37. THE COLLEGE OF ST. MICHAEL, TETTENHALL
The earliest mention of priests at Tettenhall occurs
in Domesday Book, which records that they held
two hides of the king in alms. (fn. 1) Whether they were
thus endowed by William I or had possessed these
lands before the Conquest is not clear. A jury of
local residents in 1401 attributed the foundation and
endowment of the collegiate church to King Edgar, (fn. 2)
but there is no reason to believe them better informed about events centuries before their time than
those who in 1546 and 1548 ascribed the foundation
to Edward III. (fn. 3)
Domesday Book does not give the number of
priests, but their 2 hides (one in Tettenhall, the
other in Bilbrook nearby) were sufficient to support
four, since the average glebe holding was half a hide. (fn. 4)
The earliest known member of this group described
himself simply as 'priest of Tettenhall' when
witnessing a charter between 1161 and 1165, (fn. 5) but
half a century later the term 'canon' was in use. (fn. 6)
A dean is first mentioned about 1176. (fn. 7) The second
known dean, Elias of Bristol, who was also Dean of
Penkridge, was one of Richard I's clerks. (fn. 8) His
successors were similarly clerks in royal service:
they included many officials of the Exchequer, the
Chancery, and the king's household. The deanery
was worth having not only for its revenues but as a
fund of patronage, for it carried with it collation to
the prebends; (fn. 9) their number, when first recorded in
1255, was five. (fn. 10)
From the time of the earliest known royal grants
of the deanery (that is, from 1226), mandates were
sent to the Sheriff of Staffordshire to put the new
dean in possession. This shows that Tettenhall was
treated as exempt from diocesan jurisdiction, the
bishop having no right of institution. Henry III was
insistent that royal demesne chapels were immune
from the jurisdiction of the ordinary. In 1245 he
secured from Innocent IV a bull declaring royal
chapels immediately subject to the Roman church
and exempt from diocesan authority. (fn. 11) For Tettenhall the effect of this was nullified almost at once
since Innocent conceded to the Bishop of Coventry
and Lichfield that the exemption did not apply to
four churches in his diocese which claimed to be
royal chapels, Tettenhall among them. (fn. 12) In the
struggle with the bishop which followed, the king
was the champion of these churches. In 1247 he
granted his protection to Tettenhall which he declared was his royal chapel. (fn. 13) This document is the
earliest to give the dedication of the church to St.
Michael and to describe it as a royal free chapel.
The privileges of all the royal chapels of the diocese
were under attack from successive bishops and
archdeacons until 1281 when Bishop Meuland was
persuaded to recognize the claims of six of them,
including Tettenhall. (fn. 14)
Exemption from diocesan jurisdiction did not
necessarily mean that royal chapels were also free
of the jurisdiction of the archbishop. But when
Archbishop Pecham tried to visit the royal chapels
in the diocese in 1280, they all resisted him. Like
the others Tettenhall claimed exemption and was
required to show proof of its privileges. When this
was not forthcoming its members came under a
general sentence of excommunication and were
cited to submit to archiepiscopal judgment. (fn. 15) But
at the king's insistence Pecham seems to have
accepted the agreement made with Bishop Meuland
in 1281.
Tettenhall was among the fourteen royal chapels
whose status Pecham's successor, Archbishop
Winchelsey, was disposed to recognize. (fn. 16) It is
therefore surprising that there was an attempt to
subject it to metropolitical jurisdiction in 1304.
