 16)
The first dean whose name has survived was William
Marmion, who died about 1240, a younger son of
Robert Marmion III. (fn. 17) Prebends are not expressly
mentioned until 1267, by which date they were
evidently an established feature of the church. (fn. 18)
Almost certainly the mid-13th-century establishment at St. Edith's was that which is noted in 1292 (fn. 19)
and thereafter remained unchanged until the dissolution of the college: a dean, who held the prebend of Amington, and five canons, who held the
prebends of Bonehill, Coton, Syerscote, Wigginton
(or Wigginton and Comberford), and Wilnecote.
The college was never rich. Most of its income,
throughout its history, evidently came from tithes
and other spiritualities from the parish of Tamworth.
By the end of the 13th century it was probably the
practice for a canon to receive as his share of the
tithes of the parish the tithes from the township
after which his prebend was named. Later evidence (fn. 20)
suggests that the tithes of the castle mills and those
of the mills at Amington (Warws.) were held to
belong to the common fund and were divided
among the whole body of canons. The canons also
received in common the profits of Tamworth fair,
which had been granted to them by 1266. (fn. 21)
Besides their rights in and around Tamworth the
canons had by the end of the 13th century acquired
various privileges and endowments in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire, most of
which evidently came from the Marmions. (fn. 22) The
earliest evidence of interests outside Tamworth
occurs in 1198 and 1199, when the canons were
involved, apparently unsuccessfully, in a dispute
with the Templars over an acre of land at Olton, in
Solihull (Warws.). (fn. 23) Elsewhere in Warwickshire the
college purchased in 1257 from Philip Marmion the
advowson of the church of Middleton, (fn. 24) which
remained part of its property until the dissolution
of the college. (fn. 25) At some date between 1259 and
Philip Marmion's death in 1291 it also acquired
from him the manor of Middleton, which Philip and
his heirs continued to hold of the college until its
dissolution. (fn. 26) The only other pre-1300 Warwickshire endowment known is a pension of 13s. 4d.
which, it was stated in 1291, the college received
from the church of Berkswell; (fn. 27) no later mention of
this pension has been found. In Leicestershire the
canons had by 1220 acquired tithe rights in the
parishes of Burrough on the Hill, Somerby, and
Stoney Stanton, (fn. 28) probably by grant of the Marmions, (fn. 29) and possibly before the mid-12th century. (fn. 30)
There appears, however, to be no subsequent
mention of these rights. (fn. 31) In Staffordshire the
canons had by 1300 acquired the right to present to
the church of Drayton Bassett a clerk nominated by
the lord of the manor. (fn. 32)
In 1291 the income of the college was stated to be
£36 13s. 4d., all derived from spiritualities. (fn. 33) In the
following year it was given as £36: (fn. 34) the dean's
average annual income was £10, the prebend of
Bonehill was valued at £7 a year, (fn. 35) Wigginton at £6
a year, (fn. 36) Wilnecote at £5 a year, (fn. 37) and Syerscote
and Coton at £4 a year each. (fn. 38) Both these assessments were no doubt underestimates, although by
how much is uncertain. (fn. 39) In 1307 Dean Bedewynde
seems to have been able to lease his decanal prebend
with all appurtenances for four years at £37 6s. 8d.
a year, and after Dean Longavilla's enforced resignation in 1329 his successor was ordered by the bishop
to pay him a pension of £20 a year. (fn. 40)
The death of Philip Marmion in 1291 began the
chain of events which led to the acquisition of the
college by the Crown. Philip left four heirs: three
daughters — Joan I, who had married William de
Morteyn, Maud, the wife of Ralph Butler, and
Joan II, a minor who later married first Thomas de
Ludlow and secondly Henry Hillary — and a
grand-daughter, another Joan, wife of Alexander de
Freville and child of Philip's second daughter,
Mazera, who had predeceased her father. (fn. 41) The
heirs divided the advowson of the college between
them (fn. 42) and before long had to face the first challenge
from the Crown. In 1293 Edward I sued Joan de
Morteyn, Maud and Ralph Butler, and Joan and
Alexander de Freville for the advowson, claiming that
Henry II had held it and citing as evidence Henry's
presentation of William de Capella. (fn. 43) The defendants
claimed that they could not plead in the absence of
Joan II, the fourth coheir, who was still a minor, and
the case lapsed; but the division of the advowson
eventually provided a way for the Crown to dispossess the Marmion heirs.
