KX^ ^ > », i m ft UPlTl MlUll. V h ( 4t . li , i .\/,'»''sr.> 'itf.fn Ir i rnmM^' /iM^. 11^.* ^J*?! iVlt » r* ^/Vt'^^^'^'- '■ .V ^^i\if;! W'^ Vi4v fia\''^ Wf \r "1. - ' J! ■diy.,y>^lv!^ >', 1 i-l „,nf..A..i,t , >\y *- ' ^0^ t^. * w«t . ^-^ .15^°^ #1 \^5?!^V o' ^ ''!K 3vN V^^^V V^^*/ V^** 5 rt HI Q J ^ 3 ni ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND, AND CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: a Sketch of his Life and Environment, BY v' HENRY LEIGH BENNETT, M.A., Rector of St. Mary Magdalene's, Lincoln ; Prebendary of Kilsby in the Cathedral of Lincoln ; late Rector of Thrybergh, Yorkshire. Digression is so much in modern use, Thought is so rare, and fancy so profuse, Some never seem so wide of their intent. As when returning to the theme they meant. As mendicants, whose business is to roam, Make every parish but their own, their home : Though such continual zigzags in a book, Such drunken reelings have an awkward look. And I had rather creep to what is true, Than rove and stagger with no mark in view, Yet to consult a little, seemed no crime, The freakish humour of the present time. Co7iversation. — William Cowper. Profits on this Edition to be given to the Endowment of St, Mary Magdalene's Benefice, Lincoln. LINCOLN J. W. Ruddock 253 H>;g}?.Str^et{ "ox, TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN Gy EST, F.S. A., THE HISTORIAN OF ROTHERHAM, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY ONE OF HIS MANY STUDENTS AND CLIENTS. PREFACE. npHIS little book is the work of an amateur local historian. The local historian is a peacock for vanity. If he discovers his village among the numerous manors of John of Gaunt, he considers it a duty to the nation to write the history of the dynasty of Lancaster from the meridian of that village. When engaged on the sketch of the Life of Archbishop Rotherham for the Dictionary of National Biography, it seemed to me that a fuller picture of the old prelate's life in its stormier and quieter surroundings might certainly be of interest to Sheffield and Rotherham, where he is a hero, and, possibly — to the University of Cambridge, which to this day commemorates him as one of her great benefactors ; to the dioceses of York (over which he presided as primate), Lincoln and Rochester ; and to members of Lincoln College Oxford, which reveres him as her Second Founder. To the nature of the stormier surroundings Lord Lytton's " Last of the Barons," and Shakespeare's " Richard IIL" may testify : Rotherham cannot be represented as a maker of history ; but he was in the very centre of the vortex, owing to it both his eminence and his fall. As for the quieter scenes, the fascinating books on Mediaeval Cambridge might yield us a glimpse of the town of wood and thatch, at a time when the MonasterieSj and not the Colleges, were the dominants of its architecture — the great courts of Trinity and St. John's, the great Church of St. Mary's, and the great Chapel at King's being as yet unbuilt. From the same source also we might win some faint idea of the University world in the slumbrous VI. PREFACE. time before the invasion of the New Learning and the outburst of the Reformation. And last, the old Diocesan Registers of Lincoln and York, interpreted and illustrated by local histories and architectural remains, might shew us something of the baronial state and the diocesan administration of a mediaeval bishop. But for Guest's accumulations in his " Historic Notices of Rotherham," the book would neither have been conceived nor undertaken. I have, however, except in two leading instances (the transcript of Cole's MS., and the translation of "The Statutes of Jesus College, Rotherham,") verified his references ; and especially in regard to Rotherham's life at Cambridge and in Parliament, his benefactions to Lincoln College, and the general historical situation, as well as in several minor details, the base of authority is much wider. I have endeavoured also to give some organic unity to the account. Those who are familiar with Guest's book know that it is in this that he fails us. His patience, thoroughness in research, collection and chronicle of evidence, are admirable : but his power of drawing his facts into a focus and presenting them in a single picture is poorer. We often feel a doubt whether we may not have missed something pregnant for the biographical moment, through the looseness of his arrangement of facts. I hope that I have indicated in all cases the books from which I have gained information. My debts of acknowledgment to personal correspondents are very numerous. Many I have endeavoured to note in the passages, where their aid has been so great. In a more general way I desire here to express my thanks to Mr. G. Lowes Dickinson, Librarian of King's College, Cambridge ; Rev. G. A. Weekes, Librarian of PREFACE. Vll. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge ; Dr. Searle, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge ; Mr. J. Arthur Munro, Librarian of Lincoln College, Oxford ; Mr. S. W. Kershaw, Librarian at Lambeth Palace ; Rev. Andrew Clark, Author of the History of Lincoln College in '• The Colleges of Oxford"; Rev. H. E. Nolloth, Vicar of Beverley ; Rev. R. G. Glennie, late Chaplain of the Archbishop of York ; Mr. E. C. Sherwood, Westminster School ; Mr. H. A. Hudson, Registrar of York ; Mr. William Smith, Secretary to the Bishop of Lincoln ; Sir Arthur Marshall, Buckden ; Mr. Arthur Hussey, Wingham ; Mr. Maurice H. Footman, Lincoln ; Mr. Ernest Leigh Bennett, Mr. James Knight, Rotherham ; Mr. Reginald A. Gatty, Hooton Roberts. I am also very grateful to Miss Mary Crossley for her photographs of the Head of Rotherham and his Tomb at York Minster; to Messrs. Davis & Sons, Halifax, for permission to reproduce their photographs of the Tower of Buckden ; to Mr. E. Dossetter, for photographs of the Old Court at King's College and the Old Schools, Cambridge ; to Mr. Hardwick, Cambridge, for the photograph of The Statutes of the College of Jesus, Rotherham ; and to Messrs. Macmillan & Bowes for permission to reproduce the Engraving of the Old Court at King's College from Cooper's " Memorials of Cambridge." H.L.B. ERRATA. On page 22, line 20, instead of "four" read "poor." On page 27, line 30, instead of " V." read " VI." On page 48, line 35, instead of " Consecration " read " Consistory." On page 52, line 31, instead of "The Tower" read "Sanctuary." CONTENTS. PAGE Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii. Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , v. Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii. Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x. Chapter 1. Introductory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Chapter II. Early School Days .. .. 12 Chapter III. Life at Cambridge 25 Chapter IV. First Preferments. — The First Crisis of the Wars of the Koses.. ^^ Chapter V. The Last Crisis of the Wars of the Roses . . . . . . . . 44 Chapter VI. Rotherham as Chancellor of Cambridge and Founder of Lincoln College, Oxford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Chapter VII. Rotherham Chancellor of England 71 Chapter VIII. The Last Days of Edward IV. go Chapter IX. The Last Days of Rotherham's Public Life 98 Chapter X. Rotherham as a Bishop 109 Chapter XI. The Red College of Rotherham .. .. 133 Chapter XII. The Last Will of Rotherham ' .. 152 CONTENTS — continued. PAGE Note A. — On the Rotherham Family in Luton . . . . . . 163 Note B. — Pedigree of Archbishop Rotherham .. .. .. 166 Pedigree of the Rotherhams of Someries . . . . 167 Pedigree of the Rotherhams of Farley . . . . . . 168 Note C. — On Anthony Wood's Claim of Rotherham as an Oxonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Note D. — On Rotherham's Degrees at Cambridge and Oxford,. 172 Note E. — On Lincoln College 173 Note F. — On Lord Wenlock and the Rotherhams of Someries.. 176 Note G. — On the Delivery of the Duke of York out of Sanctuary 178 Note H. — Petition from the University of Cambridge to the Duke of Gloucester . . . . . . . . 181 Note L — On the Chantry License for the Altar of Jesus .. 182 Note J. — The Buildings of the College of Jesus 184 Note K. — The Plate, Vestments, and Service Books of the College of Jesus .. .. .. ,. .. i85 Note L. — Notable Inmates of the College of Jesus .. .. 188 Note M. — The College of Jesus and the Grammar School . . igo Note N.— The Will of Thos. Rotherham, Archbishop of York.. igr Note O. — Traces of Archbishop Rotherham in York Minster . . 202 Note P. — Representations of Archbishop Rotherham , , . . 203 Authorities 206 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Q ILLUSTRATIONS. I. — Original Court of King's College, Cambridge (now the Western Court of the University Library), looking Southwards. From " Cantabrigia Illustrata," by David Loggan. (Frontispiece.) 2. — Original Court of King's College, Cambridge (now the Western Court of the University Library), looking Northwards, Taken by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Bowes, from the En- graving in Cooper's "Memorials of Cambridge." (Opposite p. 25.) 3. — The Old Schools at Cambridge, shewing the East Front, built by Archbishop Rotherham. From " Cantabrigia Illustrata," by David Loggan. (Opposite p. 57.) 4. — Portrait of Archbishop Rotherham. From the Mezzotint by Faber, Oxford. (Opposite p. 70.) 5._The Old Palace at Buckden. From an old print. (Opyosite p. 119.) 6. The Tower of Buckden : probably built by Archbishop Rotherham. Taken by permission from a Photograph by Messrs. Davis & Sons, Halifax. (Opposite p lUl.) y. First page of "The Statutes of the College of Jesus," preserved in the Library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. (Opposite p. 131.) g^ Tomb of Archbishop Rotherham in York Minster. Taken by permission from a Photograph by Miss Mary Crossley, (Opposite p. 154.) g, Wooden Head of an Effigy, found in the tomb of Archbishop Rotherham at York : preserved in the Vestry of York Minster. (Opposite p. 203.) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. There was an Aylmer-Averill marriage once, When the red rose was redder than itself, And York's white rose as red as Lancaster's With wounded peace which each had pricked to death. " Not proven," Averill said, or laughingly " Some other race of Averills : " proven or no. What cared he ? What, if other or the same ? He leaned not on his fathers, but himself. " Aylmer's Field." — Tennyson. The Name and Lineage of the Archbishop — Family name, Scott, or Botherham — The Surname of Scott — The Surname of Botherham — The Legitimacy of Thomas Botherham — The name of Botherham not adopted first on eiitrance into Holy Orders — The Scotts of Scot's Hall — Spellings of the name of Thomas Botherham. OOME account of the Name and Lineage is the general prelude to the movement of a biography; and, unless it can be lighted by brilliant incidents or figures, it is fated to be dull. This chapter will be a heavy illustration of the rule : for while the known certainties about our Archbishop's family and kindred must here be given, we have to consider the curious puzzle about his surname, on which pages of discussion have been written, and also a claim, advanced in recent years, which would make him a scion of a venerable house. 2 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. What was the surname of the old prelate ? ami y name . j^^ ^^^ ^j^^ ^j^ bioerraphies and under the Scott, OP . RotheFham °^^ pictures we find the surname given as " Scott, alias Rotherham," " Rotherham, alias Scot," etc. Which of these surnames is the earliest or most authoritative ? What was the origin of the al- ternative names ? The name of Scott, though only found in The name authorities of the i6th and 17th centuries, is too widely and strongly attested to be considered a mistake.* Perhaps the strongest piece of evidence is that connected with a bequest in Rotherham's last Will. " John Scott," he says, " my blood relation (consanguineus), who has an inheritance although small in the Parish of Ecclesfield, successively descending in the same name and blood from a time beyond the memory of men — shall have for himself and the male heirs of his body lawfully begotten my manor of Barnes situate in the aforesaid parish . . . and also my manor of Housely."t The family of the Scotts of Barnes Hall was well known by Hunter, and by his editor, Dr. Gatty, Rector of Ecclesfield, who have expended much labour on the pedigree. There is in the church there a fine recumbent figure of Sir John Scott, who died in 1628 ; and the inscription on it begins : — " Richardus Scott antiqua Scotorum in agro Eboracensi familia oriundus et in equestrem ordinem merito scriptus cujus * It is found in the very early life in Stubbs' " Lives of the Arch- bishops of York," which Canon Raine dates 1491 — 1538 ; in Leland ; in Bishop Wrenn's MSS. at Pembroke ; in Anthony Wood, who gives this as the inscription under Rotherham's pictures in the series of Founders of Colleges, in the Bodleian, put up in 1670, " Thomas de Rotherham, alias Scott ; " and under the picture at Lincoln College, Oxford, " Tho. de Rotheram, alias Scot." t Guest, p. 140. CHAPTER I.] INTRODUCTORY. 3 inter proavos maxime eminuerit summa semper laude nominandus Thomas Scott ArchP"^ Ebor^'^ qui inter alia quam plurima munificentias suae monumenta Collegium Jesuanum instituit.* On the other hand, in every document eman- name of ^ting from Thomas himself, in every record of his many preferments, in all the official designations of his name by the University of Cambridge during his Chancellorship there, the name of Rotherham * The assertion of the name Scott, as that of the Archbishop, is of course very weighty. Perhaps the links of relationship between him and the Scotts, of Barnes Hall, which are not quite clear, may be best given here. In the bequest above, the Archbishop directed that, if John Scott died without an heir, the estate should go to Richard Scott, the next brother, and if he also died without an heir, should revert to the right heirs of the Archbishop. If we can trust a pedigree subscribed by Richard St. George Norroy, King at Arms (said to be "well proved by authenticated matters") on his Visitation of the Northern parts in 1612, John and Richard both did die childless : for he traces the descent of the estate thus : — " The Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England died in 1500. . . His brother married and had Sir Thomas and George : George had John, who had Richard Scott, of Barnes Hall " : (History of Hallam- shire, by Joseph Hunter : edited by Dr. Gatty). The original John and Richard Scott having both died without issue, the estate reverts to another Richard, who is descended from George, the younger son of the Archbishop's brother, John (always called Rotherham) of Someries. Mr. Alfred Scott Gatty, York Herald, however in his register of Ecclesfield, points out the extraordinary mortality which this line assumes. John Scott, the father of the second Richard Scott, was dead in 1521, and the Archbishop had died in 1500. So in 21 years the estate must have passed through four hands, those of John Scott and his brother Richard, George the nephew of the Archbishop and John his son. He inclines therefore to believe the second Richard to be identical with the first, and brother of the John to whom the Archbishop left the estate originally. Two facts may be added in corroboration of Mr. Gatty's objection. In the Visitation of Cambridgeshire by Sir Henry St. George (i6ig) mentioned below (Note B), no legitimate son is attributed to George the nephew of the Archbishop : the only son named is a natural son, George. And further, if we are to suppose that the Barnes estate reverted through failure of issue to the rightful heirs of the Archbishop, these heirs would be found, not in the line of George, who was the younger son, but Thomas who was the eldest son of John of Someries, the Archbishop's brother. 4 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. is used without a hint of the name ot Scott*. In the entries of preferment his brother Roger, who was an ecclesiastic, is similarly always designated by the name of Rotherham. His brother John, who was a layman, also described him- self in his Will (1492) simply as John Rotherham : from this brother sprang the family of the Rotherhams of Someries, which continued in Luton for several generations. While there is thus abundant contemporary evidence for the use of the name Rotherham by the three brothers, there is also evidence for the use of this name by their father, though of a less conclusive kind. In three dififerent volumes of the Collections of Augustine Vincent, Windsor Herald, and in Bishop Kennett's MSS. the father's name is given as Rotherhamt; and also in the Visitation of Cambridge- shire (i6iq) by Sir Henry St. George Norroy, which was copied by Cole, the Cambridge antiquarian. J * The personal documents are: i, The entry of his name in the "In- ventory of 1452 " at King's College, the earliest known registry of the College: "Thomas Rotherham de com Ebor," 2, His register at Lincoln, " Thome Rotherham " (1472). 3, His first Will, in which he calls his brother " John Rotherham " (1475). 4, His register at York, "Thome Rotherham" (1480). 5, His last Will, "Thomas Rotherham." The only apparent exception to this rule is in the catalogue of Members of King's College begun by Thomas Hatcher in 1555, and continued by John Scott until 1620, where the entry is, " Thomas Scott, alias Rother- ham." But the handwriting of this catalogue belongs to the time of John Scott, and not that of Hatcher : and the biographical details, with this among them, may be the work of John Scott. The entries at Cambridge are very numerous, some referring to him simply as a member of the University, in the Grace book A : others to his acts as Chancellor, There are also, the enrolment of his name among the benefactors of the University; the decree of Exequies; and a petition for him to Richard HI. The name of Scott never appears. As an example of entries of preferments we may quote the appointment to St. Vedast, Foster Lane : " Thomas Rotherham, S.T.B." Feb. 13, 1465 (Register Bourchier). t Notes and Queries, vol. vii., page 470: vol. viii., p. 370. } The pedigree is given in full from Cole's MSS. in Guest, p. 99. CHAPTER I.j INTRODUCTORY. 5 The authority of both surnames being so great, two theories have been started to account for the alternative : illegitimacy, or change of name on the adoption of the priestly profession. There are however objections to both of them. Illegitimacy would in the ordinary course ® have been a bar to Ordination. This, how- . _, ever, as will be seen below, could have of Thomas. ' been managed by an expensive dispensa- tion from the Pope. But the fact that the arms of the Scotts, of Barnes Hall, and those of the Archbishop, and his brother John, are the same, points to the conclusion that the name of Scott was that of their father, not their mother. Yet the earliest pedigree, lately quoted, gives the name of the father as Sir Thomas Rotherham : and the two brothers of the Archbishop were without doubt always called Rotherham, so that they too by the same reasoning must be pronounced illegitimate, and Roger the priest could only have been Ordained by dispensation.* The known facts about the name of Rother- name of j^^j^ ^^jg^ dispose of the commonly-accepted i. J i J explanation of the double name, which is not adopted ^ by Thomas excellently given in this quotation from on entering ' Fuller's Worthies ' (1662) : " Thomas Ro- Holy Orders, therham was born at Rotherham, no obscure town in this county : waving his paternal name, he took that of Rotherham from the place of his nativity. This I observe the rather, because he was (according to my exactest enquiry) the last clergyman of note with such an assumed surname ; which custom * Mr. Bellasis, the Lancaster Herald, kindly informed me that in the MS. at the Herald's College, compiled by Sale (circa 1721), the name of the Archbishop's mother is given as Alice Rotherham. But in the pedigree of i6ig her surname is not given at all. b ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. began now to grow out of fashion, and clergymen (like other men) to be called by the name of their fathers." Similarly, Godwin (De Praesulibus Angliae, 1613), says that he desired his name to be changed to that of Rotherham, his birth-place, " more ecclesiasticis homini- bus usitato." The entry of the name of the Archbishop at the age of twenty in the contemporary catalogue at King's College as ' Thomas Rotherham,' is not decisive against this theory, because he may then have received the first tonsure. But the exclusive use of the name Rotherham by his brother John, a layman, and its apparent use by his father before him, show that entrance on the priestly life was not the occasion of its adoption. On the whole, the theory which is most free from objection is, that the original name of the family was Scott ; but that, apparently in the generation before the Archbishop, a practice had grown up of calling them- selves, from the name of the town in which they lived, Rotherham. Founded on the name of Scott, there is a The Scotts, claim of ancestry which we must next con- sider. Mr. James Renat Scott, in " The Memorials of the Family of Scott of Scot's Hall," has claimed Thomas as a member of this ancient house, which was seated at Smeeth and Brabourne in Kent, and derives from Sir William Baliol, youngest brother of John Baliol, the competitor of Bruce for the throne of Scotland. According to Mr. Scott's contention, the father of Thomas was Sir John Scotte, High Sheriff of Kent (39th Henry VI., and 7th Edward IV.), Privy Councillor to the King, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Governor of Dover Castle, Marshal of Calais, and Ambassador to the Duke of Burgundy (12th Edward IV.) If this claim could be sustained, the Archbishop would CHAPTER I.] INTRODUCTORY. 7 be endowed with a distinguished ancestry, and we should be able to picture father and son in frequent connection with each other about the person of Edward IV. during the Archbishop's tenure of the office of Chancellor of England. But the claim breaks down under examination. The ' three bucks trippant, attired or,' which are the arms alike of the Archbishop, the Rotherhams of Someries, and the Scotts of Barnes Hall, are entirely distinct from the three Catherine wheels (said to be derived from the badge of Baliol), which characterize the coat of the Scotts of Brabourne. In the voluminous documents and deeds which Mr. Renat Scott has printed, not one bears evidence of relationship : the utmost which Mr. Renat Scott is able to assert from the Scot's Hall documents is, that the Archbishop's name " frequently appears in the Scot's Hall records sometimes in the light of a Trustee, at others as an arbitrator." But this may have arisen from the connection of Thomas Rotherham with Kent, first as Provost of Wingham, and next as Bishop of Rochester. When he was at Wingham, he became and remained through life a trusted legal adviser of the Monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury : Sellynge, the prior, was a neighbour through his place of birth of the Brabourne Scotts, and a great friend of Rotherham. When we confront the known facts in the life of Sir John Scott and his family with the known facts about Archbishop Rotherham, the claim becomes hopeless. The name of Sir John Scott's wife was Agnes Beaufitz ; the name of Archbishop Rotherham's father was Sir Thomas, and the name of his mother was Alice. The Wills of Sir John Scotte and his wife Agnes are given by Mr. Renat Scott : both of them were made before the last Will of Archbishop Rotherham — Sir John's being dated 1485, and his widow's 1487. In neither of these Wills, o ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. though several names are mentioned, does the name of either the Archbishop, or his two brothers John and Roger, occur : the eldest son is in both Wills named William : there is no trace whatever of any Yorkshire or Bedfordshire property. In Archbishop Rotherham's two Wills, on the other hand, one of which is earlier, and the other later than these, there is no mention of any of the names of persons (who on Mr. Renat Scott's theory would be his sisters or nieces) mentioned in the Wills of Sir John and Agnes Scott, although more distant relations, such as the Scott at Ecclesfield, are remembered : his brother is distinctly named John, and not William : and there is no trace whatever of any property at Brabourne.* The other pieces of evidence more or less direct are very slight. The name " Rico a Barne " is adduced, as that of Richard Scott of Barnes Hall : but the Will of Archbishop Rotherham does not give the manor of Barnes to Richard until after the death of his elder brother John Scott, nor is it certain that he ever lived to possess it at all. It is far more natural to suppose that the witness came from Barnes in Surrey. An extract from the Corporation records of the Cinque Ports in Sir John Scott's time runs : " Payde to a manne of Sir John Scotte * Of the documents said to prove connection between the Archbishop and the Scotts of Brabourne, only one, containing his name as an • arbitrator,' is printed in ' The Memorials '; and this may be naturally interpreted as a transaction before Rotherham as Chancellor. Among the relatives of the Scotts was one John Pympe, who left the following memorandum of his debts:— " These be the dettes that I John Pympe owe or have owed Sithence . . . Item. In the tyme of my sute for the manr of Nettlested my Lord Roderham that tyme Bysshop of Lincoln let me in comfort of my sute xx^' off what he assigned me to pay to my brother Raynolde Pympe as hys gyfte to by that tyme beyg hys srvaunt which I paid by by divers payments. Whereof my obligation restyth yet in my seid Lord's hands." p. Ixiii. CHAPTER I.] INTRODUCTORY. 9 bryngynge tydynges fromme Lynkolle (Lincoln) 8d." This is interpreted as a message from Rotherham, then Bishop of Lincoln. But Rotherham's residence at Lincoln was very casual. The number of residences possessed by the Bishops of Lincoln will appear later (chapter x).* Of the parents of Thomas Rotherham we ® know scarcely anything. Their house was in Sotherham i • <. Family Jesus Gate, on the site afterwards occupied by the College of Jesus, t in Rotherham. If we assume that the father Sir Thomas Rotherham did not die until after 1475, it is possible that the pieces of property near Rotherham mentioned (without any record of purchase attached to them) in the last Will of the Archbishop, and perhaps other property elsewhere had descended to him from his father. | The family would of course be on terms of acquaintance or intimacy with the great families of the neighbourhood within a radius of ten miles or so. Dame Alice Rotherham, the mother, lived after the death of Sir Thomas with her son John Rotherham at Someries, and was buried in the • See • The Memorials of the family of Scott of Scot's Hall,' pp. 118- 122. The whole case concerning the name and claim by Mr. Renat Scott is discussed in a long correspondence in ' Notes and Queries,' Fifth Series, vols. vii. — ix. t Volo quod unum collegium erigatur in villa predicta (Rotherham) in eodem loco in quo natus fueram. Will of Archbishop Rotherham, 1498. J In the Archbishop's Will of 1475 no Yorkshire property is men- tioned. In that of 1498 he mentions several pieces of property near Rotherham, which he has purchased : and besides these, a house near the College, a house at Brinsworth, a tenement at Scoles, lands at Mexbrough, at Newthorp near Aston, at Dinnington, Throapham, Gildenwells, Staunford near Hatfield, and Wentworth. There are also manors in other counties, not named in the Will of 1475. In the Will of John Rotherham, brother of the Archbishop, no Yorkshire property appears. lO ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. church at Luton.* There were three sons and a daughter, John, the founder of the family at Someries, must have been younger than Thomas, if he is the man mentioned in the earliest Register at King's College, Cambridge, as entering there in the twenty-seventh year of Henry VI. Gough says that he was more than once Sheriff of Bedfordshire : he founded a Guild of the Holy Trinity in Luton Church, in 1475 : he died in 1492. His son Sir Thomas married a daughter of Lord Anthony Grey de Ruthin : his name occurs in a list of great gentlemen in the account of the reception of Catherine of Arragon in 1501 :t he died in 1504. Roger, the third son of Sir Thomas and Dame Alice, entered Holy Orders, and was promoted (no doubt by his brother) to the Archdeaconry of Rochester : on May 30, 1472, he was appointed to the Prebend of Leicester, but resigned it in the same year : on Jan. 2, 1473, he was made Archdeacon of Leicester rj he died in 1477. § The daughter, whose name is not known, married and had a daughter, who was betrothed to Richard Restwold.|| See further details in " Note A on the Rotherham family in Luton." One further remark may close this Intro- Spe ings ductory Chapter. From this point we shall of the Name ,, /tm , , ^ --> „ _, cease to call Ihomas by the name 01 Scott, of Thomas ^ ' Rotherham. keeping entirely to the name Rotherham, which all the three brothers preferred. More * See the Will of Archbishop Rotherham (1498). Guest, p. 139. In the Registers of the Guild of the Holy Trinity at Luton occurs this entry (1475) : — " Dna alicia Rotheram mater dicti dni thome ep' line." t See Letters and Papers illustrative of the reign of Richard IIL and Henry VH. ; edited by James Gairdner, p. 139. J Le Neve's Fasti. § Cooper's Athenge Cantabrigienses. 11 Will of Archbishop Rotherham. Guest, p. 139. CHAPTER I.] INTRODUCTORY. II often than not this name, both as that of the town and the brothers, is spelt " Rotheram ; " but as all the per- sonal documents spell it " Rotherham," we shall adopt this use, except in quotations. We shall not call him " de Rotherham," as no contemporary does so. The two pictures under which the name is written *' de Rotherham," belong to the 17th century. CHAPTER II. EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. A Clerk there was of Oxenforde also, That unto Logike hadde long ygo. For him was lever han at his beddes head A twenty bokes, clothed in black or red Of Aristotle and his phliosophie, Than robes riche or fidel or sautrie, But all be that he was a philosopher Yet hadde he but lite! gold in coffre. Souning in moral vertue was his speche, And gladly wold he lerne and gladly teche. Prologue to the " Canterbury Tales.'^ — Chaucer. Medimval Botherham — Birth and Baptism of Thomas — Local Surroundings — Historical Associations — Early Educa- tion. The Teacher of Grammar — Possible Education at Eton and Winchester — Education at Eton not a certainty — Anthony Wood's claim of Botherham as an Oxonian. nPHE present town of Rotherham, in Mediaeyal 1 Yorkshire, is a Borough of about 50,000 inhabitants.* It is surrounded by a large colliery district, and is itself sustained and blackened by great industries of brass and iron. The first industrial impetus was given to it in the commencement of this * The population in 1891 was 42,000. It is now certainly much larger : the increase of buildings is very great. The estimate of the Medical Officer of Health in 1898 was 52,000. CHAPTER II.] EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. I3 century, when the firm of the Walkers became celebrated throughout England by its supply of cannon for the Peninsula and Waterloo. Their greatest achievement was Rennie's iron bridge at Southwark (1819), which very appropriately is represented, as well as the arms of Arch- bishop Rotherham, on the shield of the borough. In its network of streets and courts there are some relics of timber-crossed antiquity, and two notable mediaeval build- ings : the interesting chapel of our Lady at the Bridge, which to the discredit of Rotherham has long been desecrated, once as a gaol, and now as a tobacconist's shop ; and the noble spacious cruciform church with its stately tower and spire, which as viewed from the North and East dominates the town. Neither however of these buildings in its present aspect carries us back to the childhood of the subject of this memoir. The chapel was not built until his later days. The church was very different and only attained its present splendid development at a slightly earlier date than that of the chapel, perhaps through the munificence of Archbishop Rotherham himself. If we wish therefore to form some dim picture of the place in the first quarter of the 15th century, our first step is to bring back the green fields almost everywhere, and make the Don, which winds through it, a silver stream full of perch and trout, with now and then a far-travelled salmon ; bordered by water meadows and corn fields, behind which the ground rises in sylvan slopes. On a swelling eminence above a curve of the river will stand a cruciform church, shorter in every limb than the present one, with Norman arcades within, steep roofs, and at their crossing a new white lantern tower recently built at the instance of the Abbots of Rufiord by money partly raised through the sale of Indulgences. The timber houses of the town will be on the southern 14 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. and eastern sides of the church. The rich suburb called Moorgate will be a country road leading through meadows (The Crofts) to a real moor. The East Wood will clothe the upland now lined with the luxurious resi- dences of Doncaster Gate. A clear brook will flow through the green valley of Well Gate, and the fields of Jesus Gate (now College Street) into the Don. Small indeed as it seems to us, and poorer in adornment, than when Leland saw it in the prosperous Tudor days, enriched by its present noble church, and Rotherham's " fair college sumptuously builded of brike," it was a notable Yorkshire town for the England of its day, with a population of about 3,000 inhabitants.* At the house of a knight in Jesus Gate on Birth and g^.^ Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1423, was born the boy, who in due time was baptised in the old font (which still remains in the South Chapel of the Church) by the name of Thomas. " In the town of Rotherham . . . we were born, and by the font of regeneration born again," says Archbishop Rotherham in "The Statutes of Jesus College." "I was born in the town of Rotherham and baptized in the church of the same town; and so at that same place was born into the world and also born again by the Holy bath flowing from the side of Jesus, whose name, O, if I loved as I ought and would." So he writes in the touching and reverent language of his last Will.t * Mr. F. J. S. Foljambe in a speech a few years ago mentioned the fact that in his childhood a salmon was caught at Aldwarke, which is close to the town. In the Chantry Certificates of Edward VI., regard- ing the College of Jesus at Rotherham, the houslyng population is stated to be 2,000. Another thousand should be added for the child population. Guest, History of Rotherham, p. 147. t Guest, pp. 106, 136. CHAPTER II.] EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. 15 The life of England at that time has been Local drawn for us by a master's hand in Lord Surroundings, ^ytton's "Last of the Barons." With slight allowance for changed fashions in dress and armour, and the increase of wealth and energy through the victories in France, the speaking portraitures of the Canterbury Tales will also hold good for this period. There is not much to note in the special environment of the boy. Even then coal burnt with the logs on the Rotherham hearth ; iron was dug, and wrought and smelted at the rude forges ; and the Sheffield knives were of approved excellence throughout England. Bearing in mind the destination of Thomas, perhaps from early years, to the life of the priesthood, we may note that the manifold appeals by which the church spoke to the ear and eye and imagination on the great history of the Incarnation and the glory of the world to come — whether through solemn architecture and wealth of colour, storied windows and images of saints; by stately ritual, processions, and joyous festivals ; or in the chantry masses, the guilds, the mysteries, and miracle plays — would all be strongly made to him in the church of his home. The varied figures of the ecclesiastical world — perhaps the stately Abbot of Rufford himself, the patron of the church, certainly Cistercians in their white frocks from Rufford or from Roche, White Carmelite, Grey Franciscan, and Black Dominican Friars from Doncaster— would be often before his eyes ; and the writer of these pages likes to think that the boy may have learned to love WilHam Reresby the priest of Thrybergh, and watch the new belfry and spire, the new windows filled with saints and angels and kneeling figures of knights and dames of the Reresby house, with which William was enriching the little village l6 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. church ; hearing also from the good priests' lips about the life of learning at the University, which in after years was to be one of the things nearest to Thomas Rotherham's heart.* It will be well to signalise shortly that Historical memorable juncture in English History which Associations. ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ common talk of men, and pregnant with moment for the after-life of Thomas as a statesman-ecclesiastic : there were local circumstances which must have made the impress of it singularly distinct and deep to him. The memory of several — among them probably his own father — would span the past of the dynasty of Lancaster. Some would have been at Doncaster in 1399, when Henry of Bolingbroke, after landing at Ravenspurn and receiving the support of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, had sworn, at the house of the Carmelites, that he was only seeking his father's estates, and would make no claim to the crown. The great ghost of Henry V. would haunt the air : and there may have been men who had borne a pike of local make, or, trained in the woodland and forest round them, had drawn a good bow at Agincourt. Now that the Star of England was waning before the * In a Charter of Kirkstead Abbey (Cotton MS. Vesp. E xviii. fo. 127b), circa 1161 — 1166, there is a grant to the monks of " unum mariagium in territorio de Kymberworth ad domos suas et ortum et quatuor forgias faciendas ; duas scilicet ad quoquendum ferrum et duas ad fabricandum, quando cunque voluerint, et mineram ad fodiendum per totum territor- ium." Here both smelting and common smiths' work are contemplated. Kimberworth adjoins Rotherham. Chaucer in " The Reve's Tale " describes the miller at Trumpington as wearing a "Sheffield thwitel " (knife) in his hose. William Reresby had been a student at Oxford for three years, while Rector of Ashover, under a license of non-residence for the sake of study. Towards its conclusion he had been instituted to the benefice of Thryberg, in plurality with Ashover (1437). CHAPTER II.J EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. I7 Maid of Orleans and the widening grasp of France, news of the exploits of John Talbot, of Sheffield Castle, the Bayard of his day, would come from time to time from over sea. Meanwhile there was a train of events attached to the neighbouring fief of Conisborough, which kept the nature of the claim, which the house of York was a few years afterwards to prefer to the throne of England, especially vivid to Rotherham men. After the death of the last of the Warrennes, the fief of Conisborough with its great Keep and Castle (still a majestic ruin) was granted to Edmund of Langley, fourth son of Edward III., who, by his subsequent title of Duke of York, is the founder of the line of York. No claim to the crown could ever be advanced on the ground of this male ancestry against the House of Lancaster, whose right through John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward, was indisputably superior ; the elder son of Edmund, who followed his father in the title, served Henry V. loyally, and fell, pressed to death in the melee at Agincourt. The younger son, however, Richard of Conisborough, afterwards Earl of Cambridge, made a marriage, which not only led him to rebellion and ruin, but was the governing incident in the subsequent struggle of the houses, and the substantial base of the claim of York. This marriage was with Anne, sister of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. When Henry IV. was set on the throne, the heir in strict lineal descent was this Edmund Mortimer (then a boy of seven years old), as the grandson of Philippa, daughter and heiress of Lionel, Duke of Clarence (the second son of Edward HI.) During the reign of Henry IV. he had been kept in some gentle kind of imprisonment ; but one of the early acts of Henry V. was to release him. Then Richard of Conisborough, his brother-in-law, along with Sir Thomas Grey, of Heton, l8 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. and Lord Scrope, of Masham, made a conspiracy to set Edmund or else Thomas.de Trumpington, who pretended to be the dead King Richard 11. , on the throne. It was discovered ; and just before Henry V's embarkation to France, Richard was tried by his peers, and beheaded. Readers of Shakespeare's Henry V. will remember the fine use of this incident as a sign of the changed character of the King, in the opening of the play. It must have been deeply impressed on the minds of Conisborough and Rotherham people. Edmund Mortimer himself was pardoned, and lived until the third year of Henry VI., when he died childless. But by his death without issue, the full right of Edmund to the throne descended to the son of his sister Anne, the wife of Richard of Conisborough ; and her son was no less a person than the great Richard, Duke of York (father of Edward IV.), who revived the claim, and fell in the battle of Wakefield, 1460. Of course that beginning of the Wars of the Roses lies far in advance of the time of which we are treating — the boyhood of Thomas Rotherham ; but the history of the fief of Conisborough and of Richard's attainder would make the claim of the House of York, which is to us such an intricate piece of genealogy, comparatively clear and easy to the neighbourhood. We may add one further remark about the matter. Although the fief of Conis- borough came to Richard, Duke of York, and so in a few years afterwards was once more, as in the olden days of Harold, a fief of the King (Edward IV.), we must not think of Richard as resident at Conisborough in Rotherham's boyhood, though he may have visited it occasionally. For the castle was the favourite seat of the Duke's step-mother, Maud Clifford. A much more familiar figure there perhaps was her nephew and godson, the "black-faced Clifibrd," on whose memory the murder CHAPTER II.] EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. I9 of Rutland, the boyish brother of Edward IV., at Wakefield, has left so dark a stain.* " In the town," Thomas writes, " was a ■E^J^ly teacher of grammar, who came to Rotherham ion. , J know not what chance : but I believe The TcSiCher „ „ that it was by the Grace of God he came 01 urrammar. -^ thither ; and he taught me and other youths, whereof others with me reached higher stations." The words indicate not a native of the place, but a new-comer, who set up a school, which drew to itself the sons of the gentry around. f Hunter the antiquarian, looking over the South of Yorkshire, which he has studied so minutely, singles out the three Blythes of Norton, two of whom became bishops, Henry Carnebull, Archdeacon of York, afterwards Rotherham's executor, and perhaps Rokeby of the family of Thundercliffe Grange, who, though not till after Rotherham's death, became Archbishop of Dublin (1512), as among those that " reached higher stations." There may however have been others also who were not ecclesiastics in Rotherham's mind : and Rokeby at any rate seems to have obtained eminence too late to have been intended. It is plain that Thomas looked back on this teacher as a great Scholar, to whom he owed the first impulse toward that learning for which he was himself so conspicuous in after life : his gratitude to him was very deep, and took a noble form. The Grammar School at Rotherham might well erect a statue to this nameless teacher of grammar, whose dim figure will cross our pages again in a later chapter. For the Grammar * Hunter's "Deanery of Doncaster," vol. i., pp. 112 — 113. The murder of Rutland is a pathetic incident in Shakespeare's picture of the Battle of Wakefield. Henry VI., Part in., Act. i., Scene in. t Guest, p. 136. The house of the Teacher of Grammar was ap- parently (see note N) part of the subsequent site of the College. 20 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. School is the child of " the College of Jesus," which Thomas founded at Rotherham in his later years ; and the foundation stone of the College of Jesus was Thomas's gratitude to the old teacher of grammar, is- suing in the desire that others in his native place should have the boon that had made him great and happy. " With others ... we were without letters," he says in the Statutes of the College of Jesus, " and we should have remained so untaught and unlettered and rude to a greater age, but that by the grace of God a man learned in grammar came, by whom as from the first fountain we were instructed — God willing and (as we believe) providing us a training, we have come to the estate in which we now are, and many others have come to great things. Therefore desiring to return thanks to the Saviour, and that we may not seem ungrateful nor shew ourselves unmindful of the benefits of God and whence we came, we have determined to cause a like fountain to flow there, that is, to establish a teacher of grammar there forever."* Our conception of Rotherham's character will remain, do what we will, far too shadowy. But this monument to the teacher of his childhood is perhaps the most salient instance of one characteristic which his life exemplifies, — tender remembrances of past mercies, fruitful in munificent returns for the benefit of posterity. How long Thomas Rotherham remained at Possible home under the tuition of the teacher of Education at ^.i. • ^.i, • i. i. t^u grammar there is nothmg to shew. The Eton, and ^ . , . ^ . , . even next known event m his life is his admission Winchester, as a scholar at King's College, Cambridge, at the age of twenty, in 1443. In the general history of Cambridge entrance at King's would carry with * Guest, pp. 106 — 107. CHAPTER II.] EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. 21 it a previous education at Eton : and the Eton historians accordingly claim him as an Etonian.* This, however, is by no means to be assumed as a certainty at that embryo period of the two foundations, and in Rotherham's case there are special reasons for doubt. If he was there, the longest period possible for his stay is not more than about two years ; and it is just possible that before this Eton time, he may have been at Winchester, from which the first Provost of Eton, William of Waynflete, brought thirty-five scholars as the nucleus of the new foundation. t It is quite likely, however, that (if he was there at all) his stay was much shorter. When Bishop Bekynton was consecrated Bishop of Bath and Wells, in the old church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Eton, October 13, 1443, after celebrating mass under a pavilion erected over the place where Henry VI. had laid the foundation stone of the new chapel at Eton (which was still not half finished), he held a banquet in the new building of the college on the north side of the chapel (the oldest building of all), which had at that time not been divided into chambers. I It is clear therefore that at this date there * See Harwood, in the " Alumni Etonenses," and Sir E. Creasey in " Eminent Etonians." t Maxwell Lyte, in his '* History of Eton College," gives the date of Henry VI. 's Charter for the Foundation as Oct. 11, 1440. It was not however confirmed by Pope Eugenius until 1441. This therefore seems the earliest date at which William of Waynflete could have been ap- pointed Provost. A letter dated June 12, 1442, from Bishop Bekynton shows that there was at that time a Provost of Eton. He commended himself to " the King's most high and noble grace and also unto the Provost and (illeg) of the holy and devout King's College of Oure Lady of Eton." See letters of Queen Margaret of Anjou and Bishop Bekynton and others. Camden Society, pp. 72 — 73. X Registrum Reverendi in Christo patris et Domini Thomse de Bekyn- ton .. . qui consecratus fuit ... in veteri ecclesia Collegiata Beatas Mariae de Etona die xiii° mensis Octobris 1443 . . . post consecrationem suam in nova ecclesig beatae Mari^ ibidem nondum 22 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. was no accommodation for any scholars. It was not until the following December that Bekynton came down again, and installed William of Waynflete in the seat in the choir of the chapel, and administered the oaths to the Fellows, Clerks, Scholars, and Choristers ; the full number of each of these grades being incomplete.