28. THE HOUSE OF CRUTCHED FRIARS
The Friars of the Holy Cross, who were
distinct from the order of Cross-bearing Friars, (fn. 1)
came to England about 1248, (fn. 2) but do not seem
to have had a house in Oxford till nearly a
hundred years later. (fn. 3) On 29 July, 1342, the
Crutched Friars of London had licence to acquire
land in Oxford, not held in chief, to the value of
£10 yearly. (fn. 4) On the same day Simon de
Gloucester of Oxford had licence to alienate in
mortmain a messuage in Oxford to the prior
and Crutched Friars by the Tower of London,
'that they may found there a dwelling-place for
thirteen student friars of their order, to stay for
study in the University there, and for the increase of the service of God and his Church, and
to celebrate divine service for ever, for the good
estate of the king and his children, as long as
they live, and for their souls after death and for
the souls of his progenitors and the faithful dead.' (fn. 5)
The position of this messuage is not known, but
it may be noted that in February, 1342-3,
Simon de Gloucester made recognition that he
and his predecessors were wont to pay to
St. Frideswide's 9d. a year for his tenement
called White Hall in Schidyard Street. (fn. 6)
In 1343 Thomas Legh, of Oxford, townclerk, sought permission to grant to the Friars of
the Holy Cross in London a messuage without
the South Gate of Oxford, in Grandpont. (fn. 7) This
was probably Broadgates Hall or Plomerhall. (fn. 8)
In May, 1349, Richard Cary, several times
mayor of Oxford, had licence to grant the same
friars two messuages and a plot of ground contiguous to their dwelling-place. One messuage
was held of the abbess of Godstow for 5s. rent,
the other messuage was held of St. Frideswide's
priory at a rent of 6d., and the plot of ground
which lay between the tenement of Thomas
Legh on the north and that of Nicholas de
Longford, fisherman, on the south, was held of
the same priory at a rent of 4s. The net value
of the whole to the friars was 2s. 6d. (fn. 9)
About this time the friars came into possession
of a new site near the East Gate. They had
licence 24 June, 1349, from Libertus, the general
of the Order, to hold lands, houses, and tenements and receive novices, (fn. 10) and a papal decree of
27 September, 1350, addressed to the prior and
Augustinian Friars of the Holy Cross in Oxford
and signed by the pope and ten cardinals, confirmed the property and privileges of the friary,
including the site of the house, the hall called
'Schipalle' with its. garden, with meadows,
woods, pastures, water-mills, and other liberties
and immunities. (fn. 11)
The new site was on the property of the
warden and fellows of Merton College, who
stipulated (fn. 12) that the friars should pay 1 mark
yearly for tithes to the parish church, which
belonged to the college; that one of the brethren
should pray daily in the oratory for the founder,
warden, and fellows of the college; that they
should pay a rent of 20s. a year for the ground;
that they should not celebrate divine service in
their oratory with a loud voice when the
parishioners were at mass in the parish church,
except on the two festivals of the Holy Cross;
that they should not hear confessions nor bury any
of the parishioners in their chapel without leave
from the vicar of the parish church or the warden
of Merton College, or at least unless the deceased
had willed his body to be buried there; that they
should do nothing to the prejudice of the mother
church in receiving or enticing legacies from any
of the parishioners on their deathbeds, upon
penalty of refunding threefold to the vicar; with
other considerations. Upon giving security for
the performance of these conditions, they proceeded with their building, which contained in
length on the south side 59 ft., and at the east
end 30 ft. But before the foundations were up
the Bishop of Lincoln forbade them to go on
with the chapel, 26 July, 1349; (fn. 13) and Richard
de Medmenham, proctor of Merton College,
met Thomas, (fn. 14) the prior of the friars of the
Cross, on the site (24 March, 1349-50), and
formally 'announced' the said work by throwing
a pebble; he explained his words in English to
the prior, who replied: 'God will help us.' (fn. 15)
The friars gave up the attempt to build on this
site, but in 1352 they began publicly to celebrate
divine service in another place hard by, called
the people to mass by the sound of a bell, and
received offerings. Acting on the instructions
of the bishop, Thomas abbot of Oseney cited the
prior, Simon Veal, 'called of Cornwall,' (fn. 16) to appear
before him, and, on his failure to do so, excommunicated him. Simon appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who summoned the warden
and scholars of Merton to appear before his court
in London. (fn. 17) The result of the appeal is not
known. The friars seem to have succumbed to
this opposition, combined perhaps with pestilence.
There is no evidence that they had a house in
this district when New College was founded.
John son of Walter Wrenche of Milton, (fn. 18)
spicer, bequeathed to them five quarters of corn,
4 May, 1349, and Edmund de Bereford left them
13s. in his will, dated 8 January, 1350-1. (fn. 19)
Of their tenements without the South Gate,
Broadgates Hall was conveyed by Richard de
Charingworth, prior of the Crutched Friars
(probably in London), to Sir Adam de Shareshill,
knt., in 1362, with two shops adjoining it, for
the term of his life, he rendering to the prior
and convent a rose on the feast of St. John
Baptist. (fn. 20) Further there is mention in an indenture of 1377 of a tenement in Grandpont
which the friars of the Holy Cross were wont
formerly to inhabit; this was demised in 1377
by Thomas Fourneys and Richard Boteler to
William Witteneye, parson of St. Michael's in
the South Gate, and John Grom. (fn. 21)