In the late 1320s two unsuccessful attempts were
made to intrude royal nominees into the deanery. (fn. 44)
Finally two minorities in the Butler family, lasting
from at least 1342 until 1359, (fn. 45) gave the Crown a
series of opportunities to intervene. They were put
to good use. In 1342-3 the right of presentation to
the prebend of Wilnecote was disputed between
Baldwin de Freville I, Joan's son and heir, and the
king, guardian of the Butler heir. The king's case,
that the right of presentation was held in common by
Marmion's heirs and that the next presentation fell
to the Butlers, was successful, and the royal candidate was duly installed. (fn. 46) In 1347, when the prebend
next fell vacant, the king again presented, still
basing his claim on his custody of the Butler heir;
but this time the earlier argument, which in 1347
would have given the right of presentation to Henry
Hillary, was abandoned, and the Crown based its
case on a royal grant of 1317 allotting the advowson
of Wilnecote to the Butlers. The verdict again went
to the king. (fn. 47) The final stage was reached in 1358
and 1359, when the Crown presented to two
prebends, making the wider claim that the advowsons which Philip Marmion had held were now in
the king's hands. (fn. 48) The claim apparently went
unchallenged.
After 1341, in fact, the Marmion heirs made no
further presentations to Tamworth, and the unsuccessful attempt made in 1342-3 by Baldwin de
Freville I to present to Wilnecote appears to have
been the last serious challenge to the Crown. It is
true that Baldwin's son, Baldwin II, made at least
one effort to recover his rights in the college. Inquisitions taken after his death in 1375 also stated
that, although the Crown had made a number of
presentations, the advowson of the deanery and of
the five prebends belonged to him as lord of Tamworth castle. By this time, however, the king had
established himself more firmly as patron and the
Chancery clerks had begun to refer to the college
officially as 'the king's free chapel of Tamworth'. (fn. 49)
After the death of Dean Whitney in 1369 (fn. 50) no
canon remained who was not a royal appointee.
There is no evidence to suggest that the Crown's
acquisition of the college had much effect on it. The
mechanics of presentation and institution remained
unchanged: the king presented to each prebend, and
the bishop, on receiving the royal mandate, instituted
the king's nominee. (fn. 51) The bishop retained his
jurisdiction over the college. He continued to hold
visitations there without, so far as can be seen, any
opposition, (fn. 52) and when in 1442 Dean Bate drew up
some statutes for the college he did so by virtue of a
commission from the bishop and ensured that they
were formally approved by him. (fn. 53) Nor did the
composition of the chapter alter appreciably;
whatever may have been its character in the mid
13th century or earlier, by the late 13th and early
14th centuries, when it was still in the hands of the
Marmion heirs, it was evidently a body consisting
in the main of pluralists and absentees, some of
whom, such as deans Cliffe (fn. 54) and Longavilla, (fn. 55) and
Ralph de Hengham, Prebendary of Wigginton, (fn. 56)
held office under the Crown or were attached to the
royal household. Services and pastoral duties were
left to vicars. (fn. 57) This state of affairs was that usually
accepted in royal free chapels and duly persisted at
Tamworth until its dissolution, with canons being
appointed by the Crown from all branches of the
royal households and the royal administration.
By the early 1440s the system had produced a
state of crisis at Tamworth. The vicars were poorly
paid and, because of their parochial responsibilities,
were forced to neglect their duties in the college. (fn. 58)
Dean Bate (1436-79), one of the few deans who spent
much time at Tamworth, took steps to remedy this,
the most important being the promulgation of a set
of additional statutes (fn. 59) for the college in 1442.
One of the main purposes of these statutes was to
raise the vicars' stipends and give them security of
tenure. (fn. 60) Before 1442 each vicar apparently received
his stipend in two portions: 6s. 8d. a year out of the
revenues of the common fund of the college, (fn. 61) and
an additional payment from his prebendary. In 1366
the dean and the prebendary of Coton each affirmed
that he paid his vicar £4 13s. 4d. a year; (fn. 62) this would
have brought vicars' stipends up to £5 a year, which
may have been the standard rate in 1366. It is evident that stipends did not rise over the next seventy
years; moreover they may not have been paid regularly. At any rate Bate emphasized the difficulty
which was being experienced in finding suitable,
well-qualified vicars. He laid the blame for this on
the meagreness of the stipends which for many
years vicars had customarily received — they were,
he stated, insufficient to give the vicars a suitable
standard of living — and on the fact that vicars were
usually dismissed when they became old or infirm
and then had to drag out their declining years in
poverty.
