Part of the two the public exercise of the university. latter years of this master another fellow, one Kyffin, was added to the number, and the master having occasion to be absent, one Richard Sharpe chaplain to the bishop of 5 Rochester was appointed president, and received salary £5 per annum. In the latter year one Mr Smith received stipend as fellow instead of Kyffin. The old brethren were likewise maintained and had their pensions duly paid them; but two of them either did 10 not live long, or were otherwise provided for. (In a letter to the bishop of Rochester they are said to be removed to Ely, probably to their old friends at St John's hospital there). Sir Christopher Wright survived the other two, and had not only his pension, but likewise the curacy of 15 Horningsey, which he enjoyed several years and maintained a good port upon his curacy. William Tomlyn the old master seems to have been an obstinate man, and did not quit his claim till February 27th in the fifth year of Henry the Eighth; when being pinch20 ed, or seeing the thing would be done without him, he was prevailed with to resign, and received ten marks from Robert Shorton master of the college, in regardo resignationis officii sui, as it is entered in the computus. This was a poor reward, and yet it does not appear he ever 25 received more, whether his heart were broken and he might not live much longer, or whether his former obstinacy had not deserved a more ample reward, or whether he might be thought to have sufficiently rewarded himself already by pawning and devouring the revenues of his 30 convent, I will not say. There seems to have been a good understanding betwixt this last master and the bishop of Ely; for William Tomlyn's resignation and the bishop's last grant or confirmation are dated the same month and year. The bishop 35 had expressed a tenderness for the master and the house by not reflecting upon their dissolute lives, as the pope, the king and the executors had all done pretty freely: and when it was to be dissolved, though he had the fullest right both as founder and diocesan, and ought to have had 40 the greatest interest in that affair, yet he rather consents to the thing as done already, than dissolves it by his own authority. When his last grant was made (which was now done), though it be a very large one' containing three large sheets of parchment, yet he does little more than recite his two former grants together with the charter of 5 the foundation, which he there confirms, and in conclusion reserves to himself and successors ordinary jurisdiction, and 20s. for every visitation, tam pro procuratione quam pro esculentis et poculentis quibuscunque. This was dated Febr. 1. an. 5to. Hen. 8, and was confirmed by the prior 10 and convent of Ely Febr. the 20th, and by William Tomlyn's resignation Febr. 27th the same year2: and so we have done with this bishop of Ely. All this while the executors had to do with a greater man, the king, as heir at law to the foundress' estate: 15 all due care had been taken to secure their interest therein, by proving her will both in the prerogative and in the court of chancery, by advice of the judges, wherein archbishop Warham was very useful and favourable, both as archbishop and as chancellor of England, who after a long, 20 tedious and expensive hearing, witnesses examined, the king's counsel heard, judges consulted, (all which was necessary to guard him against the king) at last approved and allowed the will as good. Upon this ground the profits of her lands were re- 25 ceived for some years, first by bishop Fisher, and afterwards by Dr Hornby3; but this was not to continue long, for what by the clamours of my lady's officers and servants, who because they could not have all themselves, were willing to give all to the king, what by the advice of 30 some potent courtiers', of which number Wolsey is said to be one, and what by the fresh suit of the king's auditors and counsel, who are usually ready to second the courtiers in such designs, the executors were so hard pressed and so straitly handled that they were forced to 35 1 Inter archiva collegii. 2 Wm. Tomlyn did indeed resign an. 1505, and so early the brethren were treating with my lady's grace, the bishops of Cant. and Ely, but the resignation not being in form, it 3 Computus D. Hornby. 4 Liber rub. let go the lands, notwithstanding all the claim they had to them. The lands being gone, they were to look out and sue for a compensation, otherwise all was at a stand: some5 what of that kind was easily obtained, but that at first granted, as it was small in itself, so it was soon defeated by unexpected accidents and by an untimely death. Somewhat more durable was to be had, and there being an old decayed Maison Dieu or hospital at Ospring in Kent, 10 worth having, this, falling under the bishop of Rochester's view, was quickly thought of, and being by devolution in the king, by the bishop's application at court, with the mediation of the queen, Wolsey and other courtiers, it was at last obtained. 