* But Rother- ham had entered King's College in July. It is not the fact, however, that in 1443, His Educa- Eton was the exclusive seed-plot of King's tion at Eton College. The first scheme of Henry VI. for ^° ^ King's College, for a Rector and twelve certainty. , ,. , , scholars, did not contemplate any connexion between Eton and King's. Previous to the admission of Rotherham, and the others admitted on the same day, there were only six members on the foundation besides the Provost, none of them from Eton. It was not until the very year of Rotherham's entrance (1443) that Henry framed the larger Charter, under which there were to be a Provost, seventy-four scholars, ten priests, and sixteen choristers ; and that, in imitation of William of Wykeham's Colleges at Winchester and Oxford, the vital connexion between Eton and King's was ordained. And there are reasons for doubting whether this statute was put into force at this early time. If, indeed, we could rely on the very early catalogue at King's, begun by Thomas Hatcher in 1555 and continued by him until 1562, it was. For, after the names of the Provost and the six semi-constructce sub papilione ad altare erectum directe super locum, ubi Rex Henricus Sextus posuit lapidem primam in pontificalibus celebravit Missam. Et in nova fabricia Collegii ibidem ex parte boreali, dum adhuc camerse non erant condistinctas subtus, tenuit convivium. — Official Correspondence of Thomas Bekynton : edited by George Williams, vol. I., p. 120. * See " History of Eton College," by H. C. Maxwell Lyte, p. 21, CHAPTER II.] EARLY SCHOOL DAYS. 23 original fellows, he places before the names of Rotherham and the other new scholars a note, saying, " Here follow those who came from Eton." In regard to one of the names, however, this note is certainly wrong. John Chedworth, afterward Provost, is known to have come, not from Eton, but from Merton, Oxford. The condition of things at Eton, which we have noted, may have made it impossible or undesirable as yet to get a supply from thence. There is a further reason for doubt in Rotherham's case, arising from the fact that William Millington, the Provost of King's, a native of PockHngton, in Yorkshire, was said to have shown favouritism to Yorkshiremen ; and of the five men admitted together at that date, Rotherham is the only one mentioned as coming from the County of York. Millington resigned the Provost-ship in 1446, on the very ground that he would not subscribe to the new statute ; he strongly objected to the restriction of the scholarships at King's to Eton.* Building upon this uncertainty, Anthony Anthony Wood has even claimed Rotherham, as Wood's claim being, previous to his entrance at King's of Rotherham Cambridge, an Oxford man. His arguments are drawn from the unusual treatment (in Oxonian. his view) of Rotherham, when he was given * The assertion of Millington's favouritism to Yorkshiremen is made in the life of him in Harwood's " Alumni Etonenses." The account of his objection to the new statute and removal to Clare Hall, is found at large in the Cambridge Antiquarian Communications, vol. i., pp. 185 — 189. In the earliest register of all at King's College, knovs^n as the Inventory of 1452, there is no note similar to the one in Hatcher. The names of the Provost and the six original members are followed by those of the group admitted with Rotherham without a break. The names of the others are, John Langport, from Hampshire ; Richard Cove, from Wilts ; John Chedworth, from Gloucestershire ; and Robert Dummer, whose county is not stated. 24 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. an ad eundem D.D. degree at Oxford, and from a letter in the Archives of Oxford University to a Bishop of Lincoln, whom he identifies with Rotherham. This claim, however, was disputed warmly by Cole, the Cambridge Antiquarian, and is (as any reader who cares to follow the controversy in our note will probably agree) untenable.! t See Note C on Anthony Wood's Claim of Rotherham as an Oxonian. W3 J3 .5 S go o ^3 i O O w-s CHAPTER III. LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. Different sight Those venerable Doctors saw of old, When all who dwelt within those famous walls Led in abstemiousness a studious life ; When, in forlorn and naked chambers cooped And crowded, o'er the ponderous books they hung Like caterpillars eating out their way In silence, or with keen devouring noise, Not to be tracked or fathered. Princes then At matins froze, and couched at Curfew time. " The Prelude," Book 3. — Wordsworth. MedicBval Cambridge — The Monastic Buildings — The Gollege Buildings — The Buildings of the University — The Buildings of King's College — The Original Chapel at King's — Old College Booms at King's — Studies — Felloivship — Holy Orders. TN 1443, Thomas was admitted scholar of Mediaeyal i j^^^^.g College, Cambridge,* a very dif- ferent Cambridge and King's from the present. The town was gathered mainly into an irregular oval, * The entry in the Inventory of 1452 in the Muniment Room at King's College (the earliest register) gives the name " Thomas Rother- ham de com Ebor." The register begins with the names of those known to have been admitted by Henry VI., and then, without any break or note, those of the five others, John Langport, Richard Cove, John Chedworth, Robert Dummer, and Rotherham follow. A note in a smaller hand, but apparently of the same date, says, in regard to these — A° xxi. Regis Henrici Sexti admissi in sco. die Veneris prox. post festum reliqu. Relic Sunday was the third Sunday after Mid- summer day. As Henry VI. came to the throne in August, 1422, the year will be 1443. C 26 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. bounded on the west by the river and on the east by the chord of the King's Ditch, which was bent from a point on the river, a little above Magdalene round the east of Sidney Sussex, and the west of St. Andrew the Great to the river at Mill Street. It was a town of wood and timber houses with gables of thatch. The streets were narrow, unlighted, ill-paved, and often noisome with heaps of refuse.* Little lanes ran down from the principal street to the rough wharves on the gardenless river. The heart of the town v/as the Market-place (then much smaller), with its Guildhall, its fountain, stocks, and pillory. The inns, in which the town was rich, and the trades were in close proximity to it. Sown thick within and around the town were the churches, and the monastic and university settlements. Five at least of the churches of that time have been either removed or rebuilt. Later Decorated and Early-perpendicular work would then look fresh and recent. The aisles at St. Botolph, St. Clement, and St. Edward, and the transepts at Holy Trinity were as yet not built. The buildings which have received the least amount of structural alteration would be St. Michael, St. Mary the Less, the little Abbey church, and the tower of St. Benedict. The most notable absence would be the present church of Great St. Mary.f * "Cambridge described," by T. D. Atkinson, pp. 61-79. An Act of 35 Henry VIII. describes the town as very sore decayed in pavyng, and the high stretes and lanes . . . exceedingly noyed wyth fylth and myre lying there in great heapes and brode plasshes not onely noysom comberouse . . . but also very perillous and tedious to all suche persones as shall on Horseback convey or cary anything with carts by and through the sam. — Ibid, p. 40. t These details are drawn from " Cambridge described," pp. 124 — 170. Mr. Atkinson mentions a church called All-hallows by the Castle, with- out any description of it. All Saints in the Jewry occupied a different site to that of the present church ; St. Giles, St. Andrew the Great, St, Peter and St. Mary the Great are re-built on the old sites, The CHAPTER III.] LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. 1'] Through their impropriation of the benefices, Monastic as well as through their number, the re- Buildings, ligious orders had a strong position in the place. The largest house was the Priory of Augustinian Canons at Barnwell ; it had seven of the churches. Augustinian Canons also served the Hospital of St. John which then occupied the site of St. John's College. At Jesus, the choir and cloister court of what was then the Benedictine Nunnery of St. Radegund still remain. The Hall and Butteries at Emmanuel are the remains of the house of the Dominican Friars. Sidney Sussex is built on the site of the house of the Franciscans. The Carmelites were settled in the grounds to the north of Queen's College. The Austin Friars occupied the space now covered by the laboratories. The buildings of Buckingham College, which form the first court at Magdalene, are of rather later date ; but its foundation, as a hostel for the Benedictine students at Cambridge from the monasteries of Ely, Croyland, Ramsey, and Walden, dates a few years earlier than Rotherham's arrival.* The buildings of the religious houses were The College ^^-^ of greater dignity than those connected with the University. The mass of the students, especially the wealthy ones, were housed, not in Colleges but in the freer and perhaps more comfortable hostels. A century or perhaps more was to pass before the College was to become the rule and staple of University life. During the dynasty of Lancaster no College had been founded until Henry V. began his great foundation aisles at St. Edward's were added soon after Rotherham's arrival to accommodate Clare Hall and Trinity Hall, which had previously used the church of St. John Zachary : that stood on part of the site of the present chapel of King's College. * " Cambridge described," chap, viii., p. 179 et seq. 28 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. at King's. The buildings in the group of 14th-century Colleges had grown irregularly from humble beginnings: only one of them — Corpus Christi — had at its foundation that quadrangular form to which Peterhouse, Clare, Gonville Hall and Trinity Hall gradually attained. The chapels had not the dignity of those in the religious houses : Peterhouse and Corpus had no chapels at all. The stately courts and chapels at King's and Trinity were of course unbuilt. The site of Trinity was occupied by the smaller buildings of St. Michael's and King's Hall, and seven hostels. Of the great gateways at St. John's and Trinity, one alone, now removed to the West of Trinity College Chapel from its site as part of King's Hall, was then in existence. Of the size and scale of the College buildings the old quadrangle at Corpus is the most perfect illustration.* The great devotion of money, lands, benefices, and ultimately the spoil of the monasteries was still in the future. As for the buildings of the University ^^® itself, distinct from those of the colleges m mgs ^^j hostels, it is almost startling to be of the University told, that leaving out of consideration some obscure and dilapidated building, the one structure of any note (used as a chapel for the com- memoration of its builder and benefactors of the University, and for the deliberations and ceremonials of the Senate) was the north range of the present University Library. The western range was at Rotherham's arrival nearly completed : the south range was to follow : the eastern range was to be finished in the Chancellorship of Rotherham himself.f * Ibid, pp. 35 — 36, 244 — 249 ; chaps, xiii., xiv., xviii. t Ibid, pp. 270—273 ; 284, 352 — 3. See also " Architectural History of Cambridge," by Willis & Clark, vol. i., pp. 321 — 326, CHAPTER III.] LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. 1$ Quite as sharp a contrast with present '^^^ conditions were the buildings of King's 1 mga College. Not a foot of the present courts Kind's College ^^^ lawns then held the dwellings of the infant Society. It was housed in the little western court of the present University Library, which was sold in 1829 by King's College in order to afford increased library accommodation. The area of this court was the same as it is now. Speaking generally, the southern and western ranges of it bear on the inner side much resemblance to the appearance it presented during Rotherham's residence. They were however restored from a state of great ruin by Sir Gilbert Scott, and the upper story on the western side was then for the first time really completed. On the outer side the turrets at intervals on the front have been taken away. The chief ornament of these sides is the very graceful gateway, with the treasury over it, only finished in old days to the top of the second story : the first stone of its southern turret had been laid by King Henry VI. himself in 1441. When Rotherham arrived the building of the court would still be proceeding. The eastern side presented only the wall face of the rising range of the Schools, and did not belong to the college. On the north side of the court towards its eastern end stood the Hall, entered by a picturesque wooden porch, and with a narrow yard behind it. The rest of the north side was occupied by a timber house containing the butteries, the parlour in which the Bursars dined, and the kitchen lighted by two large windows. Over the Bursars' pa-lou' '^?.s the ?w^\t roon. We must not associate tiie gtcai cna.^'A . . with the worship of Rotherham during his «, . Cambridge days : nor was any part of it, except the side chapels, probably ever used 30 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. for worship in his whole lifetime. The first stone of it was not laid until three years after his coming (1446). The work of erection proceeded slowly, and then was stopped in the troublous days of the Wars of the Roses : in the last year of his reign Henry VII. began to build with great energy, and to him is due the de- coration of roses and portcullis which covers the fabric. The chapel was only completed in the reign of Henry VHL, who gave the sumptuous stained glass. Meanwhile the chapel of Rotherham's days was some humbler structure situated between the court and the present chapel, and approached through an archway and passage called Cow Lane. It was perhaps only intended for temporary use, as it is said to have fallen down at the time when the great chapel began to be used for worship.* When Rotherham came up there were, as Old College ^g have seen, only eleven members of the „. ^, college besides the servants and choristers : King's. " and the buildings were incomplete. When these were finished and the number of all the ofl&ces filled, the lodgings of the scholars were mainly on the ground floor of the southern and western ranges, four scholars in a room. The two upper storeys were occupied by the Fellows, two in a room. The inner turrets con- tained the staircases. The rooms in the ground story would have clay floors, those in the upper story would be open to the roof; the windows would be half-glazed, half-shuttered. Attached to the rooms were small closets about five feet wide by four, used as studies. The beds would be in some cases trundle beds, which could be pushed aside in the daytime. The furniture would * " Cambridge described," pp. 353, 360 — 1. Willis & Clark, vol. i., P- 534- CHAPTER III.] LIPE AT CAMBRIDGE. 3 1 consist of a table, some stools or settles, a cupboard, and a few shelves for books, a leaden water cistern, and a trough for washing. The suffering from cold must often have been great, as there was no fire-place.* In this little court at King's, Thomas ^ ^®^' Rotherham spent probably the next fourteen Fellowship, -,.,.. ^ ., ,.. H 1 d years of his life. One of the authorities of his life makes him remove as Fellow to Pembroke Hall : but this is probably a mistake. t When he came up in 1443 he was, as we have seen, 20 years old, and may have already received the first tonsure. He was not therefore one of the mere boys of the University, ready for fun and fights and mischief, and getting at times a whipping over the barrels in the buttery, or a day in the stocks in the hall, or a public flogging in the presence of the whole College, for town rows, bathing or fishing in the rivers, flying falcon or hawk, shooting wild birds in the fen, and other breaches of discipline.! He would take life seriously. The great * " Cambridge described," pp. 256 — 257. Willis & Clark, vol. i., pp. 329 — 330. The full foundation at King's College was for 70 poor scholars, 10 priests, 6 clerks, and 16 choristers. f In " The Life of Rotherham," in " Godwin de praesulibus Anglise" it is asserted that he was Fellow of Pembroke Hall. Wrenn however in his account of the Masters of Pembroke (Wrenn MSS. at Pembroke) discredits the assertion as inconsistent with the oath taken on admis- sion to King's : and Cole, pointing out the fact that Rotherham was chosen along with Walter Field in 1457 by King's College to present Woodlarke the Provost to the living of Kingston, thinks that he must certainly have been then Fellow of King's. See Guest, p. 8g, quoting Cole & Richardson's edition of Godwin, p. 6g8. I See " Cambridge described," pp. 262 — 268. In an inventory of the furniture in the hall at Trinity one item is " A Payr of Stockes above the Serene." A significant part of the inception of a " master in Gramer" was the flogging of a boy, who was given a " grote" for his pains, "openly in the scolys," with the rod and palmer (ferule), then delivered to the inceptor. 32 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. parchment manuscripts, which he had to study (printed books being not yet) would be things treated with rever- ence, instead of being slobbered over, dogs-eared, and handled with dirty fingers." His studies would be in grammar, theology, philosophy, the works of the school- men (Anselm, Aquinas, and Duns Scotus), books on the Lollard controversy, and probably canon law. Patristic literature would not be fully represented. Greek and the breath of the new classical learning was not to reach Cambridge until Erasmus lectured there in the following century. t The great guide and stimulus of study lay in * Lord Campbell in his " Lives of the Chancellors" has some amusing extracts from a book called ' Philobiblon,' written by a Chancellor named Richard de Bury (circa 1334), about the dirty habits of scholars over books. " You will see a stiff-necked youth lounging sluggishly in his study, while the frost pinches him in winter-time : .... his watery nose drops .... moistening the book with its vile dew. For such an one I would substitute a cobbler's apron in the place of his book. He has a nail like a giant's, perfumed with stinking ordure, with which he points out the place. He distributes straws in various places with the ends in sight, that he may recall with the mark what his memory cannot retain. He is not ashamed to eat fruit and cheese over an open book, and to transfer his empty cup from side to side. He never ceases to chatter .... and waters the book spread out on his lap with his saliva He reclines with his elbows on the book, and by a short study invites a long nap .... by way of repairing the wrinkles, he twists back the margins of the leaves. . . . . He stuffs his volume with firstling violets, roses, and quadre- foils. He will apply his wet hands oozing with sweat to turning over volumes .... or hunt over the page line by line with his fore- fingers covered with dirty leather. Then as the flea bites, the holy book is thrown aside : which however is scarce closed once in a month, and is so swelled with the dust that has fallen into it, that it will not yield to the efforts of the closer." Vol. i., pp. 197 — ig8. t Mr. Bass Mullinger in " The University of Cambridge from the earliest times," describes King's College as designed by the statutes for " poor and needy scholars " : they must wear the first clerical tonsure, be of good morals, sufficiently instructed in grammar, of honest con- versation, apt to learn, and desirous of advancing knowledge. The ordinary course of study was to be theology, the arts, and philosophy. Two xMasters of Arts of superior ability might study civil law; four CHAPTER III.] LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE. 33 the public disputations on the subjects of the course provided by the University and the College, which he was bound to attend. The earliest date at which he could possibly have passed from the grade of scholar to that of Fellow would be 1446, which was also the date at which the first Provost Millington gave way to his contemporary friend John Chedworth. In 1452 Chedworth was elected to the See of Lincoln, and succeeded as Provost by another friend of Rotherham, Robert Wood- larke. Meanwhile Rotherham would have become a B.D.,* and have passed from the lowest orders — those of ostiarius, lector, and acolyte, usually taken at the same time — to the Sub-Diaconate, Diaconate, and Priesthood.! canon law ; two medicine ; two astronomy, providing that they observe the limits imposed by the Provost (a safeguard in view of astrology). He has an interesting analysis of the old catalogues of books. Besides those in the text he mentions as common, Grosseteste, Hugo de St. Victor, Nicholas de Lyra. He remarks on the absence of Arabian commentators on Aristotle. Among the fathers, Ambrose, Gregory, Jerome, Augustine are only partially represented, pp. 308, 309, 369. * See in regard to Rotherham's D.D. degree, ' Note D. on Rother- ham's Degrees.' t " It is not until after a three years' probation, during which time it has been ascertained whether the scholar be ' ingenio capacitate sensus moribus conditionibus et scientia dignus habilis et idoneus ' for further study, that the Provost and Fellows were empowered to elect him one of their number." Bass Mullinger, p. 309. CHAPTER IV. FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. THE FIRST CRISIS of the WARS OF THE ROSES. BISHOP OF CARLISLE. In this seat of peace tumultous wars Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound; Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny Shall here inhabit, and this land be called The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls. O, if you rear this house against this house, It will the wofullest division prove. That ever fell upon this cursed earth. Richard II., Act iv., Scene I. — Shakspeare. Botherham Provost of Wingham— Chaplain to the Earl of Oxford — The First Crisis of the Wars of the Boses — The Battles of Wakefield and St. Albans — Edward IV. made King — The Battle of Towton — The Execution of the Earl of Oxford — Preferments of Botherham — Bipple ; Prebends in Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals; St. Vedast, Foster Lane; Archdeaconry of Canterbury ; Provostship of Beverley. npHE first summons to work outside ProYost of Cambridge was an appointment to the Wingham. post of Provost of Wingham in Kent (1458). It was the beginning of a connection with that county, which was afterwards to be deepened by his tenure of the See of Rochester. Wingham was six miles from Canterbury, and Rotherham became an in- timate friend of the Prior and convent of Christ Church there. After his departure from Wingham, he still acted as a legal adviser to them : and his first speech as Chancellor, sent no doubt to Sellynge the prior, was CHAPTER IV.] FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. 35 kept in the archives of the monastery. The connection of Sellynge with Brabourne and the possible introduc- tion of Rotherham to the Scot family there has been already noticed. More important however in reference to his future life is the close connection into which Wingham brought him with Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, from whom he received the preferment : for the Manor of Wingham was a very ancient and valu- able possession of the Archbishops, divided by them into several smaller manors held under them by sub-infeuda- tion. The Archbishops occasionally resided in the manor house. Once or twice they had there entertained royalty, notably King John and Edward III. ; the proximity to Canterbury also enhanced the relation of the Archbishop to the Provost of Wingham. Wingham was one of those Collegiate churches which were disgracefully robbed by the Chantries Act. Originally a simple benefice, it was converted into a College by Archbishop Peckham (1282) on the ground that the benefice could not " be easily cultivated by one husbandman, nay further by the labours of two, from the great extent of the parish as well as its numerous population," and that '* its revenues" were " sufficient to furnish the payment of more labourers." It consisted of a Provost and six secular canons, named after places within the great manor, which furnished their endowment. Each of these canons had under him a vicar, as they were not obliged to continual residence. In Rotherham's time the number of the vicars were reduced to four, the income of a vicar being then only £^ a year. The income of the College at its suppression was ;^2o8 14s. 3d., and that of the Provosts £^€> 6s. 8d. The post of Provost was thus both dignified and fairly wealthy : and he could hold another benefice with it, as he was not obliged always to reside. The old stalls 36 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. with their " misereres " still remain in the church. A cottage, the •' Dog " Inn, and the Post Office appear to be remains of the old buildings for the canons. The Provost's house however is gone. Rotherham held the Provost-ship until 1463. In his last Will he bequeathed to the College a chalice worth loos.* But of greater interest than the Provost- Chaplaincy gj^^p q£ Wingham is the brief appointment „ , „ which Rotherham held in this same period Earl of Oxford. ^^ Chaplain to the Earl of Oxford. The House of Lancaster had no more devoted servants than the Veres of Oxford. Even after the final wreck of the fortunes of the Red Rose at Tewkesbury, the younger Earl of Oxford carried on a series of raids along the southern coasts, which cost him eleven years' imprisonment. His father (Rotherham's patron) and his elder brother forfeited their lives in the cause of Henry VI. It was natural that the Earl should seek a chaplain among the distinguished sons of Henry's Col- lege. The time at Rotherham's disposal, apart from his residence at Wingham, would be spent in the Earl's suite. If he followed him to Court, he would mark there at first the advancing greatness of the Lord of Conis- borough, Richard Duke of York, who had been twice Protector of the realm during Henry's seizures of mental incapacity, and whose plans for a venture at the throne were rapidly maturing. There also he would see Elizabeth, daughter of Jacquetta Duchess of Bedford by her second husband, Richard Wydeville. In after years Rotherham's fortunes were to be linked closely with that fair woman, • See " The Chronicles of Wingham," by Arthur Hussey, chaps, iii., ix., especially pp. 46, 62, 71, 114— 117, 125, 148, and Guest, p. 141. I am much indebted to Mr. Hussey for other kindness in regard to the monastery at Christ Church. CHAPTER IV.] FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. 37 as the Queen of Edward IV., and he was to suffer imprisonment and disgrace for his fidelity to her and her boy prince. Now, she was a staunch Lancastrian, lady of the bed-chamber to Margaret of Anjou, wife to John Gray, who was knighted at the second battle of St. Albans, and who died upon the field. She would be about seven and twenty ; and her two little sons, known afterwards as the Marquis of Dorset and Lord Richard Gray, would be playing often about her. Then came two memorable and fatal years : The First memorable in English annals as the first Crisis of the culmination of the Wars of the Roses ; ., _ memorable to Yorkshiremen, because the the Roses. great battles which gave decisive victory first to the Red Rose and then to the White, were fought on the fields of the West Riding ; fatal to Henry in the loss of his throne ; fatal in the deluge of English blood that was shed in the conflict, and the ruthless attainders and executions — that of Oxford among the rest — which revenge, or terrorism exacted. And whatever were the incidents of Rotherham's life at this bloody period, it is impossible to conceive him as a happy nameless priest living apart from the tumult and peril, and uninstructed and unconcerned in the stake at issue. When the year 1460 opened, the star of The Duke York was in eclipse. An attack on Henry of York made ^^^ {^[\ed : the Duke of York with his „, allies the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick had fled from England ; they had been at- tainted in Parliament, and their estates confiscated. But Henry had consented to these severities with reluctance : and the operative force of the attainders against men so powerful in the divided realm might be uncertain. No 38 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. part of the land became so full of unrest, disaffection, and seditious rumours, as Rotherham's county of Kent, which was in sympathy with the cause of York, and alert with continual reports of the strength of Warwick at Calais, and his capture of the King's vessels in the Channel. When Warwick landed (June 5) at Sandwich, Rotherham's own patron and diocesan Bourchier met the Earl and his father the Earl of Salisbury, in full pontificals with his cross borne before him, and gave them his blessing amid the shouts of the people : the army marched, growing as it went, through Wingham, and so perhaps under the eyes of Rotherham on London*. As the summer passed on, Rotherham would see the issue of that march. He would hear of the victory over the king's force at Northampton, the escape of Margaret, the capture of Henry. He may have been in the suite of Oxford, when the Earl was summoned to the Parlia- ment in London ; at which the attainders were reversed, the throne claimed by the Duke of York, and after elaborate deliberation a compromise effected, under which Henry should retain the crown for his life, the Duke of York being declared the heir to the throne instead of the son of Margaret. He may have seen the king, with the Duke of York at his side as heir-apparent, ride to St. Paul's on All Saints day (Nov. i) to offer his thanks- giving for the reconciliation in the State. **i -^^^ *^^ reconciliation was a mere lull in of Wakefield storm, as the tidings that would reach and Wingham that very winter terribly shewed. St. Albans. Margaret had never been a party to it : and * " Chronicles of Wingham," p. 67, quoting Hook's " Life of Bour- chier" in "The Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury." CHAPTER IV.] FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. 39 on her side Percy with his Northumberland borderers, Dacre from Cumberland, the Nevilles from Westmore- land, and Clifiord from Craven mustered a power in the north, which was joined by the Earls of Somerset, Devon, and Wiltshire, and probably Oxford, from the south. It was in Yorkshire that the great strength of Salisbury (at Middleham) and the Duke of York also lay. So it was natural that the opposing armies should meet, as they did, in the West Riding, between Wakefield and the Duke of York's Castle at Sandal (December 30). A fatal battle for the White Rose : the poor boy Rutland, York's youngest son, butchered by Clifford ; York himself slain, and his bloody head, surmounted with a paper crown by Margaret, despatched to be impaled on the gates of the city of York ; the Earl of Salisbury exe- cuted at Pontefract. It was followed also by a further victory at St. Albans (Feb. 17, 1461), where the army of Margaret defeated Warwick; and where once again she rejoined her King who had been brought to the field in Warwick's custody. Then comes into view the lad of nineteen, Edward lY. ^^^ ^^ ^ ^^iWe will be Rotherham's kingly patron, Edward, Earl of March. His father's death has brought to him the title and the regal claim of York, fired by a fiercer hate of Margaret : and in a fortnight he is on Henry's throne. Already he has de- feated a Lancastrian force at Mortimer's Cross, near Ludlow. He joins the army of Warwick. The border army of Margaret has been disorganised by pillage. London has closed its gates against her, and she has to retreat into the north. Backed by Warwick, Edward enters London : the throne is offered him, and he is proclaimed King at Westminster (March 3). 40 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. / Was that proclamation to be a thing of The Battle real enduring moment, or only another of of Towton. the phantoms of success with which the e xecu- years had been filled ? This was the ques- tion of the Earl of tion, which on Palm Sunday the supreme Oxford. struggle, the terrible carnage, the ruin of the cause of Lancaster decided in the Yorkshire battle-field of Towton.* On June 29, Edward was crowned at Westminster. A Parliament, filled with vengeful or with timorous men, was summoned : and its black record includes a wholesale enactment of attainders, confiscations and executions. Among them were those of John Vere, Earl of Oxford, and his son Aubrey Vere : and Rotherham may have received the last confessions of his patrons before they were beheaded on Tower Hill (February 22, 1462). The fall of the meek king, and the bloody Pre ermen b . death of his patron must have been matter Ripple; . , , t-. 1 , _ , J . 01 sorrow and alarm to Rotherham. His Frebends in Lincoln and ^^t)t of gratitude to Henry was very great, Salisbury and the tie with the Lancastrian Earl a Cathedrals; close one. He was identified by both with St. Yedast, ^j^g fallen fortune of the Red Rose, and in Foster Lane; ^^^^ ^j^^ ^^ forfeitures and attainders he Archdeaconry f Canterborv "^^S^* ^^^ *^^ moment think his future ad- vancement doubtful. There may however * The Battle of Towton was the bloodiest in the Civil Wars of England. A hundred thousand men are said to have been engaged — sixty thousand on the side of Lancaster. It began at nine in the morning, in a driving snow. By three in the afternoon it had become a rout of the enemy. The pursuit was continued through the rest of the day and night, no quarter being given. Numbers perished in the waters of the Cock. Knights, barons, and earls were among the slain. The loss of the Yorkists was severe, and in a letter to his mother, Edward said that his heralds had reported the losses of the enemy at twenty-eight thousand. (See Lingard). CHAPTER IV.] FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. 4I have been things in his favour, to which we have no clue, connected with his birthplace, and Edward's fief of Conisborough. Bourchier, too, who had thrown in his lot with Edward, was a friend. At any rate we have to trace his identification within a few years with the cause of York, of which he became a staunch and unwavering stay. Before the death of Oxford he had been appointed to the Rectory of Ripple in Worcestershire* (July 12, 1461), holding it in plurality with Wingham until 1463. On October 9, 1465, his College friend Ched worth col- lated him to the Prebend of Welton Brinkhall in the Cathedral of Lincoln. f As early as June 5, 1465, Edward IV. had written to the Pope, Paul II., recom- mending Rotherham to him as successor to Bishop Low of Rochester, who was desirous of resigning his See from failing health. | This appointment however is not to take place quite yet. Immediately after this (July 20) comes an appointment to the Prebend of Netherhaven, in the Cathedral of Salisbury.§ Then on Feb. 13, 146!, he is presented by Archbishop Bourchier to the Rectory of St. Vedast, Foster Lane, London, l| which he resigned Dec. 5, 1467. In this year also he is mentioned as being Archdeacon of Canterbury.lF * Nash's " History of Worcestershire," vol. 11., p. 299. t Chedworth Register, Lincoln. \ Le Neve Fasti. Note in edition of Sir T. D. Hardy, vol. 11., p. 568. § Guest, p. 90. II Bourchier's Register, Lambeth. Guest, p. 90. H William of Wyrcester Annales, vol. 11., p. 508. The name of Rotherham does not appear in the list of Archdeacons of Canterbury in Hasted's " History of Kent," or in Le Neve's Fasti. But Thomas Chichele, Provost of Wingham, v/ho was Archdeacon of Canterbury, died January 26, 1466. The next name to that of Chichele, in Hasted, is that of Wynterburn, who according to Le Neve was collated Sept. I, 1468. There is therefore just room for Rotherham's tenure. D 42 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. One further appointment, though slightly in ProYost of anticipation of the chronological order, it BeYci'ley. will make the narrative clearer to mention here. In 1468, Thomas was appointed Provost of Beverley. He held it concurrently with the Bishopric of Rochester, until 1472. It was a post of some value and considerable dignity.* The duties were mainly secular — the stewardship of the manorial court, management of the estates, collection of rents and dues. The Provost was patron of the Collegiate advowsons. His most vexatious duty was the collection of the " thraves" : and the "thraves" are of more importance than usual, as connected with Rotherham, because a revolt against the exaction of them by the hospital of St. Leonard of York was the proximate cause of the Yorkshire peasant rebellion under Robin of Redesdale ; and this rebellion, in * The value of the Provost-ship at the time of the suppression was ;^iog 8s. 8Jd. The College of St. John of Beverley stood third or fourth among the great religious houses in Yorkshire, nearly if not quite equal in wealth with Fountains Abbey. The revenue as given in the Chantry Certificates was ;£"823 12s. 2|d. Its foundation dated at least as early as the reign of Athelstan. It was a foundation of secular canons. The staff in Rotherham's time consisted of 77 persons, nine of whom were canons or prebendaries (one of these being the Archbishop of York ex-officie), three were dignitaries, nine vicars choral, fifteen chantry priests, the rest subordinates. Two features in the foundation are of special interest, as connected with Rotherham's own foundation, the College of Jesus. There was a "grammar school" taught by the grammar schoolmaster under the superintendence of the Chancellor ; and a " song school " taught by the Succentor, under the superintend- ence of the Precentor ; and the benefits of these schools were open, not only to members of the foundation, but to boys outside the College, without charge. See Beverlac, p. 953, and "Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society," vol. 11., pp. 100—123, " The inmates of Beverley Minster." The successor of Rotherham in the Provost-ship was William Poteman, afterwards Treasurer of York Minster, and Rotherham's Vicar-General, when he became Archbishop of York. There are now no remains of the College buildings except the exquisite Minster. CHAPTER IV. FIRST PREFERMENTS OF ROTHERHAM. 43 the year after Rotherham's appointment to Beverley, was the beginning of the great Civil War. The " thrave" is believed to have been the heap into which the sheaves of corn were collected on the field. The College of Beverley had by the gift of Athelstan a right to four thraves from every plough land in Holderness. CHAPTER V. THE LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. Father (who has slain his son in the battle) : What stratagems, how fell and butcherly, Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural, This deadly quarrel daily doth beget ! O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon, And hath bereft thee of thy life too late. King Henry : Woe above woe! Grief more than common grief! O that my death would stay these ruthful deeds : O pity, pity, gentle heaven, pity ! The Red Rose and the White are on his face The fatal colours of our striving houses. Wither one Rose, and let the other flourish ! If you contend, a thousand lives must wither. Henry VI., Part Hi., Act II., Scene V. — Shakspeare, TliG Second Crisis in the, Wars of the Boses — Botherham Chaplain and Keeper of the Privy Seal to Edioard IV. — The Court of Edioard IV. — The Kifig-maher — Botherham Bishop of Bo Chester — Sole Ambassador to the King of France — The Marriage of Clarence — The Behellion of 1469 — Botherham Chancellor of Cambridge — The Flight of Wartuick — The King-maker enthrones Henry VI. — Botherham's Move- ments — The Beturn of Edioard — The Battle of Barnet and Death of Wanoick — The Battle of Teiokesbury and Death of Prince Edward of Lancaster — The Death of Henry VI. 'T'HE next event in Rotherham's life The Second 1 marks his introduction at the Court * i.1. of Edward IV. into a world very different Wars of the ^ Roses. from that in which he has hitherto moved: and from his position in the king's counsels he was in the very centre of it. We can only sketch CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 45 the environment, not the incidents, of his life; and no- where is this more to be regretted, for historical as well as biographical reasons. The history of these years is full of broken, confused details : the secrets of intrigue, the extraordinary ebb and flow of fortune, the reasons of the disaffection of the realm, are full of perplexity. And our knowledge of Rotherham's character would be infinitely richer, if we possessed the detail of his conduct in these perilous years. The peril was great and many-sided. For he became the minister and favourite of a dissolute, false, rapacious, ruthless King: who in the four years which followed Rotherham's appointment passed through a series of supreme vicissitudes of battle, panic, im- prisonment, exile, fleeting recoveries, and ultimate victory, without a parallel in English history, — the Second Crisis in short of the Wars of the Roses. , . . . On the 28th Tuly, 1467, Rotherham was Appointment -' ^ . as Keeper of n^^de Keeper of the Privy Seal at a the Privy Seal salary of three hundred and sixty marks. and Chaplain ^le became also about the same time to Edward lY. Chaplain to Edward; the two offices bring- ing him into close personal relation to the King.* The first thing which would impress Rother- e ourt of j^g^jjj -j^ j^-g j^g^ surroundings would be the splendour and luxury of the Court, and the magnificent dress, the captivating grace of the reckless, indolent, majestic Kihg.f Only gradually would he learn * Patent Rolls 7, Edward IV. Guest makes the date 1468 ; but as Edward's reign dates from March 4, 1461, it must be 1467. t Philip de Commines considered Edward the goodliest man he had ever seen. Lord Lytton gives an elaborate description of the King's dress : " His gown flowed to his heels, trimmed with ermine, and em- broidered with large flowers of crimson wrought upon cloth of gold. Over this he wore a tippet ermine, and a collar or necklace of uncut jewels set in filagree gold. The nether limbs were it is true clad in 46 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. the secrets of his policy, the steady elevation of the merchants of London, the king's own lucrative trading with the Flemish towns, and the vigorous watchfulness with which the powers of enrichment — inherent in the rights of escheat, wardship, marriage, resumption of estates, appointment to bishoprics, and bestowal of honours — were exercised for the increase of the royal revenue. He could scarcely have helped thinking of the similarity in change of fortune between himself and the Queen, whom, as we have seen, he may have met before in the suite of the Earl of Oxford, when she was lady of the bed-chamber to Margaret of Anjou. The great event, which was still the talk of the Court at the time of Rotherham's arrival, was the splendid tournament in which the chivalrous Anthony Wydeville (Lord Scales), the Queen's brother, had triumphed over the Count de la Roche, the Bastard of Burgundy. The Earl of Warwick was in France, commissioned by Edward to treat with Lewis XL regarding the matters in dispute between France and England. Reports reached the Court of the high honours with which Lewis was receiving him, and the intimate conferences between them. tight-fitting hosen, but the folds of the gown, as the day was somewhat fresh, were drawn around, so as to conceal the only part of the dress which betokened the male sex. His locks, of a rich golden colour, flowed straight to his shoulders." (' Last of the Barons,' book 11., chap. I.) In Edward's last Parliament however, over which Rotherham presided, the fashion of short mantles is mentioned. No one under the degree of a lord was allowed to wear any mantle, except it be of such a length that a man standing upright il lui voilera le queue (trans- lated, ' cover his buttocks.') The Rolls of Parliament have frequent sumptuary laws in Edward's reign. No man or woman under the estate of a lord might wear cloth of gold or furs of sables: no one below a knight might wear velvet, satin, or silk. The pikes of shoes and boots, says Stowe, were of such length that they were fain to be tied up to their knees with chains of silver, or at the least with silk laces. CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 47 The name of Warwick had been familiar to Rotherham from childhood, as lord of the manor of Kimberworth, which adjoined his native town. He may have seen him, when he marched through Wingham in 1460. But he was not to be brought into any prolonged personal contact with ' The Last of the Barons.' For this mission in France brought up the first little cloud between the Earl and Edward, which was followed rapidly by the tempest in which The King-maker wrecked the throne he had created, and by Henry's restoration was a King-maker again. Rotherham would be about the King when Warwick returned from France. Edward had been by no means pleased at the almost royal honours which Lewis had accorded to his mighty subject : as a mark of displeasure he had taken away the seals from George Nevile, the Archbishop of York, Warwick's brother. The sensation at Court would be intense, when Edward received the Earl with coolness on his return, broke with his policy of friendship with France, and treated the French Am- bassador with neglect. Warwick retired in angry dis- content to his castle at Middleham ; and the months which ensued brought him growing proof of his loss of power with the throne, along with affront to his haughty spirit which led him to the verge of rebellion. For the moment however, through the mediation of the Arch- bishop of York and the father of the Queen, the rupture was averted. The great pageant in the streets of London, held at the departure of Edward's sister, Margaret, for her bridal with the Duke of Burgundy, witnessed the public reconciliation with the King. It was behind Warwick that Margaret rode on her pillion in the pro- cession (June, 1468).* * This match had been specially hateful to him, not only on account 48 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Some weeks before the pageant the King Rotherham ^^^ ^^^^^ j^jg g^^g^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^j Rother- Bishop of Soeheste ham's service. He had named him to the Pope for the Bishopric of Rochester before the appointment to the office of Privy Seal : but the cons;ecration only took place in 1468. We shall not give any details of his life as Bishop of Rochester until a later chapter. There is a curious provision in the license, that he may be consecrated * ellswhere than at Canterbury.' Probably there was some business of the King, which made Canterbury inconvenient.* The King's trust in his capacity is shewn Sole Ambas- j^ore signally in the appointment (Aug. i, „. _ 1468) of Rotherham as Sole Ambassador France. ^° ^^^ King of France.! We shall note him as Ambassador, along with others, to Lewis in a later year. But on this occasion he is sent alone. After what had passed, it might have been a delicate and not too pleasant a mission. But Lewis would probably receive him with his usual silkiness. In a few years' time Rotherham was to be one of the English pensioners of the French King. For the present, however, neither Rotherham The Marriage ^^^ Edward were to think about Lewis or of Clarence. s ■ or ■ -vu j any foreign affairs. There was renewed danger from Warwick. Clarence, Edward's brother, of his personal enmity with the Duke of Burgundy, but because it was an act of direct contradiction to his advocacy of friendship with Lewis. Margaret of Anjou was at the Court of Lewis ; an emissary of hers, who was seized in England, had told Edward that Warwick was con- sidered by the French as a secret partizan of the House of Lancaster. Warwick had been tried, and declared innocent of the charge, but a body-guard of two hundred archers had been placed about him at Middleham after the trial. * The date of the License is March 27. The Consecration Book at Rochester gives his Consecration as April 3. t Rymer's " Fcedera," vol. xi., p. 625. CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 49 wanted to marry Isabella, the Earl's eldest daughter: Warwick was well pleased at the prospect of such an alliance. Edward absolutely refused his consent. They defied him : the marriage was solemnized at Calais, of which Warwick was Governor. Soon afterwards the land was aflame with civil war. Thraves. — During the autumn and winter. The Rebellion Rotherham had been collecting these for the first time, as Provost of Beverley, from the plough-lands of Holderness. Probably the ex- action was not much less invidious there than in the plain of York. So he may not have been entirely sur- prised, that a disturbance had arisen in Yorkshire in consequence of an attempt by the Hospital of St. Leonard to levy them by distress. But it soon was evident that there were other grievances besides the thraves. No less than fifteen thousand men were in rebellion under one Robert Hilyard or Robin of Redesdale. They had ad- vanced on the city of York : but had been met and defeated by Montagu, Warwick's brother, their leader according to one account being executed. But the defeat had not dispersed the force, which moved southwards : and their leaders now are a Sir John Conyers*, and Lord Fitzhugh, the nephew, and Lord Latimer, the cousin, of Warwick. Intermixed also with their * bills of articles,' ' complaints and petitions ' about debasement of the coin, new and grievous impositions by forced loans, and heavy fines, which within the last year only * Mr. Gairdner in his " Life of Richard III." in the " Dictionary of National Biography," thinks that Sir John Conyers and Robin of Redesdale may be identical. Mr, Archbold, in his " Life of Robert Hilyard," distinguishes him from Robin of Redesdale, making Hilyard the Commander of the Yorkshire rising, and identifying Robin of Redesdale with Sir John Conyers. Lord Lytton represents Robin as alive long after this period. 5© ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. had amounted to 200,000 marks (Lingard) — social wrongs with which Rotherham in his office must have had sad acquaintance — there appeared another demand, which looks like the grievance of the nobles rather than the com- monalty, the demand for the removal of the Queen's kindred, as the cause of the calamities of the people. This rebellion swells and spreads: the Queen's father, and his son Sir John Wydevile, are captured by the rebels and executed. Edward finds himself in extreme danger at Olney, from which Warwick rescues him. He is conducted by the Archbishop of York to the Earl, who has Clarence with him, at Coventry ; and from Coventry to Warwick's castle at Middleham, where for a time he finds himself virtually a prisoner. This troublous year brought Rotherham a Rotherham ^^^ honour, quite unconnected with the war. , . , No doubt on account of his high place in Cambridge. '^ , , . the King's favour, Cambridge elected him their Chancellor. It was the beginning of great bene- factions to the University, which will be best considered in the next chapter. The state of the King's business and the dangers of travel may have made any visit to it impossible as yet : Cambridge however was quite un- touched by the war. The thing which is most impressive in the The Flight rebellion of 1469 is the power of Warwick ° * and the weakness of the King. But in the first half of the year 1470 this position is exactly re- versed. An insurrection, certainly connected with Warwick, breaks out in Lincolnshire. Edward marches to suppress it; meets the insurgents at Erpingham, and defeats them; learns that Warwick and Clarence are on their way to join the rebels ; follows them in their retreat to York- shire, then to Nottingham, and through England to CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 5I Exeter. Warwick and Clarence are utterly unable to make any head against him, but simply fly through the land, embark at Dartmouth, and find refuge in France. _. The flight of Warwick marks the first climax King-maker ^^ this eventful time. The second climax, enthrones far more startling, but marked again with enry . ^j^^ same supreme revolution of victory and defeat between the King-maker and the King was rapidly to follow. For the moment Edward thought himself finally secure. As Lord Lytton pictures him : " The danger is past for ever," said King Edward, " rebellion hath lost its head — and now indeed and for the first time a monarch I reign alone." It is extraordinary that he should have so thoroughly undervalued the normal power of Warwick in England. Now also, whatever had been the case before, there was no doubt, as the Duke of Burgundy kept informing him, that Warwick, with Clarence also for the time, had thrown himself to the side of that House of Lancaster which he had dethroned : forgiveness of all the bloody past was sealed between him and Margaret by the marriage of Anne his daughter with young Edward her son : and, behind Margaret, was the active help of Lewis. From the round of indolent pleasure, which he had recklessly resumed, the King was roused by tidings of a rebellion in Northumberland under Lord Fitzhugh, and he marched at once to subdue it. By this lure the southern counties were left unguarded ; and Warwick, with Clarence, eluding the fleet of Bur- gundy, and protected by the fleet of Lewis, landed forces at Plymouth and Dartmouth, in September, 1470. From that point he marched onward unresisted to London, the men of Kent rising in his favour. The Queen fled to sanctuary at Westminster: Henry VL was once more proclaimed King, That done, the Earl marched north- 52 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. ward to Nottingham, his army growing as he went. At Doncaster Edward realized that he was in imminent peril from the approach of his enemy. Six thousand men, who had worn the White Rose, had at the instigation of Warwick's brother, Montagu, cried 'God bless King Henry.' He mounted his horse and rode at once for Lynn, found there an English ship and two Dutch brigs, in which he embarked with a few noblemen and eight hundred followers; and after a narrow escape from pirates ran his ship aground at Alkmaar, where Grutehuse, the Governor of the province, received him hospitably, after- wards conducting him to the Duke of Burgundy at the Hague.* Of Rotherham's movements or abodes during Rotherham's these days of hazard we have not a single Movements j^int. He could hardly have ventured to go to Beverley. It is unlikely that he would of the ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ Edward in the field. In the Re-instated short interval after Warwick's flight he Henry YI. would resume the routine of his office at the Tower ; and when the King left for the north may have gone to his diocese. But the rising in Kent at Warwick's landing may have turned him to London : and when Warwick entered it, he may have thought it wiser, as a marked favourite of Edward, to take refuge with the crowd of Yorkists in sanctuary. Mr. Renat Scott says that, when the Queen fled there, Rotherham withstood the fury of the mob in order to protect her: but I have failed to verify this incident. At the time of the birth of the hapless little prince, whom we style Edward V. in the Tower there is no record of his presence. The child was baptized, says a * See the account in Lingard. CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 53 chronicler, ' as the son of a common man,'* the Abbot and Prior of Westminster standing as godfathers, and Lady Scrope as godmother. It is quite possible that Rotherham found it safe to retire to one of the houses of his diocese during the few months of Henry's re- instatement under the protectorate of Warwick and Clarence : for in marked contrast with Edward's vindictive- ness both after Towton and in the coming time, this brief reign of Henry was characterized by singular lenity to the defeated party of York. It was a short triumph for the Red Rose. The Return Margaret, with her habitual ill-fortune, was ™, ^ ^^, \ hindered by adverse winds from ever sharing: The Battle of -^ ^ Barnet and ^^ ^* ^^^' ^^^ ^^^^V ^iphng brought once Death of more total, but this time final, revolution. Warwick. In the middle of Lent, 1471, Edward landed with about fifteen hundred men at Ravens- purn. It was the place where Henry of Bolingbroke had landed in 1399 : and the tactics which Edward employed were the same as those of Bolingbroke. " He had come," (so he gave out as he marched, directing his followers to cry * Long live Henry,') '' not to claim the crown but the estates of his duchy, which Henry's parliament had just given to his brother Clarence." He was only admitted into York after swearing at the gates, as he did a second time at the Minster, that he would make no pretension to the crown. He then turned southward, passed within four miles of Montagu's force, which could have over- whelmed him, and so on to Nottingham and Coventry, his numbers swelling steadily. At Coventry lay Warwick ; and with him Clarence, who had been long dissatisfied with his position under his father-in-law. Now he broke 54 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. with him, and with all the force under his command joined Edward. Warwick, thus weakened, was unable to give battle: Edward passed him, and pressed on to London, where the gates were opened through the faithlessness of the Archbishop of York. Warwick, strengthened now by Montagu's forces, was following. Taking the poor King Henry with him, Edward marched back to meet them ; and at Gladsmoor, to the north of Barnet, on Easter Day, the great battle of Barnet took place. It was a confused, disorganized conflict, fought in a dense fog, which made friends and foes hard to dis- tinguish ; but as it raged its five hours' life, news came first that Montagu, and next that Warwick had fallen. That was enough. Edward re-entered London in triumph, met his Queen once more with her baby heir to the recovered throne, and sent poor Henry back to the cell he had occupied for so many years in the Tower. Still however, for the Red Rose there was The Battle of flickering hope. Too late to succour War- D th f wick, the winds permitted Margaret with Prince Edward ^^^ French auxiliaries to land at Weymouth. of Lancaster. When the news of Warwick's death reached her, she fled in despair with her son Prince Edward to the Abbey of Cerne: but the Lancastrian lords re-assured her ; if she would join the forces of the Earl of Pembroke in Wales they might yet succeed. At Gloucester however, they found the fortified bridge across the Severn barred against them. On Friday in Easter week Edward had left London. At Tewkesbury the armies met. The guns and archers of York did deadly execution. Gloucester and Edward stormed the Lancas- trian entrenchments, Lord Wenlock* falling in the onset. * See for the relationship of Wenlock to Rotherham '♦ Note (F) on Lord Wenlock and the Rotherhams of Someries." CHAPTER v.] LAST CRISIS OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 55 Margaret, like Henry, was soon in Edward's hands. The young Prince, Edward of Lancaster, bridegroom to Anne of Warwick, was done to death by Edward's knights, Edward himself smiting him in the face with his gauntlet (May 3). One last and dark catastrophe remained, now The Death of that the heir of Lancaster was dead, to Henry YI. make the victories complete. The meek King Henry, so long unfitted for a throne by his gentleness and his mental imbecility, found release from captivity. Some said he had died from grief. The Tudor historians, always keen to blacken the memory of the House of York, laid his murder at the door of Edward and Gloucester (May 21). This conclusive ruin of the cause of Lancaster was of course wholly welcome to so staunch a Yorkist as Rotherham had become, and yet surely the sight at St. Paul's of the body of that dead King, to whose munificence he owed the learning which had brought him to eminence, must have been a sad one to his humane spirit. How different had been these four years as Keeper of the Privy Seal, Chaplain to the King, or Bishop of Rochester from the peaceful times of Wing- ham and Ripple. In that last Will, in which bequests from him mark the sequence of his life, there is no special note of repentance attached to his gifts to Ripple or to Wingham ; but as he pens his legacy of ' ten pounds, besides the money given for building a library ' at Rochester, ' which he ruled at first,' he adds this touching plaint : • Would that the charge had been un- dertaken to the salvation of my soul ! '* * Guest, p, 141, CHAPTER VI. ROTHERHAM as CHANCELLOR of CAMBRIDGE AND FOUNDER OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD. Oh ! Seat of Arts, renowned throughout the world ! " The Prelude.'" — Wordsworth. Botherham Bishop of Lincoln — Embassy to Charles the Bold — Chancellor ship of Cambridge — Benefactions to St. Katharine's, Kifig's College, and St. Mary s — Completion of the Schools — Lincoln College, Oxford — Grant of Four Pounds a Year to the College — Second Charter from Edward IV. Appropriation of Twyford and Long Combe — Gratitude of the College — Botherham named its Second Founder. npHE one certainty as to Rotherham in Embassy to 1 ^^^ ^he hazard of this period is that ^ .^ he did not forfeit Edward's confidence. On Bold. ^ Bishopric of ■^^^' 9. HT^. he was appointed Ambassador, Lincoln. along with Lord Hastings and two others, to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy ; probably in connection with the war with France, which Edward began to contemplate as a revenge on Lewis.* On March 8 of this same year he was translated from Rochester to the much greater See of Lincoln.! * " Rymer Fsedera," vol. xi., p. 737. t Register of Bishop Rotherham at Lincoln : " Octavo die martii millesimo quadragintesimo Septuagesimo primo . . . Transl. rev' in Christo pris et dni Thome Rotherhm a sede Roffen ad eccHam Lincoln." Cole gives the date of the license to the Chapter at Lincoln to elect him as December 7, 1471. The temporalities were given to him March 10, 147^- CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 57 Rotherham had been elected Chancellor of Chancellorship Cambridge in 1469. His first term of office ri ge. gj^(jg(j jj^ tjjg troublous year 147 1 ; but he Completion , ^ j • j i, J .r of the ^^^ re-elected m 1473, and held office, pro- Schools, bably by further re-election, until 1478. It is impossible, as will be made evident, that he could ever have resided much in Cambridge, but he certainly did. not neglect its welfare. The two young foundations of that time would naturally interest him. Queen's College had been founded in 1446, during his residence at King's, and placed by its founder, Andrew Doket, under the patronage of the unhappy young Queen, Margaret of Anjou. Its old court, which still remains, must have been a notable building in those days, when so few Colleges possessed a quadrangle built uniformly at a single date. But the College would appeal more strongly to the Chancellor of 1469 from the fact that four years earlier it had been placed under the patronage of a second Queen, Elizabeth, the wife of Edward IV. Midway in his second Chancellorship, another founda- tion was established by his old friend, Robert Wodelarke, the third Provost of King's. The original court, chapel, and library of St. Katherine's no longer are in existence ; but we know from Rotherham's Will that he contributed largely to the buildings.* In the accounts for the building of King's College Chapel, 1477-80, we find also a gift of ;^ioo from him. His arms also are carved on the tower of Great St. Mary's, for which his benefactions, either in his lifetime, or by his Will, amounted to the * " I also give and bequeathe to the New College at Cambridge, above and beyond the large sums paid and given for the building and repairing of the church there in the time of Mr. Arthur Wodelarke, my best red suit of cloth of gold, with six copes, and all things pertaining to the priest, deacon, and sub-deacon." Guest, p. 141. E 58 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. same sum.* The great achievement however of his Chancellorship, for which up to the present day his name is mentioned in the solemn commemoration of the bene- factors of Cambridge, was the completion of the schools. When Rotherham came up first to Kmg's College, the north side of the school's quadrangle alone was com- pleted, the western side was in course of erection. The southern side, planned in 1457, seems scarcely to have been seriously undertaken until 1466, when William Wilflete the Chancellor appealed for subscriptions for it in London : it is believed to have been finished in 1470 or the following year. The completion of the eastern side of the quadrangle was the work of Rotherham's chancellorship, and mainly of his munificence. ' The little schole, now the place of judgment for the Vice-Chancellor, and the other schole where the Doctors sit were built at the charges of the University : and the library over that by Thomas Rotherham then Chancellor both of the realm and the University, Bishop of Lincoln, and after- wards Archbishop of York, besides the schole gate with the jaumes, as it standeth, by him especially ; and certain other, as Humpie Duke of Gloucester gave 20 marks, and the Earle of Oxford (whose chaplain the said Rotheram was) gave 10 li.' The library was furnished * with everything needful and enriched with numerous volumes of great value.'t The exact dates of the erection of the eastern side are not known : and the mention of the gifts of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester,! * Willis & Clark, vol. i., p. 473. f Willis & Clark's " Architectural History of Cambridge," vol. in., pp. 13—15- J Speaking of these buildings of Rotherham, Fuller in his " Worthies" says that there was Richard III.'s cognizance the Boar's Head on a part of it ; and adds, " The truth is that Rotherham having felt the CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 59 (ob 1447) and the Earl of Oxford, who (if he is the one to whom Rotherham was chaplain) died in 1462, point to its design at least at a far earlier time. The gateway however, and the library on the upper floor of the whole side was undoubtedly Rotherham's work. Godwin in his "Life of Rotherham," speaks of these as begun in 1470; they were finished by 1475. Unfortunately, while it is still possible to see what was the appearance of the three other sides of this old quadrangle, now the University Library, the part built by Rotherham has given place to the enlarged eastern front, built by Wright (1755-8) Sharp Tusks of that Boar (when imprisoned by the aforesaid King for resigning the Great Seal) advanced his armes thereon, merely to in- gratiate himself.'' Unless the crest was carved long after the erection of the building, Fuller's quip is more smart than accurate. On the outer side of Rotherham's Gateway there was a Sun, the emblem of Edward IV., and three shields, one of which is indistinguishable, another bearing the arms of Edward IV., the third bearing the arms of Rotherham. On the inner face in a compartment of stone is a rose, supported on the right side by a bull, and on the left by a boar. Mr. Willis Clark considers the rose the White Rose of York, and says that a bull was sometimes used by Edward as a supporter, as the boar was by Richard. He also thinks that the entry in Archbishop Parker, which attributes the gift of 20 marks towards the building to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester may be a mistake for ' Richard.' The bull was the cognizance of the Neviles, and so might be used by Edward or Richard, whose mother was a Nevile. In the deed (March 16, 1484), however, in which Rotherham himself as Chancellor decrees to Richard the customary exequies and mass of requiem, as a benefactor of Cam- bridge, a list of Richard's benefactions is given, without any mention of the schools : nor do the schools occur in a similar list in the petition for Rotherham's release, which would naturally suggest a mention of it. There is of course no evidence that Edward either contributed to the building, but it would be natural to place his arms, &c. on it, as the reigning king. Is it possible that the boar was really a memorial of Humphrey, and the bull of Oxford ? In a list of badges contributed by the Mr. Philip Shirley to " Nichol's Herald and Gene- alogist " (vol. VI., p. 338), said to be of the middle of the sixteenth century, the " stere " is given as the badge of Oxford. The gateway of Rotherham's part of the Library was removed to Madingley, and can be seen there as the entrance to the stables. 6o ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. during the Chancellorship of the Duke of Newcastle. The picture of the old schools by Loggan however gives a good idea of what it must have been ; and Cole in his " Life of Rotherham," writing immediately after its destruction, gives us this description: — " While he was Bishop of Lincoln and our Chan- cellor, at his own expense, and that no inconsiderable one, except a small matter contributed by the University and King Richard IH. (?), he finished that beautiful gate and two courts on the side of it, the one for the Vice-Chancellor, and the other for the Commissary of the University, to hold their courts of justice in : the one of them now used as an entrance for the Vice-Chancellor and doctors to their gallery in the Divinity Scholes ; over all which buildings run a long gallery, made use of as a Library, and making the east front of the present schools, fronting St. Mary's Tower in the Regent Walk. His arms to this day (I copy this part of my account from one wrote in my ' History of King's College,' in 1746) are on the said portal in stone ; and in the old Library as it is called above, built by him and furnished with 200 volumes, some of which remain there to this time (1759), are to this day (viz., 1746) in the windows ; his device in almost every pane of glass, being a buck trippant, in almost every posture and attitude you can conceive, being part of his arms : together with the white or York rose, which shows his affection to his great patron, Edward IV. There has been some old writing also mixed among them two or three times in every window in curious letters, whereof some are composed of serpents, and is Da te Deo.* But in my absence, in the Vice-Chan- * ' Da te Deo ' was the motto of Rotherham apparently. It appears in three places at the beginning of the volume containing the statutes CHAPTER VI. AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 6l cellorship of Dr. Paris, the front of these scholes were thought to want repair, at which time all the old painted windows were taken down to make room for Crown glass, and all those paintings, tho' perfect and compleat, were taken away by the glazier, to the no small reproach of the University in thus defrauding the pious benefactors and founders amongst us of their grateful memorials. There were also many other antient coats in the open work at the top of each window, all of which were taken away ; and though I used all means I could think of to recover them, yet they were broken, dispersed, or mislaid in a month after they were removed in such a manner as I could not find them. One large pane I had as the gift of the Vice- Chancellor, part of which composes two gothic windows I made in the parsonage at Blecheley in Buckingham- shire besides some which I put into the east window of the parish church. Since which time the whole of Archbishop Rotheram's building is pulled down, and about the year 1756 an elegant new structure erected upon the same spot, under the auspices of the Duke of Newcastle, the present Chancellor of the University." Cole goes on to descant on the impolicy as well as in- gratitude of the destruction of stained glass in Gothic windows. ' In the magnificent chapel of King's College .... was it not for the beautiful windows of painted glass too much light would be uneasy to the eye.' He then describes one of Rotheram's books, " Speculum Historiale," in three volumes, by Vincentius, printed in 1473, with ' a of his ' College of Jesus at Rotherham,' preserved at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge : once over the arms of the See of York, once over Rotherham's own arms, and again over his arms impaled with those of the See of York. 62 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. piece of vellum ' attached to each volume, giving the title, and the words ' ex dono reverendissimi in Christo Patris ac Dni. Dni Thomae Dei gratia Ebor. Archiepi. Anno Dni. 1484:' and infers from this instance that the gift of books did not belong to the earlier Chancellorship, but the later date of these volumes. He concludes this notice of Rotherham's work at the Schools by mentioning the improvement which he made in the approaches to the Schools, which were then much covered with buildings. • That there might be a free communication between these Scholes and Great St. Mary's Church, he between the years 1470 and 1476 opened the walks on each side of the Scholes.'* Notwithstanding Cole's remark, it is evident Rotherham's that Rotherham had made a munificent Gifts to the present of books to the Library at the time of the completion of the building ; and a considerable one apparently at an earlier period than this. At any rate the book-plate of the Library exhibits his arms, impaled with those of the See of Bochester. Although there was a library previous to that time, Rotherham was, partly by his gifts of books, and partly by his aid to the building, considered the Founder of it. At the date of the completion of the Schools, the decree of commemoration says that he had enriched it with numerous and costly books! (opulentam reddidit .... non paucis vel exilibus libris). The date of the volume by Vincentius shews that he gave other books subsequently — his total contribution being 200 volumes. Whether any of them still remain seems doubtful. Allen (skeleton Collegii Regalis), writing in the last century, says that * Guest, pp. 94, 95. A central walk was made later by Archbishop Parker in 1574, called Regent Walk. See Atkinson & Clarke, p. 272. Cooper's Annals, vol. i., p. 222. CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 63 " by the covetousness of those in power and remissness of the library-keepers " they were for the most part shamefully embezzled." All the earlier gifts would of course be manuscripts. But ' Vincentius ' is interesting as a printed book. We shall see later donations of printed books by Rotherham to his College of Jesus. About the time of the completion of the schools Caxton, under the patronage of Edward, and Richard of Gloucester, and Bourchier, was setting up his English press, and must have been known to Rotherham. His books however were not theological. Those given by Rotherham were all from foreign printing presses ; and as yet the opportunity of buying printed theology was only felt as a boon to divinity. In the next century it was to be very different, leading to wholesale confiscation of the books from Germany and the stern restrictions of licensing.* It is for this memorable work of that day Rotherham ^^at still the name of Rotherham is heard enrolled among -^ ^^^ commemorations of the benefactors the Benefactors ^ ^ , . , „, . . , , of Cambridge. °^ Cambridge. The original decree settmg forth the gratitude of the University is dated May 13, 1475: "In grateful acknowledgment of the bene- faction of their Chancellor Thomas Rotherham, then Bishop of Lincoln .... who had completed the new schools, which he had enriched with numerous and costly books," it decreed "that he should be enrolled for ever among their benefactors, and that his name should be specially recited by the priest, who visited each school annually to pray for the benefactors of the University." And further, that yearly during his life on the day on * Besides his gifts above Rotherham gave books to the Library at Pembroke. One of them, " The Epistles of St. Cyprian," was given, before his appointment to the mastership of the College, during his Lincoln Episcopate. (See Wrenn MS, at Pembroke.) 64 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. which the Masters resumed their lectures after the feast of Easter, a mass should be celebrated, with deacon and sub-deacon, for the healthful security of the state and persons of the whole body of bishops, and that after his death there should be yearly exequies with a morrow mass .... on a day assigned by him or another on his behalf.* The thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and muni- Linco n ficence, which characterise this Cambridge College, ' . , , . Q „ , work, came out with equal prommence m Rotherham's handling of a claim made on him at this same period in the Sister University. Lincoln College, Oxford, derives its name from the fact of its foundation by Richard Fleming, a Yorkshireman and Bishop of Lincoln, like Rotherham, and like Rotherham advanced by the Pope of his day (Martin V.) to the Archbishopric of York. Unlike Rotherham, however, his appointment to York was opposed by those in whom the power of the crown was vested in the minority of Henry VI., and not without difficulty he had effected his translation back again to Lincoln. In his residence as a graduate at Oxford, Fleming " had been noted for his sympathy with the tenets of the Wyclifists ; but in his later years he had come to regard the movement with alarm, forboding that it was one of those troubles which were to vex the Church towards the end of the world." After his return to Lincoln, consequently " he determined * Quoted from Cooper's Annals, vol. i., p. 222. The original Latin is given in Hearne's " Liber Niger Scaccarii," vol. 11., pp. 687, 688. The description of the building is given as " Scholas novamque superius Librarian! polito lapide sumptuosa pompa ac dignis aedificiis perfect, eamque omnibus ut decuit rebus exornatam, non paucis vel exilibus libris opulentam reddidit, plurimaque insuper alia bona Universitati pro- curavit." The deed was sealed both with the seal of the University and the seal of Rotherham himself, as Chancellor. CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 65 to found * coUegiolum quoddam theologorum " — a little college of true students in theology, who would defend the mysteries of the sacred page against those ignorant laics, who profaned with swinish snout its most holy pearls."* The College as Fleming conceived it was a little one, and poor. He died shortly after the date of the charter for it (Dec. ig, 1429). After his death, however, it was augmented by benefactors ; among whom John Forest, Dean of Wells (who was named co-founder with Fleming for his splendid aid in buildings for the College), and the executors of Cardinal Beaufort and of Bishop Bekynton are conspicuous. Still at the commencement of Rotherham's episcopate it was in an unfinished state as regards buildings and endowments : and its endow- ments were endangered. f When Edward IV. came to the throne, they had been secured to the College by the powerful intercession of George Nevile, Warwick's brother, then Bishop of Exeter and Chancellor: and a new charter had been obtained from Edward. J But after the final triumph of Edward over the House of Lancaster they were again in peril, by an omission, through carelessness *"The Colleges of Oxford, Lincoln College," by Rev. Andrew Clark, p. 171. f In the composition of Thomas Rotherham the College is described as lying under ' quadam imperfectione non modo in aedificiis verum etiam in possessionibus ' : and Rotherham is said to have perceived that 'tale opus imperfectum longo tempore stare non posse.' MSS. : Rev. A. Clark, and " College Histories — Lincoln," by Rev. A. Clark, p. 27. j The danger arose from the assumed invalidity of the Charter of Henry VL as not being the rightful King. It illustrates forcibly the insecurity of property through the change of dynasty. In general, as in this case, this technical claim would be too glaring an injustice to be enforced. But in Oxford the College of All Souls did not escape so easily : they had to pay a considerable fine. See " The Colleges of Oxford — All Souls," by C. W. C. Oman, p. 215. The Charter of Edward describes Henry as ' de facto et non de jure' King. MSS.: Rev. A. Clark, "College History," p. 25. 66 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. (if not intentional) in the wording of the charter. In the form presented in the petition of the College the grant was to the Rector and Fellows, and their successors: in the charter itself " et successoribus " was omitted : and a contention was set up that the grant only held good for the existing Rector and Fellows.* It was under these circumstances that Rotherham, who was Visitor of the College, came — probably from his castle at Banbury, — to Oxford. The account of Sub -rector Robert Parkinson, about 1570, has preserved the tradition of the scene that took place. Perhaps in the former chapel of the College, John Tristropp the Rector, or one of the Fellows, preached a sermon on the text (from Vulgate, ps. Ixxx. 15), — " Behold and visit this vine, and perfect that which thy right hand hath planted," and in the course of it appealed to the Bishop to 'perfect' the College. We can understand how dexterously he may have made use of the word ' visit,' and the * plantation ' by not only a Bishop of Lincoln, but, perhaps, a Yorkshire Bishop. At any rate, he so moved Rotherham's warm heart that ' at once ' he told the preacher that he would do what he asked from him.t The measures which Rotherham took for the Grant of £i < perfection ' of the College extended over the a year to ^^^xt six years of his life ; but it will give a „ „ ^ clearer view to consider them in the whole College. series here. His first assistance came out *Ibid, p. 26, and the Charter in full in MSS., Clark. f Ferunt .... Quod cum, de more diocesim visitando, oxoniam veniret, quidara ex sociis, vel Rector Tristropp, ilium inter concionan- dum alloquens hortatus est ut collegium perficeret illo Psalmo 80. 15. Vide et visita vineam istam et perfice eam quam plantavit dextera tua. Quibus verbis ita episcopum commovit ut statim concionanti responderet se facturum quod peteret. " College Histories," p. 31. See also Guest, p. 95. In Loggan's picture of the College (1675), a vine is seen spreading over the west front of the Hall. CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C, 67 of his episcopal income. When Fleming founded Lincoln out of the appropriation of certain benefices in Oxford, he had reserved to the See a payment of four pounds a year for the appropriation of All Saints and St. Michael's. From the payment of this annual sum Rotherham released the College during the remainder of his episcopate (July 3, 1475)- His next work was to secure and improve „^ , , the condition of the College with the Kinsr. Charter from ° ° Edward lY. ^^ J""^ ^^' H78, he obtained from Edward a new charter, in which the error in the first charter, by the omission of " et successoribus " was set forth, and the right of the College to all its possessions in perpetuity clearly expressed. In the same deed five additional Fellowships were constituted, raising the whole number to twelve ; and the right of holding lands in mortmain was extended to a higher limit in value. The third step was one of those manipula- Appropriation tions of ecclesiastical revenue to which the ofTwyford Universities owe so much of their present enjoyment of Rectorial tithes. Appropriation Lincoln °^ ^^® Great Tithe in parishes had in the College. fourteenth century gone chiefly to the Monasteries. In the fifteenth century they had begun to flow towards the Universities. The monastic appropriations passed at the dissolution of the religious houses into the hands of the laity ; but those to the Colleges were not touched. Rotherham achieved the ap- propriation of Long Combe in Oxfordshire, and Twyford in Bucks to Lincoln.* * Dr. Jessop (" Coming of the Friars," p. 286, in the chapter on ' The Building of a University,') has some racy sentences about the fashion. ' There was a crafty device whereby the owner of an advowson could appropriate the tithes of a benefice to the support of any corporation 68 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. The next act of assistance was, like the The Comple- Cambridge work, a piece of architectural _ , . munificence. In 1479 he completed the quad- at Lincoln. wangle by building its southern side. His arms are carved on the wall. The quad- rangle as he built it had no battlements : they were only added in the present century. There is a rude picture which might be considered a religious foundation. . . . When the rage for founding Colleges came in, the fashion of alienating the revenues of country parsons grew to be quite the rage. The Colleges of secular priests might be and were strictly religious foundations ; and could the Colleges of scholars, teachers and learners, who presumably were all priests, or intended for the priesthood, be regarded as less religious than the others ? In order that the country parsons should be better educated, it was arranged that the country parsons should be impoverished.' The deeds needed for this and the preceding transactions are given in the Cartulary of Lincoln College, and I am indebted to Rev. A. Clark for the copies of them in his MSS. As they show the process followed in these appropriations, which meets us again in Rotherham's Register at York, an outline of them may be interesting. There were certain checks on the procedure, and certain payments were exacted. The payment to the Chapter is notable, and that to the poor of the parishes : when the great tithes fell into the hands of the laity, these payments to the poor seem to have been neglected. The income of the benefices was to belong to Lincoln, subject to certain payments, to the main- tenance of two chaplains, removable at its will, and the expenditure of a fixed sum annually to the poor of the parishes (two shillings at Twyford, and twenty pence at Long Combe). The patronage of Twyford lay in himself: but that of Long Combe lay in the Abbey of Ensham. The consent of the Abbey was therefore necessary. The parish of Twyford lay in the Archdeaconry of Bucks. The consent of the Archdeacon of Buckingham was therefore necessary, and a sum of twenty pence a year as indemnity was stipulated to be paid to him. The Archdeacon of Oxford was to have the same sum for his consent in the case of Long Combe. Further, the consent of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln under their seal was necessary: so a sum of three shillings and fourpence a year was to be paid to them as indemnity, ' and in sign of subjection to the mother Church of Lincoln' (in signum subjectionis matrici ecclesiae Lincoln). A similar deed, connected with the Chapter or York, occurs in Rotherham's Register. Finally these consents were exhibited to the King, and his license obtained under the Great Seal (Nov. 11, 1478), whereon (Nov. 20) Rotherham's decree of incorporation of the benefices with Lincoln was sealed with the seal of the diocese. CHAPTER VI.] AS CHANCELLOR OF CAMBRIDGE, &C. 69 of the College in 1566, drawn for Queen Elizabeth's visit by John Bereblock.* Finally towards the close of his Lincoln The New episcopate (Feb. 2, 1480), he gave the College a full body of Statutes, in completion of the " ordinances " of Fleming, signed under his hand. Under these Statutes the College was governed until the Uni- versity Commission in 1855. For this thorough establishment of the College Gratitude of the Rectors and Fellows were rightly and the College, deeply grateful. In their agreement with Rotherham Rotherham they say that they have resolved named the , .,11 Second Founder ^" ^^1^"^" ^°^"^^1 ^" ^^^P^^ *° ^'^^ «™ of Lincoln ^^e title of Second Founder (velut Reforma- College. torem nostrum et alterum Fundatorem), to commend him during life, and his soul after death, to the prayers of the hearers in every sermon, and pray for him with a special collect during life at Mass. After his death his obit and its anniversaries should be kept with the celebration of * exequies and mass of requiem for the soul of the bishop and his parents.' At grace after dinner, also the name of Rotherham after his decease was to be coupled with that of Fleming, with the words ' Requiescat in pace.'t These rites are the same as those accorded to the memory of the First Founder, Fleming. J Among some * " College Histories — Lincoln," p. 28. A descendant of the bishop, Sir Thomas Rotherham, who was Fellow 1586 — 93, and Bursar (1592), built the west side of the chapel quadrangle. t" College Histories — Lincoln," p. 28. I ' Compositio ' with Rotherham, Mr. Clark's MSS. In order to insure the presence of members at these 'obits,' a sum also called an 'obit' was often given to each one present. The sum in Rotherham's case was a shilling. At the Reformation masses for the dead became illegal ; but the sum was paid still to each one dining in hall. Mr. Clark has 70 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. pictures of benefactors of Oxford, painted in the 17th century, there was until recently in the Bodleian a picture of Rotherham : =^ and there is a three-quarter length por- trait of him in a cope, with a mitre, and a triple cross, in the Hall at Lincoln, which tradition asserts to be the gift of Bishop Sanderson, who was not only one of the most eminent sons of the College, but who came to it in right of his education at the Grammar School in Rotherham,* which still remained as the child of Rotherham's College of Jesus. See for an analysis of the Statutes made by Rotherham, Note E on Lincoln College. a humorous story of a sum of four shillings, belonging to the ' obit' on St. Bartholomew's Day, which was divided between a Fellow who dined in Hall, and Mark Pattison the Rector, who dined in his own room at an earher hour — the only men in College. * In the south and east galleries (of the Bodleian) see Wood's Antiquities, 1796, p. 955, pictures of the Founders of every College were depicted and hung up in 1670. Under Rotherham's picture was inscribed : " Thomas de Rotherham, alias Scot, Episc. Lincolniensis deinde Archiep. Eboracensis et totius Anglise Cancellarius Collegii Beatae Marise et omnium Sanctorum Lincoln. Fundator secundus. Anno Dom. mcccclxxviii. Obiit. mccccc. * Isaac Walton gives Guilthwaite, Rotherham, as the birthplace of Sanderson, but Hunter disputes this, and makes him born at Sheffield. His father certainly lived at Guilthwaite. Guest, p. 337. Portrait of Archbishop Rotherham. From a Mezzotint by Faber. CHAPTER VII. ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. My Lord of York, it better showed with you, When that your flock assembled by the bell Encircled you to hear with reverence Your exposition of the Holy text, Than now to see you here, an iron man. How deep you were within the Books of God I To us, the speaker in his parliament. To us, the imagined voice of God Himself. Henry IV., Act iv., Scene II. — Shakspeare. The Chancellorship — Judicial Functions — The Chancellor in Parliament — Botherham's Speech to the Commons — The State of the Bealm — The Enemies of England — Lewis of France— The Allies of Edivard — Burgundy and Bretagne — The Foreign Wars of the Past — The Perils of Losing this Golden Opportunity — Peroration and Appeal — The Happy Conchbsion of Parliame^it — The Benevolence — Botherham and Alcock concurrently Chancellors — The War loith France — The Peace of Pecquigny. npHE consideration of his complete plans "® for Lincoln College has carried us too Chancellorship. ^ j ■ ^i r o ^.t- i. » far onward in the sequence or Kotherham s public life. We must revert to the spring of 1474,"^ in which he exchanged the office of Privy Seal for the exalted though often precarious dignity of Chancellor of * The exact date of the appointment is not known. Booth, his pre- decessor, prorogued Parliament as Chancellor on Feb. i. Rotherham prorogued it in the same office on May 28. See " Biographical Dictionary of the Judges," by Edward Foss. " Life of Rotherham," vol. iv., p. 474. 72 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. England. In addition to its supreme judicial function, the Chancellorship was a post of intimate confidence with the King, and held often opportunities of statesman- ship. Its power varied greatly with the personal capacity of the occupant, and the weakness or delegated adminis- tration of the Sovereign. In the minority of Henry VI. it had been a vantage-ground for the imperiousness of Cardinal Beaufort : Wolsey at the height of his greatness reminds us of the great Continental Chancellors of the present. Edward's Chancellors, on the other hand, since the dismissal of Warwick's brother. Archbishop Neville, had been smaller men : probably it was not his policy to aggrandize the office. Rotherham was a stronger man all round Judicial ^j^^jj gQQ^j^ ^^^ Stillington, whom he fol- lowed. Lord Campbell, speaking of his judicial character, says that he ' was considered the greatest equity lawyer of the age.' ' The equitable juris- diction of the Courts of Chancery may be considered as making its greatest advance (hitherto) in this reign, al- though still in the rudest state, without systematic rules or principles.' The most notable part of this advance was its jurisdiction over trusts. The practice of enfeof- fing trustees, who should hold lands to the use of a man and his heirs, had been introduced in the close of the previous century. " During our long wars in France," says Blackstone, " and the subsequent civil commotions between the Houses of York and Lancaster, uses grew almost universal, through the desire men had (when their lives were continually in hazard) of providing for their children by Will, or of securing their estates from for- feiture, when each of the contending parties, as they became uppermost, attainted the other. The weak point of the arrangement was the abuse of the trust: and as CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 73 the common law judges held, that the persons for whose benefit the trust existed could maintain no action at law in their courts, and so were debarred from redress at their hands, all cases of this kind came to the Court of Chancery. This exercise of jurisdiction in the matter of trust was, however, only one instance of the function of the Chancellor, to give redress to the subject, where the common law either failed or was unable to render justice. In cases where no known writ was applicable, he could take the matter into his own hands and decide it. In cases where there had been a miscarriage of justice in the common law courts he could stay judgment after their verdict, deciding according to that which was just and equal (secundum aequum et bonum). The last pro- cedure might occasionally bring him into conflict with the judges, though this was generally avoided by con- sultation with them. One one occasion, however, Lord Campbell records a very serious combination of the judges against Rotherham, because ' he had granted an injunction after verdict in a case depending in the King's Bench, on the ground that the verdict had been fraudu- lently obtained.' Hussey, the Chief Justice, was extremely indignant, and wanted to carry out the verdict in spite of the injunction : if the Chancellor imprisoned any one in the Fleet for infringing the injunction he would issue a habeas corpus, and release him ; and if the injunction was continued, the whole body of the judges were un- animous in their declaration that they would ' nothing the less give judgment and award execution.'* As the known facts of Rotherham's life all point to his uprightness, humanity, and even courage, it would be a gross injustice to his memory to surmise that he exercised * Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors," 4th edition, vol. i., pp. 340, 341. The issue of the struggle is not stated, 74 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. his judicial power merely as the creature of Edward. Still, in the paucity of these facts, we may note the dangers and temptations of the office. The Chancellor's court did not inspire the same trust as the courts of common law. There had been complaints in former reigns that ecclesiastics, who usually held the Chancellorship, were necessarily without legal training.* But the confidential position of the Chancellor about the King, along with the fact that he was removable at pleasure, was a more serious ground of suspicion. The strong feeling of the Commons about this extorted from Edward III., during a crisis in the French war, a partial concession (which he immediately afterwards recalled) to a demand ' that the Chancellor, with the other great officers might be chosen in open Parliament.'! Again and again the Commons complained of the interference of the Court of Chancery with the course of common law and the trans- ference of matters, which could be dealt with in the common law courts, to the Chancellor's court. | When * No lay Chancellor was ever appointed until Sir Robert Bourchier (1340), whose appointment was not a success, owing to his ignorance of both civil and canon law (Campbell, vol. i., p. 211). He was followed by two other laymen, the last of whom was inefficient. From that time, with the exception of Sir Robert Thorpe and Chief Justice Knyvet, who died in 1377, there was no lay Chancellor till the time of Sir Thomas More. (Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex, who held the seals for a month between the tenures of Stillington and Booth, is scarcely worth counting among the Chancellors.) The un- certainty of equity judgments even at a later period than Edward IV.'s reign is often illustrated by a sarcastic speech of Selden in James I.'s time. " Equity is a roguish thing : for law we have a measure. Equity is according to the conscience of him who is Chancellor. . . . It is all one, as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a foot the Chancellor's foot, . . . one Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, ... it is the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience.'^ Campbell, vol. i., p. 11. t Campbell, vol. i., pp. 208, 209. J Campbell gives numerous instances of petitions from the Commons, CHAPTER VII,] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND, 75 we couple these facts with the conditions of the Chan- cellor's office in the later years of Edward IV., and remember the quantity of business issuing out of the forfeitures and attainders, and the greedy espionage with which the King watched every opportunity of gain in the incidents of feudal tenures, such as escheats, wardship and dower, or in appeals against injustice in the King's patents (of which we had an illustration in the last chapter) — all of them specially in the Chancellor's cognizance — we see how delicate and difficult must have been the task of being fearlessly just, and the cheats that might be put upon conscience. " There will never be wanting," says Sir Thomas More in ' Utopia,' " some pretence for deciding in the King's favour ; as that equity is on his side, or the strict letter of the law, or some forced interpretation of it ; or if none of these, that the Royal prerogative ought with conscientious judges to out- weigh all other considerations." " These notions are fostered by the maxin that the King can do no wrong, however much he may wish to do it ; that not only the property but the persons of his subjects are his own ; and that a man has a right to no more than the King's which the King always evaded. In 1379 they pray " that parties may be sent to the proper court to answer according to due course of law," In 13th of Richard II. they pray that the Chancellor might make no order against the common law, and that no one should appear before the Chancellor where recovery was given by the common law. In 1415, on the King's return after Agincourt, they made a vehement protest against the writ of subpoena, " which John Waltham of his craft invented " , . against the form of the common law of the realm in the reign of Richard II,, and which became one of the most powerful instruments of Chancery, In 1422 they proposed that, to prevent persons being called upon to answer in Chancery, the judges of the King's Bench or the Common Pleas should first certify, that the complainants could not have any action or remedy at common law. In 1436 they prayed "that every person . . . vexed in Chancery for matter determinable by the common law should have action against him that so vexed him, and recover his damages." 76 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. goodness thinks not fit to take from him."