Bate's statutes raised the vicars' stipends to £6 a
year and made the payment of them one of the
standard charges on the college revenues, thus
ensuring that the vicars got their money before the
year's income from the common fund was divided
among the canons. The £6 was to be made up of
6s. 8d. from the income of Middleton church and the
tithes of the mills at Tamworth castle and Amington, (fn. 63) and £5 13s. 4d. from all the other tithes and
sources of income which were traditionally regarded
as part of the common fund and divided annually
among the canons. Two vicars were to be appointed
each year to act as collectors of the money and goods
which went into this annual division and were made
responsible for selling those tithes that were paid in
kind. All receipts were to be put into a chest with
two locks, the two vicars having the key to one and
the dean or his deputy the key to the other. The
vicars were to be paid their stipends quarterly from
the money in the chest under the supervision of the
dean or his deputy. The money was also to be used
to pay 20s. a year to each deacon in the college, and
what remained at Michaelmas was to be divided
among the canons. Should there not be enough
money in the chest to pay the vicars and deacons,
their stipends were to be made up to the required
amount by the canons out of the income of their
individual prebends; any canon who refused to pay
in such a case was to have the revenues of his prebend sequestrated.
To give vicars security of tenure Bate laid down
that in future a vicar was to hold office for life,
though he had to provide at his own expense a
substitute to act for him if he became too old or ill
to serve his cure. No canon was to dismiss his vicar
without due cause, and the dismissal had to be
ratified by the dean or his deputy. To preserve
discipline it was decreed that the dean or his deputy
was to dismiss any vicar or deacon who persistently
neglected his duties or was found guilty of some
serious crime.
The statutes made further provision for easing
and regulating the vicars' lives. Each vicar was to
have six days' leave a quarter, if this could be done
without disrupting services. A common life for the
vicars and deacons could now be planned, since
Henry Jekes of Tamworth had recently left them a
house near the church. Previously the working
clergy of St. Edith's had boarded with townspeople,
an arrangement which, according to Bate, had been
thoroughly unsatisfactory. (fn. 64) The dean decreed that
as soon as the house was repaired the vicars were to
live a full common life, eating and sleeping there.
The deacons were to be semicommunarii: they had
their meals in the house but were to sleep in St.
Edith's 'for the defence and safe custody of the
church's books and ornaments'.
In order to keep the number of vicars up to
strength it was laid down that within two months of
a vacancy in a vicar's stall the prebendary or his
proxy was to present a new vicar to the dean or his
deputy. If this candidate were found, after examination, to be suitable tam moribus quam sciencia, he was
to be admitted and was to take an oath of obedience
to the dean, canons, and college statutes. Should a
canon or his proxy fail to present to a vacancy within
two months the right of presentation passed to the
dean or his deputy.
Worship too was regulated. Services were to be
sung daily at the standard times and according to the
Salisbury Use; matins was to be preceded by three
strokes of the bell to summon vicars and deacons to
the choir. Clergy were forbidden to chatter to each
other during services. Vicars who, without reasonable
excuse, missed matins, high mass, or vespers were
to forfeit 1d. for each offence; money collected in
this way was to be spent on utensils for the vicars'
house. In a further attempt to increase the dignity
and formality of worship Bate laid down that in
future vicars and deacons were to wear surplices and
hoods (capicia) during services throughout the year
with, in addition, black copes from Michaelmas to
Holy Saturday. (fn. 65) They were expected to provide the
vestments at their own expense, but Bate may have
hoped that they would gain some advantage from a
further statute, which laid down that within a year
of his induction a new dean or canon was to spend
£5 on a book, vestment, or piece of plate for the
church or to give the church £5 in cash for the same
purpose, to be spent by the dean and chapter.
The statutes confirm that among the canons
absenteeism was the rule rather than the exception.