The prebend of Codsall was in dispute, and the
Dean of Arches had cited one of the claimants before
him, together with the Dean of Tettenhall, who
presumably had collated him to it. Edward I would
not allow the case to be considered in the court of
the province of Canterbury, and the Dean of
Arches was inhibited from proceeding further. (fn. 17)
Circumstances of the moment prompted Edward
II in 1315 to forbid even the Chancellor to meddle
with Tettenhall's spiritual affairs or trouble its
dean. (fn. 18) The dean in question was Ingelard Warley,
one of the most hated of Edward II's household
officers, who had been expelled from royal service
by the Lords Ordainers at the end of 1314 (fn. 19) and had
departed on timely pilgrimage overseas. (fn. 20) His
return in 1315 was followed by this attack on his
conduct of his duties at Tettenhall, through the
Chancellor, John Sandall, whom the Ordainers had
put in office. (fn. 21) To protect his friend Edward II was
ready to deny the Chancellor's competence to interfere in royal chapels, although it is likely that this
was already established. Certainly it was accepted
later in the century. (fn. 22) In 1399 it was expressly stated
by Richard II that Tettenhall was exempt from
ordinary jurisdiction except that of the Chancellor,
and on that occasion and in 1411 royal commissioners were appointed to visit it because the
Chancellor was too busy. (fn. 23)
Royal goodwill towards Tettenhall was shown in
other ways besides the defence of its privileges. In
1251 the king gave a silver chalice, (fn. 24) and in 1257 six
oaks from Ashwood in Kinver Forest to repair the
church. (fn. 25) In 1265 Henry III intervened to save the
endowments of a chantry founded by John Chishull
in Tettenhall church, when they were seized by the
coroner after the chantry chaplain had been outlawed for a felony. (fn. 26) But the king's favour stopped
short when his revenues were involved. Despite a
royal declaration in 1250 that royal chapels were
immune from papal taxes, (fn. 27) they were obliged to
pay when these were assigned to the Crown, for
instance in 1268 and 1269.
Tettenhall paid 40s. for the papal tenth in 1268; (fn. 28)
the assessment of the whole church was therefore
£20. Since the church, perhaps even the deanery
alone, was valued at £33 6s. 8d. in 1255 and 1272, (fn. 29)
it is obvious that the assessment was a mild one. In
1269 for some reason the amount paid as tenth by
only four of the prebends was recorded; these were
the prebends of Tettenhall, Pendeford, Wrottesley,
and Perton, and together they paid 26s. 8d. (fn. 30) The
deanery and the fifth prebend, Codsall, between
them must have been liable for the remaining
13s. 4d. The sums suggest that each of the six members of the chapter was liable for half a mark. If so
the assessment was conventional as well as mild.
The new valuation of clerical incomes in 1291 was
more realistic; but it still allowed an unofficial tax
abatement, so that the assessment remained well
below the real value of the benefices. Tettenhall
was assessed at £29 6s. 8d. (fn. 31) No details of how this
amount was divided between the deanery and the
prebends are recorded, but it is apparent that they
were not given equal assessments: in 1366 (when
this valuation was still in force) the prebend of
Codsall was said to have been taxed at 10 marks
(£6 13s. 4d.), and the prebend of Tettenhall at £5. (fn. 32)
Local jurors testified in 1293 that the church was
worth 100 marks (£66 13s. 4d.), (fn. 33) rather more than
twice the assessment of 1291.
Although royal chapels had to pay these papal
tenths, they were privileged to pay them directly to
the Crown and not through the diocesan collectors.
In 1308 the dean paid to the Exchequer the arrears
of the triennial tenth granted in 1301. (fn. 34) In 1315
Edward II named twelve free chapels with the
privilege of appointing their own collectors:
Tettenhall was among them. (fn. 35) But the king protected his chapels against papal taxes which did not
benefit himself. For instance in 1318 the papal
collector was forbidden to exact 'intolerable impositions and payments' from nine royal chapels of
which Tettenhall was one. (fn. 36)
Attempts by the Pope to provide to benefices in
royal chapels were firmly resisted by the king. In
1341 the Pope tried to provide to the prebend of
Codsall. Edward III prohibited any attempts to
dispossess the prebendary who had been collated by
the late dean, (fn. 37) and when this prohibition was
ignored he sued the provisor and his supporters. (fn. 38)
An attempt by the bishop to intervene (fn. 39) and
decisions by the papal court in the provisor's favour (fn. 40)
were without effect. The king's will prevailed. (fn. 41)
At the time when this attempt at papal provision
was made there were grounds for regarding Tettenhall as no longer a royal chapel. In 1338 Edward III
had granted the manor of Tettenhall to his chamberlain, Henry, Lord Ferrers of Groby. With this
manor and others granted at the same time went the
advowsons of churches belonging to them. (fn. 42) When
Lord Ferrers died in 1343 leaving an heir under age, (fn. 43)
the custody of most of his lands, including the
manor of Tettenhall, was granted by the king to
Queen Philippa. (fn. 44) Philippa regarded Tettenhall
church as appurtenant to the manor, and when the
deanery fell vacant she granted it to Robert Caldwell, one of her clerks. Caldwell was said to have
secured peaceful possession of it. (fn. 45) This appointment must have occurred between 1343 and 1354,
when Lord Ferrers's heir, William, came of age. (fn. 46)
When William died in January 1371, the advowson
of the deanery was reckoned as part of his property. (fn. 47)
Since the deanery became vacant soon afterwards,
the king presented to it in October as guardian of the
heir. (fn. 48) In November the advowson was assigned to
William's widow, Margaret, as part of her dower. (fn. 49)
But despite the acceptance, implied by these proceedings, of the Ferrers right to the advowson of the
deanery, the matter was far from clear.