* The deep self-indictments which abound in the devotions of the saintliest men are a caution against using confessions of sin as evidence at the bar of history. Yet it may be that some memories of judicial weakness may form part of that passionate sorrow for transgression which again and again bursts forth among the directions of Rotherham's Will.f In the days of Edward IV., as at present, The Chancellor the Chancellor presided over the Peers in in Parliament. Parliament. It was also his office to further as much as he could the business of the King. When Rotherham took his place in the Lords, there was business of importance : and the Croyland historian contrasts the skill and success of Rotherham with that of his two predecessors. Stillington had been incapacitated by ill-health : Booth during his short office " tired himself with doing nothing at all." Rotherham '•did all, and brought everything to a happy conclusion." This happy conclusion consisted in obtaining a generous supply for a war with Lewis, King of France. It is strange to our modern ideas to find Cobbett the Par- liamentary historian remarking that this Parliament, which only lasted two years and a half, was the longest he had as yet chronicled. Originally Parliament was dissolved at the close of the Session in which it was called : but the convenience of King and subjects gradu- ally pointed to some extension of its life, which was * The translation is from Green's " Short History of the English People." t E.g., at the outset of his Will he beseeches the Virgin, the Angels, and the Saints to " implore the infinite mercy of God, and pray for my sins, for which I am grieved and sorrowful. O, if sufficiently penitent, may the Lord Jesus have pity on me, and deign to turn away His face from those my sins." Guest, p. 136. CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND 77 managed by the device of prorogation ; in the present instance this was used to an extent without example. The Parliament had been elected in October, 1472, when the land was still trembling under the shock of the bloodshed and revolutions in the preceding year: it had proved subservient to the King alike in the harvest of attainders, which a second time stained the triumph of the House of York for the enrichment of the royal purse, and in direct supplies for the King's necessities and the protection of the realm. Edward no doubt judged it more likely to advance his plans for revenge upon Lewis, which were now fast ripening, than a Parliament drawn fresh from the country. At the same time the supplies already granted him were great, so that a strong Chancellor, endued with tact and persuasiveness, was very desirable. Rotherham's first known act is the pro- rogation of Parliament on May 28, 1474. He may, however, have been in Parliament during part of this Session, which had begun May 9, the great event of it being a grant of a tenth and a fifteenth to the King. There was another Session in this year (June 6 — July 18). It was the custom for the Chancellor to address both Houses at the commencement of a Session : and this address in the hands of the ecclesiastic Chancellors took frequently the form of a sermon, framed with special reference to the matter in hand. Two specimens of these addresses will be found on a later page. Besides these, there were other communications with the Commons on the King's business.* It was on one of these occasions in this year that Rotherham delivered the long and curious speech to the Commons and their Speaker, * The scene in 1523, when Wolsey came to the Commons with an unprecedented demand for aid against France, and was received with absolute silence, to his great Indignation, is a very good illustration. 78 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. William Alyngton, in the presence of the ambassadors from Burgundy, which has been preserved in the records of the monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury. He begins by saying that their " Soveraign , , ,, Lord the King" is "the mooste bounde of Speech to the Commons ^^^ ^^^^ creatures of the world to bethynk, studie and fynde the moost convenable moyens " to settle his people in ease welthe and pros- peritie." The " oonly moyen" by which this can be assured " is tranquillitee and peas within " : " bi dissen- sion and discorde" the mightiest "reames" have "fallen to poverte and desolacion." " The experience of this nedeth not to far fette," " for every man of reasonable age " had known the trouble of the " reame " and " att oo tyme or other " had his part therein. The principal occasion of this " grete unrestfulness " was now "throuth Goddes grace and the moost victorious prowesse '"' of the King "extinct;" and their Soveraign Lord " in dede," "as ever in righte " " the very and righteous possessor of their lande." But he points out that still " many a grete The State of sore, many a perilous wounde" is "left un- the Realm, heled," "The multitude of riotous people" > that have " kyndeled this division " is "spradde" over the "reame." If they were to be re- duced to " obeissance," and suffer the pain due to the rigour of the law, there " might happe " such destruction of people " necessaire to the defence of the lande, already minished " by " inward werres " that " enemyes shuld be gretely encouraged " to " assaile the lande." One would have thought that this horrible The Enemies ^^^^ q£ virtual extermination of the Lancas- . „' trians would overshoot the mark of endur- Lewis of France. ance ; but it would only have been an enforcement to the bitter end of the work CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 79 of attainder and forfeiture which the servile Parliament had sanctioned, and continued to sanction, in these very Sessions. However, though he does not express any horror of it as a policy, Rotherham only introduces it in order to suggest a motive for the war with France. His speech turns off as it were at the word " enemies." He pictures the land, if thus weakened by the infliction of justice within, attacked by the Scottes its " nexte " (nearest) adversaries in league with the " grettest and auncien adversaries" the " Frensshemen " and now of late with the Danes : and then passes to a minute enumera- tion of the subtill and crafty enterprises of Lewis. He recounts the numerous " ambassades " from Edward, end- ing with his own in 1468, which all " coude never brynge" "any fruit" "or comfort of assured peas." He describes Lewis as " sowyng sedition and procuring inward werre, the destruction as ferr as in hym was of the Kyng and his lande." He considers Lewis as so faithless, that, " if for his own imminent necessitie or dainger he were to offer the Kyng any recompence, it is to be doubted whether, his unstableness known as it is, he would keep such appointments." It was "notoire" how he had " delied " with the Dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, and also with his own brother. The mention of the two Dukes introduces The Allies ^^^ alliances. The King's experience of the of Edward , , • ,, , -n • r -r ■ -, ^ , , " grand deceipte and ill-usmg 01 Lewis Burgundy and & i- o Bretagne. ^^^ ^^^ ^^"^ ^^ purchase alliances with the " two myghtiest princes of Fraunce, the Dukes of Burgoigne and Bretagne, to hys grete charges amounting to above the sum of CM.li. With the aid of these Dukes, it would be unlikely, if Edward should come with his might that Lewis could abide it : the Kyng would conquer without grete effusion 8o ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. of Christen blode." The Dukes were soliciting the King " by their letters and ambassadors to challenge his rights in France," "ofFeryng thaymselves in that quarell as was never before offre made by any estranger." After this sanguine forecast of probable ° success, he reminds them of the advantages Wars of the Past °^ England before the loss of France. There were the French ports for merchan- dize and " maynteyning of the navie." There was then no need of ships to keep the sea, which now absorbed a greater sum than the subsidy and tonnage and poundage could cover. " Many gentlemen, as well younger brothers as other might " in France " be worshipfully rewarded and inhabit that lande for the sure garde of the same ; the men of werre that had none other pur- veance" might be settled "in garrisons and lyve by their wages, which ells were like to continue the mischief in this land that they do nowe." He next proceeds to argue, as a thing "well remembered" that "justice, peace, and prosperity hath not contenued any while in this lande in any Kyng's dales, but in such as have made werre outward. Example by Kyng Henry the First, Henry the Secunde, Kyng Richard the First, Henry the Thirde for the tyme he werred oute, Edward the First, and Edward the Third, Henry the Fifth, usurpour, and Henry the Sixth, which also usurped : which last Henry in his dales, notwithstanding his simpleness of wit, stode ever in glorie and honour while the werre was contynued by yonde ; and that lost successively all fell to decay. Right so it happened," he adds, "at the city of Rome." "Not havyng werre with any countre outwards" they fell among thaimself to suche division and inward bataille, that finally they were brought to ruyne and desolation." CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 8 1 " For the avoidance of that perill, and the The Penis of gj-g^g avauntage and proffitez of the werre „ ,, with Fraunce this opportunity, whereof the Golden ^ ^ •' Opportunity. ^^^^ ^^^ never seen before, nor shall of likelyhode hereafter, ought to be taken." " For if it should so happe, which God forbede, that thies princes which be entred so ferre in this werre should stand allone, they would either have to fall att appoint- ment with Lewis," or get other allies, and become " ex- treme enemyes" of England for having relinquished them : " for a gretter enemy may no man have than he may make hymself of his frend." And further, " if the Dukes shuld happe to be overthrown " by Lewis, the Frenshe Kynge would "be more myghty for Englishmen to dele with," " consideryng the grete landes and rich lordships, which should fall into his hands :" the •' entrecours of marchandise " with Burgundy " shuld utterly cease :" and this lande, " environed by myghty adversaries" the French, the Scotch, and the Danes, " stand in greter doubt and perill than ever it did before." Then he sums up his case, and makes his Peroration appeal for aid. " Wherefore William Alynton and Appeal. i r>- and ye Sirs presentyng here the commonalty of this lande, sith ye have herde now by what moyen the parfit peas of this reame may be moost honourably and assuredly recoveryd, with what myghty puissances, whereof the like was never offred, the Kyng . . . may be . . . assisted by princes estraungers ; what ineffable triumphe, glorie, welthe, and richesse may growe thereby to our Soveraign Lord, his Noblesse and his true subjects; what dishonour and irreparable damage may ensue, if this soo oportune season be not attempted, but such inestimables refused . . . like it you therefore to consider the knightly courage, grete prowesse ... of our Sove- 82 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. raign Lord . . . call to your remembrances how lovyngly and kyndly the Comons of this lande have served and holpen . . . his most noble progenitours . . . and others usurpours upon his corone when nocne such ofFres were made by any so myghty princes . . . estraungers ; and also remember how grete fame and renoumme . . . welthe, and richesse . . . the noblys and also your fourefathers have purchased, and that the noblisse and ye ... of like- lihode shall now purchase like fame . . . honour and richesse : and thereupon . . . aide our Soveraign Lord, as the subjects of this reame have aided . . . the said projenitours and usurpours : so that he shall no we . . . acomplish the fructuous effecte of his seid conquest, which the Kyng thoroughly entendeth to execute withyn as breve tyme as he may, convenably with the grace of Almighty God and the lovynge assistance of you his true subjects." The speech rambles on in leisurely fashion, instead of making quick, strong hits ; and the dangers it suggests, if there was no war, were chiefly bogies : but it weaves together ingeniously the pleas, which would move men's minds ; the intolerable disquiet and even terror of the position at home, the old enmities of France and Scotland, the memories of enrichment and place for young English- men during the possession of French territories, the difficult problem presented by the number of lawless soldiers bred by the Civil War, the value of the trade with Burgundy, specially felt by the merchants of London, and the heroic traditions of the great French wars. We are not, however, to conceive the e appy „ happy conclusion " of which the old his- Gonclusion of . , , . . , . Parliament torian speaks as resultmg from this par- ticular piece of eloquence. It was not until the Session which commenced Jan. 3, 147^, that the final CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 83 supplies for the war were voted. By that time a treaty with Burgundy and Bretagne had been concluded (July 25, 1474), under which, in the event of success, the northern and eastern part of France would be held by Burgundy without fealty, and the southern part by Edward ; and another important step had secured the neutrality of Scotland (Nov. 3) ; the truce with that country being prolonged, with a treaty of marriage between the eldest son of the Scottish King and Cecily Edward's second daughter.* At the beginning of 1475 the time was ripe for a supply. A war with France was always popular. The "victorious prowesse" of Edward was no mere flattery of Rotherham, but a well-accredited experience, which inspired confidence in his generalship. All this was in favour of Rotherham's diplomacy : and the result of it was in the first place an order for the speedy levy of the tenth, granted previously, but only in slow process of collection ; and a further grant of one-tenth, one- fifteenth, and three parts of a fifteenth for the expense of the war. This having been achieved, the Parliament was dissolved (March 14) by order of the King. Notwithstanding this grant from Parliament, Edward's resources were not sufficient for the estimated cost of the war, and he had to supplement them by an expedient new in English history, at any rate in that organized form, a " bene- volence." The term became one of grim irony under the administration of Cardinal Morton and Wolsey and Straf- ford, and even its originator Edward. Rotherham no doubt was employed in collecting it,t a task which once * Rymer xi., pp. 806 & 814 — 833. t Archdeacon Perry, in his sketch of Rotherham, (" Lincoln Diocesan Magazine," January, 1893,) points out that the Chancellor must have been "the leading agent" in collecting the benevolence; and the known action of Morton and Wolsey as Chancellors bears out his 84 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. more would have its temptations, and would not add to his popularity. The King presented himself as a beggar to his subjects, using all his resources of personal attrac- tion and popularity, hope of royal favour, dread of royal displeasure, to enforce his request. One of the stories of the time reminds us of the canvass of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire. A widow, who had given a handsome sum of twenty pounds, on receiving a grateful salute from the royal lips doubled her benevolence. The alliance with Burgundy was popular with the merchants : the Lord Mayor gave twenty pounds, each Alderman twenty marks, or at least ten pounds. The response generally was so large, that the Croyland historian thought no such sum had been collected before.* It is natural to presume that it was the Rotherham position of intimate confidence which Rother- and Alcoc j^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ Royal counsel that now _, „ determined Edward to the unusual course of Chancellors. taking his Chancellor-ecclesiastic with him conjecture. The satirical description of the levy by the Croyland historian shews what people thought of it. " Everyone was to give what he liked, or rather what he didn't like " (quod vellet imo verius quod noUet). It had been practised in solitary instances by other sovereigns and by ecclesiastics; and the forced loan which was familiar enough was own brother of the benevolence. But Edward in this French war was the first to reduce the device to a general system. The grievance of it under Edward proved so intolerable, that an Act for its abolition was passed in the reign of Richard III. Unfortun- ately, however, there was a loophole in it, of which the two Tudor Kings eagerly availed themselves. The dilemma which Cardinal Morton proposed, when he asked for a benevolence, was known as Morton's fork. If a man lived handsomely, his opulence was manifest from his expenditure : if he lived less sumptuously he must have grown rich by his economy. It was hazardous to refuse : an alderman of London, Richard Read, who did so in Henry VIII. 's reign, was sent to serve as a soldier at his own charge on the Scots border, the General receiving orders to " use him according to the sharpe^discipline militar" of war. The exaction was never effectively rendered illegal until the accession of WilHam and Mary. (See Hallam's " Constitutional History," chap, i., and Blackstone's Commentaries.) * See Habington's " History of Edward IV.," and Lingard CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 85 on his invasion of France. The transaction of the normal business of the office was secured by an expedient said to be unique in the annals of the Chancellorship, the appointment of Bishop Alcock as Chancellor ad interim during Rotherham's absence from the realm, Rotherham still contmuing to hold the title, and to discharge some of the duties. All that concerned foreign a£fairs in con- nection with the war would remain with Rotherham ; and, in fact, owing to an unlooked-for delay in the departure of the armament, some of the home matters came to him for a few weeks after Alcock's appointment.* * Lord Campbell (" Lives of the Chancellors ") considers that the seals were taken away from Rotherham and given to Alcock for the period of Rotherham's absence in France ; and in support of this are several Privy Seal Bills addressed to Alcock as Chancellor in this in- terval. There are however two documents in Rymer (xii. 7, 14) during this time, in which Rotherham is styled Chancellor ; a letter of Sir John Paston (Letters, vol. in., 137), dated at Calais, June 13, 1475, also mentions Rotherham as Chancellor; and there is a large collection of Privy Seals addressed to him as Chancellor during this time, some of them addressed to both himself and Alcock bearing date the same day. The duplication of these Privy Seals from various places during the months of May and June, 1475, is accounted for by the delay in the expedition till June. The last Privy Seal to Alcock is dated Sept. 28, 1475 (see Foss, " Biographical Dictionary of the Judges," p. 570). Probably the Great Seal was taken by Rotherham with the King, another Seal being used by Alcock. Edward IL going to Aquitaine in 1308, took the Great Seal with him, another Seal being for the time given to the Chancellor (Campbell, vol. i., pp. 167, i68). In 1320, however, the Great Seal was not taken abroad by the King, though not used in his absence — a little Seal being substituted for it (Ibid, vol. I., p. 175). In 1342 Edward III. took the Great Seal abroad with him, in the same way. So again in 1344 (Ibid, pp. 212 — 215). On the other hand, Cardinal Beaufort going with the King to France, Oct. 12, 1416, left the Great Seal in England in the hands of the Master of the Rolls. The phrase "the Seals" arose from the fact that in early times the King used to deliver to the Chancellor several Seals all with the same impression (Ibid, p. 22). Thus Cardinal Bourchier in 1456 produced to the King three Seals — two of gold and one of silver — in three leather bags (Ibid, p. 309). 86 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. At last the great preparations, which were The War ^^ overwhelm Lewis and partition France were completed. An army of about 30,000, including 1,500 men-at-arms and 15,000 archers was ar- rayed at Sandwich. A deed of enfeoffment, in which the name of Rotherham appears in company with those of great lords, was drawn to provide for the contingency of the King's death: and on June 21,* the army sailed, arriving after a tedious voyage of three weeksf at Calais. But what with the failure of support from the " estraungers" and the " subtilty and craft of Lewis," the issue was sorry and ignominious, to put beside that of Crecy and Agin- court. The Duke of Burgundy had just exhausted his resources in a disastrous expedition in Germany, and joined Edward at Calais with a slender retinue instead of an army. The two monarchs went forward to Peronne, which was in the hands of the Duke : but the English army was carefully excluded from the town, and had to lodge in the field. A detachment of the army advanced to St. Quintin's, held by the Count of St. Pol, who had professed himself friendly to England ; but it was fired on from the walls. Edward was naturally incensed, and the Duke of Burgundy departed, promising to return shortly with a numerous force. Meanwhile Lewis had met the danger with his usual methods. Before his em- barkation Edward had sent him a herald bearing an elaborate claim to the throne of France and declaration of war, drawn in such choice French that Philip de Commines thought it could not have been written by an English pen. Lewis entertained the herald in private with the utmost urbanity, professed his friendship for Edward, pointed out the weakness of the Duke of Burgundy and * Rymer xii., p. 7. f Stowe's Annals, CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 87 the untrustworthiness of St. Pol, and presented him with three hundred crowns, in gratitude for which the herald advised him to make overtures to the Lords Howard and Stanley as likely to aid in bringing about peace with Edward. At the crisis of the dissatisfaction with the Duke of Burgundy, a French herald appeared in the British camp near Peronne, who gained an audience with Lord Howard and Lord Stanley, and then with the King, He performed his mission with delightful adroitness. Lewis desired to live in amity with a prince of such power and prowess as Edward. He believed that this war had arisen from the instigation of the enemies of himself, rather than from Edward, who was naturally averse from the desire of shedding Christian blood. These enemies, however, in reality were only studying their own safety, and when they had secured this by the help of Edward, would turn against him, in order to drive him out of France. This would soon be manifest, because the Duke of Burgundy was really unable to afford any aid, owing to his disasters in Germany. As for the aid which he (Lewis) had given to the Lancastrian cause, he had been induced partly by Warwick, partly by the necessity of opposition to the Duke of Burgundy, partly by his relationship to Henry and Queen Margaret. If the case were examined, it would be found, that previous to the Duke's marriage with Edward's sister more aid had been given to the Lancastrians by Burgundy than France. He concluded by proposing that commissions should be ap- pointed on both sides to conclude a peace between France and England which would be honourable to both. Remembering Rotherham's vigorous denunciation of the slipperiness of Lewis, it is amusing to see the readi- ness with which these silken pleas were received. Lord Howard and Lord Stanley had no doubt golden reasons 88 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. for listening to them. The summer was also far advanced, without a single achievement. The commissions met at a village between the armies : a seven years' truce was agreed to on terms which Edward thought suitable to his honour, as they were certainly to his pocket, and which Lewis thought cheap to buy off future and present dangers. Lewis was to pay down seventy-five thousand crowns that year and settle on Edward an annuity of fifty thousand for life : Edward's eldest daughter, then a child, was to be married when of sufficient age to the Dauphin, to be conducted with honour to France by Lewis, and receive a settlement of ;^6,ooo a year. The consent of the council had been secured by the same methods as that of their master. Annual pensions were promised to the principal personages, our Chancellor re- ceiving one of two thousand crowns. Gloucester was the chief dissentient, though he subsequently paid Lewis a visit, and received a present of plate and horses. Hastings shewed the prick of conscience by the singular method of receiving his money, and declining to give any receipt. Altogether it was a sordid business recalling the temper of Charles IL, rather than of the Plantagenets, but in keeping with the habits of the King, always glad of money for his extravagance, and full of the indolence as well as the bravery of a savage. There is still one further incident of this The treaty which we must not omit, because it Interview gives us one of our rare glimpses of Rother- between Lewis ^^^^ ^Slh^n the truce had been ratified, a and Edward at Picaaifnv bridge was thrown across the Somme at Picquigny near Amiens, on which were erected two lodges, separated from each other by a grating of wood. Here the monarchs met each other, shook hands through the grating, and swore on the CHAPTER VII.] ROTHERHAM CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. 89 Missal to observe their engagements. At this " interview," says Philip de Commines, the " Chancellor of England," whom he calls by mistake Bishop of Ely, made a prophecy (which Englishmen are always ready to do) that at this spot (Picquigny) a mighty peace between France and England was in course of accomplishment (une grande paix — se devait faire.)" The peace was very nearly broken after the seven years expired, and only preserved by Edward's sudden death : Rotherham survived, to be named in an enfeoffment (like that made by Edward) when Henry VII. invaded France, and to receive the news of a war and a peace remarkably similar to this in brevity, abortiveness, and corruption (1492).* * This account is taken from Philip de Commines, Lingard, Habing- ton's " History of Edward IV.," and the article in the " Dictionary of National Biography on Edward IV." CHAPTER VIII. THE LAST DAYS OF EDWARD IV. ist Citizen — Doth the news hold of good King Edward's death ? 2nd Citizen — Ay, sir, it is too true ; God help the while ! ^rd Citizen — Then, masters, look to see a troublous world. jst Citizen — No, no ; by God's good grace, his son shall reign. ^rd Citizen — Woe to that land, that's governed by a child. Richard III. Act it., Scene III. — Shakspeare. Botherham s Speech in the Parliament of 1477 — The Attainder of Clarence — Botherham Master of Pembroke — Botherham Archbishop of York — The Parliament of 1483 — Death of Edward IV. T^HE Rolls of Parliament give us an Rotherham's i outline of the address of Rotherham, ^ in openiner the Parliament on Tan. i6, 1477. Parliament r o j > t// of 1477 ^^ ^^ framed in the sermon-form which is generally affected by the ecclesiastical Chan- cellors. " Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, Chancellor of England, with striking eloquence (notabiliter et eloquenter) set forth and published the reasons for the summons of the aforesaid Parliament," at the command of the King himself, taking for his text (themate), " The Lord is my Governor, and I shall lack nothing " (Dominus regit me et nichil mihi deerit), under which words he set forth with gravity and fulness the loyalty which subjects owe to their Kings ; giving instances of the punishments with which in old times under the old and new covenant the disobedient have been afflicted ; quoting also that saying of St. Paul " The King beareth not the sword in vain." He shewed moreover that the King's Majesty had not CHAPTER VIII.] THE LAST DAYS OF EDWARD IV. 9 1 only been directed by the Hand and Counsel of God, but also erected to the throne of his ancestors (non modo rectam verum etiam ad avitum regnum erectam). He concluded, speaking in the person of their Lord the King, " If the Lord is my Governor, I shall lack nothing ;" and similarly speaking in the persons of the lords spiritual and temporal and the commons of the realm, " If the Lord be their Governor, they shall lack nothing." This speech of Rotherham is sad reading, The Attainder ^j^g^ ^g review the dark use of this sword of the King, by a brother on a brother, for which this Parliament was to pray in the attainder of Clarence. We should like to think that the Chan- cellor had no sense of its imminence ; but his position about the King, and the notoriousness of the breach makes it difficult to conceive this. The verdict of history has little sympathy with Clarence except in the matter of his death. If we confine ourselves to the lifetime of Edward, Clarence's treachery shews ill beside the steady faithfulness of Gloucester. He was false and self-seeking and weak — false to Edward, false to Warwick, false now, if we could trust the elaborate indictment of his attainder, once more to Edward. He had taken the great estates which in all right belonged to his mother-in-law the Countess of Warwick, without a scruple : it was alleged that he was now seeking the throne for himself and his son by declaring that Edward was a bastard. The scene in Parliament was a horrible one. The peers were silent: " no one argued against the Duke except the King, no one made answer to the King except the Duke."* Clarence defended himself with warmth, but his defence has not been preserved for us. The Parliament peti- * See the " Croyland Historian," the article on Edward IV. in the " Dictionary of National Biography," and Lingard, 92 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. tioned the King for his brother's execution : ten days later he was dead in the Tower. The conscience of the age was not easy about his fate. Readers of Shakspeare's " Richard III." at once recall the scene in the Tower, the secret instigation of the murder by Gloucester, and the butt of malmsey in which the body was drowned. This was the version derived from the Tudor historians, always ready to heap crimes on Richard. But Edward's own remorse, which Shakspeare also paints so touchingly, is well attested. The memory of it embittered his after years, insomuch that when solicited for the pardon of an offender he would sometimes say, '• O unfortunate brother, for whose life not one creature would make intercession."* We should have liked to believe, as Lord Campbell does, that Rotherham used * See the article on Edward IV., by Mr. James Gairdner, in the " Dictionary of National Biography." The quotation is from the Croy- land Historian. " Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death, And shall that tongue give pardon to a slave ? Who sued to me for him ? Who in my wrath Kneeled at my feet and bade me be advised ? Who spoke of brotherhood ? Who spoke of love ? Who told me how the poor soul did forsake The mighty Warwick and did fight for me ? Who told me in the field at Tewkesbury, When Oxford had me down, he rescued me, And said, ' Dear brother, live and be a King ? ' Who told me, when we both lay in the field Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me Even in his garment, and did give himself All thin and naked to the numb-cold night ? All this from my remembrance brutish wrath Sinfully plucked, and not a man of you Had so much grace to put it in my mind. O God ! I fear Thy justice will take hold Of me and you and mine and yours for this." Richard III., Act II., Scene I. CHAPTER VIII.] THE LAST DAYS OF EDWARD IV. 93 his influence as peacemaker between the brothers, but we have no evidence on the point : he may have, or he may have been no braver than his peers : in Edward's day " the fear of the King was as the roaring of a lion " (Prov. xx. 2). At any rate it is pleasant to record, that over the attainder of Clarence he would not preside, as being an affair of blood. The Duke of Buck- ingham was appointed high steward for the occasion, and pronounced the sentence of death. Rotherham's Chancellorship at Cambridge had expired in 1478. But in 1480 he was elected Master of Pembroke Master of Pembroke Hall (May 22). A letter from the College, drawn in terms of profound reverence for his eminence in letters, with professions of humble devotion to his person is preserved in the Wrenn MSS, at Pembroke. The absence of a reference to any previous relations between the College and himself makes it improbable that he could have been formerly one of the Fellows. The death of Booth, Archbishop of York, had created the vacancy.* Of the buildings at Pembroke in Rotherham's day nothing re- * Litera missa ad electum in custode. Summus amor tuus in omnes literarum titulo prceclaros facit ut tuam praestantiam omni observantia omni studio omni denique officio . . . prosequamur . . , et si quid splendoris tuae vel dignitati vel amplitudini nostra ex mediocritate accidere possit habes profecto de nobis homines tibi obsequentissimos tuaeque Dignitatis pro viribus cultores deditissimos. Ceterum cum Dominum Eboracensem Archepiscopum et nostri CoUegii Custodem meritissimum e vita migrasse nobis compertum fuerit tuam Venerabili- tatem unanimi Sociorum consensu in Patrem Patronum ac nostri Collegii Magistrum delegimus. Ad hoc igitur munus abs te subeundum valeat oramus noster in te ante alios omnes amor maximus valeat nostri studii profectus quern sub te tali et tanto Patre egregium (quod tibi gaudio fore existimamus) florere comperies et nos tibi filios servitores et oratores habebis ad omnia jussa paratissimos. Vale et om- nipotentissima Dei misericordia te longa per tempora nobis incolumem tueatur. Ex Cantabrigia xQ Kalendas Junias Anno a Natali Christiano 1480°. Wrenn's MSS. " De Custodibus Pembrochianis," pp. 36 — 40. 94 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. mains but the library, and the building on each side of the gateway : and these have been greatly changed in appearance by alterations in the 17th and i8th centuries. The library, however, was in Rotherham's time a chapel, the earliest College chapel in Cambridge, dating from about 1360. In 1875 the little old court, of which this library forms the northern side, was still in existence. On the site of the present hall stood the older hall and in its southern portion the combination room, over which were the rooms of the Master. Pictures of it still remain, shewing us the lodging which Rotherham may have occupied on his visits, which could scarcely have been frequent, to the College. He seems to have been Master about six years.* This same year (1480) witnessed the eleva- Rotherham ^.^^ ^^ Rotherham from the diocese of Archbishop f York Lincoln! to the highest eminence which he attained. On Sept. 12 the Bulls of Sixtus IV. * These details are given from "Cambridge described and illustrated," pp. 312 — 320, by T. D.Atkinson. The present chapel at Pembroke was built by Bishop Wrenn, after the designs of his great nephew, Sir Christopher Wrenn, as a thank-offering for the restoration of the King, and his own deliverance, out of a passionate love for Cambridge, and a ' grateful remembrance of his first education ' at Pembroke. In his notes on Rotherham's life he speaks of his tenure of the Mastership being ad sexemium (aut plus eo), and adds that he does not know the reason for his resignation, surmising that it may have been caused by his withdrawal from public affairs at the commencement of Henry VII. 's reign ; or the business which came to him as legate of the apostolic See, or a desire to give way to some friend as a successor; or the plague, from which he at last died, which may have been raging at the University. It was not at any rate the business of the apostolic See. t There is another of those pathetic exclamations in his Will, appended to his mention of the Mitre and Pastoral Staff, which he had already given, and the twenty pounds which he bequeaths to Lincoln. '• Lincoln, which I ruled secondly, O would as well as I ought to have done." Guest, p. 141. This clause is not given in the Latin Will below. CHAPTER VIII.] THE LAST DAYS OP EDWARD IV. 95 were read in the Cathedral church of York for his appointment as Archbishop of York and Legate of the apostolic See. Rotherham himself, however, was not there in person,* appearing by his Vicars-General. The appointment as Legate was not an exceptional one. Since the time of Archbishop Thoresby the Archbishop of York had been in virtue of his office a " legatus natus" like the Archbishop of Canterbury.! It is rather a surprise to find the record of a grant of pardon from the King as the sequence of his new dignity (Oct. i, 1480). It would have been almost natural, when he was raised to the See of Lincoln, after all the risks in the revolution: but these were quiet years. But it was not uncommon to sue for a Grant of Pardon on leaving office as a security. Bourchier did so, when he resigned the seals as Chancellor. Waynflete did the same. The Pardon did not imply any known acts of offence, but was a safeguard against accusations. | * The dates in this matter are these : on May 4, Rotherham is given the temporalities of York to hold for the King (Rymer) ; on June 12, the conge d'elire is issued to York (ibid) ; on Sept. 3, the Papal Pro- vision; on Sept. 9, the restoration of the temporalities to Rotherham as Archbishop (Rymer, Le Neve) ; on Sept. 12, the publication of the Bulls of Sixtus IV. in the cathedral at York, Rotherham himself being away from the diocese in distant parts (extra suam Diocem Eboracen- sem in remotis agente). This last quotation is from Rotherham's Register at York, begun on this September 12, which is in good preservation. t I am indebted to the courtesy of Monsignore Noyes for pointing this out to me. X Rymer xii. p. 138. Hatcher in the register of King's College asserts positively that Rotherham at some period attained the still higher emin- ence of Cardinal of St. Cecilia trans Tiberim, commenting on the omission of this in the list of English Cardinals given by Godwin in his book " De Praesulibus Angliae." I have however nowhere found any evidence of this elevation : nor has the industry of Guest (p. 93), nor of Cole, the careful Cambridge biographer. Monsignore Noyes also, in answer to an enquiry through one of my friends, Mr. Francis g6 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Onee more, for the last time, Rotherham ^ ,. , opened Parliament on Jan. 20, 1483, taking Parliament ^ , . «,, t , • t • 1 . j of 1483. ^°^ ^^^ ^^^^ " ^^^ l^otd IS my Light and my Salvation." War with France seemed again approaching. Edward had been fooled by Lewis. For three years he had been expecting that the Princess Elizabeth would be sent for to France, to marry the Dauphin in accordance with the terms of the Picquigny agreement ; but some excuse had always been offered for delay. A sudden event— the death of Mary of Burgundy by a fall from her horse — opened a new vista to the King of France. If Margaret, Mary's daughter, could be married to the Dauphin, with the estates which Lewis had ravished from her mother as a settlement, this quarrel with Burgundy would be ended. So he threw Edward over without a scruple. Edward was furious and the nation indignant. The Parliament voted a tenth and a fifteenth for the war. But there was to be no war. The most splendid man of his time, in the prime of Edward, Auril 9 1483 ^^^^' ^^^"^^ himself stricken with a mortal sickness, fed by his habits of debauchery and lust : and the prospect for his Queen and children as well as the retrospect of his own life filled him with gloom and dread. To no one, we think, more than Rotherham, his trusted instrument for so many years, his chaplain and so probably his confessor, would the tumult of the King's soul be laid open. At that death-bed interview, filled with the vision of fresh bloodshed King, most kindly examined the available authorities on English Cardinals (Giaconius, Rome, 1677 ; Lorenzo Cardella, Rome, 1793 ; Dictionnaire des Cardinaux, Migne, vol. xxxvi. ; and Francesco Cristo- fori, Rome, 1888 ; as well as a series of Articles in the " Catholic Times," by Mr. C. Munich), but could find no evidence of it. CHAPTER VIII.] THE LAST DAYS OF EDWARD IV. 97 around the person of his innocent boy, he bound on the one hand his Queen (with her brother Rivers) and her young sons Dorset and Grey, and on the other Hastings the Queen's enemy, Howard, Stanley, and the old nobility who resented the power and honours which had been heaped on the meaner blood at the Queen's kindred, to vows of reconciliation and amity. Rotherham's truer promises would be given along with the hollower ones of the rest. Rotherham would receive the last confession of his bloody past, and the direction which he left that restitution should be made out of his treasures to all whom he had wronged by exactions or benevolences : from Rotherham's lips he would receive his absolution and the last office for the dying. In the elaborate account of the obsequies the figure of Rotherham fre- quently occurs. He would be among the peers, who on the day following the King's death (April 9) viewed the gigantic bloated corpse, stripped to the waist, at the palace of Westminster. In the great procession to the Abbey the Archbishop of York was among those that preceded the " herse," and was the celebrant at the mass. At its conclusion he rode with the lords to Charing, where the " chaire " in which the body was borne was censed ; and on to Syon, where it rested in the church for the night. On the morrow they reached Windsor, where the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Win- chester censed the corpse at the castell gate. Next morning in Edward's new quire of St. George's, where Henry VI. alone among our Kings had found at last a rest, it was by Rotherham that the final *' masse of requiem " was sung* (April 19). * For Edward's preparation for death, and orders for restitution to those he had oppressed, see Lingard. For the details of the funeral, see the curious account in " Letters and Papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.," by James Gairdner. CHAPTER IX. THE LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM'S PUBLIC LIFE. The tyrannous and bloody act is done; The most arch deed of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of. " Thus, thus," quoth Forest, " girdling one another Within their alabaster innocent arms : Their lips were four red roses on a stalk. Which in their summer beauty kissed each other. A book of prayers on their pillow lay." Richard III., Act i., Scene III. Richmond — We will unite the white rose with the red. Smile, heaven, upon this fair conjunction, That hath long frowned upon their enmity. Ibid, Act v., Scene III. — Shakspeare. The Boy -King in the Potver of the Duke of Gloucester — The News of the King's Capture reaches Botherham — He gives the Queen the Great Seal — Botherham dismissed from the Chancellorship — TJie Black Council of June 13 — Death of Hastings — Impisonment of Botherham — Murder of the Boy-King, Edioard — Incidents concerning Botherham in the Beign of Bichard III. — Incidents in the Reign of Henry VII. The Boy-King HP HE death of Edward IV. left Rotherham in the Power 1 firmly devoted to the Queen and the of the Dnke y^^^^ p^.-^^^^^ p^^ ^^^ moment the Queen seemed at considerable vantage. The young King was at Ludlow in the hands of her brother, Lord Rivers. The Tower with all its treasure was in pos- CHAPTER IX.] LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM*S PUBLIC LIFE. 99 session of her eldest son, the Marquis of Dorset. She may have dreamed of playing the part of Isabella in Edward III.'s minority. But in reality she had no strong man to help her : and Gloucester had his own designs, though it is possible that he may not as yet have fully realised the crimes to which they were to lead him. She proposed that the young King should come under Lord Rivers' escort with an army to be crowned in London. '* What need was there," said Lord Hastings and Lord Stanley, " of an army." Anxious to avoid suspicion, she consented that the King's escort should only be the ordinary retinue around him, and in that act surrendered everything. At Stony Stratford, the King with his uncle Lord Rivers and his half-brother Lord Richard Grey were met by Gloucester and the Duke of Buckingham in command of nine hundred men. Lord Rivers and Lord Richard Grey, and the two confidential servants of the King, Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Hawse, were arrested, and sent into the north :* the retinue was dispersed : the poor boy-King burst into floods of tears, full of grief for his relatives, helpless and terrified about his own safety. The news of the surprise by Gloucester and The News o Buckingham reached three people at night _ , very shortly afterwards. One of these was Capture -^ ■' reaches Lord Hastings, who was assured by the two Rotherham. Dukes that the young King's person was perfectly safe, the arrests of Rivers and Grey being solely made in order to get him out of the hands of the Queen's party. Another was the Queen, who at once resolved to fly into Sanctuary. Her son * Lord Rivers was taken first to Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire : the rest to Pomfret. All of them were finally executed at Pomfret, though not on the same daj'. See Lingard. !LcFC. 100 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Dorset at the same time fled thither from the Tower, The third was Rotherham. " There came," says the old chronicler Grafton, " to doctor Rotheram Archbyshope of York and lord Chancelloure a messenger from the lorde chamberlayne to York Place beside Westminster : the messenger was brought to the bysshopes bedside and declared to him that ye dukes were gone back with the young King to Northampton, and declared further that the lorde Hastynges his master sent him woord that he should fear nothing, for all should bee well." " Well," quoth the bysshop, " bee it as it will it will never bee so well as we have seen it." Whereupon the bysshop called up his servauntes before daylight and took with him the greate scale, and came before day to the queen, about whom he found much hevynesse, rumble, haste and business, carriages and conveyance of her stuffs, chests, coffers, fardels trussed on men's backs. The Queen herself sat alone on the rushes all desolate. The archbysshop comforted her in the best manner he could ... in goode hope and peace by the message sent him fro the lorde Hastynges. " A wo worth him," quoth the queen, "for it is he that goeth about to destroy e me and my bloode." "Madam," quoth he, "be of good comforte, and I assure you yf they crowne any other Kynge than your son, whom they now have, we shall on the morrow crown his brother who you have with you; and here is the greate scale, which in lykewise as your noble husband delivered it ouer to me, so I deliver it to you for the use of your son." So (Rotherham) departed home, and when he opened his windows .... the river full of boates of the Duke of Gloucester watching that no person should go to Sanctuary, or pass unsearched."* * " Grafton's Chronicle " is derived from the earliest " Life of Edward V.," by Sir Thomas More ; it is identical with it in the facts, but somewhat more quaint and graphic. CHAPTER IX.] LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM'S PUBLIC LIFE. lOI The tenderness of Rotherham's heart, and the ® ^^ ^ ® impulse of chivalrous faithfulness which led Seal back from the Oueen ^^^ *° ^^ ^^^' '^^^^^ ^^^ cooler judgment speedily refused to justify, are touchingly conspicuous in this interview. Perhaps, as he saw that desolate mother sitting on the rush-strewn floor, with her boy wondering at this strange panic and confusion, it was not only love of his dead master, loyalty to the throne, pity for the unprotected boys that was stirring within him, but a long-ago vision of a beautiful woman, with fair hair streaming down her shoulders, whom he the Chaplain of the Lancastrian Earl of Oxford had met as lady of the bed-chamber to Queen Margaret, and who, like himself, having fallen into disgrace after the carnage at Towton, by the same dead hand had been raised to years of happiness and eminence.