Page images
PDF
EPUB

that the houfe was in her hands on the vacancy of the prior, and that the advowson of the priory belonged to her; that he took occafion on thefe pleas to disturb and vex the prior, had cited him to appear and answer in her courts, and had amerced him: on which the prior obtained an injunction, the feventh year of Edward the Firft. This difpute feems to have been afterwards accommodated, as there are releafes between the countess and the prior, wherein The referves to herself the right of advowfon and lordship over the priory; these releases bear date the ninth year of Edward the First.

The claim of a right in the patron, or representative of the founder, to the temporalities of a religious house, in cafe of a vacancy, is by no means unprecedented; and in fome inftances feems allowed in the decrees of the fynod convened by Ottoboni, in the fourth year of Henry the Third, where patrons were forbid, by the fixth canon, to retain the profits of vacant benefices, excepting they are entitled to them by ancient fage. It is to be obferved, that at this time the nobility of England, who were heirs to the founders of religious houses, and to those who had given the advowfons of churches to monafte ries, had generally taken great offence at the Monks; who, by procuring the appropriation of their churches, and taking the profits to themselves, had, as they conceived, abufed the truft repofed in them the churches being conferred on them, not as finecures, but under the fuppofition of their being the best judges

what perfons were most fit to be prefented to the livings; whereas by thefe appropriations, the churches were neglected, and the intention of the donors defeated. The English nobility prefented a remonftrance on this fubject to Pope Alexander the Fourth, stating, "That they and their predeceffors, out of refpect [1259. to the appearing fanctity of the religious focieties in England, had liberally conferred on them their right of patronage; that by fuch means they might have the opportunity of chufing fit perfons, and prefenting them to the bishops, as a moft effectual provifion for the cure of fouls, and relief of the poor whereas they found this pious intention fruftrated, not only by papal provifions, that in. terrupted the right course of prefentation, but chiefly because the religious, by clandeftine and indirect ways, with the neglect or contempt of their own bishops, had obtained thofe churches to their properties, by conceffions from the apoftolic fee: on which account they thought themfelves to refume the patronage of fuch converted churches, and reunite the advowfons to their own demefnes; because they faw the good intentions of themselves and their predeceffors entirely defeated."All this his holiness excufed in his anfwer, by protefting "a pure and fincere defign in fo appropriating fome churches to religious places, with the affectionate bowels of piety and mercy; firmly hoping and believing, that fuch conceffions of charity might relieve the wants of the religious, and promote the worthip of God with

ged

in the refpective churches: and therefore, if their complaints were true, he was forry the apoftolical judgment fhould be deceived, and the facred intention of the fee of Rome be fo perverfely difappointed: but far be it from them, obedient fons, for this cause of appropriations and provifions, to revoke and take into their hands the right of patronage, bestowed on fuch religious houfes, fince they had no authority to difpofe of ecclefiaftical affairs, and muft not prefume to touch any facred thing. However, with the affiftance of the bifhops, he would fo effectually labour to redrefs all abuses, as to leave no just matter of complaint or fcandal."

The fame pope, in an epiftle, two years afterwards, complained, that the covetous defire of the religious, had by falfe pretences obtained from the fee of Rome, the appropriation of many parochial churches within the kingdom of England, and had by that poifon infected the whole nation: while, by these means, the worship of God was loft, hofpitality was intermitted, epifcopal rights were detained, the doors of charity were fhut against the poor, the encou ragement of studious scholars was abated, with many other scandals and offences."