15 Since this house fell before the general dissolution and is not much known, it will not be improper to give some short account of it'. It was founded by king Henry the Third, and consisted of a master and three regular brethren professed according to the order of the holy cross, and of 20 two secular clerks, to celebrate for the good estate of the king their founder. Upon the death of a master the brethren were to choose one of their own body, who was to be presented to the king for his consent, and afterwards to be instituted by the archbishop. In process of time one 25 Robert Darrell was chose master, two of the brethren die, afterwards Robert Darrell the master dies on the 20th of May in the 20th year of Edward the Fourth, and the third brother likewise dying soon after and the two seculars departing from the house, it became desolate and dissolved go on the 6th of June in the twenty-second of that king (and so continued to the seventh of Henry the Eighth) and the several kings in succession by their letters patent committed the custody of it to secular persons. King Henry the Eighth in the sixth year of his reign, 35 Febr. 16th, committed the custody of it to John Underhill clerk for term of his life: but in the seventh year of his reign, Mar. 10th, that king having been prevailed with to make a grant of it to St John's college for ever, the same day and year John Underhill resigns all his claim to 1 Ex archivis collegii. the master, fellows and scholars of that college, receiving in hand £40 and a yearly pension of £30 for his life. This grant was afterwards renewed by the king in the eleventh year of his reign, and confirmed by the archbishop, the prior and convent and archdeacon of Canter- 5 bury, for their several parts and interests; and having brought with it several good estates in Kent to the value of £70 per an., was a good addition to the college, without which it could not have subsisted according to the foundation, as was deposed upon oath' before the archbishop by 10 Nicholas Metcalfe D.D. and Richard Sharpe B.D., and their allegation allowed; and upon this the college mortmain was enlarged. This with the lands of the old house, together with the foundress' estate at Fordham which was charged 15 with debts by her will and came so charged to the college, with some other little things purchased with her moneys at Steukley, Bradley, Isleham and Foxton (the two last alienated or lost) was the original foundation upon which the college was first opened; and whoever dreams 20 of vast revenues or larger endowments, will be mightily mistaken. Her lands put in feoffment for the performance of her will lay in the counties of Devon, Somerset and Northampton, and though I should be very glad to meet with lands of the foundation in any of these three counties, 25 yet I despair much of such a discovery. But whoever now enjoys the manors of Maxey and Torpell in the county of Northampton, or the manors of Martock, Currey Reyvell, Kynsbury and Queen Camell, with the hundreds of Bulston, Abdike and Horethorn in the county of 30 Somerset, or the manor of Sandford Peverell with the hundred of Allerton in the county of Devon, though they may have a very good title to them, which I will not question, yet whenever they shall be piously and charitably disposed, they cannot bestow them more equitably than by 35 leaving them to St John's. ALAN PERCY SECOND MASTER, JUL. 29 ANNO 1516. THE college thus built and thus endowed, the executors' next care was to give rules and statutes to their new foundation, to stock it with fellows and scholars as far as the endowments would reach, and to make it as intended a 5 seat of learning. This requiring attendance and more skill than most of them were masters of, they delegate their authority to the bishop of Rochester by a commission' dated March 20th an. 1515; only if any of their number happened to be present with him, they were to have equal 10 power. It was happy for the college that bishop Fisher was then in England, for he had been ordered by the king to repair to the general council at Rome (for so it is styled, though it had nothing general but the name). But though 15 bishop Burnet2 and Mr Wharton3, who differ in other things, have agreed to send him thither, and the university had recommended their affairs to him as ready to go by a letter dated February 1514, and though he had drawn up and sealed procuratorial powers to William Fresel prior of 20 Rochester and Richard Chetthm prior of Leeds during his absence dated March 10th the same year, yet he never went; he says himself his journey was stopped, and these procuratorial powers, together with other letters recommending him to some men of note at Rome, are yet lodged 25 amongst the archives", and shew they were never delivered. Had he gone, as our hopes of Ospring must needs have miscarried, which was procured wholly by his interest and 1 Inter archiva apud statuta vet. Roffens, 4 Liber oratoris. |