72. THE GREY FRIARS OF GRANTHAM
The Franciscans were settled here before
1290, for on 27 November of that year Pope
Nicholas IV (fn. 1) granted an indulgence of one year
and forty days of enjoined penance to penitents
visiting the church of the Friars Minors at Grantham on the four feasts of the Virgin, and those of
St. Francis, St. Anthony, and St. Clare. The
convent was in the custody of Oxford. (fn. 2) Edward I gave these friars 12s. 8d. for two days'
pittance and 21s. for three days' pittance by the
hand of Friar J. de Jarewell or Gerewell, at
Grantham in 1300; (fn. 3) there were probably about
twenty friars at the time. Bishop Dalderby
admitted four friars of this house to hear confessions in 1300, (fn. 4) and in 1311 dedicated four
altars in this church and one in the infirmary. (fn. 5)
John de Warenne, earl of Surrey (1304) granted
the friars 32½ quarters of corn each year from
his mills at Grantham; the grant was renewed
by his grandson in 1313 and confirmed by the
king. (fn. 6) Ralph of Barneby gave them a spring of
water at Gonerby, and in 1314 Richard Kellaw, bishop of Durham, authorized them to
bring the water to their house by leaden pipes,
and to dig the ground in the common pasture to
lay and repair the pipes on condition that they
put back the earth. (fn. 7)
In 1355 John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, had
permission to grant the Friars Minors a messuage
lying to the east of their house. (fn. 8) He bequeathed
£20 to them by his will, 1347. (fn. 9)
In 1339 a murderer took sanctuary in the
church of St. Francis at Grantham, (fn. 10) and early in
the next century a similar event led to a dispute
between the friars and the town. On the
Sunday after Ascension Day, 1419, Thomas
Couper of Botleston, brasier, and William
Drusthorpe, locksmith, killed Thomas May of
Botleston, and fled for sanctuary to the Grey
Friars' church. On Whitsunday the bailiff
carried them off by force to Lincoln, and on the
appeal of the friars to the king in council, a jury
was sworn before the justices of gaol delivery
and declared that the church of the friary was a
sanctuary. The prisoners were handed on to
Friar Thomas Kyrton and brought back to the
Grey Friars. (fn. 11) A provincial chapter of the
Premonstratensian Order was held in this church
in 1492. (fn. 12) Among the benefactors of the house
were Ralph Basset lord of Sapcote (1377),
Richard de Evyngeham rector of Ewerby,
Robert de Westburgh of Grantham (1397),
Nicholas Tye (1410), Thomas Ingham of Corby
(1415), Thomas Sleeford (1417), Robert Wyntryngham canon of Lincoln (1415), and Queen
Catherine of Aragon. (fn. 13)
In 1513 Henry VIII granted to these friars
full pardon for all kinds of transgressions or
crimes, including treason, murder, rape, which
they might have committed before 8 December
1510. (fn. 14)
In July, 1535, Richard Hopkins the warden
and other brethren were accused by one of the
friars, John Colsell, of using seditious language.
The Earl of Rutland by Cromwell's instruction
investigated the matter. John Colsell was himself
aged eighteen, and his principal witness was a
novice, William Nobull, aged thirteen years, who
on being called to give evidence charged Colsell,
who was his schoolmaster, with having tutored
him to bear false witness. The warden and his
friends seem to have cleared themselves. (fn. 15) At
the same time John Colsell was accused of
'using the deceitful art of magic and astronomy.'
Gervase Tyndall, schoolmaster at Grantham, was
'employed in the business of certain friars who
were about to practice necromancy,' and became
so unpopular in the town that the boys were
driven away from his school. (fn. 16)
The bishop of Dover received the surrender of
the house about the end of February, 1538-9, and
reported the convent so poor that the king would
receive nothing but the lead, bells, and a chalice. (fn. 17)
The friary with its lands was granted in 1541
at a rent of 7s. 9d. to Robert Butcher, gentleman, and David Vincent, one of the royal pages;
in the grant were included the church, belfry,
cemetery, and aqueduct, a garden of one acre,
a small close called Paradise, a close of 5 acres
and a number of other gardens, kilnhouse,' maltoflores,' stables, and other tenements. Some of
these were already let to tenants. These
grantees sold the site in 1542 to Austin Porter
of Belton. (fn. 18)