FRIARY
II. THE DOMINICAN FRIARS OF DERBY (fn. 1)
Some time during the episcopate of Alexander
de Stavenby (1224-38), the Dominican friars
obtained a settlement at Derby. They procured
a site for their house just outside the walls of
the old town, on the west, within the parish
of St. Werburgh. The prior of the Friars
Preachers of Derby was one of the four executors
of the will of William de Varnun, knt., who
died in 1242. (fn. 2) Henry III was a generous
benefactor to their conventual church, which
was dedicated in honour of the Annunciation of
Our Lady. In 1329 the keepers of the bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield were ordered
(during the vacancy of the see, when the temporalities were in the hands of the crown) to
assign 20 marks to the Friars Preachers of
Derby as a royal gift towards the building of
their church. The Liberate Rolls also show
that the king granted 10 marks for a like
purpose from the same source in 1242, and £10
in 1244. The church itself was not completed
(it was probably built bay by bay) until many
years later, for Edward I, when he was at
Tideswell on 21 August, 1275, gave five marks
out of the exchequer to these friars in subsidium
ecclesie ibidem construende.
The mendicant orders were not allowed to
hold landed property save the sites of their houses,
consequently the only gifts of that description
applied to the enlargement of the bounds of the
holding whereon their buildings stood. Within a
few years of the establishment of the Dominicans
at Derby, their precincts, including a churchyard,
surrounded by a wall, covered 8 or 10 acres;
but the area was eventually enlarged to over
16 acres. (fn. 3) In March 1292-3 an inquisition was
held as to the proposal of Andrew le Jovene, of
Derby, to add 3½ roods of meadow to the site.
The jury found that such a grant would damage
no one; that the land was held of the crown by
the service of a farthing a year, and that its
annual worth was only 12d. (fn. 4)
On 4 November, 1318, another inquiry was
held as to Ralph de Pecco of Derby assigning
to the friars 10 acres of land adjoining their
house, for the purpose of enlarging it. These
acres were held of the Benedictine nuns of
King's Mead at 7s. a year, and declared to be
worth 12d. a year in additional value. Ten
days later the royal licence was granted for the
transference, and Ralph handed over 4 acres to
the Dominicans, but his death occurred before he
had completed the transfer of the remainder. (fn. 5)
In 1341 the friars petitioned the crown to
sanction the assignment by John de la Corner
of 1½ acres of land in part satisfaction of the
licence of 1318 for the remaining 6 acres, and
the request was granted. (fn. 6)
In the Italian chronicles of the Dominican
order occurs the account of the death of one of
the brethren, 'Frate Ruffolo,' not long after the
foundation of the Derby house. The legend
runs as follows:—In the convent of Derby
there was a young man called, according to
Girardi, Frate Ruffolo. He goes on some affair
of his order to a neighbouring town (probably
Nottingham), where he falls mortally sick, and
is charitably received by the Friars Minors already
settled there. As death draws nigh, he devoutly
receives the holy sacraments, being assisted
by two of the good Franciscans, and three of
his own order. Just as he is ready to give up
his soul, and has closed his eyes with his own
hands, he begins to smile, and explains his joy
by declaring that the glorious king St. Edmund
has entered his cell; and the whole chamber is
filled with angelic spirits. Then 'our great and
blessed Lady' comes, to whom the friars sing the
Salve. But a great fear falls on him, and the
pallor of death overspreads his face, when he
sees our Lord Jesus Christ come to judge him;
in a mortal agony he shakes from head to foot,
and a deadly sweat falls in copious streams. He
is heard defending his cause before the Supreme
Judge, saying sometimes, 'It is true,' sometimes
'It is not;' then praying our Lord not to forsake
him; at other times setting at nought the accusations of the enemy. At last he says—' O
my Jesus, pardon that offence, for it was slight.'
'What, my brother,' exclaims the superior, 'are
we judged for such small offences?' 'Even.so,'
replies the dying man; 'these no less than graver
ones appear before this tribunal, and we must
suffer the punishment of all.' They exhort him
to put full trust in the mercy of the Lord. Then,
again, rejoicing, he replies, 'Assuredly, He is
merciful, and I have tasted of His mercy.' And
so saying he sweetly expires, 27 May, in the
year 1257, on which day is kept, that year, the
feast of Pentecost. (fn. 7)
Soon after Michaelmas 1291 this convent
received £5 from the executors of the late
Queen Eleanor, who was a great patroness of
the Dominicans.
The provincial chapter of the order was held
at Derby in 1310, when Edward II and his
queen gave £10, through John de Wrotham,
prior of London, for two days' food for the
assembled fathers. The provincial chapters of
the order were again held here in 1346 and in
1376; on the first occasion Edward III gave
£15 towards the expenses, and on the second
£20.