* The surrender of the Great Seal, however, into Elizabeth's hands was an act which next morning he perceived to be alike imprudent and irregular on grounds of State : it was restored to him at his request. But the act had really involved his downfall as a statesman. * We may recall the romance of her marriage with Edward. After the Battle of Towton Edward visited her mother Jacquetta the Duchess of Bedford, and Lord Rivers (Wydeville) her father at Grafton near Stony Stratford. Elizabeth's first husband (Sir John Grey) had fallen recently in the second battle of St. Albans. She threw herself at Edward's feet, asking the reversal of his attainder in favour of her children. Edward's amorous nature passed from pity to love. But she was proof against dishonour. Foolish as it was to marry one so much beneath him at that moment, when his throne was scarcely secured, he did so secretly (May i, 1464). In the early morning the marriage was solemnized at Grafton in the presence of the Duchess of Bedford and two female attendants. A few months afterwards, to the discontent of Warwick and the great nobles, she was crowned, and honours were lavished on her kindred. See the account in Lingard, derived from Fabyan and others. I02 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. On May 4 the boy-King entered London, in a splendid long mantle of blue velvet, loses the Chancellorship, escorted by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in scarlet, and five hundred commoners in violet, his own servants being clad in deep mourning ; the Duke of Gloucester riding bare-headed before him to the palace of the Bishop of London, where he received fealty and homage from prelates, nobles, and commoners : Gloucester was the first to take the oath of allegiance. A few days afterwards at the council which appointed Richard Protector, the Seals were taken away from Rotherham on the ground of his having given them to the Queen : and the forfeiture marks the close of his political power. Still, however, he was among the highest in the realm, and as such was one of those who were preparing in council for the coronation of the young King* on June 22. On this coronation, as the outside world The Black believed, the whole nation with the Protector Council of 4. Ti, 1, T ^oi... was now set. There were, however, certain June 13th. ' ' Death of constant meetings of the friends of Gloucester Hastings. and Buckingham at Crosby Hall, which men like Stanley and Hastings, Bourchier the Archbishop, Morton Bishop of Ely, and, as Sir Thomas More expressly mentions, Rotherham regarded with some suspicion — Hastings, however, less so, than the rest, because he believed himself kept well informed of what passed there. This was the state of things when the Black Council meeting of June 13 assembled at the * As the proceedings in Council of Edward V.'s reign are lost, the precise date of Rotherham' s dismissal from the office of Chancellor is irrecoverable. Russell, however, his successor, is styled Chancellor in a document dated June 2, so that it must have been about the close of May. See Foss' " Biographical Dictionary of the Judges," vol. iv., p. 476. CHAPTER IX.] LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM'S PUBLIC LIFE. IO3 Tower. Richard was at first in pleasant mood, and asked Morton for some of his strawberries from Ely Place: as the business proceeded, he retired for about an hour, and then re-entered frowning. '• What punish- ment," he asked, *' did those deserve, who had plotted his death, near as he was to the King and Protector of the realm ? " Proceeding, he accused the Queen, and Jane Shore the mistress of Hastings, of having bewitched him, and unbuttoning his left sleeve displayed his left arm (which had always been withered) as a proof of their sorceries. Hastings venturing to deprecate these suspicions, he gave a violent answer, and " clapped his fist down hard upon the board," at which some men- at-arms rushed in, and at Richard's order arrested Hastings as a traitor. Richard declared that he would not dine until he was executed. A timber log used in the repairs of the chapel was found on the Tower Green, and the wretched man's head struck off upon it. It is clear that it was his loyalty to the young King which brought Hastings to his death : for at the same council all the others (except Bourchier) who had sus- pected the good faith of Gloucester, were thrown into prison. The imprisonment of Rotherham lasted until Imprisonment after the coronation of Richard. He was of Rotherham. imprisoned, according to Sir Thomas More, ^ in the Tower under Sir Tames Tyrell, or of the ■* Boy King. accordmg to the Croyland historian, in a castle in Wales. The University of Cam- bridge, which in this very year had once more elected him their Chancellor, sent to Gloucester an earnest and touching petition for his release.* For his reputation it is perhaps well that he was not at liberty, for he might * Se^ note H,. 104 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. have been associated, as some say that he was,* in the miserable errand to the Queen on which Bourchier was sent upon the Monday following the Black Council. Though Richard had without doubt at that time deter- mined to seize the crown, the farce of the boy-King's coronation was still maintained. At that same council writs were sent out for a meeting of Parliament on the 25th, in the name of Edward V. The draft of the Address which Russell the Chancellor prepared for it is still extant. f The boy's coronation robes were ordered. But it would cast a slur of dishonour on this corona- tion, the Protector urged, if the Duke of York were hiding in Sanctuary instead of being present. No one would be so fitting an emissary to the Queen about it as the lord Cardinal. The Cardinal was successful, and the young brothers met once more at the Tower. Poor boy-princes ! The Tower was changing from a palace to a prison. Poor twelve-years-old boy- King ! the next Sunday Dr. Shaw, in his sermon at Paul's Cross, declared the Prince a bastard, on the grounds, that when Edward IV. married Elizabeth, he had a previous wife still living. Lady Eleanor Boteler ; nay, more, that Edward IV. was no son of Richard Duke of York. And this charge of bastardy was not only left unpunished as treason, but enforced by the Duke of Buckingham, circulated among the nobles and in the city : then on the following Wednesday — the very day on which the boy- King was to have opened Parliament — Buckingham, with several lords and gentlemen, the Lord Mayor and citizens, had audience with Richard at Baynard's Castle, and declaring that they could never "crouch to the rule of * See note G on " The Delivery of the Duke of York out of Sanctuary." f See Nichols, " Grants from the Crown during the reign of Edward V." CHAPTER IX.] LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM's PUBLIC LIFE. IO5 a bastard," offered him the crown. For eleven weeks the boy has been served on bended knee with deep obeis- ance : yet once or twice a shudder has come over him, and always there has been a grief and loneliness in the thought of the mother and sisters who dare not come to him, and who will never see his face again. Three months or so are yet to come : and then that piteous night, when the two boys will be smothered in their sleep, and the bodies buried secretly at the foot of the staircase leading to the chapel in the Tower. Rotherham was released from prison after Incidents Richard's coronation on July 6* ; but he may « XI. 1- not have been restored to favour. At any KotneFnam in the Reign of ^^^^f in the magnificent pageants and ritual Richard III. which marked the welcome of the King and Queen at York, in September, and the creation of their son Edward as Prince of Wales, Rotherham was not present. They lodged in Rotherham's palace at York. There was a splendid procession to the Minster, the King wearing his crown ; and there was high mass; but the prelate who officiated was the Bishop of Durham. We are not however to think of Rotherham as banished from public affairs. We find him among the Triers of Petitions in Richard's first Parliament (Jan., 1484, '* Erchevesque d'Everlyk.") His name occurs again among the " lordys that shall commyn for the maryage between the prince of Scottes and one of the Kynges blood " at the meeting of ambassadors at Nottingham * See the " Fabric Rolls of York Minster; " Surtees' " Society," p. an ; Browne's " History of the Metropolitan Church of York," pp. 260—261; and Guest, p. 100. Lingard, following the authorities in Drake's " Eboracum," asserts that there was a second coronation at York ; but this is a mistake. So is also Drake's assertion that Rotherham was present, and that it was he who crowned Richard in the Chapter House. The account in the Fabric Rolls and the Statute Book of the Vicars- Choral is minute and decisive. u Io6 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. (Sept. 12, 1484).* A piece of scandal also, related by Grafton and Polydore Vergil, shews that he was at times about the court. Poor Anne (Richard's Queen) was in weak health. Her son Edward had died, which must have been a bitter grief to her, as there was little hope that she would again give birth to an heir to the throne. It is hardly possible to think her previous life could have been very happy. She had been one of the counters in the game of greed and intrigue. Her first husband had been young Edward of Lancaster, Margaret of Anjou's son, who was murdered at Tewkesbury. The story of her wooing by Richard, as Shakspeare gives it, is only a gruesome and not very natural invention. She was hidden away, in order to prevent Richard (who merely wanted her for the sake of her estates as Warwick's daughter) from discovering her : but was found in the disguise of a cook-maid, and married to him. The story about Rotherham is, that Richard "complained of his Queen, that she brought forth no children ; and that chiefly he did lament with Thomas Roherham, Arch- bishop of York, because he was a grave and good man (whom he had a little before let out of prison) : who thereupon gathered and supposed it would come to pass that the Queen should not long live, and foreshadowed the same to divers his friends."! Cole further asserts, that in the repulsive negotiation for Richard's marriage with his niece Elizabeth (afterwards Queen to Henry VH.) commenced apparently even before Anne's death, Rother- ham was made use of.| I have not found the authority on which he makes this assertion, and should wish to * See " Letters and Papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII.," edited by James Gairdner, pp. 64 — 67. t Guest, p. loi, quoting Polydore Vergil. ^ Guest, p. 92. CHAPTER IX] LAST DAYS OF ROTHERHAM'S PUBLIC LIFE. IO7 discredit it ; the whole transaction, in which the niece was eager, the mother-Queen incredibly weak and forgetful of her awful wrongs, is loathsome reading. But the time reeks with these horrible and unnatural surprises. Buck- ingham, who was Richard's instrument in dethroning the boy Edward by proclaiming him a bastard, was the husband of the Queen-Mother's sister! Hence it is in hints like this of Cole that we feel, as has been re- peated so often, how the scantiness of the known facts debars us from really estimating Rotherham's character. Our hesitation is slightly increased as we Incidents in ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Rotherham in the first Henry YII.'s Rei^n Y^sl^ of Henry VII. The victory of Bosworth would, we should have thought, be welcome to him (Aug. 22, 1485). He used the occasion to obtain from Henry VII. the Impropriation of Almondbury to his College of Jesus : Henry says in the deed of grant, that he has done it in order to acknowledge his gratitude to the Eternal King, who has lately given him victory (Gratiam fateri Eterno Regi, qui nuper nobis victoriam praebuit). Later in the year a chance entry shews him to us as once more holding one of the very highest offices in the State, the office of Lord Treasurer of England:* another entry on March 31, i486, shews him still occupying it. Is it the beginning of another career as a statesman under the new dynasty? No; it is a mere ^fiash of brief authority. Lord Dynham was ap- pointed Treasurer on July 12 following, and the terms of his appointment shew that Sir John Audeley had * Among payments in Michaelmas Term, 1485, occurs : " To Thomas Abp. of York, treasurer of England, for his fee and diet, £1^^ 6s. 8d." Again, March 31, i486 : " To Thos. Abp. of York, treasurer of England, touching his diet, reserved in money by the hands of Thos. Stokes, 50s." " Materials for the History of the reign of Henry VH.," edited by WilHam Campbell, Rolls Series, vol. i., p. 403; vol. 11., p. 226; vol, u, p. 499. Io8 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. intervened between [him and Rotherham in the office. Having no clue to the reason of the dismissal, we wonder whether the original appointment of Rotherham may possibly lie further back than we suppose, and be the work of Richard instead of Henry : Henry finding him Treasurer, and so in charge of the regalia for his coronation, but having no special interest in him, and so feeling no obligation to retain him long. Rotherham's name is again found among the Triers of Petitions in the Parliaments of Henry VH.* He was one of the great nobles named as a Feoifee in the deed (similar to that made by Edward IV.) providing for the execution of the King's Will, when Henry was contemplating the invasion of France.f In 1489, his name is joined with those of the Earl of Northumberland, the Abbot of St. Mary's, York, and the Mayor of York, and others as a Commission to enquire into the very serious insurrections in York against payment of the subsidy. The levy was badly handled by Northumber- land — who was slain in his house for it by the people — and grew into a serious rebellion. Rotherham was one of the witnesses to the creation of Arthur as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Nov. 29, 1490. J When Prince Henry (afterwards Henry VIII.) was created Duke of York, " th' archbisshopp of York" was present, but not "in pontificalibus " (Nov. i, 1494). In the three days' tournament which followed he was also among the spectators.! * Nov. 9, 1487 ; Jan. 13, 1488 ; Oct. 17, 1491 ; Oct. 14, 1495 ; Jan. 10, 1496 — Rolls of Parliament. t Ibid. J "Materials for the History of the Reign of Henry VII.": edited by William Campbell, vol. 11., page 443 — 543. § " Letters and Papers illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III, and Henry VII." : edited by James Gairdner, pp. 393 — 403. CHAPTER X. ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. "The struggle between the sentiments and interests of the fief- holder and the sentiments and interests of the priests." GuizoT, " History of Civilization." Botherham as a Bishop — Archbishop Botherham's Begisters — The Boutine of a Bishop's Work — Dealings with the Monasteries — The Baronial State of a Bishop — The Manors of the See of Bochester — The Manors of the See of Lincoln — The Manors of the See of York — The Besidences of the Archbishop of York — London Besidences — Nottinghamshire Besidences — Hunting at Southwell — Palace of York — Cawood — Bishop- thorpe. Rotherham as a TN the life of Rotherham, as in that of far more distinguished Chancellors, the Bishop. ^°^^ °^ ^^^ bishop is of less interest than that of the statesman. Yet a study of the routine and the baronial state of a mediaeval bishop has its attractions ; although it lies not on the broad historic road of the Wars of the Roses, but on a garden path only casually trodden even by the ecclesiastical historian. The old registers of the bishops, though kept, not for biographical purposes, but, like those of the present day, for business reasons of the utmost con- sequence to the revenues, finance and legal security of the possessions of the Church, are full of incidental information about it. The re-production of Archbishop Gray's Register by Canon Raine is a vivid illustration of the insight into the life of the mediaeval prelate, which would be open to us, if some other of the richer no ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Registers could be similarly set forth: and his "Lives of the Archbishops," and " Extracts from the Northern Registers" teem with racy matter from the same sources. Three volumes of Archbishop Rotherham's Rotherham's Registers remain, two at York and one Registers* at Lmcoln — all in excellent preservation. Through the great courtesy of Mr. Hudson, the Registrar at York, and Mr. William Smith, the Bishop's Secretary at Lincoln, I have had the freest access to these Registers, and I hope that an outline of the impressions they have left on my mind will be pardoned by any who read these pages. I do not think that they can be ranked among the most distinctive of their class. Con- sidering the terrible nature of the times, it is surprising how slight are the echoes which they contain of the historical unrest ; and there are no very marked acts of Diocesan statesmanship.* •Archdeacon Perry says in regard to the Lincoln Register: "It is not easy to discover any special Diocesan Acts " (Lincoln Diocesan Magazine, Article on Rotherham, January, 1893). The Pope's Bull of excommunication against all who spoke against the claim of Henry VII. to the throne was published in the Diocese. There are documents concerning the subsidies of the clergy to the King at various times. A letter to the Diocese announces the election of Alexander VI. as Pope. Of minor diocesan acts the annexation of the prebend of Driffield to the Precentorship and Laughton to the Treasurership of the Cathedral at York may be mentioned. The benefice of Campsall was appropriated to the nuns of Walling- Wells, and its Vicarage to Cambridge University. Among the notices of acts of the Synod of the Northern Provinces, a decree (Feb. 27, I48|) ordering the celebration of the Festival of The Transfiguration on Aug. 6 is interesting. This extract will interest Rotherham people: — "In the name of God, Amen. The VII. day of Julye, the yer of our Lord MCCCCLXXI. Before you most Reuerend fader in God Thomas by the grace of God Archbyshop of York sittyng in iudge- ment in yor maner of Scroby within ye diocess of York I Richard Parkyn .... of the p'yshe of Rotherham and yor forsaid diocesse oppenly knowlegge and confess that by the space of VI yers CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. Ill The common run of all episcopal registers The Routine • , -i r i- j consists necessarily of routine documents of a . -^ . Bishop's Work connected with collations and institutions to benefices, consecrations and development of the fabrics of churches, tithes, glebe, and church property. One of the interesting points in the mediaeval ones is the relation and powers of the bishop as regards the monastic bodies. Epochs in the history of churches and the great Minsters {e.g. at Ripon and Beverley) are often marked by the grant of an indulgence to subscribers and benefactors. Of darker significance are the reconciliations of churches after deeds of bloodshed within their sacred walls. Grants of oratories or private chapels are very frequent. Pensions out of the benefices to retiring in- cumbents are common. Examples of the appropriation of benefices have already been mentioned, and will recur in a few pages. Licenses for the hearing of confessions, and admissions to the veil in widowhood are among the things which catch the eye as we turn over the old and mor' haue vsed charmes by thredys and p ' yers don and said upon cloths of seke folkys with rehersall of ther names whereby a certainn spiritt hath be customed to appear to me and shew and tell me the disese of seke folkys And that Spiritt I honored and worshipped and in hym believed supposyng ... he had been a good angell and my doyng good and lawful : which I know now certaynly by the instruction and information of you most reuerend fader is erroneous and agaynst the det'mination of holy church and the said spirit to be my gostly enemy and a wicked spiritt and haue vsed him to the grete displeas' of God and hurt of my soule, wherefor I forsake and abiur' my forsaid error and all oder that be agaynst the det'minacion of holy church and swere uppon the holy euangelyes nev' to vse from hens forward any of the p'misses nor gyve credence nor faith to them. In witnesse whereof I make herewith with myn owne hand the signe of the crosse. + " Rotherham's order follows in Latin. The man is at solemn mass in the church at Rotherham, when there is a large con- gregation of people, in loud and intelligible voice to pronounce, narrate and confess in English this confession which he has made to the Archbishop. 112 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. pages. Another class of documents, under such headings as purgation, absolution, monition, excommunication, &c., reminds us of the immense work of the bishop, as the sole judge of offences committed by persons who have received even the first tonsure, and, practically, of all persons who possessed the rare accomplishment of being able to read ; and of his tremendous disciplinary powers in regard not only to ecclesiastical offences, such as heresy, simony, violation of sanctuary, contempt of re- ligion, but all sins against morals. The large section of Wills in the York Register illustrates the testamentary jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop. The great name of the Pope frequently arrests us : not much, so far as I have observed, in judicial appeals, but in dispensations for marriage within the forbidden degrees, ordination of illegitimates, tenure of benefices in plurality. The Bulls read in the Minster after the translation of Rotherham to York are given at the outset of the Register.* As to the regularity, frequency, and local distribution of confirmations, no information can be gathered. So also there are no records of any cycle of periodical visitations. Probably in each case districts easily accessible from the very numerous houses of re- sidence were arranged. Mr. Wakeman shews that there was great neglect as to confirmation in the 14th and 15th centuries.! The information about ordinations is * The Popes are Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., and the infamous Alexander VI. In one of the acknowledgments of receipt of a Bull, the leaden seal, which is the real bulla is described as " bulla plumbea cum filis cerisis rubri et crocei colorum more Romanse curiae bullata." The difficulty and expense of obtaining a dispensation for Holy Orders in the case of a bastard has a certain bearing on Rotherham's alterna- tive name of Scott. t " Usually children were brought for confirmation as soon after baptism as a bishop could be procured. . . . But ... it is clear that . . . the number of unconfirmed was very large. A constitution of CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. II3 exceedingly full. One of the things which surprises us is the immense number of those ordained, as compared with our time. The numbers are swollen by those admitted only to the minor orders of acolyte and sub-deacon, frequently with no intention of proceeding to the higher degrees, and those ordained for monastic life. One of the abuses of the age is marked in the Lincoln Register by the occasional class " acolyte beneficiati," youths holding benefices without the power of discharging the duties of a priest. The ordinations are held very fre- quently, chiefly at the Ember seasons : there are forty- eight ordinations during the eight years of the Lincoln episcopate. In that vast diocese, extending from the Humber to the Thames, the cathedral occupies a very subordinate position as an ordination centre : even in the city of Lincoln ordinations are often held at St. Peter- at-Arches, St. Thomas, St. Benedict s, or St. Martin's ; and they are distributed over the area of the diocese ; at Sleaford, Stamford, and Lyddington, in Rutland ; St. Martin's, Leicester ; Thame and Banbury, in Oxford- shire ; Northampton and Towcester ; Buckden, in Hunt- Archbishop Peckham, passed in 1281, orders that because there are numberless cases of persons who have grown old without the grace of confirmation, none shall be admitted to communion who is not con- firmed, except at the point of death ; and a constitution of Archbishop Reynolds, passed in 1322, provides that adults about to be confirmed shall make their confessions first, and receive the sacrament of con- firmation fasting. This shows that cases of adult confirmation were by no means rare." (Introduction to the •' History of the Church of England," by H. O. Wakeman.) Archdeacon Perry in his " Life of St. Hugh," gives a quotation from the mediaeval Biography (Magna Vita) which shows the slovenly irreverence of some bishops. " I once saw a bishop .... sitting on his horse, sprinkling children with the consecrated Chrism. The children were screaming and terrified among the prancing horses, while those who were in charge of them were buffeted by the bishop's retinue for not preserving better order." pp. 228, 229. 114 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. ingdonshire; Wycombe, in Bucks, &c. In the northern diocese they are held at York ; by no means however exclusively in the Minster, but at the churches of the Augustine Canons, the Carmelites, Friars Preachers (Dominican), Friars Minor (Franciscans).* One ordina- tion in the Lincoln Registrar has an unique interest, held at King's College, Cambridge, by Rotherham personally in Sept., 1473, while resident as Chancellor. When we remember that Yorkshire and eaiings Lincolnshire were the strength and field of with the , , . , , , , ,,. • 1 Monasteries. * ^^ ™°^* formidable rebellion against the suppression of the smaller religious houses, the Pilgrimage of Grace, and that there were nearly fifty houses in Yorkshire, nearly forty in Lincolnshire, and a larger number than this in the other counties of that diocese, — all of them, except those of the Cistercian Order, and some great houses, such as Crowland and St. Albans, under episcopal jurisdiction — the transactions with the monasteries are unaccountably, disappointingly few. The Lincoln Register would seem to indicate that * The provision of churches and clergy in the Middle Ages is a rebuke to the Reformed Church. Some years ago it was brought home to me by a study of the Fens of Lincolnshire. A line of magnificent churches stretches from Spalding to Lynn, with an enormous tract of fen on the one side, and marsh (reclaimed since the reign of Charles L from the sea) on the other. From that line the men of the Middle Age advanced on the Morass of the Fens, and as they reclaimed it, planted churches everywhere : from the reign of Charles onwards the men of the same parishes have won enormous tracts on the other side from the sea : but until recent times not a church was erected. The number of churches in the old episcopal cities (or, as we saw above in Cambridge) is quite out of proportion to modern provision. Mr. Wakeman esti- mates the benefices of England in the Middle Ages at 8,000, and the parochial clergy at 10,000, in a population which was probably under five millions. A constitution of Archbishop Laughton provided three or four priests to every church with a large parish. " History of Church of England," p. 260. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. 115 the monasteries were left utterly to themselves. In the York Register there are several records of the oath of obedience and pensions to the heads of houses: among these there is a pension to the abbot of St. Mary's, York.* There are two or three instances of appropria- tions of benefices to monasteries on the ground of their poverty : Alnwick Abbey represents its impoverishment as resulting from the raids of the Scottish borderers. Now and then Rotherham exercises his right of removing inmates from one convent to another for some discip- linary reason. A canon of Bridlington, who has been stripped of his frock and expelled, appeals to the Archbishop, and after enquiry by a commission the Prior is commanded to reinstate him. To Doncaster people the seclusion of Elizabeth EUtoft as an anchorite in the Chapel of St. Edmund on Doncaster bridge is interesting. But of serious visitation and enquiry into the internal condition of a religious house there are only two notable examples. The Injunctions made by Rotherham after his visitation of the Nunnery of Appleton (1480), are given in full by Guest. The stringent orders to the sisters — not to be out at night; to sleep in the dortour and not in their chambers ; to avoid ale-houses and the water-side, where strangers resort ; not to go on pilgrimages or visit friends ; not to allow men (religious or secular) within the precincts, lodging under the dortour, or communing, eating or drinking with sisters in any private place— cannot by the most charitable interpretation be conceived as directed against remotely possible, and utterly exceptional * Here is an instance of the oath of obedience: — "In the name of God. Amen. I Elizabeth Darell chosen and confermed Priorisse of Cis'tien order . . . shall serve and be obedient to my most Reu'end fader in God . . . and to his Successors . . . and ther officers and ministers in all . . . lawful commandements." Il6 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. evils. The second case is that of the Priory of Bolton (1482). The Prior is convicted of lax rule, extravagance, and immorality. The punishment is not deposition, but temporary suspension and removal to the priory at Gisburne. At the end of the term, Poteman, the Vicar- General, visits Bolton, bids the monks receive the Prior back again, and draws up a body of injunctions for the maintenance of good morals and proper care of the estates, which are signed by all the brethren.* In the subscriptions of the documents in the Registers the name of the place at which State of a , ^ . ^ . , ^ , BishoD ^ '^ were signed is always stated: and these names, read in connection with the episcopal estates as given in the " Valor Ecclesiasticus " of Henry VIII., with the local history of the places, and with other known facts regarding mediaeval bishops, open out a view of the life of the bishop in those times, to which we have no modern parallel. They shew us of course * The special value of entries like these in the episcopal register is their bearing on that re-hearing of the case for the monasteries, which the labours of Dom Gasuet, Canon Dixon, and Professor Gairdner's edition of " The Gromwell Correspondence," have produced. Evidence as to the condition of the monasteries derived from the Registers is not liable to the discount chargeable against that of Cromwell's emissaries. It is also very desirable that a much closer investigation should be made into the general and effective use by the bishops of that right of Visitation, which they undoubtedly possessed. Had the power of the monks practically made it too troublesome to put it into constant living force ? So far as Rotherham's Registers go, the right seems largely dormant. But it is not so in Dr. Jessop's volume on " The Visitation of the East Anglian Monasteries." It is possible that some readers may be surprised to find that bishops had any jurisdiction whatever over monasteries. The impression left by many histories of the times is that not merely the great houses, but the whole of the monasteries were exempt from episcopal control. As a fact the entire mass of monasteries confiscated by the first act of Henry, which produced the tremendous uprising of the Pilgrimage of Grace, were under the juris- diction of the bishops as Visitors. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. 117 with considerable completeness the places in which he resided throughout the year. The list for the year 1487, O.S., a quiet year, when Rotherham's stateman's life was ended and Henry VIII. was settled on his throne, is a good sample of the distribution. It gives us — York, April 8 ; Bishopthorpe, April 21 ; Cawood, April 27, May 5, May 17, and June i ; York, June 6 ; Beverley, June 16-18 ; Cawood, June 25 ; Southwell, June 29 ; Park de Reste, July 21; York, August 4; Ripon, Aug. 23; Cawood, Sept. 12 ; Battersey, Sept. 17 ; Cawood, Oct. 4, 5 ; Bat- tersey, Dec. 2 ; Westminster, Jan. 2. These names are not to be considered as indications of formal visitation tours : there is no trace of this in the registers : the places, whether within or without the diocese, are all manors or residences of the Archbishop. In the place of our modern experience of a single palace within the diocese, and some (perhaps only occasional) London house, we have to conceive the mediaeval bishop, like the great barons, as possessor of a number of scattered manors and houses, some within some without the diocese, whose distribution has arisen out of accidental historical grants, without any special view to the pro- vision of centres for diocesan superintendence. In these manors the bishop had all the responsibilities, rights, and duties of the feudal lord and vassal. He had to pay scutage and discharge the special duties of his tenure ; he had to manage his estate, hold his court, and administer justice : he had rights of granting mar- riage, exercising wardship, escheats, &c., as well as the ordinary rights over his tenants. These feudal claims might in general be left in the hands of a steward of the manor : but the bishop's personal presence was occasionally a necessity. The movements of the bishop from manor to manor were utilized no doubt for the Il8 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. discharge of his sacred office in the districts that sur- rounded them, but they were dictated chiefly by secular needs, by the superiority of certain manors for pleasant sojourn and the accommodation of a great retinue, and also by the insanitary dangers which arose out of continual residence in one place. Nothing exhibits so forcibly the pomp and The Manors ^^^^^ ^^ ^ mediaeval prelate as these terri- 01 the Bishop . , . _,^ , of Rochester tonal possessions. We can observe it even in the small and comparatively poor diocese of Rochester,* which possessed in the time of Henry VIII. only nine manors, two of these lying out of the diocese (Frekenham in Cambridgeshire, and Middleton Cheyney in Northamptonshire). The manors were small ones, com- pared with those of Lincoln and York. But at Bromley in Kent certainly, and at Hailing, there were consider- able houses. The license for fortification of Bromley is dated in 1312 : at Hailing the gatehouse and some of the walls of the Hall and Chapel (dated 1320 — 1330) are mentioned by Parker in his " Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages,t as still in existence. Attached to the vast bishopric of Lincoln, „ ,? ^°^^ then only excelled in wealth by Canterbury of the Bishop of Lincoln ^"^ York, Durham, Winchester, and Ely, J the " Valor Ecclesiasticus " gives seventeen principal manors and fifteen smaller estates. A very valuable group lay in Notts., then part of the York diocese : the chief part of the rest lay scattered over the many counties of the bishopric; as at Biggleswade in * The nett income of the See of Rochester is given in the ' Valor Ecclesiasticus" as ;^4ii. t Vol. III., pp. 304. 406. \ The nett income of Lincoln in the " Valor Ecclesiasticus " is given as ^1,962, CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. IIQ Bedfordshire, Dorchester (the original site of the See), Thame and Cropredy in Oxfordshire, the town of Leicester, Spaldwick in Huntingdonshire, and the places where the great houses of the See were situated. Of these houses ten are specified by Browne Willis in his " History of Cathedrals ;" and they are strongholds and fortresses rather than homes of peace. Licenses of Crenellation were granted for Lyddington in Rutland, Nettleham and Stow in Lincolnshire, by Edward Hl.t Sleaford was a castle. The castle at Banbury twice withstood a siege in the war of Charles. The ruins of Newark castle, which was besieged by the Dauphin, and in which King John died, still remain. So also do those of the great stronghold which constituted the palace at Lincoln. Beside these there was a great house at Woburn, and Lincoln Place, the London residence in Chancery lane. We have left to the last Buckden in Huntingdonshire, which only passed out of the possession of the See in the first half of this century, and which is intimately associated with Bishop Williams and Bishop Sanderson, because here we have still in existence a stately piece of building from the very hand of Rotherham. The character of the site has been much obliterated by successive destructions. Rotherham himself probably de- stroyed part of the earlier building of Grosseteste. Leland says that he "clene translated the Hall." This Hall — which is described in the Parliamentary Survey of 1647, as twenty yards long and twelve yards broad, half covered with lead, the rest with stone slate, and which, like the much larger hall in the palace at Lincoln, was divided into a centre and two aisles by pillars and t See Parker's "Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages," vol. iii., p. 411. I20 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. arches, with a large porch vaulted with stone — was destroyed by the Commissioners of the Commonwealth. Bishop Williams had spent much on repairs of the fabric, beautification of the outer courts with fair alleys and grassplats, and of the cloisters with stained glass : " but where," writes his biographer Hackett, " are the remains of all this cost and beauty ? All is dissipated, defaced, plucked to pieces to pay the army." When Bishop Sanderson came to the See, Isaac Walton says, '* he found a great part demolished, and what was left standing under visible decay : the reparation of it was performed with great speed, care, and charges " by the good bishop, who now lies interred in the church at Buckden. The main body of the palace, including the great chamber, the chapel, and the central court, all surrounded by a moat and curtain walls where the buildings did not protect it, still remained until the sale of the property after Bishop Kaye's removal to Rise- holme. The last relic of the moat, which had been chiefly filled in by Bishop Pretyman, was then destroyed; a luxurious, graceful Elizabethan house with lawns and gardens was built on the main site of the old palace ; and the only ancient remains at present are the brick battlemented wall which protects part of the outer enclosure, a brick gatehouse with the almonry adjoining it, built by Russell, Rotherham's successor as bishop and Chancellor, a piece of curtain-wall (with a platform for the defenders, and archways containing loop-holes be- neath), and at the end of this wall the " brike tower," which Leland tells us was built by Rotherham. This "brike tower" is a magnificent specimen of the brick- work of that age, and the noblest remaining monument of Rotherham's fame as a builder. It is a rectangular building occupying a site about twenty yards by twelve. The Old Tower at Buckden : probably built by Archbishop Rotherham. From a Photograph by Messrs. Davis & Sons, Halifax. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. 121 It is of great height, the octangular turrets at the four corners rising to the level of the summit of the church tower close by. The brickwork is very beautiful : a cross in colored brick is delineated on the inner face : the square-headed stone windows are perfectly finished. Winding staircases occupy two of the turrets. The lower storey consisted chiefly of one large room, used as a dining-hall in later times ; the two upper storeys seem to have been dormitories for some of the great retinue of the bishops.* Every one of these great houses was furnished for the residence of the bishop, every one occurs as a place ot dwelling in the Registers. The great palace at Lincoln was obviously only one of the many abodes. The business of the Chancellor made London a frequent place of * This account is mainly derived from a short description of Buckden Palace signed K.H.B., accompanied by plates of the palace executed by Benjamin Rudge, of Bedford ; published at Oundle in 1839, before the destruction of the palace. I am indebted to Miss Green, of Buckden, for the loan of it. In this book the brick tower is ascribed to Bishop Russell, on the ground that his arms (two chevronels between three roses), which appear in two places on the gatehouse and almonry adjoining, were also on a boss of the ceiling of the great dining-room in the lower storey of the tower ; and on another boss in this ceiling was his Rebus, a throstle with a French legend issuing from its beak : " Le Roscelluys je suis." This is excellent evidence for ascribing the ceiling to Bishop Russell ; but it is not inconsistent with the evidence of Leland (whose information gathered on the spot so few years afterwards is of great weight) that the fabric was the work of Rotherham. It was a great building, and not the only thing Rotherham did there in his eight years' episcopate : the interior may have been unfinished. Sir Arthur Marshall, the present owner, who is necessarily familiar with the buildings, confirms my impression, that there is a greater finish and delicacy about the tower than about the gatehouse which is Russell's work. The quotation from the Parliamentary Survey, and the comparison of the Hall at Buckden with that at Lincoln is from an account of " The Ancient Episcopal Palace at Lincoln." by Edward James Willson, F.S.A., in " Memoirs ... of the County and City of Lincoln," p. 5. I 122 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. domicile. The Visitation of the diocese would be con- ducted either by radiation from these centres, or the laborious journeys to and fro between house and house. The revenues of the diocese of York were rather larger than those of Lincoln.* Not- of the . , ,. , ^ . , See of York withstanding the aggregate of counties under Lincoln, the area of York diocese, which •contained Notts, as well as Yorkshire, and a considerable tract of country outside of Yorkshire belonging to the Archdeaconry of Richmond, was greater still. The records of the "Valor Ecclesiasticus " as to the Manors of the Archbishop are imperfect, so that we cannot gain so complete an account of them. But we can obtain a sufficient idea of them for our purpose from other sources. In a Bull of Innocent III. twenty-one manors are con- firmed to Archbishop Gray, the bulk of which occur in Rotherham's Register evidently as the property of the See. There was a good deal of change and forfeiture of manors, though they may not necessarily have been manors of the See, connected with Archbishop Neville's varied favour with Edward IV. Bishopthorpe also is an instance of a new manor added to the See by Arch- bishop Gray himself. f The number of manors must have * The income of the Archbishop of York is given by Browne Willis as ;f 2,035 3S. jd. In the Calendar of Harleian Manuscripts, vol. i., 2370, Rotherham's own income 'is given in the twenty-second year of Edward IV, as £'2,017 8s. id. t Archbishop Gray's Register, " Surtees Society," p. 125. I am in- debted for this reference, and much information that will occur below, to two very interesting articles on " The Pre- Reformation Residences of the Archbishops of York," in "The Church Times," Feb. 25, and March 4, i8g8. The names of the manors are Wilton, Wetwang, Burton, Patrington, Schiteby(?), Helgedon {?), Beverley, Ripon, Hex- tildesham (Hexham), Otley, Shireburn, Southwell, Laneham, Sutton (in Holderness), Scroby, Chirchedon, Ottingdon, Brenangenword (?) Rigby (?), Tirhngton, Stalliburg. The two last are perhaps Tirlangton (or Langton), Leicestershire, and StalHngborough, Lincolnshire. Those marked with a note of interrogation I do not know. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. 1 23 been far greater in Rotherham's time, for in 1544 Robert Holgate transferred to the Crown " thirteen manors in Northumberland and the neighbouring counties, forty in Yorkshire, six in Nottinghamshire, and eight in Gloucester- shire " in return for certain Rectories and Vicarages.* Here, as in the case of Lincoln, it is obvious that it was not diocesan administration which determined the acquisition of the properties. The state of the Archbishop is more signally illustrated by considering his houses of the °^ residence. The *' Archbishop of York had Archbishops some fourteen or fifteen at least," and it of York. will be within our scope to give an account of one or two of them.t Three residences in or near London are London named in Rotherham's Register. The one within the City is only mentioned once, but Archbishop. ^^ terms which imply habitual sojourn (in domibus nostre solite residentie juxta Flete Street), a house near Fleet Street. A second house is the celebrated residence of the mediaeval bishops, the name of which still lingers in " York Place," Whitehall. Here it was that he chiefly resided in the closing days of Edward's reign : from this house he issued at mid- night to see the Queen, as she was preparing to flee into sanctuary : and from its windows each morning he saw, as Grafton says, the " river full of boats of the Duke of Gloucester watching that no one should go to * Drake's "Eboracum," p. 451, quoted from "The Church Times." t The residences named in Rotherham's Register are those mentioned below, and Ripon and Beverley. Otley, an important Yorkshire house, and Churchdown and Oddington in Gloucestershire (connected with the manors there), are not mentioned. But the names in the register of course do not give a complete account of the Archbishop's movements, but simply of the places at which documents were signed, 124 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Sanctuary or pass unsearched." The great kitchen there was built by him.* The later history of the house — the splendid additions by Wolsey, the forfeiture to Henry VIII. who again improved it, the fire of the palace, the re-building by Inigo Jones, the awful tragedy of Charles I.'s execution, which is associated with the banqueting-room — are all well known to us. The third house, which is named quite as frequently as York Place, was at Battersey. A reminiscence of it still re- mains in the name of " York Road." The manor, with 400 acres of land, had only been bought (1477) by his predecessor Booth, who had built the house on it. The land may have been made into a park. Scroby, a hamlet in the parish of Sutton The Notts. near Bawtry, Notts., a very old possession „ ^ of the See, was one of Rotherham's favourite Scpoby, Southwell residences. At the foundation of the bishopric of Southwell, Bishop Trollope's gift to the new See of the old Southwell house of the Archbishops near the Minster drew much attention to the existing remains of it. It was ruined, like Buckden, by coming into the hands of the Parliament (1646) : but the turrets and battlemented wall of the enclosure, and the great hall, converted into a modern dwelling-house, still enable us to conceive its former greatness. Built originally in the fourteenth century by Archbishop Thoresby (according to Dugdale), it had been largely altered in the fifteenth century by Archbishop Kempe, (according to Rastall, the Southwell historian). Rotherham added '' a bakery and brewery and some rooms near the * Guest, p. 97-133. The latter page gives the eariiest account of the several buildings by Rotherham, translated from Stubbs' " Lives of the Archbishops of York." See " Church Times," as above, and Parker's " Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages," vol. 11., pp. 237, 238. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. I25 water." But more interesting than the bakery and brewery is another act of Rotherham regarding the manor of Southwell, because it opens out that curious side of the life of the mediaeval prelate, the possession of great parks, and their personal delight in venerie. Southwell to this day is redolent of the forest : in the palmy days of Sherwood it was far more so. Some former Archbishop had gained, no doubt by license from the V King, the grant of a piece of the forest as a park, probably with the privilege of a deer-leap, which would enable the royal deer to leap into its enclosure. But this had not satisfied Rotherham : and consequently in his own domain (I think) he constructed a new park of three hundred acres without obtaining the royal license. Acts of this sort were jealously resented under the forest laws : but it was not until the vacancy of the See after the death of Savage, Rotherham 's successor, that any cognizance of this illegality was taken by the Crown (twenty-fourth:! year of Henry VII.) Notice may have then been drawn to it by some hunting of James Savage, of Southwell, doubtless a relative of the last Archbishop, who on Sept. lo and other days " hunted there and chased and slew twelve male deer and twenty female deer to the heavy damage of our lord the King." Whether Rotherham himself was a hunter there is no evidence : Savage certainly was an ardent one : so also had Nevile been. But it is to be remembered that these parks were maintained not only for love of the chase but for the purposes of commissariat, and variation of fare in the great hospitalities of the prelates. Both in Lincoln and York diocese there were several. The description of Stow in Rotherham's Register is always " my park at Stow : " Cawood had its great park. The park at Rest, mentioned above (p. 117), was a park 126 Archbishop rotherham. between Sherburn and Cawood, originally imparked by Archbishop Gray. (See *' History of Sherburn and Ca- wood," by W. Wheater, p. 223).* It will be enough to touch on three among The Yorkshire ^^le Yorkshire houses of residence. Of the „ , „ , magnificent palace at York nothing remains York, Cawood, t- r & Bishopthorpe. ^"^ *^® ^^°^^ °^ ^^^ Mmster library (origm- ally the chapel) and a few arches of the hall : it once extended from the residence to the Deanery. The destruction of the great hall was the disgraceful work of the Elizabethan Archbishop Young : but a great part of the buildings remained until this century. It appears in Rotherham's Register rather as a place occasionally visited for a day or two than one used for prolonged stay. Richard and his Queen, as we have * See Guest, pp. 164, 165. He translates the ' True Bill ' found by the jury in Chancery in full. They found that " Thomas Rotherham ... on 1st October, 20 Edward IV., not having obtained a royal license therefor, newly made and imparked a certain parcel of land at Southwell . . . containing three hundred acres of land at least, now commonly called the New Park, and placed stags and deer there ; and kept the said three hundred acres so imparked as his own park all his life, and the deer there placed he turned and killed for his own use against the form of the statute for that case made and provided." They then gave Savage's similar action during his tenure of the great park, concluding with the account of the hunting by James Savage. Archbishop Savage is said by Wheater to have been •' a keen hunts- man." " The houses of Cawood and Scroby were converted into hunting seats." In Shirley's book on "Ancient Deer Parks," there is a mine of curious information as to the enormous quantity of ground occupied by parks in Tudor times, the parks of the bishops (Canter- bury had twenty), and the use of fresh and salted venison. Harrison's introduction to Hollinshed reads like a modern Socialist's spleen against this withdrawal of the lands from cultivation. Shirley quotes a curious direction from the King (' Close Rolls', 20 Edward I.) for the capture of a hundred does in the parks of the bishopric of Ely, then vacant, and the salting of the flesh, and preservation of it in casks. The " homicide " of one of the keepers by Archbishop Abbott when hunting is well known. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. l^'^ seen, lay there on their State visit to the city. Cawood on the Ouse, in the great plain of York, about six miles from Selby, was the last home of Rotherham. The old gateway, on which Kempe's arms with the Cardinal's Hat are carved, is almost all that remains of the once splendid stronghold. Savage, as we have said, loved it for its proximity to the park at Reste, which lay between Cawood and another manor of the Archbishops at Sherburn. In earlier days it had been valuable for its strength. Fortified in the reign of Henry HI., it was much used as a winter residence by Edward I. and his Queen during the wars with Scotland, and was visited by Edward H. Enlarged in the reign of Richard H., enriched by the building of the great Hall at the beginning of the 15th century, and again by Cardinal Kempe, it was a fitting place for the proud banquet to eighteen hundred people, graced by the presence of Richard of Gloucester and all the power of the Neviles, which George Nevile gave there on the eve of his installation as Archbishop. To Cawood also Wolsey retreated after his fall ; and while dreaming of being installed in his long-neglected Minster, he was arrested there, leaving it only a few days before his death at Leicester. Surviving its more illustrious sisters, the manor house at Thorpe (as it is called in Gray's Register) is still a house — the only house of residence — attached to the See of York. After the purchase of the manor by Archbishop Gray it became known, like Bishop Wilton and Bishop Burton, as Bishopthorpe. The singular combination at Bishopthorpe of different archi- tectural touches — mediaeval, Puritan, Georgian, Victorian — all harmonized by time's mellowing hand, makes it one of the most interesting among English houses. 128 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Throughout its changes and amplifications one thing has consistently marked it, the absence of the martial strength of places like Cawood or Banbury or Newark. A manor house at first, when Archbishop Gray built the hall, and the beautiful early-English Chapel, which has been so tenderly restored, its most salient alterations belong to the three last centuries, in which keep and moat and battlement have become obsolete. It would not be in place in our modest pages to dilate on the dining-room (where Scrope was tried before his execution), wrecked under the Parliament, and restored by Accepted Frewen in the reign of Charles II. : nor on the long brick gabled annexe (which gives a home-like look to the garden), built during the Commonwealth by Colonel White : nor again on the great enlargement by Archbishop Drummond (the least attractive portion of the building), or the unfortunate encroachment of Arch- bishop Harcourt's nurseries. Our true concern is with Rotherham's contribution to the building, which is again, as at Southwell, somewhat culinary — " a brewery and bakery with new rooms on the north side towards the woods.'"* As we stand below the lovely river front of the house, we have to the left the east wall of Gray's Chapel and in the centre Gray's Hall as restored in 17th century style by Accepted Frewen. Tracing the stone moulding in the lower part of the wall northward till it ceases, we come to the north part of the block of the house, built in stone on the river face, but in brick towards the garden. This garden front has been much altered in late times, and over it is built a poor long-backed attic. But the main bulk of it is Rotherham's work : and in the basement there are marks of him in * Guest, p. 133. CHAPTER X.] ROTHERHAM AS A BISHOP. 1 29 two places : the one a shield with a single buck on it, the other with the three bucks trippant impaled with the pall, which constituted the ancient arms of the Arch- bishopric* The baronial state of the mediaeval bishops Secularization and of Rotherham has been amply illus- or the trated. What was the action of it on the „ . , conception of the bishop's office ? The Episcopal ^ ^ Duty. moral standard was lowered : the direct work of the bishop was minimised, sub- ordinated, delegated. The Registers give us much evidence of this. The singular provision that Rotherham should be consecrated " ellswhere than at Canterbury," arose probably from some pressure of the King's business, which was a more important matter than the solemn consecration to Rochester. Out of the 48 ordinations in the Lincoln episcopate 37 are administered by a bishop in partibus, only 11 by Rotherham himself. When the Papal Bulls which put him in possession of the Archbishopric were read publicly in the Minster at York, Rotherham was not present, being engaged at a distance (in remotis agente). In the commission at this time to William Poteman (Archdeacon of Cleveland) as Vicar- General, the reason for the appointment is stated * Archbishop Sharp's MS. describes the work of Rothertham thus: — " The Pantry and Bakehouse and Chambers over them, even all that row of building which now makes the Common Room, the Hall, Housekeeper's Room, Bakehouse and Kitchen below, and the Drawing Room, the Dining Room, my Study and the other Chambers above." His memoranda are of course of the house as it was before the altera- tion by Archbishop Drummond. The name of Bishopthorpe is to many eloquent of gracious hospitalities both from Archbishop and Mrs. Thomson and Archbishop and Mrs. Maclagan. I am further indebted to his Grace the present Archbishop for courteously allowing me to see Archbishop Sharp's MS.; and also to Rev. Canon Keble, Vicar of Bishopthorpe, for his aid in several details. 130 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. to be, that Rotherham was " prevented by various and arduous duties to the King and the realm from coming in person to his diocese."* There is no evidence of his being in the diocese until Sept. 12, 148 1 (a single deed signed at Bishopthorpe), and the next Yorkshire deed is dated March 26, i482> at Cawood. The immense business transacted by the Vicar-General shews that he stood very much, except in such matters as the reconciliation of churches after deeds of violence (effected by the Bishop of Dromore), in the same relation to the diocese, as a Vicar to the Rector of a parish : institutions for instance are constantly performed by him. Nor is the state of things much improved, when Rotherham 's life as a states- man is over. Of the Ordinations throughout the twenty years of the episcopate at York, not one is conducted by Rotherham himself. The ordaining bishop is always William Bishop of Dromore. "Nothing," says Mr. Wakeman, " is more astonishing to modern minds than the absence of personal duty to their diocese, which is so conspicuous in mediaeval bishops. Nothing certainly was more injurious to the welfare of the church." The Reformation period brought with it, along with other ecclesiastical robbery, considerable spoliation of episcopal revenue : yet in the interests of the spiritual office of the bishops it is not to be regretted. The transference of the Estates to the Ecclesiastical Commission has been a very real benefit. * Quia nos variis et arduis domini nostri Regis et regni impediti negotiis ad meam dioci" adhuc personaliter accedere coraode non valemus. Register at York. ^, . ,. .- ; -^ -Li "^'^ ^"-1 ^ i.i 1^4 1 i: 1 1 ^ ^ i I I s i I i M 1 "rl ' -^ 1 2 ^ * J T, i l^ % I '^t^f. ,, I s I 4 Til sc-i •£- 1 r * • ^ First Page of the Statutes of the College of Jesus at Rotherham. The reduction of scale, as the result of the photographic processes, though giving an idea of the Vignette of the Archbishop, the Shields and the beauty of the border makes the writing too minute to be read without a strong magnifying glass. It runs: Uniuersis Sancte matris Ecc'lie filiis presentes literas inspectur' Thomas permissione diuina Ebor Archie' pus Anghe primas et Ap'lice sedis legatus. Salutem in amplexibus saluatoris. Quia nos Archiep'us antedict' perpendentes et considerantes q'd in villa de Rotherham n're Ebor dioc' ubi nati fueramus et p' lauacrum sancte regenerac'onis renati ubi eciam cum aliis in puberem etatem agentes sine literis stetimus, stetissimusque sic indocti illiterati et rudes ad annos plurimos nisi q'd gr'a dei vir in grammafica doctus superuenit a quo ut a fonte primo instructi deo volente et ut credimus ducatum prestante ad statum in quo nu'c sumus peruenimus perueneruntque plures alii ad magna. Proinde gratias saluatori reddere cupientes et ne ingrati videamus beneficiorumque dei et unde venimus arguamur immemores fontem talem ibid' scaturire facere — Doctorem scilicet grammatice ibid' stabilire decreuimus pro semper. Secundo considerantes q'd ad illam eccl'iam multi p'tinent p'ochiani et q'd plures montani ad earn confluunt homines ut melius diligant cristi religionem Eccl'iamque eius sepius visitent honorent ut et diligant alium in cantu doctum atque sex choristas siue capelle pueros Ut diuina honorificentius celebrentur pro p' petuo duximus stabiHendos. Tertio q'd multos luce et ingenii acumine preditos Juuenes profert terra ilia neque omnes volunt sacerdotii dignitatem et altitudinem attingere Ut tales ad artes mechanicas et alia mundum concernencia magis habilitentur Ordinauimus tertium socium in arte scribendi et computandi scientem et p' itum. Sed quia ars scribendi musica ipsa simul et gramatica subordinantur legi diuine et euangelio super istos tres socios stabiliumus unum theologum qui ad minus erit Bacallarius in theologia qui prepositus p' aliis tribus sociis positus in regimine et policia domus vocabitur qui scalam Jacob verbum Jhesu viam in celum breuissimam et certissimam in n'tra provincia predicare et collegium regere tenebitur, Recolentes jam finahtur q'd sacerdos fuimus indig- nissimus quamquam nichil ea p'pter alienum a nobis putemus putabimusque unquam quod ad CHAPTER XI. THE RED COLLEGE AT ROTHERHAM. All, all are fled : yet still I linger here ! What secret charms this silent spot endear ? Mark yon old mansion frowning through the trees, Whose hollow turret woos the whistling breeze. That casement, arch'd with ivy's brownest shade, First to these eyes the light of Heaven conveyed : The mouldering gateway strews the grass-grown court Once the calm scene of many a simple sport When nature pleased, for life itself was new, And the heart promised what the fancy drew. Rogers' " Pleasures of Memory." 'T^HE loving munificence of Rotherham to The Church his native place demands detailed at Rotherham. treatment, for the sake of those who now know and care for it. Tradition has it, that the church, as we see it, which Rickman has pronounced *' one of the finest perpendicular churches of the North," owes its splendid development to the wealth of Thomas. Hunter identified somewhere on the building the three bucks trippant which denote him : on the side beams of the chancel roof, which could scarcely have been erected until the period of Thomas's death, his monogram (the letters are not mentioned) is said to have been found, as well as those of Henry Carnebull, Archdeacon of York, and Thomas Bilton, the last Abbot of Rufford.* Hunter also points out that the magnificence * Guest, p. 322, 134 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. of the re-construction of the church seems to suggest assistance greater than the natural resources of the town would afford : and the history disclosed by the In- dulgence for the tower in 1409 which Guest has printed (comparatively a small matter) corroborates his contention. When we examine the church, the first impression given us is that it is the outcome of a single idea. Whether we view the great cruciform mass, crowned by its noble tower and spire, sitting enthroned as it were above the town ; or whether we enter it, and see the springing lightness of the arches, the solemn shadows beneath the central tower, the beauty of the roofs, the spaciousness and height and dignity of the whole interior — one thing alike impresses us, the majestic unity of the design. But as we look carefully at the details of the masonry, we see variations of treatment, which show that the achievement of it extended over a series of years, and which may mark the impress of more minds than one. I do not refer in saying this to the remains of the earlier church. The walling of the lower part of the chancel shews marks of decorated and even Norman stones. One of the most beautiful features of the interior is the pre- servation of the decorated windows of the lantern tower, which now look towards the roofs within, instead of the open heaven. But all this is prior to the time of Rotherham : it is the variation in the perpendicular detail that concerns us. The stately nave and aisles and transepts, the belfry stage and the crocketed spire seem fairly uniform. But the external decoration of the South Chancel chapel is plainer than that of the aisles, the North Chancel chapel windows are quite different in design from those of its sister : the arcades in the chancel are lower, as if accommodated to the earlier decorated roofs, and of poorer design than the delicate CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I35 arcades of the nave : the clerestory of the chancel — later than all these — looks like work of the beginning of the i6th century. The whole scheme may well have occupied twenty or thirty years : and these dififerences may be the result of variation in resources, or ideas, or the wishes of donors. On the whole, there is not con- clusive evidence that the plan was due to Rotherham's conception : it may have originated, as did that of the lantern tower, with the Abbey of Ruflford. In the execution of it also there are traces of other donors besides Rotherham : in addition to the monograms of Carnebull and Bilton, there is on the chancel roof the trefoil, which is the mark of the Fitzwilliams of Ald- warke. We shall see moreover presently that during his York episcopate Rotherham laments the insufficiency of his means in endowing his College of Jesus, which was his favourite scheme for the place. At the same time the known precedents at Cambridge and Oxford, and the fixed attention which we shall observe given to the town for more than twenty years afford a very strong pre- sumption that the wealth of Thomas was a very large factor in both the origination and the execution of this august re-construction of the old church of his boyhood. The only thing in the new church known The Altar with certainty as the work of Rotherham and Chantry , , .. , ■ , -vt r - J was an altar dedicated in the Name oi Jesus. On July 28, 1480, he purchased from Edward IV. a license for the foundation of a chantry, at an altar '* newly-constructed, built and dedicated by him to the glory, praise and honour of Our Lord Jesus Christ," in which a chaplain was to celebrate Divine service for the health of Edward, his Queen Elizabeth, Edward Prince of Wales, and the rest of his children, and for that of Rotherham and his benefactors during 136 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. life ; and for their souls, as well as those of the parents of Rotherham and those of all the faithful after death. The license also contemplated certain works of piety and mercy according to ordinances ... to be made by . . . Rotherham.* These last words indicate the germ of the foundation of the College of Jesus, which we shall con- sider directly : the works of piety and mercy received a greater development than he perhaps then contemplated. Hunter is probably right in thinking that no endowment was eventually made for this chantry by itself. The duties here assigned were really in the sequel performed by the priests of the College : the altar was annexed to it. Besides their other masses, which were to be said in the College Chapel the provost and fellows were bound to celebrate mass twice in the week, and on festival days " in the chapel of Jesus, otherwise called the Chapel of St. Katherine in the said Parish Chapel of Rotherham." Further, the master-teacher in singing, and the choristers were devoutly to sing at the Altar of Jesus on every Friday the Mass of Jesus, and an antiphone of Jesus at Vesper.f (See further conjectures on this ' Altar of Jesus ' in Note I.) * See the translation of the deed in full in Guest, p. 130. The original is given in Dugdale's " Monasticon," vol. in., p. 1441. (Edition by Sir Henry Ellis.) In this it is quite clear that it is not the church but the altar, which is spoken of as "newly constructed, &c.," by Rotherham (altare infra ecclesiam parochialem de Rotheram . . . . de novo constructum aedificatum et dedicatum). Guest has omitted in the clause providing for the masses for the dead the very important word " parentum " : the masses are to be said for the souls of Edward and the rest : and then is added " necnon pro animabus parentum, bene- factorum et omnium defunctorum." •f- Guest, pp. 113, 114. The Gild of St. Katherine is mentioned in the Chantry Certificates as having a net income of cxi.s. ix d. What ar- rangement was made for its services is not mentioned. They might still be said at the Altar at other times, CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I37 It is probable that some aid from Rotherham ^ ^^® was also given to the erection of the very of Our Lady at the singular Chapel of Our Lady on the Bridge, Bridge. which must have been built about the time of his translation to York, and which still remains, though desecrated by profane use. When the College of Jesus had been fully established, the statutes directed that the master of song and the six choristers should on Saturdays .... eves of the Feasts of the Blessed Mary, sing at Vesper an antiphone for her in the Chapel upon the Bridge.* But the scheme to which Thomas devoted The College j^-^ principal wealth was the foundation of the College of Jesus : and the scheme is not only of interest for its own sake, but for the deep in- sight it affords us into the devout and loving character of the man. As we study its details we are not only reminded of the unrivalled knowledge which he possessed of the great educational foundations of his time, but we see his intense love for the town and his careful stud)' of its needs. The College was no servile copy of what he had seen at Cambridge or Oxford, Wingham or Beverley, but instinct with individuality. The root of it all was, as we have remarked already his gratitude to the old grammar teacher of his boy- hood, who had taught him on the site chosen for the building. The grammar teaching had been the foundation of all his greatness. Grammar, as the University of Oxford said was the root of the sciences. There should be established in Rotherham a priest, who should be either technically a master or at the least a capable teacher of grammar, A second object (following the order in his Will) was to provide a home, where the Chantry priests * Guest, p. 114. 138 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. might live piously without temptation and scandal. Thirdly, considering the numbers that frequented the church, many of them being rude men from the hills, he provides another priest, who shall teach singing, and six choristers for the more honourable celebration of Divine service, so that men '• may love the religion of Christ the better," and " more often visit, honour, and love His Church." Fourthly, because " many youths of very quick intelligence did not wish to reach the dignity of the priesthood," a third priest is to teach " the art of writing and reckoning," in order to fit them for mechanical arts and occupations. And finally (here the evangelistic spirit of the man strongly shows itself) over all these — because ** writing, music, and grammar are subordinate to the divine law and the gospel " — he establishes a Provost, who shall at the least be a Bachelor of Divinity of the University of Cambridge, and who shall be bound to preach in Rotherham, Laxton, Almondbury, and Eccles- field, " the ladder of Jacob, the Word of Jesus, the shortest and most certain way to heaven."* In the last days of Edward IV. " the works License from of pjety and mercy " hinted at in the e ing or Qj^g^j^j-j-y License had taken larger and de- Foundation f th C UeSe ^^^^^ shape in Rotherham's mind. On of Jesus. January 22, 148:7, in consideration of a certain sum of money the King granted * See the " Statutes of the College," in Guest, pp. 107 — 109 ; also "The Will of 1498," in Guest, p. 137, and below, Note N. As we examine the steps by which the aims above were achieved, we shall see that this statement of things is not exact, chronologically. Among the similar traits in Rotherham's experiences there are the grammar and song teachers and the free education at Beverley, the emphatic insistence on preaching in the appropriated parishes, the flagellum, and several details as to the diet at Lincoln College, Oxford, and the quadrangular form of the building. Study of the Statutes will suggest others, CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I39 him a license to found a College at Rotherham, with a Provost and two Fellows. One of the Fellows was to be a master or a capable teacher of grammar ; the other was to be a capable teacher in song. Permission was given to enlarge the scope of the College, if increased income in the future facilitated it. The duties of the Provost and Fellows were to preach the Word of God in the parishes round Rotherham, to teach grammar and song to all scholars that desired it from any part of England, and especially from the county of York, without any charge, and to pray for the King and Queen, Prince of Wales and royal family, and for Rotherham and his parents, &c., &c., with the same provisions as in the chantry license. After granting a site, common seal, corporate rights, power to hold estates, &c., the license appropriates to the College the parish church of Laxton, in Nottinghamshire, the patronage of which is described as belonging by purchase to Thomas Rotherham in right of his lay fee there. On February 8, 148^, Rotherham finally „ , . executed the deeds of foundation for the Ueeas 01 Foundation College. The preamble runs: "We, Thomas of the College. . . • pondering and considering that in the town and parish of the church of Rotherham whence we derived our origin, and where also, in the neighbouring churches, towns, parishes, parts, and places scattered and separated far and wide, no small multitude of peoples flourishes . . . and that there is a great lack ... of the needful preachers of the Word of God, and of instruction in virtue . . . and teaching in grammar and song." Edward's patent is then recited : and he establishes in accordance with its provisions a College to be named by the title of " The College of Jesus at 140 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Rotherham." He proceeds to mention certain constitu- tions for the College, and names, as the first Provost, William Graybarn, S.T.P., and Edmund Carter as one of the Fellows. He next states that out of the goods which God has given him he has endowed the College with certain rents, fruits, and emoluments : but that as they are so slight and poor, he appropriates the church at Laxton, the collation and patronage of which belongs to him in right of his lay fee, to the College, as the benefice is rich enough (satis fertilis) to allow this. The necessary deeds of consent, with the indem-nities charged on the College (3/- to the Archbishop, 1/8 to the Dean and Chapter, 1/8 to the Archdeacon of York, and 2/- to the poor of Laxton), follow on precisely the same system as that which we have seen in the case of Twyford and Long Combe.* * The license of Edward in Latin may be found in Dugdale's " Monasticon," vol. iii., p. 1442 (edition by Sir Henry Ellis), as well as in Rotherham's Register at York. The preamble in the original of Rotherham's deed runs — " nos Thomas . . . p'pendent ... et con- siderant qd in villa et parochia ecclie p'clis de Rotherhm . . . ubi . . . traximus originem, ubi etiam et in ecclis villis et parochys nnon p'tibus et locis vicinis longe late . . . diffusis et distantibus non modica viget multifcudo p'plorum . . . et deest requisita . . . copia verbi Dei pdicator. et in virtute . . . iinon informator in grammatica et cantu." The advowson of Laxton was evidently appendant to the manor, v/hich is said to have been bought by Rotherham (perquisitam). Rotherham leaves this manor of Laxton, in the Will of 1498, to Ann, elder daughter of Richard Restwold, and Humphrey Roos, if they marry each other. The marriage took place (see Note N). Part at any rate of the manor and advowson had formerly belonged to Isabel, the grand- mother of Humphrey Roos. The whole manor and advowson had been left by Sir John Etton to his four granddaughters, of whom Isabel was one. (See Thoroton's " Antiquities of Notts.," vol. in,, p. 209.) Ann Restwold was not really a relation of Rotherham : but he was interested in her, because her father took -Rotherham's niece as his second wife. CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. 14! The endowment of the College thus secured, The the foundation stone was laid on the Feast Foundation Ston °^ ^*' Gregory (probably March 12, the of the College Festival of Gregory the Great).* It is not Laid. said that Rotherham was present : and when the juncture of affairs is considered it is scarcely probable. The last sickness of Edward must have set in, and Rotherham would be doing his Chaplain's office. Not for months probably had he a chance ol seeing the rising walls. The terrible process of events after Edward's death would keep him still at Westminster, until he left it for his imprisonment. Only after the Coronation of Richard, and his consequent release could he have visited Rotherham. It may be that at the time when Richard and his Queen were lodged in Rotherham's palace at York, Rotherham himself, now a fallen man, came back to his native place to watch the buildmg of his College. For a parchment roll of emblazoned pedi- grees at Wortley Hall records that he at Wortlev watched. As a testimony to the " worthy housekeeping " of Sir Thomas Wortley, it says that '* Bishop Rotheram, Archbishop of York, whyle he was building the College at Rotherham, did for the most part remain with him at Wortley." f To Sheffield people the wild combination of crag and upland heath and wooded hollow in the Chase at Wortley is a genuine relic of that wide forest in which we picture Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, and Maid Marian, and scarcely less real to us Cedric and Gurth and Wamba. Over- * See Guest, p. 136, and Rotherham's Will below, Note N. The Festival of St. Gregory Nazianzen is on May 9, and of Gregory VII on May 28. f Guest, p. 100. 142 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. looking the valley, one Sir Thomas Wortley built a lodge in the woods " for his plesor to her the harte bel," (according to an old inscription on the rock, no longer legible, which asked prayers for his soul).* The good historian of Rotherham, always glad of an opportunity for recalling the loveliness of nature round his home, before the murders wrought by the triple alliance of coal and iron and man, permits himself a rapturous description of the journeys of Rotherham, as with " gorgeous retinue " he rides from Wortley ** with its pomp of wood sweeping down the dark declivity " past " sweeps of glade " and undulating woodland to Rotherham's own cottage at Thorp and his manor at Barnes Hall in Ecclesfield : thence on through the verdant valley of the Blackburn to the Don ; then upward to the lofty eminence of Kimberworth Park, once the domain of Warwick, and then of Richard III., from which he looks across the green marsh and meadows of the river to the noble church and spire above the town.f A low, two-storied building, known as the The Buildings < College Inn,' formed one side of the quad- of the „ J, rangle of Rotherham's College. It is now covered with rough-cast, and has lost all but some very slight vestige of its original character : but even if we restore in thought the old doorways, hood-moulds, and mullions which it at first possessed, and then complete the quadrangle on the same pattern, we can hardly suppose that such a building would represent the "very fair College sumptuously builded of *"A Key to English Antiquities," by Mrs. E. C. Armitage, p. 7. Rotherham people delight to call their neighbourhood " Ivanhoe-land," on account of its association with Scott's great Novel. t Guest, p. 102. CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I43 brike," which Leland records : the phrase is identical with that in which he describes Lord Wenlock's great house of Someries, and Rotherham's stately tower at Buckden. Guest's industry, as usual, helps us to a more adequate conception. The grounds of the College oc- cupied about two acres, extending across the present College Square to Bridge Gate, and in Guest's judgment (founded on the discovery of an underground passage to the river), to the bank of the Don. They were enclosed by a strong and large brick wall, marked like the tower at Buckden with the figure of the cross in different-coloured bricks at intervals, and twelve feet in height.* Besides the buildings of the College there were within this enclosure stables, a dovecote, orchard, and garden. Among the buildings we are able to distinguish in the first place a house in which the three scoles (for grammar, song, and writing) were held, in the second place •* a mansion " covered with gray-stone slates : and more important than these, a gate-house covered with lead, six yards in length, and four in breadth, with two "little turrets;" a chapel to the east of it with a crested lead roof, eighteen yards in length and five yards in breadth ; and on the west side of the gate-house a chamber with similar roof to the chapel, twelve yards in length, and five yards in breadth. The statutes of the College also shew us (what we naturally expect) the usual arrangement of common hall, kitchen, buttery, and * Guest, page 105. He gives from the "King's license" an extract describing the site as 638 feet 7 inches in length, and 623 feet 6 inches breadth, bounded by the waste land of the Abbot of Rufford on the east, a tenement of John Wentworth on the west, a close of the Abbot of Rufford called the ' imp-yard ' (nursery) on the north, and the course or stream of Rotherham falling into the Don on the south. This gives only an acre ; but another acre, the ' imp-yard,' was held by rent from the Abbot. 144 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. chambers. The dimensions of the gate-house front, and the College Inn alike, point to a building on a smaller scale than those of that day at Cambridge ; but the plan, the arrangement, the turreted gateway stamped it as a College. Singular among the buildings of gray- stone or timber that surrounded it, it was built, like so much of Cambridge, of brick, and gave rise to the local proverb, " Red as Rotherham College."* (See also note J on " The Buildings of the College of Jesus.") From the com.pletion of the buildings the e an ry College was open to all stipendiary or Priests. , r ■, r , , chantry priests " oi good lame and honest conversation " in Rotherham. This matter lay very near Thomas's heart. He had seen " the chantry priests there boarding separately in laymen's places to their scandal and the ruin of others." As himself " a most unworthy priest" he desired "by a work of supereroga- tion to reform them": and hence decreed that they should have "chambers assigned to them," dine (though at their own costs and charges) with the Provost and Fellows in the common hall, have full attendance from the cook barber and servants, washing and fuel, use of the library, admission to all instruction from the Fellows in grammar, song, and writing, and in divinity from the Provost. In order that they might easily * In the grant of the site to the Earl of Shrewsbury, " Patent Roll 3, Edward VI.," the site is described as ' totum Scitum . . . , ac omnia domos .... Etabula, columbaria ortos pomeria gardina curtilagia . . . Guest, p. 160. The preservation of the description of the Gatehouse Chapel, &c., is due to the fact that these only were covered with lead The weight of the lead is given in each case : the roof of the gate- house " wainge one fowther " : that of the chapel " foure fowther " that of the chamber " three fowther." Guest, p. 159. These lead roofs no doubt caused their ruin. Like Roche Abbey and a hundred other precious things, they fell victims to the " plumbi sacra fames." CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I45 support the cost of their living, the expense of commons was not to exceed ten or twelve pence a week except in the weeks of the chief festivals. They were not obliged to any spiritual duty within the walls : but that they might " avoid the evils that follow idleness " they were to be holily and devoutly occupied in the subjects taught in the College, and to study in the library. Their enjoyment of those privileges would depend on their good conduct. If any one of them behaved im- properly in deed or word, or molested or disturbed the Provost or Fellows, after tv/o warnings from the Provost, he was to be expelled for ever. No part of Rotherham's foundation was so original as this. The scandal from the want of a place to live in, residence in houses where "clerks and women dwell together," "too great frequency" in "houses greatly suspected," a life of idleness and poverty made the chantry priests through- out England as well as in Rotherham too often the black sheep of their profession. And yet to these men were entrusted those offices which, by no means out of a mere coward dread of purgatory, but often from deep sense of personal unworthiness, oftener still from tender solicitude for the living or dead beloved ones, the de- votion of the middle age so passionately desired and so munificently endowed. The grief of Rotherham at this loathsome discord, this horrible dishonour to God, lies at the root of his provision for the chantry priests.* * See the Will of Rotherham, in Guest, p. 137, and the " Statutes of Rotherham College," in Guest, pp. 107, iii, 112, and below, Note N. It requires an effort to see the finer side of a system so perfunctory and mechanical, so saturated with greed and barter as the network of Chantries seems to us. But such beautiful things as St. Augustine's offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice for his beloved Mother Monica Dante's " Purgatorio," or Cardinal Newman's " Dream of Gerontius," shew us the spiritual side of it. 146 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. The license of the King left scope for the Extension of extension of the foundation in the event of further endowment. Such endowment came e eac er ^j.^^^ ^^^ sources. One John Fox gave of Writing. . , i ,, t-, , certain possessions to the College. By the ppropna 1 ^.^ ^^ these, supplemented by further gifts from Rotherham himself, the third fellow The Six ,,.,,, , • . Choristers ^^^ established, who was to be a priest (called the Chaplain of St. Katherine by the direction of Fox), and to teach writing and reckoning to youths endowed with light and shrewdness of nature, in order to fit them for mechanical arts and worldly callings. Probably he was also the priest of the Gild of St. Katherine's altar. The victory of Bosworth Field brought, as we have seen, a more important augmenta- tion. Rotherham prevailed with Henry VII. in the first flush of his new reign, to impropriate to the College the benefice of Almondbury, which belonged to him as part of the Duchy of Lancaster, as a token of gratitude for his victory (March 13, 148^).* This endowment was devoted principally to the only portion of the founda- tion, as yet unnoticed : six poor boys, " of the fitter and apter at learning and virtue," particularly of Rotherham's family, and from the parishes of Rotherham and Eccles- field, were to be maintained in the College at the discretion of the Provost, and taught singing, grammar, and writing up to the age of eighteen, unless they should be "found mature in knowledge and learning sooner." The Provost was strictly charged to watch over their " manners, virtue, and learning." They were * The deeds, drawn on the same lines as those for Laxton, are in the York Register. The indemnity to the Archbishop was 6/8 : to the Archdeacon 1/8: to the Dean and Chapter 3/4: the sum allotted to the poor of Almondbury was 2/-. CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I47 to serve the Provost and Fellows at the masses, attend on them and the chantry priests " at table and in the reading of the Bible " (probably at the meals). The duties in the Chapel of Jesus and that of Our Lady on the Bridge have been already noticed. They were also to attend along with the Provost and Fellows in the Parish Church on Festival Days at mass and other services. The complete foundation had, it will be seen, ten members : and in the fashion of the middle age, Rotherham likes to trace a symbolism in the number. "I have incorporated," he says, "in my College one Provost, three Fellows, and six boys, that where I have oflfended God in His ten commandments, these ten should pray for me."* The foundation thus completed, he drew up The Statutes, with the utmost care a body of Statutes, which shew throughout the practised hand of the Chancellor of England and the Chancellor of Cambridge.! The appointment of the Provost is vested * Guest, pp. 112, 114, 137. The Will of Rotherham seems to shew that the endowment of the College was a strain on his resources. He was unable to do more " because he lacked money," t It is in the clauses for the defence of the property, the prevention of waste by either Provost or Fellows, the provision for the decrease of revenue, that the lawyer's hand is visible. His dread of stultification of his statutes through Papal dispensation from their observance is marked by the provision that the Provost shall enter into a bond for ;^ioo, to be forfeited if he attempts to procure one. The disciplinary power of the Provost is very stringent. He can use in regard to the Fellows not only expostulation, but withdrawal of a stipend, corporal punishment, expulsion. Ill-conduct in the Provost is guarded against by subjecting him to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York, who can remove him by " summary process : " the Fellows can appeal to the Archbishop : the warning to the Provost is extremely stern. The moral clause is very suggestive of the dangers in such communities, and full of Rotherham's characteristic phrases. The Provost and Fellows " must not use games rightly prohibited to the clergy," nor frequent 148 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. after Rotherham's death in the University of Cambridge. The offices and masses of intercession, the duties, the social life are minutely regulated. A stringent code of discipline enacted. The dangers from Papal dispensation, plurality, non-residence, internal corruption, alienation and waste of property are strongly safe-guarded. It was not till the close of his life that he thought of the further danger of litigation : and for the defence of the College at law then left a special sum of two hundred pounds. Of confiscation, the real danger before it, he never dreamed. These statutes, like those of Lincoln, give The Interior ^^ ^ picture of the life and work in the _ „ - College. We can imagine the Provost, the College of ^ ^ Jesus. three Fellows, and the chantry priests dining together in the hall at one table, the choristers waiting on them or reading some passage of the Scriptures. The fare was more frugal than at Lincoln, so as to be no burden on the purses of the poor chantry priests. Better off, however, than the Fellows at King's, each Fellow had a room to himself and a fire, perhaps of coal. The special services in church have been already mentioned : on every festival the Provost and Fellows in their surplices would be seen in the stalls on the north side of the choir, which still remain. taverns, or suspected houses, or disgraceful shows, " because it is be- coming that the ministers of the altar of The Immaculate Lamb, in order that they may be able to offer The Immaculate Host for the living and the dead, should keep themselves pure and chaste and un- touched and unspotted from all fleshly allurements" : they must " en- deavour to shun the weakness of the flesh and its uncleanness and dishonour : nor presume to approach suspected women .... and that they permit no women of any condition or state whatever to pass the night or remain within the College, without a great reason, approved by the Provost." See the translation of " The Statutes," in Guest, pp. 106-119. CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM. I49 Twice in the week they said masses in the Chapel of Jesus : the other masses and offices were held in their own chapel : at every mass special prayers were said for the living (" Rule thy servant Thomas . . . our founder ") and for the dead named in the King's license (" God, whose property it is to pity . . . pardon the the souls of . . . "). Annually on April 9 (the day of Edward IV. 's death), a solemn anniversary was held with exequies, and on the morrow mass of requiem for King Edward and the rest, and for Rotherham after his death : and poor and decrepit people were served with food and drink at a table set for them in the hall, and presented with a gratuity at their departure. The whole of the appointments for the chapel, the vestments, altar-cloths, plate were very sumptuous and costly. From St. Nicholas' Day (Dec. 6) to the Holy Innocents* Day the singular ceremonies of the Boy-bishop were held, as they had been at King's and Beverley. One of the choristers was elected by them as the Boy- bishop. He wore episcopal vestments and mitre, preached a sermon, and sang the service : the choristers during this period occupied the higher stalls, the Provost and Fellows the lower ones. The ordinary routine of the College was the teaching of grammar, music, and reckon- ing in the three separate schools : to these not only the choristers but boys from the town and district came freely : the chantry priests, too, were aided in any studies of theology, music, or grammar, which they desired. To them also the library was open : and this library was one of Rotherham's munificent presents. The catalogue of the books is preserved in the Archives of Sidney Sussex.* It contains more than a hundred volumes — * In the volume of Archives at Sidney Sussex, five chantry priests are mentioned. The charge for weekly commoners was a shilling, 150 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Classics : Cicero, Terence, Ovid, Sallust, Tibullus, Pliny ; Patristic Divinity: Augustine, Gregory the Great, Ambrose; Mediaeval Divinity : Hugo de St. Victor, Aquinas, Rabanus, Bonaventure, Bernard, De Lyra; Legends of the Saints, Sermons, and Treatises. An interesting feature in the Catalogue, pointed out by Mr. Jenkinson, Librarian of the University of Cambridge, is that some of the books (unlike, I suppose, the bulk of the two hundred volumes presented by Rotherham to the University Library) are not the older and commoner manuscripts, but the strange, new-fangled printed books from Germany and Holland. The College was a noble monument of Conclusion. Rotherham's love for his birth-place. Its revenues at the time of its dissolution were calculated at £"127 7s. 6d. ; the plate in the College was estimated at the enormous sum of £i\1 os. 4d. ; and the furniture at £$\ 7s. 8d. If it had remained to the town, its revenues, according to the common calculation of the relative value of money now, would have been ;^i,5oo a year : but in this land of mineral wealth infinitely more. Hunter is well within the mark in his judgment about it. " The establishment of the College forms quite an era in the history of Rotherham. It must have changed and improved the character of the place, and if the superstitious rage against superstition had not in less than half-a-century(?) swept away this foundation, it would have continued to be ... a minor University." against sixteen-pence at Lincoln College. It seems to have been felt rather a spare allowance, for William Rawson left in his Will a sum of five shillings for extras on Saturday. Guest, p. 123. * Manuscripts in the Library of Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge : edited by Montagu James Rhodes, pp. viii. 4, 5, 6. Notes K L M will be found below on " The Plate, Vestments, and Service Books," " Notable Inmates," " The College and the Grammar School." CHAPTER XI.] THE RED COLLEGE OF ROTHERHAM, I5I But by the Chantry Act of Edward VI. all was con- fiscated, except the salary of the Grammar Master. The main property passed to the family of the Swifts : the building to the Earl of Shrewsbury. And on what plea ? That of the masses for the dead. For this, the work of the Provost in teaching of divinity and preaching in the affiliated parishes, the secular education carried on by the masters of writing and music, and the main- tenance of the choristers were all swept away. An application of the same principles of confiscation would have abolished every mediaeval College in Cambridge, and King's College as the chief. It is a flagrant example of the greed and robbery which disgraced the Reformation time. CHAPTER XII. THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs, Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Let's choose executors and talk of Wills. King Richard II., Act III., Scene II. — Shakspeare. The last Will of Botherham — The Will of 1475 — Invoca- tion and Prayer to the Saints — The Marble Tomb in the Minster at York — Provisions for his Family— Gifts to York — Gifts to his old Dioceses and Benefices — Gifts to his Household — Defence Fund for the College of Jesus — Dread of Purgatory — Solemn Profession of Faith — Death of Botherham — His Position and Character. TN 1498 Rotherham made his last Will, The Last Will 1 ^j^-^j^ ^-jj ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ j^^^^^j^ ^^ ^j^^ end of the volume : a complete translation of it is also given by Guest (p. 137). Canon Raine, in his reprint of it in " Testamenta Eboracensia" (Vol. 2), has described it as the most splendid example of the Will of a mediaeval bishop in existence. From its ample store of biographical allusion we have frequently drawn : we have anticipated its leading provisions : and the note on the plate and vestments in the College of Jesus illustrates the rich antiquarian interest which its long list of ecclesiastical ornaments and dress, books of ritual, and mediaeval plate (all closely described for the purpose of identification) affords. There remains, however, an aspect of the Will, which is here directly in place — its detailed and pathetic portraiture of the humility, abase- CHAPTER XII.] THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. 153 ment, fears, tender thoughtfulness in provision, which filled the old man's heart, as he looked back upon his long life, and felt his labours ending, and death nearing upon him. He had made, as he tells us, many Wills. The Will of rj.^^ drafts of some of them evidently lie 1475. before him, as he writes. But new circum- stances have arisen — notably those connected with the College of Jesus — and he is not certain whether his estate ultimately will be able to satisfy all the desires which he had previously expressed. One, probably the earliest of these Wills, made at the age of 52 (1^75), has been preserved to us. It is shorter, more formal, less ex- pressive of wide affection than this. Certain pieces of property in it (Mortymere, Kempston, Grauenhurst, Netherstonden, Kympton, and Walden) may have been sold subsequently, as they no longer appear in 1498. On the other hand, all the large Yorkshire property has been acquired. And both his brother John and his mother are now dead. (Guest, p. 135). He begins to write the Will with his own nYoca ion jj^nd (propria manu) on August 6, and and Prayer \f f j & » t th Saints fi^^ishes it on his birthday, the Feast of St. Bartholomew, August 23. After invoking the name of God, he commends his soul to his Creator and Redeemer, and begs for the prayers of the Most Glorious Virgin Mother, Michael, Gabriel, and all Angels, Peter, Paul, John, and all the Apostles, Stephen, Vincent, and all the Martyrs, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose, Nicholas, William (of York, doubtless), John, Wilfred, and all Confessors, Magdalene, Katherine, Margaret, and all Virgins, and the most glorious citizens of the court of heaven. They are to implore the infinite mercy of God, and pray for his sins, for which he is grieved and K 154 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. sorrowful. ** O, if I were sufficiently penitent," he exclaims, " that my Lord Jesus may have pity on me, and deign to turn away His face from my many sins." He then writes the directions for his burial. The Marble geing certainly assured that as the blessed ,,, , Tob said, His Redeemer liveth, and that in Minster ■• ' at York. ^^^ flesh He shall see God, and hence that his soul shall again be clothed in flesh for evermore : and further, that not for the sake of his own merits, but through the virtue of the Passion of Jesus Christ and by the Prayers of His Saints, he will have the better part in the Resurrection ; he directs that his flesh, his putrid body, shall be buried on the North side of the Chapel of Saint Mary in his Church of York, where he has constructed a tomb of marble.