This practice of convents procuring the appropriations of churches became fo fcandalous, that even the Monks were afhamed of it. Bifhop Kennet in his Parochial Antiquities, mentions an inftance, when Hugh de Le von, Abbot of Meaux, in Yorkfhire, would have bestowed the appropriation of the church of

Effington on that abbey: the Monks themselves obftructed his intention for the fpace of five years, protesting against the enormous injuries which would arise, to be lamented by perfons yet unborn. Nor was the difcontent on this fubject confined to the laity, but even the bishops fought to have the evil redressed, and many canons were enacted in the fynods for that purpose, to which the Monks refufed obedience, and much violence was used by them in oppofition to the canons; nor did they fubmit till they were reduced by force. The monafteries, poffeffed of churches, not only ap propriated the rents to their own ufe, but frequently farmed them out; by which means the good intentions of the donors were fruftrated.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

:

occafioned the bishop to collate to thofe churches which fell to him by lapfe as fully appears by the register of William of Wykeham, who collated to the vicarage of Carifbrooke, void, as he exprefsly fays, through neglect of the conftitutions of Otho and Ottoboni. There had been great commotions in the island on this occafion, and to what a height they rofe at Godfhill, are feen in Bishop Woodlock's Regifter, wherein the Monks, with their friends, are recorded to have held the church by force. The bifhop alfo ordered the dean of the island, to put the clerk, collated by him, in poffeffion of the church of Godfhill, devolved to him, by virtue of the canon of the general council.

In the year following, 1308.] the fame oppofition arofe

at the church of Arreton, when the bishop directed the dean of the island to induct the clerk by him collated, contra omnes et fingulos contradicorer et rebelles, "againft all oppofers." After which the bishop excommunicated nine perfons for obftructing his clerk, with all thofe officiating in the faid church, commanding the dean of the island to denounce this excommunication in all the churches of his deanery, at the time of high mafs, in which ceremony the cross was to be elevated, the bell rung, the candles firft lighted and then extinguished, with every other circumftance that could give folemnity to the act. This was followed by a fequeftration of the churches of Freshwater and Godfhill, for contempt of the canons; and the bishop excommunicated

thofe who had violated the fequeftration.

When King Edward the Third afferted his pretenfions to the crown of France, Carifbrooke, as an alien priory, was, with all its churches, feized by the crown, the king then prefenting to them; and the priory was granted to the Abbey of Mont Grace, in Yorkfhire, founded by Thomas Holland, Duke of Surry: but Henry the Fourth, in the first year of his reign, probably to remove all caufes of discontent between the courts of England and France, reftored it, with others which had also been feized.

In the reign of Henry the Fifth it was again resumed, and given to the Monaftery of Shene, in Surry, founded by the king, where it continued till the time of its diffolution. In the reign of Henry the Eighth, that abbey leafed it, together with the tithes of Godfhill and Freshwater, to Sir James Worfley, at the annual rent of two hundred marks, which leafe was renewed by his fon Richard, whose widow marrying Sir Francis Walfingham, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth, it came into his poffeffion. It was afterwards purchafed by Sir Thomas Fleming, from whofe family it came to the prefent poffeflors; the vicarage remained in the crown, until Charles the Firft gave it to Queen's College, Oxford. To the church of Carifbrooke belongs the chapels of Northwood, Weft Cowes, and Newport. the time of Cardinal Beaufort's taxation, this church was valited at twenty marks per annum, the vicarage at fixteen marks, and

[ocr errors]

the

the Procuracy of Lyra at forty marks. This priory, having been founded when there were not more than nine or ten churches in the ifland, the Monks enjoyed a larger jurisdiction than thofe of later inftitution, when most lords of great poffeffions, having built new churches, had appropriated the tithes of their lands to them.

Hiftory and Antiquities of the Oratory of Burton in the Ile of Wight. From the fame.

T

Sir

HE Convent, or Oratory of Burton, or Barton, having been diffolved long before the general fuppreffion of monaftic foundations, efcaped the notice of Dugdale, Speed, Tanner, and other writers on religious houfes, fo that its exiftence had nearly funk into total oblivion. John Oglander indeed mentions it in his manufcript Memoirs, but his information appears to have been merely traditional: its history is however preferved in the register of John de Pontiffera, Bishop of Winchester, wherein the ftatutes of the house are confirmed by an inftrument, in which the bishop affirms he had seen the charters of John de Infula, Rector of Shalfleet, and of Thomas de Winton, Rector of Godfhill, founders of the Oratory of the Holy Trinity of Burton, for the ordering and governing the faid 1282.] Oratory made, and in full force, under the feals of the founders, as follows:

I. That there fhall be fix chaplains and one clerk to officiate both

for the living and dead, under the rules of St. Auguftin.

