23. FRIARS OF THE SACK, CAMBRIDGE
The Friars of the Penance of Jesus Christ, or
Friars of the Sack as they were popularly known
from their costume, were established in 1245,
apparently by a former Austin Friar, and came
to England in 1257, (fn. 1) and the community at
Cambridge was one of the earliest and most successful houses of an unsuccessful movement.
The friars had arrived at Cambridge by 1258:
they seem at first to have established themselves in
the parish of St. Mary in the Market, and to have
built a chapel. (fn. 2) By 1253 John le Rus, Mayor of
Cambridge in 1258, being deeply in debt to the
Jews, had left his large 'stone house' with its
court and chapel, situated about where the FitzWilliam Museum now stands, and was living in a
little house close by. Negotiations were entered
into by John le Rus for the sale of his property to
the Friars of the Sack, but, as it was held of the
fee of Barnwell Priory, Prior John at first forbade
the sale; le Rus and his brothers, however, prevailed upon him to grant his licence for its alienation in 1258, the vendor undertaking to pay a rent
of 28s. 11d. to the priory. (fn. 3) On 25 June 1268
Henry III confirmed the grants by the le Rus
family and others (including the Master and
Brethren of St. John's Hospital) to the Prior and
Brethren of the Penance of Jesus Christ. (fn. 4)
Among the benefactors of the friars, whose
grants survive to the number of at least a score in
the Peterhouse treasury, (fn. 5) were Stephen Barker,
a tenant of the St. Edmund family, and his neighbours Hoel and Thomas de Berton, both burgesses
of standing, and their brother Simon, vicar of St.
John Zachary, two dwelling-houses, one that of
Stephen Barker, being added to the friars' site
with the consent of Robert Huntingdon, Master
of St. John's Hospital. The original chapel of the
le Rus family was dedicated to St. Lucy, and the
friars obtained permission to replace this by a
church 'in honour of Jesus Christ and His blessed
mother', the family stipulating that a pound of
wax was to be offered for a light before St. Lucy's
altar in the new church at the mass of the saint
upon her feast day. Strips of land in the open
fields were given or sold to the friars, including
some given to St. Edmund's Chapel. Their relations with Barnwell Priory remained cordial, and
the Liber Memorandorum records that 'they
gathered many and good scholars about them, and
increased greatly until the Council of Lyons'. By
1279 they owned a compact holding between
Trumpington Road and Coe Fen. In that year
the holding of the Friars of the Sack was defined (fn. 6)
as arising partly from the gift of Richard of
Icklingham(?) (fn. 7) in perpetual alms and partly by
purchase and gift of many persons.
By this time, however, the end of the convent
was in sight, as under the decree of the Council of
Lyons in 1274 the Friars of Penance, with the
other small congregations, had been forbidden to
receive fresh members, and were thus left to die
out, though not suppressed. In March 1277
Edward I, being at Cambridge, distributed alms
for 2 days' food to the various houses of friars in
the town, including 4s. to the Friars of Penance; (fn. 8)
and in October 1289, when at Ditton, he gave
a pittance of 20s., for three days, to the Friars of the
Sack. (fn. 9) In 1290 Pope Nicholas IV, understanding
that the friars were about to abandon their site,
gave leave for it to be sold to the Order of Semfringham; (fn. 10) but the rumour was false, and it was
not until 1307 that the friars made over their
buildings and lands to the neighbouring college of
Peterhouse. (fn. 11)
The only prior of this friary whose name is
recorded is Roger of York, who occurs in 1272. (fn. 12)
A pointed oval seal used by the prior in 1260
shows the Rood with St. Mary and St. John; in
a niche below is a kneeling figure. Legend:
. . . . . XCI IN CAN . . . . (fn. 13)
A slightly later seal shows the standing figure
of Christ and the kneeling figure of St. Thomas
with his hand outstretched; below is a friar in
adoration. Legend: s' PRIORIS FRM . . . . xI DE
CANTEB'GE. (fn. 14)