No mention is made of any earlier statute enforcing
a minimum period of residence; the only inducement
given to canons to reside was the arrangement,
apparently abolished by Bate, whereby part of the
income from Middleton church and from the tithes
of the mills at Tamworth castle and Amington was
divided at Michaelmas among those members of the
chapter who had spent two consecutive months in
residence during the preceding year. It was the vicars
who were usually in charge of day-to-day college
administration. Bate laid down that when no canon
was in residence a vicar was to be chosen to ensure
that the new statutes were upheld, and both the
statutes which he drew up and passages which he
quoted from the earlier statutes made provision for
the management of common fund revenues by two
vicars whenever all members of the chapter were
away. (fn. 66)
The statutes throw little light upon the numbers
and organization of the lesser clergy of the college,
other than the vicars. The deacons are mentioned
only as ringers of bells, attendants at services, and
night-watchmen, and there is no reference at all to
the stipendiaries, who occur in 1414. A deed of
about 1531 gives the number of deacons as two, and
a survey of 1533 lists twelve vicars and stipendiaries
at the college. (fn. 67)
Bate made further efforts to increase the income of the lesser clergy. He announced in his
statutes that Henry VI had, at his request, granted
the vicars and deacons the rent from four messuages
in Tamworth to endow annual requiem masses for
the soul of Henry V and to provide in due course
for annual requiems for the king's own soul. In 1446
the king, again at Bate's request, founded a chantry
at the altar of the Holy Trinity and licensed Bate to
found a chantry of St. Edith and St. Katherine at
the altar of the Virgin; in addition he granted the
vicars and the two chantry chaplains a tun of red wine
yearly. (fn. 68) The college, however, received little or no
benefit from all this. The vicars obtained their wine
in 1447 and 1448, but the royal grants were invalidated by the 1450 Act of Resumption and there
seems to be no evidence that Bate's chantry was
ever established. (fn. 69)
Although the college lost these benefactions it
received a steady trickle of gifts and bequests
throughout the 15th and early 16th centuries. Most
of these came from local people and, with few
exceptions, consisted of small pieces of property in
and around Tamworth or of small sums of money:
the will of John Comberford of Tamworth, for
example, proved in 1414, included bequests of 3s.
to the high altar, 1s. 6d. to the Holy Trinity altar,
and 6d. to each of the other altars. (fn. 70) There were a
few rather more substantial gifts, such as the
rent-charge of 26s. 8d. from property at Claverley
(Salop.) which Sir Thomas Ferrers gave the vicars
in 1496 and the lands and burgage in Tamworth
which Dame Dorothy Ferrers, his grandson's wife,
gave them in trust in 1530. (fn. 71) The largest single gift
appears to have been that given to St. George's
chantry by the executors of John Bailey, a native of
Tamworth. By the early 1530s the Tamworth guild
of St. George had acquired property worth about £5
a year, the income from which was used to pay the
stipend of a 'St. George priest' or 'morrow mass
priest' who sang mass daily in St. George's chapel.
In his will Bailey expressed the wish that his money
should be used to purchase land for the endowment
of a chantry or, if possible, a free school, and in
1536 his executors obtained a royal licence for St.
George's chantry and were granted permission to
endow it with further property to the value of £6 a
year. With Bailey's money they purchased various
pieces of land and property round Tamworth
bringing in about £5 10s. a year, directing that the
St. George priest was in future to keep a free school
in the town besides praying for Bailey. (fn. 72)
In the Valor Ecclesiasticus
(fn. 73) the total income of
the six prebends is given as £57 6s. 8d., of which
£4 7s. 8d came from the glebe and the remainder
from tithes, gifts, and other spiritualities. Of this the
dean received £21, (fn. 74) the prebendary of Bonehill £7,
the prebendary of Coton £8, the prebendary of
Syerscote £3 6s. 8d., the prebendary of Wigginton
£10, and the prebendary of Wilnecote £8. The
arrangements which Dean Bate had made for the
payment of vicars' stipends were evidently still
working satisfactorily, and no money had to be
deducted from the prebendal incomes to provide
for this: the Prior of Alvecote (Warws.), whose
three-year farm of the deanery ended abruptly in
1530 in a dispute with Dean Parker, noted at the
time that the vicars' stipends were kept separate and
that the 'yearly charges of the aforesaid deanery is
little or nothing in effect'. The prior also maintained
that the income of the deanery had diminished
since the passing of the 1529 Act restricting the
payment of mortuaries, (fn. 75) 'which mortuaries were
one of the greatest profits and advantages coming
or growing of the said farm [of the deanery]'. (fn. 76)
By 1548 the income of all save one of the prebends
had dropped slightly; Wigginton had, however,
risen in value since 1535 and was now worth £13
16s. 8d. a year. Four vicars each received £5 13s. 4d.
a year, and a deacon had a stipend of £3. (fn. 77) The
endowments of St. George's chantry were said to
bring the priest £11 3s. 0¼d. a year; other endowments included property in Tamworth to support
a priest celebrating the service called 'Our Lady of
Grace' and a chaplain celebrating 'the First Mass'. (fn. 78)
The net yearly value of the college was about £105. (fn. 79)
The college was dissolved in 1548 under the
terms of the Act of 1547. (fn. 80) All the canons except for
Richard Pigot, a layman who had recently been
appointed prebendary of Wilnecote, were granted
pensions, as were the four vicars and the deacon who
occur in the commissioners' report. (fn. 81) As a result of a
report submitted later in the year by a further set
of commissioners St. Edith's remained the parish
church, served by a preacher and two curates, who
lived in the house which had belonged to the vicars.