II. That one of thefe fhall be prefented to the Bishop of Winchefter, to be the archprieft; to whom the reft fhall take an oath of obedience.

III. That the archpriest shall be chofen by the chaplains there refiding, who fhall present him to the bishop within twenty days after any vacancy fhall happen.

IV. They fhall be fubject to the immediate authority of the bishop.

V. When any chaplain fhall die, his goods fhall remain to the Oratory.

VI. They fhall have only one mefs, with a pittance, at a meal, excepting on the greater festivals, when they may have three meffes.

VII. They fhall be diligent in reading and praying.

VIII. They fhall not go beyond the bounds of the Oratory, without licenfe from the archpriest.

IX. Their habit shall be of one colour, either black or blue; they fhall be clothed pallio Hibernienfi, de nigra boneta cum pileo.

X. The archpriest shall fit at the head of the table, next to him those who have celebrated magnum missam; then the priest of St. Mary; next the priest of the Holy Trinity; and then the priest who fays mafs for the dead.

XI. The clerk fhall read fomething edifying to them while they dine.

XII. They fhall sleep in one

room.

XIII. They fhall use a special prayer for their benefactors. XIV. They fhall in all their ceremonies,

ceremonies, and in tinkling the bell, follow the ufe of Sarum.

XV. The archprieft alone fhall have charge of the bufinefs of the houfe.

XVI. They fhall, all of them, at their admiffion into the houfe, fwear to the obfervance of these ftatutes.

Thomas de Winton, and John de Infula, clerks, grant to John Bishop of Winchefter, and his fucceffors, the patronage of their Oratory at Burton, in the parish of Whippingham, that he might become a protector and a defender of them, the archpriest, and his fellow chaplains.

The bishop, at the inftance of John de Infula, the furviving founder, Thomas, being then dead, or that, after a year and a day from their entering into this Oratory, no, one fhall accept of any other benefice, or shall depart the house. Actum et datum in dicto Oratorio de Burton. a. 1289, For dano de King fton et aliis teftibus.

The archpriett being 1386.] fufpended by the bishop,

the dean of the island was ordered to take charge of his Oratory in the house at Burton: foon after, the archprieft being a cap1.390.] tive in France, and the houfe of Burton in a ruinous condition, the bishop gave orders for the house to be repaired, and other neceffary things to be done. The Oratory was, in 1439.] the eighteenth year of Henry the Sixth, furrendered into the hands of the bishop, and, together with its lands, by the procurement of bishop Wainfleet, granted to the College of Win

chefter: it was endowed with the manor of Whippingham, the demeine lands of Burton, or Barton, and fome lands at Chale. The fite and demefnes of the Oratory are still held under a lease from the Warden and Fellows of Winchefter College; and part of the old building is yet standing.

Punic Infcriptions in the Weftern Boundaries of Canada; from the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1781.

N

IN

the Journal Encyclop. 1781, Juin, p. 555, is the following article: "Un Profeffeur des Langues Orientales à Cambridge en Amerique vient d'envoyer à M. de Gebelin, auteur du Monde Primitif,' trois Infcriptions Puniques, qu'on a trouvées gravées fur des rochers, à l'embouchure d'une riviere qui est à 50 milles du fud de Bofton. Elles furent gravées par les Carthaginois qui aboiderent fur cette plage meconnue. Elles ont pour objet leur arrivée, & les traités qu'ils firent avec les habitans du pays. M. de Gebelin va donner un memoir fur cette importante decouverte." If this intimation does not come from M. G. himself, then one must fuppofe that there is fome one in America that can make out a Punic infcription, which is more than we knew before. I know a perfon of high rank and underftanding, who is perfuaded, that the common Irish is Punic, and that many of them have long known as much. If so, they have little more to do than to learn the

Punic

« PreviousContinue »