Vatican Regesta 744: 1489-1490

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 14, 1484-1492. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1960.

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'Vatican Regesta 744: 1489-1490', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 14, 1484-1492, (London, 1960) pp. 250-257. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol14/pp250-257 [accessed 26 April 2024]

In this section

Vatican Regesta, Vol. DCCXLIV. (fn. 1)

Bullarum Liber XLVII.

6 Innocent VIII.

4 Id. Nov.
(10 Nov.)
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 6v.)		 To the bishop of Clonmacnois (Cluanen.), and Magonius and Donald Omollayd, (fn. 2) canons of Clonfert. Mandate, as below. Upon its being lately set forth to the pope on behalf of John de Burgo, a canon of Tuam, that the late Donatus, archbishop of Tuam, (fn. 3) considering that if the parish church of the town (oppidi) of Athnareg in the diocese of Tuam (which was situate in a populous place, (fn. 4) and the cure of souls of whose parishioners was exercised by a perpetual vicar, and in which were a rectory and a perpetual vicarage, which rectory and vicarage were of lay patronage and were by papal grant and dispensation held by the said John under one and the same roof), were erected into a collegiate church, with persons or secular clerks who should celebrate divine offices therein, should, along with the warden for the time being, make a chapter, (fn. 5) and should enjoy the privileges of other collegiate churches, the devotion of the parishioners and other faithful to the said church would be daily increased, divine worship would be augmented therein, and the said town would be greatly improved, (fn. 6) had erected to the honour of Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin Mary (under whose name the said church was founded), by his ordinary authority, the said church into a collegiate church, with a wardenship for a warden (fn. 7) who should be the head (caput) therein, and the number of eight priests as members who, with the said warden, should make the chapter, with other pre-eminences and privileges of collegiate churches, saving the rule of the said rector John, and saving the wardenship, for as long as he lived, (fn. 8) and had decreed, etc., that the said rectory and vicarage, and all the tithes within the bounds of the parish of the said parish church, and its fruits, etc., should belong in perpetuity to the said collegiate church, and had united, etc., in perpetuity the said vicarage and rectory and fruits and tithes, etc., to the wardenship and capitular mensa of the said church, so that the said John should in future be called warden, and should continue the possession of the said wardenship as he had done of the said rectory and vicarage, and that the said priests should be by the patron and by the provost, bailiff, and peers of Athnarig, or at least by the said provost and bailiff and peers, by gift of the patron, be presented to the said guardian, and should be by him and the vicar, collectively exercising the cure of souls, instituted and confirmed, and that on the cession or death of the then warden [a warden], removable every year, should, at the presentation of the said patron, provost, bailiff, and peers of the said town, or of the provost, bailiff, and peers, by the gift of the patron, if he should give them his right [of patronage], be instituted by the said wardens and vicars, and that after such institution the said warden should have power over all the vicars, and exercise above them the principal cure of souls over the parishioners, and that certain priests should collectively exercise the cure of the soul of the vicar, (fn. 9) as was contained more fully in the letters of the said archbishop, the pope erected the rectory of the said church into a collegiate church, with a wardenship for a warden [as] head and master, [and the number] of eight secular priests as members of the college, and with other collegial insignia, etc.; and confirmed all the contents of the said letters, and, pro potiori premissorum robore, himself erected the said church into a collegiate church anew, with a wardenship for a warden, who should be head therein, and with the said number of eight priests or vicars, who with the said warden should constitute the members of the chapter, with a common seal, chest, (fn. 10)mensa, and other collegial insignia, rights, etc., after the manner of other collegiate churches, to the honour (fn. 11) of Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, without prejudice to any other, and united, etc., in perpetuity to the said wardenship the said rectory and vicarage, and all tithes within the bounds of the said parish to the capitular mensa of the said college, etc., granted that the said patron (and his heirs and successors), provost, bailiff [and peers] of the said town, or the provost, bailiff, and peers, by gift of the right of patronage, should nominate and present fit persons both to the said wardenship and to the places of the said priests, as often as they became void, that the said warden should institute as perpetual vicars in the said college those thus presented, that he should be removable every year by the same patron, provost, bailiff, and peers, and a new warden be always presented to the same priests or vicars, and be deputed and instituted by them in the said church, and that the said warden, after obtaining institution, should during the year for which he was instituted exercise power over all the vicars of the said church and the cure of souls of them and its parishioners, and reserved the right of patronage and of presenting the said priests to the warden for institution as vicars, and the right of presenting a warden to the priests for institution in like manner every year, to the said patron, provost, bailiff, and peers of the said town, or to the provost, bailiff, and peers for the time being, by gift of the right of patronage, if the patron was willing to give it to them, saving always in all things the right of the parish church and any other, as is contained more fully in the [pope's] same letters. (fn. 12)