The master of the free school was confirmed in
office and was granted a stipend equal to that which
he had received as schoolmaster and St. George
priest before the Dissolution. (fn. 82)
The Crown began to dispose of parcels of college
property (mainly lands left to endow obits) to
speculators early in 1549. (fn. 83) The six prebends and the
advowson were retained until 1581, when they were
granted to Edmund Downynge and Peter Aysheton.
Two years later Downynge and Aysheton disposed
of the property to John Morley and his servant
Roger Rant, who broke it up and sold it prebend by
prebend. (fn. 84)
The dean's house, only fragments of which now
remain, stood on the east side of the churchyard,
north-east of the church. The vicars' house was south
of the church, on the site of the present College Lane
School. (fn. 85)
Deans
William Marmion, died about 1240. (fn. 86)
Matthew, occurs 1257. (fn. 87)
Ralph de Manton, presented temp. Edward I,
died or resigned by 1291. (fn. 88)
John de Teford, presented by 1291, occurs 1292. (fn. 89)
Roger le Wyne, presented between 1292 and
1295, died 1305. (fn. 90)
Walter de Bedewynde, admitted 1305, resigned
1310. (fn. 91)
Hugh de Babynton, admitted 1310, resigned
1315. (fn. 92)
Master Henry de Cliffe, admitted 1317, resigned
1319. (fn. 93)
Nicholas Isambardi de Longavilla, in office by
1320, resigned 1329. (fn. 94)
Baldwin de Whitney, admitted 1329, died 1369. (fn. 95)
Walter Pryde, admitted 1369, resigned 1372. (fn. 96)
Reynold de Hulton, admitted 1372, resigned
1389. (fn. 97)
Thomas Iberye, presented 1389, resigned 1391. (fn. 98)
John de Massyngham, admitted 1391, resigned
1399. (fn. 99)
John Bernard, Lic.C.L., admitted 1400, resigned
1429. (fn. 100)
Clement Denston, M.A., B.Th., presented February 1429, resigned April 1429. (fn. 101)
Thomas Rodburn, M.A., Lic.Th., admitted 1429,
Bishop of St. David's 1433. (fn. 102)
John de la Bere, B.Cn.L., presented 1433, resigned 1434. (fn. 103)
William Newport, B.C.L., presented 1434, died
1436. (fn. 104)
John Bate, presented 1436, died 1479. (fn. 105)
Ralph Ferrers, D.C.L., presented 1479, died
1504. (fn. 106)
Thomas Bowd, B.Th., presented 1504, probably
held the deanery until his death in 1508. (fn. 107)
William Lichfield, D.C.L., D.Cn.L., probably
presented 1508, resigned 1512. (fn. 108)
Humphrey Wistow, D.Th., presented 1512,
died 1514. (fn. 109)
William Hone, M.A., presented 1514, died 1522. (fn. 110)
Richard Rawson, B.Cn.L., D.C.L., presented
1522, resigned 1525. (fn. 111)
Thomas Parker, D.Cn.L., presented 1525, died
1538. (fn. 112)
Simon Symonds, presented 1538, dean at the
dissolution. (fn. 113)
A common seal in use before 1500 (fn. 114) is described
as being oval and bearing a figure, probably St.
Edith. Legend:
[SIGIL]LUM COMMUNE EC[CLESIE] . . .
A common seal cut under Dean Parker (15251538), re-using a 15th-century matrix of unknown
provenance, (fn. 115) is a pointed oval 33/8 by 21/8 in. It depicts
a bishop in full pontificals lifting his right hand in
benediction and holding a pastoral staff in his left.
On his right stands an archbishop in full pontificals
lifting his right hand in benediction and holding a
pastoral staff in his left. On his left stands St.
Katherine, crowned, holding her wheel in her right
hand and a sword in her left. Each figure stands in a
niche under a Gothic canopy. In the central canopy
there is a small niche containing a seated figure of
the Virgin, crowned and holding the Child on her
right knee. In the base, in a niche with pointed arch
carved with trefoils, a bishop stands in full pontificals
with a pastoral staff and with his hands joined in
prayer. On the masonry on either side of this central
niche is a shield. That on the left bears the initials
T P, apparently replacing the royal arms, vestiges
of which are still visible. The shield on the right
bears the arms of Parker: on a fesse between three
pheons, a stag's head cabossed between two pellets.
Legend, lombardic:
SIGILLUM COMMUNE COLLEGIATE DE TOMWORTH