* After this he gives the long bequests to the College of Jesus, which have been already mentioned. His thoughts turn next to his own family. ProYisionfor -^^ ^^^^g ^^^^ ^^ the church at Luton, where, as he says, his mother and brother are buried, and where he has established the succession of his race, a set of grey bawdekin vestments (the ash- colour used in Lent) embroidered with pheasants, for the priest, deacon, and subdeacon, and a gilt cup with two cruets. The gifts to Thomas (the estates annexed to Someries) and George, his nephews, and to the Ecclesfield Scotts (p. 2) follow. t * The tomb still remains, but is not a very striking one. It is curious that it has no heraldry on the shields. It was however much defaced in the fire of 1829, and restored at the expense of Lincoln College, Oxford. See below, Note N. f Here and throughout the Will the descriptions of pieces of plate bequeathed are very interesting to students of old plate The troy weight is given: the make (Paris towch, London towch, Bruges towch, &c.), the figures (flowers, columbines, lions, &c.), and the nature of the pieces (bowls or cups [tacete], pots [oUse] phials, &c.), are specified. CHAPTER XII.] THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. I55 From the provision for his family his mind The Gifts to passes to York. He has already given to the Minster a splendid mitre worth five hundred marks. He adds a gilt statue of St. Margaret standing on a dragon, with a cross in one hand, and a book in the other, and a crown on her head. And to the Vicars' Choral a hundred pounds, out of which they are to buy lands or appropriate churches, with a stipu- lation that those who sing the Antiphon of St. John shall say immediately after it a De Profundis for his soul. The claims of the numerous preferments of Gifts to his the p^st are next considered. To all the old benefices (except Beverley, St. Vedast, Benefices. Foster Lane, and Salisbury), to Rochester and Lincoln, St. Katherine's and St. Mary's at Cambridge, gifts of varying value are allotted. (King's College had received one hundred pounds in his lifetime. Pembroke may have enjoyed some sufficient benefaction). A general direction is added (which for reasons that will appear directly, he commends with great earnestness to his executors,) regarding all the places in which arrangements have been already made for the performance of perpetual exequies for his soul. Each place is to have certain sums of money, at the discretion of the executors, calculated according to their separate needs and the benefactions they have already received : and if it shall appear that the exaction of perpetual exequies is too burdensome for the places, they are to be commuted for the celebration of a number of masses, to be said as speedily as possible after Rotherham's death, for the salvation of his soul. 156 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. The affectionate provision for his domestics The Gifts succeeds. Richard Birley, his most trusted Household servant, beyond the sum of eighty pounds already paid for his purchase of marriage from Sir John Everyngham and other moneys before and after it, is to have the lands and tenements, which he has bought in Cawood and Gaitford. Every servant is still to have his wages continued to him for six months after the master's decease. Every one of them is also to have a horse worth twenty shillings or the value of a horse, the gentlemen, valets, grooms of the chambers having choice of one out of his own stables. And all that desire it are to have free board in his house for a year so that they may have time to provide themselves with new masters. " God grant to them," he adds, " Good ones. Amen. Amen. Amen,"* Is there anything he has forgotten ? Yes, The Defence once more he thinks of the dear College of ^ „ „ Tesus,'and provides under the special trust College of J ^ ^ Jesus. ^^ Trotter (the Treasurer of York) and Henry Carnebull, the fund of two hundred pounds for any lawsuit about the College. Here, if the Will were a modern one, the ^h® directions would have ended. But there is Trembling ^ horror that lies heavily on his soul, the orPu^gatMr t^^"^^l^"g ^^^^^ °^ purgatory. Whether it arose from the sense of utter unworthiness, which is seen in the saintliest of men, or whether from the memory of distinct passages of the bloody past, in * This had been one of the provisions in an earlier Will, when he felt more able to fulfil it. He is a little doubtful if it can be fully carried out now. If not, the executors are to modify it at their discretion. CHAPTER XII.] THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. 157 which he had been false to his Lord, we do not know and have no right to judge. But the fact of his terror is shudderingly set forth to us. The prayers of the living must be oflfered for him, as well as the prayers of the Saints. The Holy Sacrifice must be offered for his soul innumerable times. Well, was not this already provided for ? The gratitude of Cambridge, the gratitude of Lincoln Oxford, had decreed him perpetual masses : the clause about other places, in which the like, or numerous masses as soon as possible after his decease are ordered, has been already described. Can more be needed ? Yes ! from his very heart he desires and prays his executors, by the hope he places in them, and as they will answer to Christ, that they use the utmost diligence, that a thousand masses be said for him at once, as speedily as it is possible after his decease, in order that by so many Sacrifices and Memorials of the Passion of Christ there may be gentler dealing with his soul. " I know," he writes, " that my sins seek and demand great and long punishment, yea, infinite punishment, because they have been perpetrated and committed against the infinite God. And yet with the blessed Augustine, I believe firmly that my sins cannot terrify me, if the Death of my Lord has come into my mind : for in the wounds of His Body I desire to hide myself, and in the Sacraments flowing from them I would wash them away through the grace of Our Blessed Lord Jesus. May He grant it, who for me was willing to suffer so shameful death, so many stripes ! " Nor is even this provision adequate. For in the succeeding clause^ in which he names as executors Blythe, the Dean of York; Trotter, the Treasurer; CarnebuU, the Arch- deacon ; Skelton, Treasurer of Lincoln ; Carter (one of the Fellows of the College of Jesus), Chaplain of St. 158 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Mary's, York ; and Richard Burleton, his servant, with Bishop Alcock, of Ely, as supervisor, he directs that any residue of his estate is to be devoted to the pro- motion of the salvation of his soul.* There is nothing more to be added now in „ , . the matter of provision. But he consecrates Profession . . , • , , ■ -, ^ ■ of Fa'th ^ ^^ solemn writmg, which has occupied him so many days, by a profession of his faith. *• I bear witness that in the Passion of Christ and in the Sacraments of the Church which draw their virtue therefrom I place the hope of the salvation of my soul; and that in no Article of the Faith do I doubt, or have have ever doubted ; and that if by chance (which God avert), through the disease of infirmity or any cause in the last wrestle, I pronounce otherwise, from this moment as for that, for that moment as now, I disown the words, renouncing and abhorring now and ever every- thing that is repugnant to the Spouse of Christ, His Holy Church, for as a true Christian I would die, I yearn to die, I pray and I pray again that I may so die. Amen. Amen, Amen." As we read this Will we seem no longer ® ®^ ° to be hunting a shadow through the crowds: Rotherham, , ,-r ^■■i r r ^^ • • M 29 1500 liielike figure 01 a Christian old man, humble and sorrowful, grateful and affec- tionate, pious, penitent, and devout, is shown to us. But only for a moment : and then we fall back on the meagre entries of the Register. It gives no more London * It was out of this residuary estate probably that Trotter and CarnebuU subsequently erected a chantry for Rotherham at the Altar of B.V. Mary in the Cathedral at York, giving the patronage of it to the Provost and Fellows of the College of Jesus. See Guest, p. 132, quoting from Browne's " History of York," p. 266. CHAPTER XII.] THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. I59 visits. Scroby and Cawood become the favourite resi- dences. He is not to see the dawn of the sixteenth century. All the earlier part of the year 1500 he is at Cawood, There, on May 29, death finds him, if tradition be true, by the swift, terrible, unconjectured ministry of the plague. But if so, how was it possible to convey, as they did convey, what in a sense more real than he guessed, had become his " putrid body " (putridum corpus) for honored burial beneath the marble tomb at York ? In the year 1736 the vault beneath the tomb was examined, and the skeleton was discovered, nothing else being found except that singular wooden head (which had then a stick through the neck), now shown to visitors in the Vestry of the Minster. The tomb was examined again in 1844: the bones still being fairly perfect, laid with the feet towards the east. It was evident from the broken state of the wooden coffin, and the rent throughout the length of the leaden coffin, that the vault had been rifled.* How shall we define the position and arac er character of the dead man? His feet touch and Position . - , , , of Rotherham "^^^^ ^^^ ^ sealed enclosure of the Middle Age. Dying before the dawn of the sixteenth century, no breath of its marvellous surprise * See Guest, pp. 129-130, quoting for the first examination of the vault, Drake's Eboracum Ed., 1736, p. 447 ; and for the second one " The History of the MetropoHtical Church of St. Peter, York," by John Browne, 1847, PP- 264, 265. Guest says that " a similar head was seen by the Rev. J. Eastwood, at Southwell," who " was told by Rev. Canon Dymock, that it was the head of a figure of Archbishop Rotherham, over whose effigies funeral obsequies were performed." This wooden figure at Southwell, however, appears to be no longer in existence. Canon Trebeck informed me that he had never heard of it. l6o ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. blows across his face. When, at his last attendance on a State pageant, he looked on the child-face of the newly-created Duke of York, it would give no hint of the ungovernable sensuous King, who was to despoil the church, break with the Holy Father, and divert the religious current of English history. The revival of Greek learning at Florence must have been known to him, as Edward IV. had money transactions with Lorenzo de Medici : it would be of real literary interest to so learned a man as Rotherham. His friend Sellynge also, as teacher of Grocyn and Linacre, was the father of Greek learning in England.* But Greek was as yet no part of the connotation of grammar, the root of the sciences: not till the lectures of Erasmus (1510) was it to invade Cambridge, although in the last years of Rotherham's life, Colet and Erasmus and Thomas More, as friends in Oxford, had talked of Greek together. Of the power which the Greek literature was soon to exercise on art, and architecture, and letters, quickening imagination, refining form, giving birth to Biblical criticism, sapping for a while by its frank humanism the mediaeval faith — Rotherham couid not have dreamed. Born far too late to have been touched, as Fleming was in youth, by the fiery denunciation of Wicliffe, Lollardry had been always to Rotherham " that pestiferous sect, which assails the sacraments, institutions, and possessions of the Church." It seemed a spent force now : its writings had been burnt or discredited : the Church had crushed it and was unchanged. Of that Evangelical, spiritual awakening which was soon to thrill the souls of men, not a sound was heard as yet : Luther, a lad of seventeen, had not entered an University, or opened * See Gasquet's " Eve of the Reformation," pp. 27-30. CHAPTER XII.] THE LAST WILL OF ROTHERHAM. l6l a volume of Theology; Latimer was a child of ten, playing on his father's farm. There were printed books in the library of the College of Jesus : as the sixteenth century advanced, all the resources of ecclesiastical censure and royal licenses were to be exerted in vain against the religious power of the press ; and later still, the printed English Bible, as a new spiritual discovery, was to be placed openly in the churches, rousing the reverent wonder and moving the very heart of the nation : but the immensity of this revolution was beyond Rotherham's conjecture. Like his friend Alcock of Ely, and Cardinal Morton, one of his successors in the Chancellorship (both of them his colleagues in the hazards of the time, both dying within four months after his decease), he seems to belong utterly to the past. As we review the outline of his life, what is it which is most attractive? Not his work as an ecclesiastic or a statesman, but his beneficence to education. Just as at King's, or at Winchester or Christ Church, we forget the weaknesses of Henry, the doubtful passages in the statesmanship of Wykeham or the arrogance of Wolsey, so the suspicions which have crossed us, in contemplating the office of the Chancellor or the Keeper of the Privy Seal, and the dark end of Clarence, fade among the memories of Oxford and Cambridge, and his native place. Only the malice of accident has destroyed for us the library with its beautiful gateway in his own University, and prevented his College of Jesus from emulating the fame of Lawrence Sheriff's Rugby. Judging him not with the Pharisaic hardness of our untempted time, but with just allowance for the moral possibilities and the terror of his brutal age, we have no stones to throw at him. Possibly, because we know too little. l62 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. For in the case of Rotherham, the complaint of Antony over the body of Caesar — The evil that men do lives after them ; The good is oft interred with their bones — is absolutely reversed. Every positive fact that is pre- sented to us speaks of a man humble, simple, true, full of tender considerateness and large benevolence to men, deep and penitent devotion to God. NOTE A. — ROTHERHAM FAMILY IN LUTON. 163 NOTE A. ON THE ROTHERHAM FAMILY IN LUTON. By his Will in 1475, Archbishop Rotherham left to his brother John the manor of Someries and other manors in Bedfordshire, Bucks, and Hertfordshire. It seems clear that this brother had already been put in practical possession of these estates or some of them, living in the very fine house which had been built by Lord Wenlock at Someries.* (See below. Note F., an examination into the relationship of Lord Wenlock with the Rotherhams). He never, however, became the real owner, as he died in 1492 before the Archbishop. Accordingly in his Will of 1498, the Archbishop leaves the manors of Someries, Luton, Aspley, and several others (the list slightly varied from the one in 1475) to John's eldest son Thomas ; from whom descends the family of the Rotherhams of Someries, which terminated with Elizabeth, who married Sir Francis Crawley, Knight, Justice of the Common Pleas in 1637. John the brother of the Archbishop had also a second son George, to whom he left another manor in Luton called Farley. The descent from him, asserted by Sir Richard St. George under the pedigree of Scott, has been already mentioned. In that of Sir Henry St. George, however, George is merely said to have had a natural son, named after himself. From this natural son descends the family of the Rother- hams of Farley, which terminated in two daughters in the middle of the 17th century. In the church of Luton there are two Altar-Tombs in a chapel, supposed to be tombs of the Rotherhams. One is asserted to have been that of Sir Thomas the nephew of the Archbishop. Guest gives the Latin inscription on the tomb of a George Rotherham of Farley, who died in 1592. He mentions also a Sir Thomas Rother- ham, whom Sir W. Brereton names in his diary (1635) as a Privy Counsellor in Dublin. Another Sir Thomas built the west side of the Chapel Quadrangle at Lincoln College, Oxford (see Note E.). A John Rotherham was made Fellow of Lincoln in 1648. He became afterwards a barrister at Grays Inn. He rose to be a Baron of the * Leland describes it as sumptuously begun by Lord Wenlock, but not finished. " The Gate House of Brike is very large and fine. It was a strong place fortified with a wall and ditch." Gough calls the mansion " one of the most beautiful specimens in brick of the Florid Gothic, that I remember." (Guest, p. 167.) 164 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Exchequer under the title of Baron Rotherham. (See the authorities quoted in Guest, pp. 166, 167.) A Thomas Rotherham, son of Christopher Rotherham, and grandson of Sir John Rotherham, the last Knight of Someries (not the last Knight in the family) was Librarian, as Dr. Sinker has itindly informed me, at Trinity, Cam- bridge. He had been educated at St. Paul's School (1652-62), entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, March 24, 1653 : graduated B.A. in 165^: M.A. in 1660. He was elected supernumerary Chaplain (April g, 1661) : Librarian (February 17, i68|), resigning the Chap- laincy. He was again elected Chaplain (Jan, 14, iSqI) : died (Nov. 8, 1702) : and was buried in the ante-chapel at Trinity. THE ARMS OF THE ROTHERHAMS. 165 THE ARMS OF THE ROTHERHAMS. In all the delineations of the arms which I have been able to find, they appear as ' Vert, three bucks trippant : ' but with three variations. 1. In the oldest of the documents, the first page of ' The Statutes of the College of Jesus,' which must have been written shortly after the Archbishop's death, the three bucks are either 'proper' or 'argent.' They are given ' argent ' in Harleian MS. 6163, a voluminous collection of arms in colours executed probably at various dates between the reigns of Henry VI. and Henry VIII. (folio 64) ; and again in additional MS., British Museum, 5848 (Cole's Collections), p. 203. See ' Notes and Queries,' 5th Series, May 5, 1877. 2. In the Visitation of Bedfordshire, 1566, by William Harvey Clarenceux, King-at-Arms, the bucks are designated as ' or.' And so also in the Visitation of Yorkshire by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, 1584 and 1585, together with the Visitation of Richard St. George Norroy, King-at-Arms, 1612. The pedigree here is continued to 1612, so that the evidence may be of that date. 3. In the east window of the Church of St. Martin, Stamford Baron, are the ancient arms of the See of York impaled with ' Vert three stags trippant, argent, attired or.' This church is reported to have been built by Bishop Russell, the successor of Rotherham in the See of Lincoln. Russell died, before Rotherham, in 1496. (Notes and Queries, 5th Series, June 16, 1877.) This variation is also found in Hatcher's Catalogue at King's College, which apparently assumed its present form in 1620. And in ad- ditional MS., British Museum, quoted above, it occurs on p. 205, only two pages later than the designation ' three bucks argent.' The third variation is perhaps best attested, and it is this coat which appears on the tomb of Sir Richard Scott, of Barnes Hall, in Ecclesfield Church (1628). There seems every probabihty that the Scotts had the same coat of arms as the Archbishop. But it cannot be assumed that they had coat armour in Rotherham's time. Mr. Alfred Scott Gatty, York Herald, found at York a Will of Richard Scott, of Barnes Hall, dated July 15, 1556, in which the testator calls himself ' yeoman.' (' Notes and Queries,' 5th Series, vol. viii., p. 30.) « H < Q Oi o (U « ^ S C «^ •^ o £ « u .b o o st^ Pi^ t-i «w U i H-S^ II S c« J3 ,^^ (U c >. en o re (U D . bf) Cj o o c (U "—^ O '1 1 ^ to o u. Sid K m 13 ni fQ 13 C c ,w c o c < -a t-i II o O Ti- o CO u-1 « CIS w a o ^ s H ^ « S n 3 o &I i: bjo ^ a> a Oi <--a O >4 ■M ^ rt CO ^ffi ■^g. (So ^^ II O (U •XI T3 O CS -a •a c lu o <'3 W e ° 4JO 3C0 Hco n «3 ta ll "^ ^ to o'd S o -gco .2 W J£ •£ S coo o Ao II 5"o " <« " s W^cg bO - x> si c« O •S r (O -3 ^ o oO g.5 s H ° o ;3 3 (l^ O t3 u a o rt u: 43 Ji a -«« as "! s _ox:f^ « ^•5 -gen -O 3 C OS b •O CIS c« 2 o .So "J wS o s-S to r: fi Oi O x; a) H w -s C ^ 0) ^^- c5 J^"^ 11^ •fej Ok ^m S N S H w _s "cS K o 0) Id 13 to ni •T3 0) u 0) D m >^ c x; in (U rt o rt ^ O •— >« "rt ;j 6 rt XI u a) X O >. 5 o •- CQ -a ^ rr' ~ — ' '- bD b o ti re _i.d O'q' o ? -S rt £ -o NOTE C. — wood's claim OF ROTHERHAM AS AN OXONIAN. 169 NOTE C. ON ANTHONY WOOD'S CLAIM OF ROTHERHAM AS AN OXONIAN. The grounds of Wood's claim are, that, when Rotherham was granted his degree of D.D. at Oxford, after having taken it at Cambridge, he had to preach three sermons, and to pay Twenty Pounds on the day of his inception, whereas Strangers were treated in a very different manner, and not subjected to such hard conditions ; further also, that in a volume of letters from the University of Oxford there was one to a Bishop of Lincoln, who according to time must have been Rotherham; and that it was not the custom of the University to address letters of this congratulatory order to any but those who had been their former members. Wood's choler had been excited by a phrase of Richard Croke, the Public Orator of Cam- bridge, who after mentioning certain instances of migration had called Oxford " a Colony of Cambridge "; and he deals with Rotherham in the course of his vindication.* * Pro comperto .... est nuUam consimilis argumenti epistolam reperiri in Codicibus nostras quae ad Antistitem data fuerit, qui academiae hujus alumnus aliquando non fuerat .... Thomas Rotherham, qui Collegii Lincolnensis alter Fundatorum fuit (id quod plus quam probabile facit altricem Agnovisse Oxoniam) non alia nobiscum .... conditione donatus est (Theologize Doctoratu) quam ut concionem prius examinatoriam, ac deinde alias binas haberet : in die etiam Inceptionis libras viginti, vice epularum, numeraret : cum peregrines tamen et ab Athenis nostris mere alienos louge aliter tractare soleamus, quos legibus tam duris hand quaqum interpositis eodem apud nos loco esse jubemus quo apud suos versantur. (Wood's " History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford," lib. i, p. 243). Wood also claims him in " Athenae Oxonienses," and adds, " In an old book of Epistles, written by the University of Oxford to great personages, is an epistle written to the Bishop of Lincoln : and he that then sat there must according to time be the said Rotheram." In which epistle are certain circumstances that show that he had sometime studied in the said University, and besides, the members thereof did seldom or never write epistles to any except such who had originally been students among them." (Wood's " Athenae Oxon- ienses Ed.," 1813, Vol. II., p. 683.) I am indebted for the discovery of the letter in the University Archives (F. p. 254) to Mr. Ellis, the Latin Professor, and Mr. E. C. Sherwood, of Magdalene Coll., Oxford. L 170 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Cole in his MS. " Life of Rotherham," takes up the cudgels against Wood's audacity. The argument from the fees and examina- tion demanded before the grant of the Doctor's degree he does not deal with, but in regard to the letter he writes: "As to these cir- cumstances in the epistle, showing him to be of any other University but Cambridge, it would have been satisfactory to have produced them ; till which time we shall beg leave to claim him wholly as our own ; and as to that University writing to him when Bishop of Lincoln, I can see no impropriety, even though they wrote epistles to their own members, why that or any other University should not write complimentary epistles to their own diocesan ; Oxford then standing in the diocese of Lincoln. Mr. Baker, in a note of this place from Mr. Wood, seems to think it probable that he might have been of that University, in the same manner as some of Cardinal Wolsey's first scholars were fetched from Cambridge to his first foundation at Christ Church : yet I think Mr. Baker did not know the age, nor the circumstances .... or he would not so readily have assented to such larceny." It runs : — " Quinto decimo die decembris sigillata erat litera domino episcopo Lincolnensi sub forma quae sequitur. " Cum egregios homines clarosque reverendissime pater peramplis potiri honoribus contuemur non parum nobis iocunditatis (sic) afferri solet tum vero nil maxime non iniuria si quando eorum quempiam in apice positum uidemus, quos nostra quidem Universitas peperit fovit, educavit. Quod in te ante ceteros iocumdissime conspicimus. Nam ex olim filio mira dei prouidentia gratissimus nobis pater efficeris. Non modo te patrem verum eciam et gratissimum patrem fateri non ambigimus. Quantum tibi hac nostra ut aiunt etate ferrea Studii iactura dolori fuerit ab his qui te hoc damnum sepe plangentem conspexere satis accepimus maxime vero quod grammatica quam reliquarum scientiarum radicem esse constat tanquam in exilio posita regno e nostro abierit deflere solebas. Huic tam gravi periculo remedium saepe et multum uti nuper didicimus ferre tecum ipse cogitasti : merito quippe iocundari debemus quod ea quidem res quae principibus habetur neglectu a tanti patris corde non abscesserit : hoc utique tam pium tam sanctumque propositum quod a deo seminatum certissimi sumus eo quidem iuvante amplissimos parire fundus indubie expectamus : siquid igitur tibi optime pater quod certe parum existi- mus (sic) prodessfc arbitreris paratissimos homines id demum quod in nostra eistit (sic) potestate poUicemur deum nos pro tua paternitate perpetuo exoraturos." — Vale, NOTE C. — WOOD S CLAIM OF ROTHERHAM AS AN OXONIAN. I7I If Cole had seen the letter in its place in the Volume at Oxford, he could have taken up a stronger position. It is dated on December 15, without mention of the year, and addressed to the Lord Bishop of Lincoln, without mention of the name of the Prelate. It expresses the joy with which the University beholds raised to very high dignity one whom she had brought forth, reared, and educated (peperit fovit educavit). From being a son he has now been raised to be their father — a most welcome father. They have heard from others how deeply he bewails the perils in this iron age of the loss of all learning : and especially of his lamentation that grammar, the root of all the sciences, has gone into exile from the realm. They rejoice to know that this, which is neglected by princes, has not been banished from his heart. If in any way, according to their slender power, they can aid him in the revival, they will be his most ready servants. The exceedingly strong terms in which the education of this Bishop from first to last is here claimed for Oxford could hardly be used for Rotherham : but they might be for his predecessor, Chedworth. The allusions to the Bishop's love of learning and grammar would again be quite in place applied to Chedworth, who had been Provost at King's. The place of the letter in the Volume also seems to determine it to this prelate, lying as it does between a letter in 1466 and another dated January 26, i46|. The other argument of Wood based on the large fees charged to Rotherham for his D.D. degree, is less easy to deal with, as the date of the grant of this degree is unknown now. But the date of bis " incor- poration " at Oxford — a term which implies that he was previously a stranger — is given in the Oxford Registers as Nov. 19, 1463. See " The Register of the University of Oxford," by Rev. C. W. Boase. 172 NOTE D. — DEGREES AT CAMBRIDGE AND OXFORD. NOTE D. ON ROTHERHAM'S DEGREES AT CAMBRIDGE AND OXFORD. I have been unable to discover the date at v^hich Rotherham took his D.D. degree. Cooper, in " Athenae Cantabrigienses," places it in 1460. This is, however, certainly a mistake. He was probably misled by the entry in "Grace Book A." (recently published in the " Luard Memorial Series," edited by Stanley M. Leathes), which runs thus : " Item concessa est gracia magistro Thome Rotherham Vt. cum forma habita possit incipere in theologia et non artetur ad vlterius expectandum post inceptionem." This gives him permission to incept (i.e., take his degree of D.D.). And it appears by a sub- sequent entry that he paid the necessary deposit called a " caution " for doing so. But he did not then take this degree. In the entry in Chedworth's Register of Rotherham's collation, Oct. g, 1465, to the Prebend of Brinkhall, it is described as given " Magistro Thome Rotheram sacre theologie Baccallario." Meanwhile, he had been in- corporated into Oxford : and the entry in the " Register of the University of Oxford," edited by Rev. C. W. Boase, at first sight seems to speak of him as in possession of the D.D. degree — "Rotheram Thomas inceptor for D.D. at Cambridge sup. for incorporation June 7, 1463, Nov. 19." But inceptor does not, as Mr. Hastings Rashdal kindly pointed out to me, necessarily imply possession of the degree. The petition, June 7, was /o»* incorporation, and it was granted Nov. 19. Quite in harmony with the entry in Chedworth's Register, we have in the Cambridge " Grace Book A." in the accounts 1467-8 — " In primis de magistro Roberto Woodlarke praeposito Collegii pro cautione Magistri Thome Roderham quia non incepit in Theologia iijli vis viii*i." He had not taken his degree, and consequently the " caution," which may have been a piece of plate or some article of value, was sold for the profit of the University. In the previous year also the " Bourchier Register " had given him the title S.T.B. on his collation to St. Vedast's. It seems probable that he may never have taken his D.D. until he became Bishop of Rochester. The delay, and the forfeiture of the "caution," on the part of a man who was certainly well off, are very singular. NOTE E. — ON LINCOLN COLLEGE. 173 NOTE E. ON LINCOLN COLLEGE. The Statutes of Lincoln College were published in the original Latin for the University Commission in 1853. Mr. Clark in his work on Lincoln among " The Colleges of Oxford," has also given a full and minute analysis of their bearing and import. They give a very clear picture of the College, as Rotherham ordered it, developing the existing constitution handed^'down from Fleming. The most striking variation from our modern ideas is, perhaps, the entire absence of the under- graduate element. The creation of the scholarships in the present sense of the term only began in post- Reformation times. Certain persons named " Commensales " or "Sojornantes" are mentioned in Rotherham's Statutes, who lived in College under some unknown arrangement, and were admitted to the disputations and subject to discipline. No provision whatever however is made for their tuition : Mr. Clark considers them to have been graduates, attracted to the College " by its quiet and social life." They did not belong in any way to the foundation. The College consisted of a Rector and twelve Fellows, all of whom were to be of the degree of Master of Arts, or at the lowest Bachelor of Arts. They were to be elected exclusively from the dioceses of Lincoln, York, and Wells. In the sentences which ordain this, we recognize Rotherham's characteristic phrases. " Re- cognizing, not without amazement of mind, the notable benefits which Oxford derived from the diocese of Lincoln, and yet that very seldom any one from the diocese was elected to any Fellowship there : re- collecting also that his mother in the flesh brought him into the light of this world in the diocese of York, and yet that men of that diocese were beyond the rest excluded from the Colleges of Oxford : understanding further that a good part of the College, in regard to its buildings, was graciously provided out of the property of Bekynton a Bishop, and Forrest a Dean, of Wells : not blinded by hateful affection of the flesh, but, still desirous provide a remedy for the blindness of others " ; he ordains that one of the Fellows shall be elected from the diocese of Wells, eight from the diocese of Lincoln and by preference the Archdeaconry of Lincoln (if fit men can be found), and four from the diocese of York, with preference of the Archdeaconry of York, and;: special preference of the parish of Rotherham, of similar fitness. The Rector of the College was to be a real, though constitutional ruler. " A State without a King, a 174 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. people without a prince, a community without a head," says Rotherham, " are, in a moral point of view, monstrosities." Two chapters in the year constituted the parliament of the College. The actual administration of discipline lay under the Rector, in the Sub- Rector or "Corrector." "The emblem of the office," says Mr. Clark, "is eloquent as to his original duty of correcting faults by corporal punishment. This scourge of four tails, made of plaited cords, still extant and perfect, is solemnly laid down by the Sub- Rector at the conclusion of his term of office, and restored to him next day on his re-election." The maintenance which the College provided was somewhat lean. With the exception of the Rector, whose emoluments were good, and the Sub-Rector, who had a salary of nineteen shillings and fourpence a year, none of the Fellows received any money payment ; they were precluded from holding any prebend or benefice of greater value than forty shillings with their fellowship, and any benefice with cure of souls outside the University. In Oxford, however, they might hold a benefice, not exceeding ten marks, and might receive stipends for saying masses for the dead. And by dispensations of the Rector and Fellows, they might hold private property or some sinecure to the value of one hundred shillings with a Fellowship. They had free commons at the Hall table: but the sum allowed was studiously moderate. "Great daintiness at the table of the clergy, and especially of students we consider unseemly," says Rotherham. " We bid our scholars keep moderate diet." A richer allowance, varying with the greatness of the Feast, was allowed on certain Festivals of the church. They had the rooms rent free. And there were several occasional payments for "obits" similar to that for Rotherham. The Statutes name certain servants who were attached to the College — the manciple (who was the purveyor for the housekeeping), the cook, the barber (needed for the tonsure among other matters), and the laundress. The Rector had a special servant, called the Bible Clerk (bibliotesta), because one of his duties was to read the Bible, or some commentary or theological work at meals. The Rector and Fellows had certain duties in regard to the parishes from which they drew their revenues. The regular services there were performed by chaplains, removable by the College; but they were assisted by the Rector or Fellows. Thus during Lent the Rector was at Twyford, one of the Fellows for a fortnight at Long Combe, and two others continually at All Saints and St, Michael's. The duties consisted in celebrating the sacra- NOTE E. — ON LINCOLN COLLEGE. 175 ments, hearing confessions, and other ministrations. On all greater Festivals the Rector and all the Fellows attended at All Saints in either amice or surplice and hood. Sermons in English were preached at All Saints at Easter, All Saints Day, and the Feast of the Dedication of the Church ; and on Michaelmas Day at St. Michael's. " We hold it much suitable (say the Statutes) that scholars of theology should practise themselves in turn and occasionally in catholic and evangelical preaching, which is called practical theology. It spreads the fame of theologians in the world: it increases their merits towards God. From this comes suppression of vices and increase of virtues, and the salvation of souls. We will that our scholars, not omitting the care and study of scholastic exercise (quod absit) be by this means fed by a delicate variety of pleasant changes." In addition to this aid to the parishes there was of course the maintenance of the masses and offices in the College Chapel. The prayers for the dead were also a marked part of the prescribed round. Not only such offices as we saw promised by the Rector and Fellows for Rotherham's soul were used for other benefactors ; but twice a week at the close of the disputations " De Profundis " was said for the souls of Founders, benefactors, and all the faithful. The essential work for which the College was founded remains to be mentioned. It was a College of theologians : neglect of reading was one of the faults to which the Sub-Rector's discipline was applied. There were not only the chained books in the library, but others which were lent out among the Fellows, for study. All members of the College were to frequent the theological schools of the University for the greater part of the term : and disputations, one on points of theology, the other, for the Bachelor of Arts, on philosophy or logic, were to be held every week in the College, commensales and men outside being permitted to be present. The law against one guilty of heresy, and especially (though no longer the power it had been in Fleming's day) Lollards, was relentlessly stern. '• If it has come to the knowledge of the Rector and the majority of the Fellows, by the testimony of two worthy persons, and not enemies of the man, that any one of the Fellows has maliciously and contumaciously favoured in private or public communication any heretical opinion, and especially that pestiferous and new sect, which assails all the sacraments, degrees and institutions (status) and pos- sessions of the church : by that fact, without further question, let him be cast out from the sheepfold of our College, as a tainted sheep, unless within six days after monition he submit himself to the Rector, by humbly undergoing punishment," 176 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE F. ON LORD WENLOCK AND THE ROTHERHAMS OF SOMERIES. According to Leland, there was a connection between the Lord Wenlock who fell at Tewkesbury and the family of Rotherham. His words are : " Lord Wennelok left an Heire General that was married to a Kinnesman of Thomas Scotte otherwise called Rotherham Bishop of York. He had by her yn Mariage Luton in Bedfordshire and 3 hunderith Markes of Landes thereabouts, and a faire place within the Paroche of Luton calleyd Somerys, the which house was sump- tuously begun by the Lord Wennelok, but not finished. The Gatehouse of Brike is very large and fine." It would seem that Lord Wenlock was in possession of Somerys at the time of his death. The manor at Luton consequently could not come to the "heir general" (heiress) who married Rotherham's kinsman until after Lord Wenlock's death. It is not easy to make out who this heiress was. Dugdale in the " Extinct Baronage " says that Lord Wenlock, so far as he could see, left no wife or issue : but that his estates went to a cousin, Thomas Lawley. Gough (" Topographia Britannica," vol. IV., p. 45. — Luton), quoting from Vincent's " Visitation Salop," says that Thomas Lawley was given the manor of Luiton Mortimer by the Will of Lord Wenlock, made in October, 1477, and proved in December the same year. (This must be a mistake, as Lord Wenlock died in 1^71.) John Rotherham, the brother of the Arch- bishop, married a widow Alice, who had estates in her own right from her former husband. In his Will, July 29, 1492, he is described as Dominus Villse de Luton. He leaves to Alice his manor of Houghton Conquest and all the lands purchased with his own money in Luton, with remainder to his son Thomas : also to his son George the Manor of Farley in Luton. (There were also lands and tene- ments in Kent left to these two sons — some in Canterbury, among these being the Bull Inn.) Someries itself and the Manor of Luton are not expressly named. But the assertion that Luton and Someries came in this way to the Rotherhams seems almost impossible to reconcile with the directions in the two Wills of Archbishop Rotherham. In his first Will, dated May 12, 1475, he devises, among a number of manors, Someries, Houghton Conquest, a moiety of the manor of Luton, and the NOTE F. — ON LINCOLN COLLEGE. I77 reversion of the other moiety to his brother John, with remainder to John's son, Thomas, And in his last Will, dated Aug. 6, 1498, after the death of his brother John, he devises his manor of Someries, manor and lordship of Luton, manor of Hoghton and several other manors and estates to his nephew Thomas, with remainder in default of heirs, to George the younger brother. Evidently Someries and Luton and (strangely) Houghton Conquest all belonged to the Arch- bishop. This is also clear from Letters Patent, 1477 (Close Roll, 17 Edward IV.) of John Lawley, uncle of Thomas Lawley, in which he quit claims the manors and lands mentioned in Rotherham's Will of 1475 (Somerys, Lutonmortymere Kempston, Houghton Conquest, Overstonden, Fenels Grove in the Hundred of Flytt, Beds. : Barton, Yon, Grauenhirst, Netherstonden, Stopisley, Luton, Beds : Kympton and Walden, Herts.) to the same persons (the Archbishop of Canter- bury, Archbishop Laurence of York, Lord Hastings, William Skelton, Treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral, and two others) who are named in Rotherham's Will of 1475, as holding these pieces of property for his use. It seems more probable that the lands connected with Luton and Someries were acquired by the Archbishop himself (either by purchase from Lawley, or by grant from Edward IV. of Wenlock's estates forfeited by treason) than by the marriage of John Rotherham. M 178 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE G. ON THE DELIVERY OF THE DUKE OF YORK OUT OF SANCTUARY. It is not easy to shew the grounds on which Rotherham is to be exonerated from complicity with the plan to get the Duke of York out of Sanctuary, without rather a long explanation. The most vivid of the primary accounts of the reign of Edward VI. is that commonly known as Sir Thomas More's. It was first printed in Grafton's " Continuation of Hardyng's Chronicles " (1543). In this edition of it, a sentence regarding the death of Edward IV. occurs, which seems to point to this portion of it at any rate, as being from the pen, not of Sir Thomas More, but some one who was an eye-witness of Edward's last sickness : and Sir John Hannington, writing in 1596, ascribes it to Morton rather than Sir Thomas More* The narrative in this account is frequently, and especially in the part that concerns us, conducted by the method of elaborate speeches by the principal actors ; and these may be simply the Herodotean invention of the author, rather than real records of conversation. The account of the delivery of the little prince out of Sanctuary falls into two divisions : (i) The council at which Richard proposed that the Queen should be appealed to for the delivery of the boy. (2) The actual interview with the Queen in Sanctuary, at which she consented to surrender him. At the latter Rotherham is not named as being present. The interview was conducted by Bourchier, who was accompanied by several lords. Whether any of these lords were spiritual lords is not expressly stated : there had certainly been spiritual lords at the council, of which this was the outcome : and some of them had protested against the decision at which the council had arrived — that the little prince should be taken out by force, if the Queen refused her consent. It is possible therefore that Rotherham may have been present (supposing this account to be the one ultimately accepted as evidence). If he was, the spirit and wit and passion of the Queen * Sir Henry Ellis' preface to his edition of Grafton, p. 20. The sentence regarding Edward's death-bed runs, " His last sickness .... which continued longer than false and fantastical tales have untruly and falsely surmised, as I myself that wrote this pamphlet truly know." NOTE G. — DELIVERY OF DUKE OF YORK OUT OF SANCTUARY. 179 in her argument with Bourchier, and her tears, as she resigned her boy, would be intensely affecting to him. But the probability of his being among those who interviewed the Queen will rest on the evidence for his previous presence among the lords spiritual at the Council : and this evidence, as derived from Sir Thomas Mora's history, is conflicting. The general outline of the proceedings was this: Gloucester represented in the strongest terms " the invincible impediment to the execution of his office" as Protector, in the fact that the Queen and her children were in Sanctuary ; the longing of the young King for his brother's company ; the difficulty of proceeding with any heart or earnestness about the coronation, if the King's brother was absent. It was his opinion that some trusty person, who could not be doubted to tender the King's wealth, and was in credit with the Queen, should be sent to her. No person was better qualified for the office than the Lord Cardinal (Bourchier). The Cardinal would doubtless go no further in treating with her than to persuade her : but his own opinion was, that, if she proved obstinate, they should " fetch the Duke of York out " by " force." A debate followed, turning much on rightful uses and abuses of Sanctuary, and issuing as we have seen in Bourchier's mission. One point only in it concerns Rotherham, the immediate reply made by an ecclesiastic to Gloucester's opening speech, which was to this effect : " That as he consented to the Motion, that the Duke of York should be brought to the King's presence by persuasions, and would himself do his best to effect it .... yet he could not by any means consent to that Proposition, That if the Queen refused to deliver him up, he should be taken out of Sanctuary by force; because it would be a thing not only ungrateful to the whole nation, but highly dis- pleasing to Almighty God, to have the privilege of Sanctuary broken in that Church, which being at first consecrated by St. Peter, who came down above 500 years ago in person accompanied by many Angels at night to do it, had since been adorned with the Privilege of a Sanctuary by many Popes and Kings ; and therefore .... no Prince has ever been so fierce and indevout as to violate the privilege of it ; and God forbid that any man whatsoever .... shall attempt to infringe the immunities of that most Holy Place. However, he hoped they should not be driven to such extremities .... he would so perform his part, that they should be convinced that there wanted no good will or endeavour in himself." The whole tone of this speech is natural and consistent in the l8o ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. mouth of Bourchier, but quite unnatural in the mouth of Rotherham : and in almost all the editions of Sir Thomas More's history, and the chronicles of Hall Grafton and Polydore Vergil is attributed to the Cardinal. In the 1556 edition of More's Works, however, and in Stowe and Holinshed it is given to Rotherham. Hooke, in " The Lives of the Archbishops," and Lord Campbell take Holinshed's view : but it is much more natural to take the opposite one: and if so, all evidence (from Sir Thomas More) of Rotherham's presence at the Council disappears.* But the evidence of the other primary witness for this reign, the Croyland Historian, has also to be considered. It is merely negative evidence, as he does not mention Rotherham, and is short and matter of fact : the value of it lies in the dates it gives us, which are accepted as establishing the real sequence of events by Lingard, Macintosh, and Sharon Turner. In opposition to Sir Thomas More and all the chronicles (Hall, Grafton, Fabyan, Polydore Vergil, Holinshed, Stowe) who found themselves on him, the Croyland historian places the mission of Bourchier to the Queen, not before, but after the black Council of June 13th, giving the exact day — " the Monday following " (die Lunje sequenti). If this was really the date, all question of Rotherham's presence at the council, on that Monday is at an end. He was in prison.f * Holinshed's account somewhat varies from the one given here, copied from Kennet's complete History of England. He says that the prelate affirmed that St. Peter's Cope was still to be seen in the Abbey. The versions of Sir Thomas More vary considerably. The original work was in Latin. (See Guest, p. 162, note.) t Sharon Turner lays very great stress on the importance of this date, and says that Sir Thomas More, by placing the mission to the Queen before the death of Hastings, aggravates untruly the facts against Richard (History, Vol. 6, p. 420, note.) But the case for Richard is really not much affected, whether we take the one order or the other. NOTE H. — PETITION FROM UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. l8l NOTE H. PETITION FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE TO THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. {Quoted from Cole by Guest, p- 92.) Right high and mighty Prince, in whom synglerly resteth the polityke Governance, Pease and Tranquillite of ye Realme of Ynglande, your humble oratours commende them to your good grace; and for Alsmyche as we have felt in Tymes passed your bountiful and gracious Charite to us your daley Bedemen, not alonly in sending be your true Servant and Chancesler, Master Thomas Barroghe, to his moder ye Universite, a grat fathful Lover, your large and haboundante Almons, but as wele fowndynge certyn Prestys and Fellowes, to ye grete worship of God and to ye Encresse of Christes Fath in ye Quenys Collegge of Cambrigge. We upon that coumfourth make our writyng to your Grace for such Thynges concerning ye wele of ye Universite Besekyng your noble Grace to shewe your gracious and mercyfull goodness at this our humble supplication, to the right reverent Fader in God ye Archebisshop of York, our Heed and Chauncesler and many yers hath been a grete Benefactour to the Universite and all the Colleges therein ; and thrught ye Help of God and your gracious Favour shall longe continue. Most Christian and victorious Prince, we beseche youe to hear our humble Prayours ; for we must nedes mowrne and sorowe, desolate of comfurth, unto we beer and understande your benynge Spyrite of Pile to hymwarde; which is a grete Prelate in the Realme of Ynglonde ; and we to be ever your true and humble oratours and Bedemen, praying to him that is called the Prince of Mercy for your noble and royall Estate, that it may longe prosper, to the worship of God, who ever have youe in his Blessed Kepyng. Your true and daley oratours, the Universite of Cambrigge. To the right high and mighty Prince, Due of Gloucestre, Protecteur of the Realme of Englonde. l82 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE I. ON THE CHANTRY LICENSE FOR THE ALTAR OF JESUS. The terms of this license suggest certain conjectures. I. It is clear that both the parents of Rotherham were by this time dead. His mother, however, as a widow apparently, had been living with her son John at Someries in 1475- The Altar was already finished, July 28, 1480, when Rotherham was not yet fully in possession of the See of York. We have observed above (p. 9) that in his Will of 1475 there is no mention of any Yorkshire property : but there are several pieces of property near Rotherham (apart from those marked as purchases) in the Will of 1498. Further, in the Will of John Rotherham there is no Yorkshire property. What if the thing which turned the attention of Thomas to his old home was the accession to property there on the decease of his mother ? He was as we have seen (p. 10), probably the eldest son. 2. If this were so, his principal gift to the re-building of the church might possibly have been given in the years immediately before 1480. It is notable that at no time in his life was his wealth so great as then. The revenues of Lincoln were not very much smaller than those of York. To these were added the emoluments of the Chancellorship, and the pension of twenty thousand crowns from Lewis : and on our hypothesis, the Yorkshire estates. His translation to York made him for the moment poorer, owing to the enormous sum which he would have to pay for first fruits and his pallium. Then the pension from Lewis ceased : and lastly, after Edward's death he was dismissed from the post of Chancellor. 