Seeing, however, that, as was contained in the recent petition of Richard de Burgo, clerk, of the diocese of Clonfert, the said erection has not been made by the said archbishop, that the consent of the chapter of Tuam has not been given, that the said archbishop did the foregoing when he was lying in bed and ill, and without the due formalities, (fn. 13) and also without the consent of the patron having been asked, that the said patron did not supplicate, as was expressed in the said letters, and that as a result of the said erection divine worship has not been augmented in accordance with the said ordinance, seeing that at no time has the number of priests increased in the said church in accordance with the said ordinance, and that the form of the said erection has not been observed; and the pope having been informed by the said Richard that the said John with a great army has caused a certain monastery of the Cistercian Order to be burned, has taken possession of certain fruits, etc., of the archiepiscopal mensa of Tuam, during voidance of that church, thereby incurring sentence of excommunication, and has, when under that sentence, (fn. 14) and publicly proclaimed excommunicate, taken part in divine offices, in contempt of the Keys, thereby contracting (fn. 15) irregularity, the pope has been petitioned by the said Richard (who alleges that he is by both parents of a great race of earls, princes, and nobles, and is in or about the thirteenth year of his age, and that the yearly values of the [said] canonry and prebend and of the said rectory and vicarage do not exceed 6 and 60 marks sterling [respectively]), to order the said letters to be declared surreptitious, and to restore the said rectory and vicarage to their pristine state, and unite them to the said canonry and prebend for as long as the said Richard shall hold the latter, if collated to him in virtue of these presents, etc. (fn. 16) The pope, therefore (who lately decreed that provisions, or grants or mandates to make provision, of canonries and prebends of cathedral churches which should emanate in any way on behalf of any persons not having completed their fourteenth year should be null and void, unless it were specially granted to them by the apostolic see that they could hold them under that age (fn. 17) ), considering that if the foregoing be true the said letters are surreptitious, and that the said rectory and vicarage ought to be restored to their pristine state, although the said John has under pretext of the said letters, without having acquired any new title, but by his temerity, detained unlawful possession of them de facto for some years, and still does so, etc., hereby orders the above three, if the said Richard will accuse the said John before them, to summon the latter and others concerned, and to summon, in regard to the said union, those interested, and, if they find the foregoing to be true, to decree that the said letters were and are surreptitious, and were and are null and invalid and without force for the said erection, restore the said rectory and vicarage to their pristine state, as they were before the said erection was made, and deprive and remove the said John from them and from the said canonry and prebend, and, in the event of their so doing, to collate and assign to the said Richard the said canonry and prebend, and, with the patrons’ consent, to unite thereto for his lifetime the said rectory and vicarage, whether they be void by the said declaration, deprivation, and removal, or be void in any other way, inducting him, etc. The pope further grants him a special indult (fn. 18) to receive and retain the said canonry and prebend, notwithstanding the said defect of age and the pope's said decree, and any other papal constitutions, etc. Apostolice sedis providentia circumspecta. [9½ pp. In the margin at the end: ‘No(vembris).’]
10 Kal. Jan.
(23 Dec.)
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 126v.)		 To David, archbishop of Cashel (Cassellen.). Grant in commendam of the ministership of the Trinitarian friars’ house of St. James, Athdar [sic], in the diocese of Limerick, (fn. 19) which is a conventual dignity, yearly value not exceeding 70 marks sterling, void by the death extra R.c. of Eugene Offinlan [sic], minister of the said house, and reserved to the pope under his late reservation of all conventual dignities. Personam tuam.
Concurrent mandate to the bishop of Lismore, and Thomas Chyt [sic], a canon of Limerick, and the official of the same. Hodie venerabili fratri nostro David. [5¾ pp. In the margin at the end: ‘Jan(uarii).’ See Reg. Vat. DCCXLVI, f. 185r., below, p. 259.]