It is difficult to discover who actually held the
deanery between 1338, when the manor of Tettenhall was granted to Lord Ferrers, and 1374, when
the problem of the advowson was settled. There
seem to have been two series of deans. One line was
appointed by the Ferrers family and, during the
minority of heirs, by the keepers of their possessions
in Tettenhall. A second line was created by the king.
Disregarding the grant to Robert Caldwell by Queen
Philippa, who represented the Ferrers heir, Edward
III made rival appointments. (fn. 50) Presumably these
appointments did not take effect, for Caldwell was
said to hold the deanery in 1361, when he valued it
at only 3 marks. (fn. 51) But by 1366 Caldwell seems no
longer to have been dean, for he was holding the
prebend of Pendeford, which he exchanged in July
for a prebend of York. (fn. 52) The vacancy of 1371 in the
Ferrers line of deans was caused by the resignation
of 'Edmund'. (fn. 53) Presumably he had succeeded
Caldwell in the deanery at some date between 1361
and 1366. The king's awareness of the problem was
apparently sporadic, for in 1371, as guardian of the
Ferrers heir, he appointed a dean in succession to
Edmund.
The confusion was not confined to the deanery.
What made the question acute was the position of
the prebendaries. Not only did title to the prebends
depend upon the dean who had collated to them,
but during a vacancy of the deanery the right to
present to the prebends fell to the patron. For
instance, in 1371 Edward III took care to fill the
prebend of Tettenhall (by then called the prebend
of Tettenhall and Compton) (fn. 54) before appointing a
new dean. The situation was exploited by the
Crown in 1373. If every collation to the deanery
made by the Ferrers family or its representatives
was regarded as invalid, no prebendary had been
legally appointed since the resignation of Caldwell's
predecessor, William of Shenton. (fn. 55) All five prebends
were therefore vacant, and Edward III made his
own appointments to them. (fn. 56) A test case was
brought against Thomas of Bushbury who had held
the prebend of Codsall since 1361, by Caldwell's
collation. The king's attorney claimed that since
Tettenhall was a royal free chapel it could not be
alienated from the Crown without a special deed of
record. No special mention of the advowson of the
deanery was made in the grant of the manor of
Tettenhall to Lord Ferrers. Consequently it still
belonged to the king, and the deanery had been
vacant since Shenton resigned. No argument could
prevail against this contention, and Thomas withdrew his claim. (fn. 57)
Even the king's own appointment to the deanery
in 1371 was invalid, since he was then acting as
guardian of the Ferrers heir. Another royal appointment was made in January 1374. (fn. 58) But the new dean,
John Hatfield, found the perquisites of his office
much diminished. Although it was only during a
vacancy of the deanery that the king had the right
to present to the prebends, Edward III continued to
dispose of them when they were exchanged or fell
vacant, (fn. 59) and the advisers of the young Richard II
began to follow suit. (fn. 60) Hatfield took advantage of the
opportunity afforded by the change of king to
recover his lost rights. His petition, that the Crown
should no longer claim to present to the prebends in
respect of the former voidance of the deanery, was
granted. In August 1377 collation to the prebends
was recognized as belonging to the dean. (fn. 61) Nevertheless Henry IV assumed the right to present to
the prebends of Wrottesley (fn. 62) and Compton (fn. 63) in 1402
and 1405, when Thomas Hanley was dean. This
intervention might have been justified on moral
grounds, for there had been an inquiry into the
shortcomings of the prebendaries of Wrottesley and
Compton in 1401. They were reputed to have
neglected their duties for more than ten years and
to have misappropriated lands and rent belonging to
the church. (fn. 64) But the king's attempts to replace
them were unsuccessful. (fn. 65)
While Hanley was dean there were as many as
three royal inquiries into the negligence of the
ministers of the chapel. The only known visitation
of Tettenhall before Hanley's time was in 1368
when it was one of five royal chapels in the diocese
to be visited by the king's commissioners. (fn. 66) At this
time the patronage was in the possession of the
Ferrers family, and it is obvious that the bishop
regarded the church as no longer exempt from his
jurisdiction, for in March 1368 he appointed a
penitentiary to exercise jurisdiction over the
parishioners of Tettenhall. (fn. 67) One of the prebendaries
was chosen, but his authority was derived from the
bishop. Nevertheless, when the king ordered the
visitation in May, he described Tettenhall, like the
other four churches, as a royal free chapel exempt
from the bishop's jurisdiction. Among the items of
inquiry was the loss through negligence of liberties,
immunities, and privileges. This applied particularly to Tettenhall and perhaps was the reason for
its visitation.