3. If the site of Altar of Jesus could be ascertained, it might prove a clue to the problem of the reconstruction of the church. As it is said to have been in the Chapel of Jesus (otherwise called the Chapel of St. Katherine), it must have been separated from the rest of the church either structurally or by screen-work : and it is natural to enquire whether either of the chapels in the chancel is the Chapel of Jesus. The North chapel is asserted in a paper by the Rev. and Hon. William Howard to have been dedicated to St. Anne: but I have been unable to trace his authority for the statement, nor can I find in Guest's large extracts from old documents or from the NOTE I. CHANTRY LICENSE FOR THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. 183 Chantry Certificates that there was an Altar of St. Anne. In the corbels of the roof, however, have been remarked heads of a King, a bishop, and a lady : very likely adornments for the chapel as designed in the license. The South chapel has yet a stronger claim, and, if the subjects of the bosses were all deciphered, might have a still stronger one. The roof is very rich : it was originally decorated in blue and gold. The moulded beam has pannelled sides, " that against the East wall has the wounded heart, hands, and feet of our Saviour." The centre boss has a sun in glory, the badge of Edward IV. (Guest, pp. 321-323). This chapel is generally considered the Lady Chapel : and a monogram " A.M." (Ahna Mater) has been deciphered, which is consistent with this attribution : but surely the other emblems point more forcibly still to this as the Chapel of Jesus and of the masses for the soul of Edward. The Chapel of Our Lady was however certainly in the choir (or its aisles), not the body of the church. In one or two places in the Chantry Certifi- cates it seems to be very closely connected with that of Jesus. Is the account to be given of these chapels and the chancel arcades this ? — That the chancel arcades, with their polygonal piers and battlemented capitals were so built in connection with older chapels of the Decorated time, before the great reconstruction of the nave was projected : and that closely subsequent to that splendid achieve- ment these chapels were rebuilt. The Western arch in each chapel is uniform with the arch of the aisle on the other side of the transept. The pitched roof of the earlier Southern chapel is plainly marked on the transept wall. It may have been that of the Gild of St. Katherine. 184 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE J. THE BUILDINGS OF THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. I have only taken from Guest's account the details which un- doubtedly belong to Rotherham's College. He has several other interesting pieces regarding the after-history of it. He remembered in his own boyhood the strong brick walls of the enclosure inlaid with a cross : a small part of them was still visible in i860. The side of the quadrangle parallel with the College Inn was also then standing, part of it used as attorneys' offices, part as the preaching- room in connection with the Masbrough Independent Chapel. At the further end of the quadrangle from the street there was a lofty and large doorway, in the centre of the high blank wall, which joined these ranges of building : and some outbuildings behind this wall. The front along the street was a thick heavy wall, the coping- stones of which measured from three to four feet across, surmounted by a strong iron palisading, with an entrance gateway composed of two square lofty pillars, some sixteen feet high, with bold moulded caps, surmounted by large balls. The reminiscences of an octogen- arian of his own day carry him still further back to the time when the quadrangle was the residence of the Hamers, whose carriage and four used often to issue from this gateway. The space of the quadrangle was then laid out in parterre and shrubbery. This occu- pation of the College as an eighteenth-century house is, I think, the key to the erection of the gateway and its balls, and also of those Italian doorways on the north side of the quadrangle, of which Guest gives an engraving. (Guest, pp. 105, 106.) Both of these must be subsequent to Rotherham's age. It would be natural to suppose that the chapel and turreted gateway and long chambers, described on the grant to the Earl of Shrewsbury, occupied the front along Jesus Gate. A very different picture of the quadrangle is given us in a quotation of Cole from a MS. entitled " The Fall of the Religious Houses, Colleges, Chantreys, Hospitals, &c.," written, by one who had been a pupil at the School in the College, in 1591. The place was then almost derelict, the chimneys falling, the ownership disputed. " I learned at the College .... founded by the founder of the said College .... which is a fair house, still standing : but God knoweth how long it shall stand; for certain brick chimneys, and other brick walls .... is decayed and fallen down for lack of NOTE J. — THE BUILDINGS OF THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. .185 use ; for there hath been few persons, and sometimes none at all, of long time dwelling therein ; because it is in the Earl of Shrews- bury's hands ; and as the report is, it is concealed land ; which seemeth to be the cause that he maketh no account thereof .... all the lands .... are sold from it by the King, saving the yard, orchard, and garden places lying within the walls The Foundation .... was not to make a malt-house, as it is now used." (Guest, p. 96.) I think this description makes Mr. Leader's conjecture (in his dehghtful book on the " Captivities of Mary Queen of Scots,") that Mary slept in the College in 1568 doubtful, though of course it was in better repair then. The " report " that it was " concealed land " may have arisen from the fact, that when the grant was made to the Earl of Shrewsbury, the school-house was expressly reserved by the crown, probably for the purposes of the grammar-master. Half the site, previously the property of Rufford, came to the Earl with the other lands of the Abbey : the rest may still have been partly in the crown in 159 1. l86 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE K. THE PLATE, VESTMENTS, AND SERVICE BOOKS OF THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. The '■ Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge," contains a full account of an original volume of the Archives of the College of Jesus in the Library there. The book is still in its original red leather folding cover, and has the Arms of the Archbishop with his motto, and those of the See of York with his motto (see above, p. 132). The initial on the first page of the text, surmounted also by his motto, has a full-length figure of Kotherham on a gold ground in blue chasuble, dalmatic, and alb, with pall, mitre, and cross. The principal contents of the volume are the statutes (in Latin), and an Inventory of the books, plate, and vestments given to the College by Rotherham, and by Henry Carnebull. This Inventory was not written until after Rotherham's death, as it mentions the articles as " acquisita post mortem ejus." The first list of plate is (with the addition of a great silver-gilt cross, a large vessel for holy water, two silver candlesticks, thuribles, a vessel (navis seu carchesa) for incense, and a silver-gilt goblet with cover bought out of the College funds) identical with the articles given below in Rotherham's Will. There is a second list, containing articles of considerable value, at the end of the volume, the gift of Henry Carnebull. The immense value of the plate in the Chantry Certificate Return is quite accounted for by this Inventory. (See above, p. 150). Among the less-known items, the pax bread, a piece of silver or silver-gilt metal, with a figure of Christ crucified on it, which was passed among the congregation to be kissed as a kiss of peace, may be mentioned. There was one at Doncaster in 1548, which the clerk took round, saying, " This is a token of joyful peace betwixt God and man's conscience. Christ alone is the Peace-maker." (Hook's " Church Dictionary.") " Pelvis " is a basin for the hands ; Pyx, the box for the reserved Sacrament ; Cochlearia, spoons ; Tacea, a cup ; (compare the list in Rotherham's Will below. Note N., and the trans- lation in Guest, p. 138.) The list of vestments, altar-cloths, and super-altars only contains one item not in Rotherham's Will. They are very gorgeous. Four complete sets of vestments for priest, deacon, and sub-deacon ; one of cloth of gold, one red velvet bordered with NOTE K. — PLATE, S-c • OF THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. 1 87 gold, and green orfreys, one red velvet powdered with gold, and the figure of an angel on the orfrey, one of red bawdekin or purple velvet (sic) : a blue silk (blodium, a hyacinthine blue — Blunt. An. P.B. vestment worked with flowers : a red one with lions : another gold with velvet worked with pearl and bearing an image of St. Katharine : a white one of damask, &c. The one item not mentioned in Rotherham's Will is a vestment of black velvet bordered with gold. The predominance of red in both vestments and altar cloths is marked. In the Will a cope is mentioned of cloth of gold on a green ground. The "super-altars" are not what is often designated by that name now, but portable slabs for use in consecrating the host. Very curious is the mitre for the barne bishop, of cloth of gold, with " two knops of silver gilt and enamyled." The list of service books in the Will is fuller than that in the Inventory. The Breviary sumptuously illuminated, Missal, gradual, and antiphonary are all of the York Use. There is, however, also an illuminated Missal of great price, according to the use of Sarum. This Inventory is printed in full in the Descriptive Catalogue, but not given in Guest. I have not felt able to reproduce the statutes in the original, as they are of considerable length. For almost every purpose, however, the complete translation in Guest will be sufficient. There is another copy of the statutes in the Coton MSS., a good deal burnt. (Vit. E. 10, pp. 226-234.) l88 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE L. NOTABLE INMATES OF THE COLLEGE OF JESUS. As the College of Jesus only existed about sixty-four years, it is strange that it should have had seven or eight Provosts. Their names have been discovered by Canon Raine and Alderman Guest (pp. 120-123). The first Provost was William Greybern, D.D., at that time Rector of Sherington, Bucks. He did not resign Sherington apparently on his appointment, as he is said to have exchanged it {i486) for Handsworth. The statutes did not forbid the tenure of a benefice along with the Provostship, though it forbade a number of preferments, if requiring continual residence. Rectories especially were then held by non-residents. The impropriation system had lowered the whole standard of obligation regarding them. He was collated to a Stall in St. Sepulchre's, York, in 1490. His bequests to Rotherham, particularly the one for exhibitions at the College and University, are interesting. He was buried in the Chapel of Jesus (1501). The Will of Wilham Rawson, dated June 22, 1495, styles him Provost of the College. He was buried also in the Chapel of Jesus. His bequest of extras (extrancis in prandio .... septima die) for the meal on Saturdays has been already mentioned (p. 150). He leaves some books to the College. Richard Hoton, B.D., and Robert Cutler, B.D. (1509) are unimportant. Robert Nevile, B.D. (1518), was Rector of Grove, Notts, (inst. 1506). After his resignation of the Provostship we find him Vicar of Almondbury (appointed no doubt by the College), Rector of Ordsall, and Prebendary of Bilton, York. He may perhaps have resigned the Provostship in 1530, if he is the man then appointed to the benefice of Staunton in the diocese of Salisbury, having been made Prebendary of Gaia Minor, Lichfield, in 1528. Robert Pursglove, the last Provost, was a man of some con- sequence. Born at Tideswell, educated at St. Paul's School, London, and Corpus, Oxford, he became Prior of Gisburne, where he is said to have "lived in the most sumptuous style, served only by gentlemen." He received a pension of ;£2oo a year on his voluntary surrender of the Priory. After the suppression of it he became Bishop of Hull, under the suffragan Act of Henry VHL, and appears under this title in the Chantry Certificates for the College of Jesus. No doubt he had a pension assigned him at the dissolution of the College. He held his office of Suffragan under Mary, and was also Archdeacon of NOTE L. — NOTABLE INMATES OF COLLEGE OF JESUS. 189 Nottingham : but refusing to take the oath to Elizabeth, retired to his birthplace, where he died in 1579. Guest engraves the beautiful leger slab in the church at Tideswell, representing him in full episcopal vestments, with mitre and pastoral staff. Another inmate of the College, though not a member, should be named, Henry Carnebull, Archdeacon of York. He was evidently a loving and trusted friend of Rotherham. He was one of the executors of his private estate, and also of the special fund for the defence of the College. To the latter office he was marked out by his love of the foundation, which is shewn by his splendid gifts of plate and books for the altar. A letter written by Rotherham in his last days from Cawood (Sept. 20, 1499), grants to him the right to the prayers of the College during life, and an annual mass after death. He became also an inmate of the College. He made his Will, while lying sick there (July 12, 1512), and no doubt died there, after further gifts of plate on the day before his death (August 10, 1512). He was buried before the altar in the Chapel of Jesus. The inscription on the stone asked for prayers for Rotherham as well as for himself. And he founded a Chantry for the sons of Henry VH. and his Queen, and for Rotherham, as well as himself, in the Chapel of Jesus. He may have contributed also to the completion of the Clerestory in the chancel (see above, p. 135).* * For the incidents concerning Carnebull, see "The Manuscripts at Sidney Sussex," pp. 3-5, as well as Guest, pp. 76, 133, 144, 32*. igO ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE M. THE COLLEGE OF JESUS AND THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. The nucleus of the revenues of the present Grammar School was the salary of the grammar master in the College of Jesus. When the site of the College was granted to the Earl of Shrewsbury, the schoolhouse was reserved by the Crown (exceptis et nobis heredibus et successoribus nostris reservatis tota ilia domo vocat. le scolehouse). (See Guest, p. i6o.) The intention of this reservation was apparently to preserve a school for the teacher of grammar. The Commissioners of Edward VL ordered that Thomas Snell, the master in grammar in the College of Jesus which they dissolved, "should have and enjoy the place of school master, and should have for his wages yearly xli- xv^- iiijd. as before. This sum was to be paid out of the Court of Augmentations. " The Grammar School " was to " continue there." Snell continued to teach, and received this salary duly until Michaelmas in the third year of Mary (1555) > when it was refused him. He continued to keep school for nearly six years afterwards : the town, according to the account in "The Fall of Religious Houses, &c.," "hiring" him "for the schole." After Elizabeth's accession, the town at the expense of twenty marks supported Snell in a successful suit to the Queen, that the salary should be paid as in the time of Edward VL, together with part of the arrears. (See the "Decree for the revyvyng and continuance of the grammar school, 15th April, 1561," (3rd of Elizabeth) in Guest, pp. 335. 356- The Schoolhouse, which, as we have seen, had always remained in the Crown, and probably had been rented or allowed for the use of the Grammar School, was granted to Lawrence Woodnett and Anthony Collins, for uses of the town of Rotherham, in 1584, at an annual rent of sixpence. (See Guest, p. 368.) The present Grammar School is thus clearly the daughter of the College of Jesus: and in its most distinguished son, Bishop Sanderson, educated first there, and then admitted, as a Rotherham man, to one of the Rotherham Scholarships founded by the old Archbishop at Lincoln College Oxford, we may still recognise the dead hand's beneficence. NOTE N. — WILL OF THOS. ROTHERHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. I9I THE WILL OF THOS. ROTHERHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. Re-printed, by permission, from " Testamenta Eboracensia," vol. iv., {Surtees Society), pp. 128-138, with Notes by Canon Raine. (Reg. Test. Dec. et. Cap. Ebor. ii. 23a.) INVOCATIO NOMINIS .... In Dei nomine, Amen. Ego Thomas Rotherham,* archiepiscopus Eboracensis, sa (nus mente laus Deo), sexto die mensis Augusti, in festo Translationis Jhesu, et festo Ejusdem (nominis, quse festa in provincia) mea ex decreto meo, et cleri mei assensu, pro perpetuo statuunter (celebranda, anno Domini) Millesimo cccc™" nonagesimo octavo, condo testamentum meum, prout inferius (scribitur per capitula) .... Imprimis commendo animam meam Creatori et Redemptori (ejusdem, invocando et exorando) gloriosissimam Virginem matrem Ejus ; Michaelem, Gabri (elem, et omnes Angelos ; Petrum, Paulum,) Johannem, et omnes Apostolos ; Stephanum, Clementem, Vine (entium, et omnes Martyres ; Augusti- num,) Jeronimum, Gregorium, Ambrosium, Nicholaum, Willelmum, (Johannem, Wilfridum, et omnes Confessores ; Mag) delenam, Kateri- nam, Margaretam, et omnes Virgines ; (omnesque caelestis curiae gloriosissimos cives ; ut) velint infinitam misericordiam Dei interpellare, et (pro peccatis meis orare, de quibus attritus sum et dolens. O si sufficienter pcenitens ut mei misere (atur Dominus meus Jhesus, et avertere dignetur faciem Suam) ab iUis peccatis meis multis ! . . . . Secundo, quia cum beato Job ver (issime credo et scio quod Redemptor meus vivit, et quod in came) mea videbo Eum\ post mor(tem ; ita quod firmissime credam quod anima mea iterum vestietur carne) mea pro sempiterno ; credens (etiam me non meis meritis, sed virtute passionis Jhesu Christi et Sanctorum) Ejus precibus meliorem partem resur- * I simply put on record here, with a few illustrative notes, what is probably the most noble and striking Will of a mediseval English bishop in existence. This copy, which is taken from the Register of the Dean and Chapter, has been completed from the edition printed by Hearne in his appendix to the Liber Niger. The York Register has suffered from damp. The words within brackets are supplied from Hearne. The words in small capitals are in the margin of the MS., and I have put them in as the Archbishop intended that his Will should be written " per capitula." tjob. xix. 25. 192 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. rectionis futurae habiturum ; volo quod caro mea, corpus meum putridum, sepelietur in brachio boriali capellse Sanctae Mariae in ecclesia mea Eboracensi, ubi feci tumbam marmoream.* FUNDATIO COLLEGII JHESU. Tertio, quia natus fui in villa de Rotherham, et baptizatus in ecclesia parochiali ejusdem villas, et ita ibidem natus in mundum. et etiam renatus per lavacrum sanctum effluens a latere Jhesu ; Cujus nomen O si amarem ut deberem et vellem ! ne tamen horum oblitor ingratus videar, volo quod unum collegium perpetuum de nomine Jhesu erigatur in villa praedicta, in eodem loco quo in festo Sancti Gregorii, anno vicesimo secundo regis Edwardi Quarti, ponebatur fundamentum ; in quo etiam natus fueram : in quo etiam loco unus informator grammaticze Rotheram veniens, nescio quo fato, sed credo quod gratia Dei illuc pervenit ; qui me et alios puberes docebat, unde alii mecum ad majora venerunt : proinde gratias Salvatori reddere cupiens et causam iliam magnificare, ne ingratus viderer, et oblitor beneficiorum Dei, et unde veni, statui mecum primo eruditorem grammatics ibidem sempiternis temporibus stabiliri, gratis docentem omnes. Et quia vidi sacerdotes cantariales ibidem singulos in singulis locis laicorum com- mensare, ad eorum scandalum et ruinam aliorum, volui, secundo eis locum communem facere. Ita motus, incepi erigere collegium in nomine Jhesu, ubi primus doceret grammatican, et alii similiter viverent et pernoctarent. STIPENDIA PROPOSITI, SOCIORUM, ET PUERORUM. Primo, dedi, et ita volo quod detur annuatim pro victu et vestitu xli., sacerdotibus aliis cameras, barbitonsorem, lotricem, coquinam gratis, et certa focalia cum aliis, ut Statuta planius docebunt. Et quia vidi, tertio, quod ad illam ecclesiam multi pertinent parochiani, et ad earn multi confluunt rudi (sic) et montani homines adjacentes, ut melius diligant Christi religionem, ecclesiam Ejus saepius visitent, honorent, et diligant, unum alium socium perpetuum stabilivi cantum gratis docentem, et pro victu et vestitu suo habentem et omni anno recipientem vj"- xiij^- iiijd. ; atque sex choristas, sive pueros, ut Divina ibidem honorificentius celebrentur pro perpetuo, stabilivi. Et volo quod quilibet eorum habeat annuatim pro victu et vestitu xls. Quarto, quia multi ibidem valde acuti in ingenio reperiuntur juvenes, * This tomb still remains at the east end of the Minster, but without its brazen ornaments. It was much injured by the fire of 1829. NOTE N. — WILL OF THOS. ROTHERHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. 193 nec omnes volunt sacerdotii dignitatem attingere, ut alii tales ad artes mechanicas et alia magis habilitentur, volui et volo quod sit unus tertius socius qui artem scribendi et computandi doceat gratis, qui vocabitur capellanus Sanctse Katerinse, secundum nuncupationem magistri Johannis Fox, qui ei dedit certas possessiones sed valde insufficientes. Collegium tamen supplebit defectum, et perpetuabit eum secundum Statuta inde facta et fienda. Sed quia ars scribendi, musica ipsa similiter, et grammatica subordinantur et serviunt legi Divinae et Evangelic, supra istos tres stabilivi, ordino, et volo unum theologum, qui ad minus erit bacallarius in theo(logia, et tene)bitur pr£edicare verbum Dei per totam provinciam meam, secundum Statuta inde facta ; (qui vocabitur pr8eposi)tus, prse aliis tribus positus in regimine et politia domus ; et habebit annuatim (pro victu et) vestitu xiij''- vjs. viij'i' Sicque incorporavi et incorporo in collegio (meo unum prge- positum,) tres socios, et sex pueros, ut ubi offendi Deum in Decem Prseceptis (Suis, isti decem orarent) pro me. Sacerdotes chorales non obligo ad aliquod spirituale, (sed quia intendo quod mala) quse otium sequuntur evitent, ideo volo quod in scola graramaticas, (musicas, artis scribendi, doctri)na propositi, aut librariffi studio, sancte et devote semper (occupentur. Deo in hoc servire cu)piens, ab Eo solo expecto remunerationem, Qui punit (citra et remunerat ultra condigna ; Qui est) benedictus in ssecula. Amen. .... (Et ad supportanda ista onera appropriavi) dicto collegio, prseposito et sociis ejusdem, ecclesiam (parochialem de Laxton, quae valet annuatim clare) xx"- Item appropriavi dicto collegio, (prss posito et sociis ejusdem), ecclesiam parochialem de Almondbury,)* quse valet annuatim xxj"- (Dedi etiam dicto collegio, prseposito et sociis ejusdem), manerium meum) de Barkewey, (valoris per ann. xiijl'- vjs. viij'^- Item manerium meum) de Sherpenes, quod valet (per ann. clare liij^- iiij"- Item manerium meum de Sibth)orp, et manerium meum de Hawkesworth, valoris annul clare xv^i- ij^* Item manerium meum de Weston, valoris annul iiij''- vjs- viijd- ; tenementum meum in Rotherham perquisitum de Thoma Bowne, valoris per annum clare xxS- xd.: mesuagium meum juxta collegium ex parte occidentali, annul valoris viij^-: mesuagium meum in Byrnnesforth, xxiijs- v"-: cotagium meum in Thorp perquisitum de Thoma Wodall, annul valoris viijs. iiijd.: tenementum meum vocatum Scoles, annui valoris xxs-: terras * The deeds appropriating these churches to the Colleges are in the Archbishop's Register, 194 AKCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. meas cum redd' in Halthanum, valoris xp-: terras meas cum redd' in Wighthill, x^-: terras meas cum redd' in Gresebroke, xxviijs- ijd.; terras meas cum redd' in Newthorp juxta Aston, valoris annui xjs-: mesuag' cum cotagio et cum certis terris et redd' in Mekesburgh, annui valoris xxvijs- iiijd- : item terras meas cum redd' et firmis in Dynnyngton, Thropen, et Gildenwelles, annui valoris xxxjs- viijd-: item terras meas cum redd' et firmis in Staunford juxta Haitfield, annui valoris liij^' iiijd-: item terras meas cum redd' in Staveley perquisitas de domino Thoma Holynworth, valoris annui xiijS- iiij ut cum ilia summa emant vel perquirant terras, aut ecclesias sibi approprient, si tantum pro eis non fecero ante mortem meam ; et pro ista donatione volo quod illi qui cantant Antiphonam de Sancto Johanne dicant De Profundis pro anima mea immediate post eandem Antiphonam. Do etiam et lego ecclesise Roffensi quam primo rexi, utinarn * The Archbishop bought the manor of Barnes Hall of Robert Shatton, whilst he was Bishop of Lincoln, Feb. 7, 1476-7 (ex. Orig.) t On June 8, 1485, Joan, late wife of John Houselay, of Chapel Hall, par. Ecclesfield, confirms to the Archbishop of York lands called " Cropperfeld, Holgrenes, Welgrenes, le Felde, and Gallancroft," within Houseley and Chapell, which she and her husband held of the grant of Sir Thomas Wortley, knt. On June 12, 1488, Nicholas Wortley quit-claims to the Archbishop his interest in the same property. On January 14, 1493-4, William Graybern, provost, and the Fellows of the College of Jesus in Rotherham, quit-claim to John Scott and his heirs their interest in Houseley and le Chapell in accordance with a charter thereof made to the said John by the Archbishop himself. On Nov. 4, 1507, John Scott makes Houseley Hall over to trustees as part of the jointure of Agnes his wife (ex. Orig.) I These beautiful things are mentioned in the great inventory of the treasures of York, which is printed in the Fabric Rolls of that church. NOTE N. — WILL OF THOS. ROTHERHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, igg juxta onus susceptum ad salutem animeffi ! ultra denarios eis datos pro asdificatione libraries ibidem, xli- Do etiam et lego Collegio Novo Cantabrigias, prseter et ultra magnas pecuniarum summas pro BBdificatione et reparatione ecclesias ibidem tempore magistri Roberti Wodlark solutas et datas, optimam meam sectam rubiam de veste deaurata, cum sex capis et omnibus sacerdoti, diacono, et subdiacono pertinentibus. Volo etiam quod habeant in pecuniis c^i- ad reparationem novas ecclesise ibidem, si in vita mea tantum vel plus non exposuero : et si non ita in morte tam potens fuero aliis legatis impletis. Do etiam et lego collegio de Wyngam, ubi prsepositus fui, calicem pretii c s. Do etiam et lego ecclesise parochiali de Rippill, ubi primo rector fui,* ultra capam eidem datam, calicem pretii c s. Do etiam et lego omnibus locis in quibus habeo perpetuas exequias tales denariorum summas quales executores mei asstimabunt honestas et salubres animse mese ; in qua Eestimatione videndum est cujus necessitatis sint, et quid pro eis fecerim. Hanc ultimam voluntatem meam permultum eis commendo : et, si forte executoribus meis, vel ad minus tribus eorum, videbitur quod exequise tales erunt multum onerosEe aliquibus locis, et quod parum feci pro eis, ipsi etiam sperantes majora illis concessa, volo quod commutent prsedictas exequias in numerum Missarum, citius quo bene fieri poterit, pro salute animse mese post mortem meam per eos celebrandarum. Et disponendo pro domesticis meis volo quod Ricardus Birley, prsRter Ixxx''- solutas Johanni Everyngham militi pro maritagio suo, (et ultra expensas) in nuptiis suis, etiam in servitio regis, et prseter diversas pecuniarum summas (ante et post) solutas pro eo, habeat terras et tenementa mea in Cawod per me empta (de Pouldon). Volo etiam quod habeat terras et tenementa empta pecuniis meis in (parochia de Gaitford. Item volo) quod unusquifque servitorum meorum, in vadiis meis exis-(tentium in morte mea, habeat vadia sua) post mortem meam per semi-annum. Volo etiam quod unus- (quisque eorum habeat equum ad valorem) xxs., aut pretium pro equo, sic quod generosi, valecti, (et garciones de camera habeant de propriis) equis meis secundum limitationem executorum meorum. (Item volo quod omnes servitores mei) convivere volentes in domo mea, habeant (victum honestum expensis meis pro uno quarterio) * The Archbishop was rector of Ripple, co. Worcester, 1461-5. (Nash's "Worcestershire," ii. 299.) 200 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. anni post decessum meum : eo fine volo hsec (ut interim provideant sibi de magistris novis.) Deus concedat eis bonos ! Amen ! Amen ! (Amen ! Istud capitulum volui quum eram potentior, sed) nunc volo quod moderetur secundum discre(tionem executorum meum, vel adnulletur si pauper) decedam. Volo etiam quod Hugo (Trotter, thesaurarius ecclesise mepe Ebor. et Henricus) CarnebuU archidiaconus Eb(or. habeant de bonis meis ccli- ad ilium finem et usum, et) non aliter, nee alio modo, ut defendetur ilia pecunia collegium meum Jhesu de Rotherham, si ei injuriatur : quod si non eveniat, volo tunc quod cum prffidicta summa emantur terrge ad valorem xli- ad minus per annum ; aut cum illis pecuniis approprietur ecclesia ejusdem valoris ad minus, vicario bene dotato juxta curam animarum ejusdem parochise, prsedicto collegio meo de Rotherham. Istam meam voluntatem ultra eis multum commendo et alteri eorum diutius viventi. Item corde volo et oro ut executores mei, secundum spem quam in eis pono, et secundum quod respondere volunt Christo, summam diligentiam adhibeant ut mille Missfe celebrentur immediate, quamcitius poterint fieri, post decessum meum, ut in tot sacrificiis et per tot memorias passionis Christi mitius agatur cum anima mea ; scio enim quod peccata mea multa magnam et longam petunt et requirunt pcenam, immo infinitam, quia contra Infinitum fuerint perpetrata et commisa ; sed cum beato Augustino firmiter credo et dico quod non possunt terrere me peccata mea dum mors Domini mei in mentem meam venerit, quia in vulneribus corporis Sui cupio ea abscondere, et in sacramentis ecclesiffi ab eis fluentibus volo ea abluere per gratiam Domini nostri Jhesu benedicti ; quod Ipse concedat Qui pro me tam ignominiose voluit mori, et tot plagas pati ! Et volo quod quilibet sacerdos sic celebrans ad minus habeat de bonis meis iiijd. Hanc ultimam voluntatem meam executoribus meis summe commendo. Executores hujus testamenti sive ultimse voluntatis ordino, volo et constituo Galfridum Blythe decanum ecclesise mege cathedralis Ebor., Hugonem Trotter thesaurarium ejusdem ecclesias mese, Henricum CarnebuU archidiaconum Ebor., Willelmum Skelton eccl. cath. Lincoln. thesaurarium, Edmundum Carter custodem capellse B.M. et SS. Angelorum Ebor., et Ricardum Burleton servitorem meum: et volo quod unusquisque onus hoc in se assumens habeat cs. quod disponant residuum bonorum meorum non legatorum, prout eis melius videbitur expedire saluti annimje mese, secundum confidentiam quam NOTE N. — WILL OF THOS. ROTHERHAM, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK. 20I in eis pono ; ea conditione et lege quod ad minus tres eorum conveniant et consentiant in omni dispositione bonorum meorum non legatorum. Hujus, insuper, ultimo voluntatis mesa supervisorem ordino et constituo magistrum Johannem Alcok episcopum Eliensem, cui dono, ut oret pro me, meliorem taceam alte stantem, deauratam et coopertam, non legatem. Consummatum erat istud testamentum, subscriptum manu mea propria, in festo Sancti Bartholomei proximo sequente inceptionem ejusdem testamenti mei superius expressatam. Et quia plura condidi testamenta, volo quod hsec mea voluntas ultima, incepta, ut supra, et vicesimo quarto die dicti mensis Augusti consummata, in festo Sancti Bartholomei, anno Domini supradicto, in quo die natus eram, et septuagesimum quintum annum complevi, stet in suo robore; et quod omnia alia testamenta ante hoc tempus scripta, ubicumque reperta fuerint, adnullentur. Protestor etiam quod in passione Christi et in sacramentis ecclesise vigorem ab eadem sumentibus pono spem salutis animae mese ; et quod in nullo articulo fidei hsesito nee unquam hjesitavi ; et si forte, quod Deus avertat ! infirmitatis morbo, vel causa aliqua, in extremis laborans aliud pronunciavero, (nego pronunc) ut extunc, et extunc prout exnunc, abrenuntians et detestans jam et semper (quicquid fuerit) repugnans sponsse Christii, ecclesije Suse sanctse, quia verus Christianus volo (mori, cupio mori,) et oro atque iterum oro ut sic moriar. Amen ! Amen ! Amen I (June ID, 1500. The Chapter of York appoint Mr. Geoffrey Blythe, Mr. Hugh Trotter, Mr. Henry Carnebull, Mr. William Skelton, and Edmund Carter and Richard Burleton, administrators. Pr. (blank) Nov. 1500 202 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. NOTE O. TRACES OF ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM IN YORK MINSTER The only existing associations with Archbishop Rotherham in the Minster at York, which I know, are the tomb (p. 152) and the curious wooden head in the vestry (Note P.). Torre, however, says, that a shield with Rotherham's Arms impaling those of the Arch- bishopric was in a window in the North transept. In 1489 also a license was given to him and Thomas Pereson sub-dean of York to found a chantry in honor of Christ, The Virgin, All Saints, and St. Frideswide at the west end of the tomb of St. William to ptay for the good estate of the King (Henry VII.), the King's Consort Elizabeth, his first-born son, Arthur Prince of Wales and the King's mother, Margaret Countess of Richmond, Thomas Archbishop of York and Thomas Pereson, and for their sons after death, and for the sons of John late Duke of Somerset and Margaret his Wife : with license to receive an annuity of 9 marcs from the priory of Newburg. (See " Materials for the History of the Reign of Henry VII,," Vol. 2, p. 405. Rolls series 60). The Chantry subsequently founded for him by Carnebull has been mentioned (p. 158). JG ^^ NOTE P. — REPRESENTATIONS OF ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. 203 NOTE P. REPRESENTATIONS OF ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. I use the word Representation in order to include in this Note the remarkable wooden head, now preserved in the Vestry of York Minster, which, if we may assume it to be the copy of Rotherham's features, is the most authentic of all the likenesses. Drake (Eboracum, p. 447) tells us that this head was found in the vault near Rotherham's bones in the year. 1735. It seems certain that it was the head of one of those effigies which were borne in a funeral procession, and afterwards laid for some time on the tomb of the dead. When it was discovered there was a stick in the nape of the neck at the back. The skull is flattened behind, in order that it may rest level : it was plainly designed to be seen in a recumbent position. The stick may indicate that the body of the effigy clothed in robes was made of some perishable stuff. In the interesting account of the remarkable wax effigies at Westminster Abbey, ("Westminster Abbey Guide," p. 58), there is a quotation from Dart's " History of the Abbey Church of Westminster," which says that the effigy of Henry V. was made of tanned leather. The heads of earlier effigies were made, as this one is, not of wax, but of wood (Ibid). It is impossible to assert positively that this head is that of Rotherham's effigy, which would remain for some time on his tomb. But it seems most probable that it is : and that when the body of the effigy became dilapidated, it was laid near his bones below. As heads of this character were intended to represent the dead, care was taken about the carving : and this head is obviously not a conventional one, but a distinctive likeness of the dead. The nose is mutilated : the ears were never carved, probably because the sides of the face were hidden by flowing locks. But the strong mouth, the long drawn face, large closed eyes, and capacious forehead are those of a determined big-brained man. {See Frontispiece.) The next representation of Rotherham is the Initial Letter of "The Statutes of The College of Jesus" (see p. 131). It is, however, not very characteristic. The mouth is smaller : the head a long one : the flowing locks under the mitre very full. The single cross in the left hand should be carefully noted for a reason that will appear directly. Over the chasuble is the pall. The most well-known portrait is the half-length picture at Lincoln 204 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. College Oxford, which has been copied, I believe, at King's College and Pembroke Cambridge. It knows nothing of pall or chasuble. Rotherham is represented in a black cassock with frills at the wrist, a surplice with full sleeves, a crimson cope, and a hood of cloth of gold. On his head is a mitre rather steeper than the one in the Statutes. The hands are joined in prayer. The face is a long one, as is the case with the wooden head, the eyes large and brown, grey hair, grey beard cut short. The expression very sorrowful. The mouth and chin weaker than those of the wooden head. Near the figure stands a triple cross, with ornate finials. Tradition says that Bishop Sanderson gave this picture to the College. It is precisely similar in treatment to that of the companion-picture of the first Founder Fleming, In the upper left-hand corner is Rotherham's coat of arms — the three bucks trippant : and beneath this the inscription, " Thomas Rotherham, 2us Fundator obijt 1500." On a gilt board below is the inscription, " Thomas Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln 1472-80. Second Founder 1475." No reference is made in either inscription to his Archbishopric. The dress and probably the features of this portrait cannot be considered as authoritative. The triple cross is a remarkable mistake. In the portrait at the beginning of " The Statutes of the College of Jesus," certainly authentic, the cross is single. There is, however, a picture representing Wolsey with a double cross. Becket is also so represented. But the triple cross is Papal. The portrait of Rotherham, painted in 1670 as one of a series of the Founders of Colleges, which was in the Bodleian (see p. 70), is now lost. There are several engravings extant. In a Series of Founders of Colleges is a mezzotint by Faber, of which a copy is given (p. 108), dedicated to Fitz-Herbert Adams, Rector of Lincoln College (1685-1719). It has beneath it an inscription : Tho de Rotherham alias Scot Lincoln : deinde Archiep : Ebor : totius Angliae Cancells Coll: B. Mari^ & Omn. Sancto : Lincoln Fundator Secund : A.D, 1478. In the middle of the Inscription is a Shield with Rotherham's Arms — the three bucks trippant. Mr. Leach, the Assistant Curator of the Hope Gallery, has kindly informed me that Faber's plates passed subsequently through NOTE P. — REPRESENTATIONS OF ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. 205 several hands, until they reached those of H. Parker, Cornhill. The engraving as published by Parker is given in Guest's " Historic Notices of Rotherham." It has three notable variations. The flap at the back of the mitre is added, as in the portrait at Lincoln. On the other hand the ring on the second finger in that portrait and Faber's mezzotint is omitted. Instead of the name of Fitz-Herbert Adams that of the contemporary Rector of that day — " Richard Hutchins " (1755-1781) is inserted. The impression at first sight on comparing these engravings with the Lincoln portrait is that they w^ere copied from it. If however the lost picture in the Series of Founders in the Bodleian was itself a copy of the portrait at Lincoln, they may have been really copied from this, though the difference is of little consequence. The Inscription is quite different from those at Lincoln, and almost identical with the one which Anthony Wood gives as under the portrait of Rotherham at the Bodleian (p. 70) ; and there is a third distinct engraving by T, Nugent from a drawing by Sylvester Harding (1745-1509), taken '■'■from a Painting in the Picture Gallery at Oxford, the detail of which (so far as it goes — the head and shoulders only being given) is identical with the portrait at Lincoln. I am extremely indebted to Mr. T. W. Jackson the Curator and the Assistant Curator of the Hope Art Gallery at Oxford, and Rev. H. Fleetwood Sheppard for much kind investigation of these minutise. 2o6 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. AUTHORITIES. A Key to English Antiquities : by Mrs. E. C. Armitage. Alumni Etonenses : by Harwood. Ancient Deer Parks: by Philip Evelyn Shirley. Annals of Cambridge : by Charles H. Cooper. Antiquities of Nottinghamshire : by Thoroton. Antiquities of the University of Oxford : by Anthony A. Wood. Architectural History of Cambridge : by Professor Willis — edited by J. Willis Clark. Athense Cantabrigienses : by C. H. &> J. Cooper. Beverlac ; or, Antiquities of Beverley : by George Poulson. Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, Vol. iv. Biographical History of the Judges : by E. Foss. Cambridge Antiquarian Communications. Cambridge Described and Illustrated : by Thos. Dinham Atkinson. Cambridge Grace Book A : Luard Series. Cartulary of Lincoln College Oxford: MS. of Rev. Andrew Clark. Chronicles of English History : Croyland Historian, Fabyan, Grafton, Hall, Holinshed, Sir Thomas More, Polydore Vergil. Coming of the Friars : by Dr. Jessop. Commines, Philip de. Dictionary of National Biography : Articles on Edward IV., Richard III., and Thomas Rotherham. Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages: by J. H. Parker. Dugdale's Monasticon : edited by Sir Henry Ellis. Eboracum : by Francis Drake. Eminent Etonians : by Sir Ed. Creasy. Godwin, De Prsesulibus Anglic, 1613. Grants from the Crown during the Reign of Edward V. : by J. G. N. Nichols. Guest, John : Historic Notices of Rotherham. History of Cathedrals : by Browne Willis. History of Edward IV. : by Habington, in Kennett's History of England. History of England : by Lingard. AUTHORITIES. 207 History of England : by Sharon Turner. History of Eton College : by H. C. Maxwell Lyte. History of Kent: by E. Hasted. History of the Metropolitical Church of York : by John Browne. History of Worcestershire : by Nash. Hunter, Joseph : Deanery of Doncaster. Hunter, Joseph : History of Hallamshire. Introduction to the History of England: by H. O. Wakeman. Last of the Barons : by Lord Lytton. Le Neve's Fasti : edited by T. Duffus Hardy. Leland's Itinerary. Letters of Christ Church Canterbury. Letters and Papers, illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII. : edited by James Gairdner. Letters ot Queen Margaret of Anjou and Bishop Beckington : Camden Society. Lives of the Lord Chancellors : by Lord Campbell. Manuscripts : Catalogue of Members of King's College Cambridge : by Thomas Hatcher and John Scott. Consistory Book at Rochester. Inventory of 1452. King's College Cambridge. Patent Rolls— Edward IV. Register of Archbishop Bourchier — Lambeth Library. Register of Thomas Rotherham, Lincoln. Register of Thomas Rotherham, York. Wrenn's Manuscripts, Pembroke College Cambridge. Manuscripts in the Library of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge: edited by Montagu James Rhodes. Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of the Countj' and City of Lincoln. Memorials of the Family of Scot of Scot's Hall : edited by James Renat Scott. Notes and Queries: 5th Series. Vols, vii., viii., ix. Parliamentary History : by Cobbett. Eegisters of Ecclesfield : edited by Alfred Scott Gatty. Register of Archbishop Gray : edited by Canon Raine : Surtees Society. Register of the University of Oxford : edited by C. W. Boase, Rymer's Foedera. Statutes of Lincoln College Oxford. 208 ARCHBISHOP ROTHERHAM. Testamenta Eboracensia, Vcl. iv. :. edited by Canon Raine. Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society. University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times : by J. Bass Mullinger. Valor Ecclesiasticus. Wingham, Chronicles of: by Arthur Hussey. Wyrcester, William of: Annales, INDEX. PAGE Alcock, Bishop .. .. 85 Altar of Jesus, Rotherham .. .. 135 Anjou, Margaret of 37. 38, 39. 51. 54 Anne Queen .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. io5 Battergey 124 Battles— St. Albans 38 Tewkesbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Towton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Wakefield 38 Beaufitz, Agnes 7 Beckynton, Bishop .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 21 Bellasis, Mr. 5 Benevolence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Beverley . . . . . . . . . , . , . , . . . 42 Bishopthorpe .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ., 127 Bolingbroke, Henry of . . . . 53 Bourchier, Cardinal .. .. .. .. .. .. 35, 38, 179 Buckden .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. iig Cambridge . . 57 Cambridge Colleges — Catherine Hall . . 57 King's College 21, 22, 25, 29 Pembroke Hall ,. .. .. 93 Queen's College 57 Cambridge — College Buildings 27 Monastic Buildings .. .. .. .. .. .. 27 University Library . . . . . . 28 Old Schools 28 Town of . . . . . . . . . . 25 Campbell, Lord 32, 73-6, 85 Canterbury, Christ Church, Monastery of 36, 78 Carnebull, Henry 19, 133, 158, 186, 189 2IO INDEX. PAGE Cawood .. 127 Chantry Priests . . . . . . . . . . • . . • • • 144 Chapel, King's College 30 Chapel, Old, King's College .. 30 Chedworth, Bishop 23, 171 Clarence, Duke of 48, 50, 51, 54, 91 Clifford, Maud 18 Cole, Antiquarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . - . . 60 College of Jesus, Rotherham .. .. .. .. .. 137-151 College Rooms, Cambridge . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Commines, Philip de .- .. .. .. .. .. 89 Conisborough . , • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Conisborough, Richard of . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Edward IV 39. 45. 50-54. 77. 83, 87, 89, 91, 96 Edward V 52, 99. 102, 105 Elizabeth, Queen 36, 51, 100 Eton 21 Fleming, Bishop .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 64 Fuller 5, 59 Godwin (de Prsesulibus) . . .. 6, 31 Grammar School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19, 190 Greybarn, William .. .. .. . .. .. .. 140 Hatcher .. 4, 22 Henry VI 22, 51, 55 Henry VII.,. ,. .. .. .. .. .. .. 30, 107 Henry VIII 30,108 King's College, Cambridge .. .. .. .. 21, 22, 25, 29 King's College, Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 King's College Old Chapel . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Laxton . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . 139 Leland . . . . . . - . . . 2, 14 Lewis XL 87, 96 Lincoln, Manors of Bishop .. .. ., .. .. .. 118 Lincoln College Oxford . . . . . . . . . . . . 64, 173-175 Millington, William 23 More, Sir Thomas 75. 178 Mortimer, Edmund 18 Morton, Bishop of Ely .. . .. 83, 161 Nevile, Archbishop .. .. .. .. .. .. 47, 54, 125 Nevile, Robert 188 INDEX. 99 211 PAGE 64, 173-175 36, 40 40, 76, 96 166-168 Oxford, Lincoln College Oxford, Earl of Parliament . . Pedigrees . . Picquigny . . Philobiblon . . Purgatory . . Pursglove, Robert, Bishop of Hull Raine, Canon Register of Ecclesfield Registers of Lincoln Register of York . . Richard IIL Rochester, Manors of Bishop . . Rotherham, John . . Rotherham, Roger Rotherham, Sir Thomas and Dame Alice Rotherham, Family of Rotherham, Thomas, Archbishop — Arms 7, 165; Archbishop of York 94; Bishop of Lincoln 56; Bishop of Rochester 48 ; Chancellor of Cambridge 56-57 ; Chancellor of England 72 ; Chaplain to Earl of Oxford 36 ; Chaplain to Edward IV. 45 ; Degrees 172 ; Keeper of Privy Seal 45 ; Master of Pembroke Hall 93 ; Provost of Beverley 42 ; Provost of Wingham 34; Prebendary of Lincoln 41 ; Prebendary of Salisbury 41 ; Will 2, 14, 152 sequ , 191 sequ. Rotherham, Chapel of Our Lady Rotherham, Church of . . 32 145. i57 188 2, log 3 41, 56, no 94. "o 105, 179, 181 .. 118 4, 9, 10, 163 4, 10 •• 4= 9 163, i65-i68 Rotherham, College of Jesus Rotherham, Town of Russell, Bishop Savage, Archbishop Scott, John. . Scott, Mr. J. Renat Scotte, Sir John . . Scotts of Barnes Hall . . Scotts of Scots Hall Sellynge, Prior St. Catherine, Gild of .. St. Vedast, Foster Lane 14, 20, 137 sequ., ij 13. 137 13' 133 186, 188 12 120 .. 125 ■ 6, 7 6 . 2, 5 6 34. 160 136 40 212 INDEX. PAGE Southwell .. .. 124 Someries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Stow Park ., .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 125 Thraves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ■ . . . 43 Warwick, Earl of.. .. .. .. .. 38, 46, 47, 49, 51, 53 Wenlock, Lord .. 176 Whitehall 123 Winchester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Wingham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Wood, Anthony a Wood .. .. .. .. .. 2, 23, i6g Wortley 141 York, Duke of 18, 36-38 York, Manors of Archbishop .. .. .. .. .. .. 122 York Minster 155 j. W. RUDDOCK, PRINTER, SILVER-STREET, LINCOLN. W 9^ •^ '^ *i«. <\" • • • » "^^ *^#» I ^^lijr^ III aV<^ '^bV^ l^* ... "v. "* ^oP %/ ,/^--, ^%^^^^\o>^ \^^^\"' v^mWi ''•*'t !&:] Si* :.l \ t ^ \ 'S^ .1' V('v> 111 iliim'i