Edward II sojourned at Ravensdale, the royal
hunting lodge in the forest of Duffield, from
24 November to 16 December, 1323; he had
been staying at Nottingham from 9 to 24
November. It would seem that at this time
he visited Derby when he probably partook of
refreshment at the Dominican house; for on
27 November he made an order for the payment
of the costs incurred by the Friars Preachers of
Derby. In the following January he lodged
for the night at Derby and proceeded the next
day to Melbourne. On his arrival in Derby,
according to usual custom, he bestowed 8s. 8d.
on the friars to provide a day's food for them,
for they might not receive ordinary money alms.
A day's food for a friar was reckoned at a groat
(4d.), so that there were then twenty-six friars
in residence.
A serious attack was made on this house in
the year 1344, when a large body of men broke
into the inclosure, cut down trees, and carried
off goods and chattels, to the alleged value of
£60, and beat, wounded, and ill-treated the men
and servants of the convent. On paying a fine
of 20s. the prior obtained a writ directing the
four justices, Nicholas de Cantilupe, Richard
de Wylughby, Roger Hillary, and Roger de
Baukwell, to take due legal proceedings. The
names of no fewer than forty-four of the assaulting party are set forth, among 'other evil doers
and disturbers of the peace.' (fn. 8) Among the
assailants occur the names of two chaplains,
and various tradesmen of the town, such as
linen-drapers, grocers, skinners, and shoemakers,
so that it is to be hoped that Father Palmer's
suggestion as to the cause of this riot is correct.
He says:—
The whole affair has an aspect of the enforcement
of a claim to some of the convent lands, with just
as much assault and battery as was necessary to make
out a sound legal case. Unfortunately nothing more
is recorded in the matter, which probably came to an
amicable termination, for there is no entry in respect
to it on the assize rolls.
Father Palmer cites from the Lord Treasurer's
Remembrancer Memoranda Rolls a case of
peculation in 1354, which shows that the barns
and outbuildings of this convent had been used
as a royal wool-store. John de Bredon, one of
the Derbyshire wool-collectors, was convicted of
being a considerable defaulter, and was lodged in
the Fleet prison. Among other shortcomings it
was shown that he had let eighty stone of wool
remain in the house of the Friars Preachers of
Derby till the greater part rotted, and then kept
the remainder in his own hands and sold it.
When John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was
tarrying at the Ravensdale hunting lodge in
1374, he ordered three oaks to be given to these
friars. (fn. 9) Henry IV, in his royal progress of 1403,
proceeded from Nottingham to Derby on 13 July,
and after staying two nights departed on 15 July
for Burton-on-Trent. On his departure the
king bestowed 2 marks on the friars in recompense for various damages done by the royal
suite.
The only prior of this house whose name is
known previous to the surrender would seem to
be William de Radeclive, who, with his co-friar
William de Barneby, and a number of the secular
clergy, was accused of rescuing John Neucomer,
a thief, from the sheriff in 1330. (fn. 10)
The numbers of the religious in this house
averaged for a long time about thirty, but on the
threat of dissolution the greater part of the
English Dominicans withdrew, in 1534-5, into
Ireland, Scotland, and Flanders. The members
of the Derby convent were thus reduced to six.
On 3 January, 1538-9, this friary came to an
end. The 'surrender' made to John London
and Edward Baskerfield, as commissioners, was
signed by Lawrence Sponor, prior, and five other
friars named William Remyngton, Thomas
Calton, Robert Sadler, Maurice Mawryngton,
and William Hixworthe. (fn. 11)
The house and land of the convent were at
once let by the crown to John Sharpe, as a
yearly tenant, at a rental of 54s. and in the
following year he obtained a twenty-one years'
lease on the same terms, but the materials of all
superfluous buildings and the trees were reserved
to the crown. (fn. 12)
Soon afterwards John Sharpe complained
that on 18 January, 35 Henry VIII, Richard
Camerdaye of Derby, labourer, came to the
church and house of the Black Friars, which
were in the complainant's possession, and with
force did break into the same and carried away
the gravestones of marble and certain lead, iron,
glass, and timber, to the value of £4. (fn. 13)
The old seal of the convent, struck at the time
of its foundation, was last used at the surrender, the impression attached to it being in a good
state of preservation. It is pointed oval, and
bears a representation of the Annunciation, the
Blessed Virgin and Gabriel standing facing each
other; between them is the word Domini of
the response Ecce ancilla Domini. Beneath a
trefoiled arch in the base is the half-length figure
of the prior in prayer. Legend:—
s'. C'VENTUS FR'M PREDICATOR' DEREBYE. (fn. 14)