In Hanley's time the inquiries were concerned
exclusively with spiritual failings. In 1399, 1401,
and 1411 the king was informed that the celebration
of divine service and other works of piety in the
chapel had long been neglected. (fn. 68) At last, after the
visitation of 1411, decisive action was taken. Henry
IV ordered the revenues of the deanery and prebends to be sequestrated until the dean and prebendaries were willing to do their duty, and cited
the obstinate to appear in Chancery. (fn. 69) The result
was Hanley's resignation. He had avoided possible
consequences of the visitation of 1399, which had
been ordered by Richard II, by losing no time in
securing ratification of his status in his benefices
from Henry IV. (fn. 70) The inquiry of 1401 had concentrated on the unsatisfactory prebendaries of
Wrottesley and Compton. But in 1411 the dean, as
well as the prebendaries, was found at fault and
there was no convenient revolution to save him from
royal reprimand. Nevertheless he withdrew with
dignity, exchanging his deanery for a canonry of
Windsor in 1412. (fn. 71) But Tettenhall had not seen the
last of him. Just over a year later he exchanged his
Windsor canonry for the prebend of Wrottesley. (fn. 72)
Canonries at Windsor were profitable only to
residentiaries, (fn. 73) but Tettenhall's revenues he knew
could be enjoyed in absentia.
It is strange that Tettenhall's spiritual state was
not improved earlier in Henry IV's reign, for in
February 1401 the chapel was subjected to metropolitical visitation. Archbishop Arundel and his
commissaries had already visited three royal chapels
in the diocese before Tettenhall's turn came;
Wolverhampton had attempted to resist and failed.
At Tettenhall the dean, canons, and ministers
appeared and were questioned, and some of the
parishioners were similarly examined. (fn. 74) The outcome is not known; possibly the royal inquiry of
August 1401 was prompted by Arundel's discoveries.
The dean should have been responsible for the
correction of his clergy: his position was not a
sinecure. But on the other hand his duties were not
regarded in the 15th century as incompatible with
those of another benefice with cure. John Stopyndon,
one of the masters in Chancery of Henry V, was
allowed by the Pope to hold the deanery with a
parish church, an archdeaconry, four prebends, and
the wardenship of a hospital for the poor. (fn. 75) His
obligations towards Tettenhall could be fulfilled by
maintaining adequate deputies to perform his
spiritual and administrative functions there: a
priest vicar to represent him in the chapel, an
official to preside in his peculiar court, and a steward
or bailiff to manage his property. But no record
proving the existence of any of these deputies is
known. By the reign of Henry VIII, when information about the clerical establishment is available, (fn. 76)
the dean's revenues were negligible and apparently
he maintained no vicar. How this state of affairs
came about is not discoverable. Perhaps the dean's
property had been alienated while the Ferrers
family had the advowson; (fn. 77) perhaps the deanery had
always been ill-endowed, though this seems unlikely. (fn. 78) In 1498 the advowson of the deanery was
again thought to belong to the Ferrers family, as
lords of Tettenhall manor; Sir Thomas Ferrers was
said by a local jury to have died possessed of it. (fn. 79) It
may be that the Ferrers family actually presented to
the deanery after this date, for no royal appointments are recorded after Thomas Bowd's in 1489;
but this may be fortuitous, for the appointments of
only three of the six deans of the 15th century
appear on the patent rolls. In 1531 the deanery was
valued at only 2s. 1d., (fn. 80) and in 1535 its rents were
worth only 1d., though fees from those subject to the
dean's spiritual jurisdiction brought his total income
up to an estimated £1 14s. 9d. a year. (fn. 81) In 1548 his
clear portion, after expenses had been deducted,
was said to be 17s. 9d. (fn. 82) After the dissolution of the
college, when the dean's property was in Crown
possession, it consisted of land in Autherley worth
1½d. a year and the profits of his spiritual court
worth 10s. a year. (fn. 83)
Although the dean provided no vicar for Tettenhall, there were six stipendiary priests on the establishment in the second quarter of the 16th century.
