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Priests and Patrons in the Fourteenth-Century Diocese of Carlisle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

R. K. Rose
R. K. Rose*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Extract

There were several possibilities open to a man entering the secular clergy in the later middle ages. Among these were careers as a royal, papal, or episcopal servant, as a teacher or scholar, or as the rector or vicar of a parish church. If he did not set his hopes high, he could join the ranks of the chaplains of his diocese, helping the incumbents of the parish churches with the administration of their benefices and with the cure of souls, serving chapels and perpetual chantries, and serving oratories in noble and gentry households. Whatever his ambitions and aspirations, however, the secular priest’s situation depended entirely upon the charity and good will of those in a position to exercise patronage: family and friends, the beneficed clergy, the bishop and his familia, and the established, landed families of the area. And whether the possibilities became opportunities in the form of the patronage desired depended to a large extent upon the social position of the priest’s family, the proper connections, and the extent of his education. These were the realities faced universally by the clergy of the universal church, but each region had its own particular system of patronage, varying with the needs and structure of society. As a case in point, the lives and success of the clergy of the northern English diocese of Carlisle, despite the mission and aims held in common with the clergy of the entire church, were dictated to a degree by the rural nature of the diocese and its location on the Anglo-Scottish border.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 16: The Church in Town and Countryside , 1979 , pp. 207 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1979

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References

1 Russell, [J. C.], [British Medieval Population] (Albuquerque 1948) p 142 Google Scholar.

2 Donaldson, [R.], ‘Patronage and the Church: [A Study in the Social Structure of the Secular Clergy in the Diocese of Durham, 1311-1540]’ (University of Edinburgh PhD thesis 1955) p 103 Google Scholar.

3 Taxatio ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae Atictoritate P. Nicholai IV circa A.D. 1291, ed Astle, T., Aynscough, S., and Caley, J., Record Commissioners (London 1802) pp 318-20Google Scholar.

4 Ibid pp 332-3; Reg[ister of John de] Halton, [Bishop of Carlisle, A.D. 1292-1324,] ed Thompson, W.N., 2 vols, CYS (1906-13) 2, pp 183-9Google Scholar. With the great drop in ecclesiastical income in the early years of the century, it must have been difficult for the incumbents of benefices extensively to employ chaplains and clerks.

5 Bouch, [C. M. L.], Prelates and People [of the Lake Counties: A History of the Diocese of Carlisle, 1133-1933] (Kendal 1948) pp 471-3Google Scholar. The table illustrates the churches appropriated by 1291 and by 1535. Of those appropriated by 1535, only Thursby and Kirkland had not been appropriated in the fourteenth century.

6 Kirby, [J. L.], ‘Two Tax Accounts [of the Diocese of Carlisle’], Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, ns 52 (Kendal 1953) p 73 Google Scholar.

7 Reg Halton, 1, pp 226, 228, 262-3; 2, p 221; C[arlisle, Cumbria County] R[ecord] O[ffice], MS DRC 1/1, fols 219r, 238v, 239v; DRC 2/1, fols 20v, 23r, 50r, 56v, 79r, 136v, 155r, 158v, 185r; Reg Halton, 2, pp 28-9; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 219r, 238v, 239r; DRC 2/1, fols 35r, 46r, 86r; DRC 1/1, fols 137r, 131v, 132r, 136v, 186v, 188r, 232r; DRC 2/1, fols 10v, 11v, 47v, 88v, 121v, 155r.

8 Bouch, Prelates and People, pp 161-3. The table does not include the chapels of Bramery, Burton, and Solport. Reg Halton, 1, p 69; 2, p 190; CRO MS DRC 2/1, fols 46v, 53v.

9 Russell pp 161-3.

10 Kirby, ‘Two Tax Accounts’, pp 74-81.

11 Reg Halton, 1, pp 11-12, 23-7, 37-9, 60, 107-9, 118, 132-4, 183-7, 200-1, 203, 211-3, 221-3, 229-31, 241-7, 249-50, 263-4, 268-70, 272-7, 279-82, 290-92, 304-9, 320, 330-1; 2, pp 24-7, 29-32, 68-70, 73-4, 77, 88-91, 135-8, 140-1, 155, 164, 167-9, 190-1, 201-2, 206-8, 212-13, 217-18,226-30; CROMSDRC 1/1, fols 122r-4v, 128v-9r, 149v, 154r, 157r/v, 161v-3r, 165v-7r, 169v-70r, 176v-7v, 181v-2r, 189r/v, 201v, 203r, 205v-7v, 209r-10v, 214r, 224r, 226v-7r, 232v, 237r-8r, 240r-2r, 250r-4v; DRC 2/1, fols 70r-1v, 141r-9v. See table 1 below.

12 Bishop Welton conceded twenty-five dimissory letters between 1354 and 1362, as compared with four conceded by bishop Kirkby and one by bishop Appelby. CRO MS DRC 2/1, fols 9v, 19r, 22v, 33v, 36r, 37r, 38r, 41r/v, 42v, 43r, 44v, 45r, 50v, 51r/v, 55r, 58v, 59v, 66r, 67v, 68r, 81v.

13 Thompson, A. Hamilton, ‘The pestilences of the fourteenth century in the diocese of York’, Archaeological Journal, 2 ser, 21 (London 1914) pp 97–154 Google Scholar.