One of these was the curate of Codsall chapel, whose
salary of £5 a year was paid by the Prebendary of
Codsall. (fn. 84) Two priests served in chantries in
Tettenhall church. Our Lady's Chantry had been
founded in the 13th century by John Chishull, who
endowed it with land in Tettenhall and farm stock. (fn. 85)
Other unspecified donors were said to have given
property to it; in 1548 it possessed lands in Tettenhall, Compton, and Bilbrook. (fn. 86) The priest's stipend
was a little over £5 a year. (fn. 87) The other chantry was
known as Cronkhall's. It was said to have been
founded in 1528-9 by Richard Cronkhall and was
endowed with lands in Tettenhall which produced a
stipend of £4 7s. 2d. for the priest in 1548. (fn. 88) Cronkhall's chantry chaplain in 1548 was also vicar of the
Prebendary of Pendeford, with a salary of £5 a year. (fn. 89)
Four of the prebendaries maintained priest vicars: (fn. 90)
Pendeford, Wrottesley, Codsall, and Bovenhill (by
1535 the name of the prebend formerly known as
Tettenhall and Compton). (fn. 91) Since the Prebendary
of Perton had no vicar, it is to be presumed that he
was resident at Tettenhall.
The college was dissolved in 1548 under the Act
of 1547. (fn. 92) By this date all the prebends were let on
long leases at rents well below the real value of the
property; (fn. 93) no doubt large entry-fines had been
paid. The pensions (fn. 94) assigned to the prebendaries
were closely related to the incomes remaining after
the discharge of liabilities such as the salaries of their
vicars. (fn. 95) Perton's income was highest since it
supported no vicar; the clear value was £6 7s. and
the pension granted £5. The other prebendaries
were given pensions corresponding exactly to their
clear incomes: Pendeford £4, Bovenhill £4, Codsall
£3 9s. 4d., Wrottesley £3. Similarly the dean was
allotted full compensation for his meagre revenues:
his pension was 17s. 9d. Two of the vicars received
pensions of £5, equalling their salaries; the vicar of
the Prebendary of Codsall, whose salary was £4 6s.
8d., had a pension of £4; (fn. 96) the Prebendary of Bovenhill's vicar was appointed to serve Tettenhall church
at a stipend of £13 6s. 8d. The curate of Codsall
was retained to serve his chapel.
The property of the deanery and prebends,
including the college buildings, was assessed by the
king's commissioners at £50 17s. 0½d. a year. (fn. 97) In
May 1549 Walter Wrottesley bought it at the
standard purchase price of 22 years' rent: £1,118
14s. 11d. The lands lay in Tettenhall, Autherley,
Pendeford, Wergs, Compton, Perton, Trescott,
Bilbrook, Wrottesley, Wightwick, Oaken, and
Codsall. (fn. 98) A few weeks later Wrottesley disposed of
three of the prebends, keeping for himself the
prebends of Wrottesley and Codsall, of which he
held the leases. (fn. 99) Perton (fn. 100) he sold to his nephew
Edward Leveson; the Levesons already held the
lease of the major part of Perton's property. (fn. 101)
Pendeford and Bovenhill (fn. 102) were bought by Richard
Creswell (who held the leases) and Henry Southwick, formerly Prebendary of Bovenhill. (fn. 103)
The properties which endowed chantries, obits,
and lights in Tettenhall church were not included
among the assets of the college as sold to Wrottesley
but were assessed and sold separately. Two tenements belonging to St. Mary's Chantry and two of
the obit endowments were bought by John Hulson
and William Pendred of London in 1549. (fn. 104) The purchase price was 22 years' rent in each case: £31 14s.