14 Reg Halton, 2, pp 116, 124, 223; CRO MS DRC 1/l, fols 124v, 141r, 143v, 160v, 162v, 171r, 175r, 185v, 186v, 200v, 203r, 233r, 234v, 241r, 242v, 247r, 252v, 253v; DRC 2/1, fols 10r, 21r, 23r/v, 25v, 30v, 34v, 35v, 36r, 4lr, 48r, 51v, 53v, 57v, 59r, 79r, 155v; Test[amenta] Karl[eolensia, 1353-1386], ed Ferguson, R.S (Kendal 1893) pp 1–3 Google Scholar, 112.

15 CRO MS DRC 2/1, fols 44v, 45r, 46r, 48r/v, 51v, 53r/v, 54v, 55v, 57v, 58r/v, 59r/v.

16 Reg Halton, 1, p 263; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fol 122r.

17 The analysis of titles is based upon the titles listed in the extant ordinations lists. See note 11 above.

18 Reg Halton, 2, p 141; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 157v, 224r.

19 Reg Halton, 1, pp 25, 201, 207, 242, 292, 306; 2, pp 31, 112, 138, 141, 229; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 170r, 203r, 214r, 254v; DRC 2/1, fols 144r/v, 145v, 71r.

20 Reg Halton, 1, pp 107, 132, 273, 305, 223, 321, 231, 292, 331; 2, pp 27, 30, 32, 77, 90, 111, 141, 230; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 123v, 162r, 163r, 170r, 189r, 250r/v, 254v; DRC 2/1, fols 141v, 142r, 143v, 144v, 145r, 146r/v, 148v.

21 For a discussion of the titles granted in the neighbouring diocese of Durham, see Donaldson, ‘Patronage and the Church’, pp 375-89. According to Donaldson’s study, ten per cent of the clerks of the diocese of Durham received titles from ecclesiastical sources and eighty-five per cent from the laity in the period 1334-45. From 1353 to 1373, about thirty-six per cent were ecclesiastical and sixty per cent lay, and from 1416 to 1436, ninety-six per cent ecclesiastical, four per cent lay.

22 C[alendar of] I[nquisitions] P[ost] M[ortem] (London 1904-) 2, p 269; 3, pp 53-5, 147, 186, 211-12, 447-50; 4, pp 88-9, 183-4, 191-2, 219, 331; 5, pp 100, 215, 297-307; 6, pp 4, 22-6, 60-1, 87, 89, 93, 143, 154-5, 166, 174, 200, 232-3, 363, 403, 417; 7, pp 153, 196-7, 243, 401, 403, 411-412, 419-21; 8, pp 24-5, 67, 105-7, 187, 279, 303, 370-2; 9, pp 30, 78-9, 94, 172-3, 229, 281, 304, 374-6, 382, 421-2; 10, pp 3, 5-6, 61, 133, 184-5, 424-6; 11, pp 87-8, 218-19, 245, 252, 255-6, 268, 317, 333-4, 341-3, 457; 12, pp 41, 148-9, 213, 284, 334-6, 354, 360-1, 421-3; 13, p 123; 14, pp 41, 118, 208; 15, pp 54, 112, 123, 165-6, 393; 16, pp 148, 324-5. I have in some cases been rather arbitrary in distinguishing between greater and lesser landowners, as it is not possible to determine the value of lands in CIPM. The lesser landowners indicated on table 2 below mostly held one manor or less, whereas the majority of the greater landowners were knights.

23 Reg Halton, 2, p 141; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 154r, 170r, 240v.

24 Reg Halton, 1, pp 201, 222; 2, pp 2, 141, 208; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 154r, 123v, 189r.

25 Reg Halton, 2, pp 89, 135, 212, 208; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 129r, 154r, 226v, 240v, 238r, 224r, 124r, 162r.

26 See table 2 below.

27 CIPM, 3, pp 147, 449; 5, pp 215, 299, 302; 6, p 166; 7, pp 243, 401, 475; 9, pp 94, 304, 375; 10, pp 61, 133; 11, pp 87, 245, 256; 15, p 112; 16, p 324; ordinations lists, see note 11 above.

28 Reg Halton, 1, p 321; CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 183v, 208r, 240v, 189r; DRC 2/1, fols 21v, 145v, 152r; Test Karl p 77.

29 CRO MS DRC 1/1. fols 154r,, 227r; DRC 2/1, fols 30v, 83r.

30 Reg Halton, 1, pp 200, 223, 291, 322; 2, pp 13-14, 30, 145.

31 CRO MS DRC 1/1, fols 169v; DRC 2/1, fols 20r, 23v, 33r.

32 Ibid DRC 2/1, fols 13r, 19v, 22r, 33r, 45r, 78v.

33 Ibid DRC 2/1, fols 9v, 20v, 21r, 23v, 42r.

34 Ibid DRC 2/1, fols 152r, 155v.

35 Because of the incomplete episcopal registers, not all the vacancies of benefices are here indicated. It is not possible to determine the number of non-beneficed clergy who left the diocese or who died each year, so this line on the graph must not be interpreted as indicating the total number of new priests required each year but the number of those needed to fill benefices.