4d. for the chantry lands and £6 12s. for the obit
endowments. (fn. 105) It is likely that most of the other
chantry and obit lands had been sold off piecemeal
in this way before any that remained to the Crown of
the Tettenhall properties were granted in 1588 to
Edward Wymarke of London together with any
remaining of a large number of former religious
houses in various counties. (fn. 106)
Walter Wrottesley's purchase of the college had
included the deanery, of which almost the sole
assets were the profits of spiritual jurisdiction.
Consequently the Wrottesleys were entitled to hold
a peculiar court for the whole area formerly under the
dean's jurisdiction. Their right to hold a secular
court for this area, as lords of the manor of Tettenhall Clericorum, was periodically contested by the
Creswells, (fn. 107) who held the former prebends of
Pendeford and Bovenhill; but their right to spiritual
jurisdiction seems to have been unchallenged. It
survived until the 19th century, when all such
peculiars were abolished. The last wills proved in
this court and the latest marriage bonds made before
its official belong to 1858. (fn. 108)
Some at least of the collegiate buildings seem to
have stood to the east of the church, although this
was only a memory about 1800. (fn. 109) There was a house
for the vicars by the 16th century. (fn. 110)
Deans
William, occurs about 1176 and at some time
between 1177 and 1182. (fn. 111)
Elias of Bristol, occurs about 1225. (fn. 112)
Thomas Blundeville, appointed September 1226,
elected Bishop of Norwich November 1226. (fn. 113)
Walter of Brackley, appointed November 1226,
elected Bishop of Ossory 1232. (fn. 114)
Nicholas de Neville, appointed 1232, vacated
deanery by March 1245. (fn. 115)
Peter Chaceporc, appointed 1245, died 1254. (fn. 116)
Henry Wingham, appointed 1254, retained deanery
while Bishop of London from 1259, died 1262. (fn. 117)
Peter of Winchester, appointed 1262, occurs
1272. (fn. 118)
Walter Langton, resigned by January 1291. (fn. 119)
Master William Burnell, appointed 1291, occurs
1293. (fn. 120)
John Benstead, appointed 1297, resigned 1300. (fn. 121)
Geoffrey Stokes, appointed 1300, occurs 1304. (fn. 122)
Ingelard Warley, appointed 1314, resigned 1318. (fn. 123)
William of Shenton, B.C.L., appointed 1318,
resigned probably by March 1341. (fn. 124)
Jordan de Gathorp, resigned by April 1348. (fn. 125)
Stephen Broxbourne, appointed 1348. (fn. 126)
Robert Caldwell, appointed by the queen between
1343 and 1354, occurs 1361, had evidently
resigned by 1366. (fn. 127)
Edmund, resigned 1371. (fn. 128)
John of Harewood, appointed 1371. (fn. 129)
John Hatfield, appointed 1374, resigned 1383. (fn. 130)
William Hermesthorp, appointed 1383. (fn. 131)
John Lincoln of Grimsby, Sch.Cn.L., appointed
1385, resigned 1386. (fn. 132)
Nicholas Slake, appointed June 1386, resigned
July 1386. (fn. 133)
John Nottingham, appointed July 1386, resigned
1389. (fn. 134)
Thomas Hanley, appointed 1389, resigned 1412. (fn. 135)
Robert Wolveden, appointed 1412. (fn. 136)
John Stopyndon, occurs 1435. (fn. 137)
Richard Well, resigned 1465. (fn. 138)
Ralph Hethcote, B.Cn.L., appointed 1465, occurs
1473. (fn. 139)
John Vernham, died 1489. (fn. 140)
Thomas Bowd, B.Th., appointed 1489. (fn. 141)
William Capon, D.Th., occurs 1531, dean at the
dissolution. (fn. 142)
The seal of the peculiar jurisdiction in use in the
18th century is a pointed oval, 21/8 by 1¼ in., depicting
a figure in robes in the upper part and the arms of
the Wrottesleys in the base. (fn. 143) Legend, roman:
SIGILLUM PECULIARIS IURISDICTIONIS ECCLESIAE
COLLEGIATAE TETENHALL
SIGILLUM HELIE DECANI DE PENCRIZ
ET DE TETEHAL'.