5 Innocent VIII.

11 Kal. Aug.
(22 July.)
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 242v.).		 To James, bishop of Norwich. Grant, as below. The pope lately granted him an indult to choose as his confessor a fit priest, secular or regular, who, after hearing his confession, might absolve him from any sentences of excommunication, etc., perjuries, transgressions of vows and mandates of the Church, omissions of fastings and penances and the canonical hours, simony, even in respect of obtaining and collating orders or benefices, and other sins, etc., committed by him, even in cases reserved to the apostolic see, etc., and might enjoin a salutary penance, and who moreover might commute any vows made by him, except only those of Jerusalem, the shrines of the Apostles Peter and Paul and St. James in Compostella, and religion, and relax oaths taken by him; and that the same or other confessor of his choice, secular or regular, might grant him, being contrite and having confessed, plenary remission and absolution of all his sins in the hour of death, etc. Seeing that in the said letters no mention is made of the remission of fruits of the said benefices and of his church of Norwich, if perchance he obtained it and them by simony, the pope, hereby remitting to him any such fruits wrongfully taken, grants to him indult that a fit confessor of his choice may also absolve him from any simony contracted in obtaining such benefices and church, and reinstate him, the pope hereby also rehabilitating him. Sincere devotionis affectus. [12/3 pp. In the margin at the end. ‘De(cembris).’]
Id. June.
(13 June.)
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 251r.)		 To the deans of St. Mary's, Antwerp, and St. Mary's de Veris, in the diocese of Cambrai and Utrecht (Cameracen. et Trajecten. diocesum), and the subdean of Dunkeld. Mandate to receive Alexander Crawfuorde, (fn. 20) priest, of the diocese of St. Andrews, as a canon of the monastery of St. Anthony Viennois (Viennen.), O.S.A., give him the regular habit thereof and receive his profession, and thereupon to collate and assign to him the preceptorship of the house of St. Anthony near Leich [sic], of the said Order, in the said diocese, which is a preceptorship-general, yearly value not exceeding 35 marks sterling, void by the death of Alexander Halida extra R.c., and reserved to the pope under his reservation of all preceptorships-general of any Orders. Apostolice sedis circumspecta providentia. [3½ pp. In the margin at the end: ‘Jan(uarii).’]

6 Innocent VIII.

1489/90.
7 Id. Jan.
(7 Jan.)
St. Peter's, Rome.
(f. 326r.)		 To the archbishop of Cashel, (fn. 21) the chancellor of Killaloe (Laon[i]en.), and Denis Ohogan, a canon of Cashel. (fn. 22) Mandate, as below. It was lately set forth to the pope by William Oduuyr [sic], a monk of the monastery of St. Cross, Votthtarlaumd, O. Cist., in the diocese of Cashel, that (after he had been dispensed by papal authority on account of illegitimacy, as the son of the preceptor of the house of Cloynawll in the same diocese, of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and an unmarried woman, to be promoted to all, even holy orders and hold a benefice even with cure), upon the voidance in a certain way of the precentorship of Cashel, which is a non-major dignity, he without any other dispensation got provision made to him thereof by authority of the ordinary, under pretext of which he took possession, and detained it for a certain time, taking a few fruits therefrom. The pope having also been informed by the said William that Matthew Omulryaen, abbot of the said monastery, was an open fornicator and adulterer and had had offspring by several women, had engaged in trade and caused wine to be sold in taverns, with which he was very often inebriated, (fn. 23) and had by his negligence permitted a certain fee belonging to the said monastery [to remain] in the hands of laymen; and having learned that the said William desired to serve God with the convent of the said monastery under its regular habit, rehabilitated him on account of the foregoing, and ordered Thomas Michael, a canon of Cashel, to receive him as a monk of the said monastery, give him its regular habit, and receive his profession, and, if the said William would accuse the said Matthew before him, to summon the latter, and, if he found the foregoing to be true, to deprive and remove him, and in that event to make provision to the said William, if found fit, of the said monastery, and appoint him abbot thereof, the pope at the same time dispensing him to be so appointed, and to rule the said monastery for two months only, even without having made the said profession, the pope's letters stating that its yearly value did not exceed 50 marks sterling, not counting the offerings which are offered by the faithful at the wood of the Holy Cross in the church of the same monastery, and which are collected by collectors appointed for the purpose. (fn. 24) Subsequently, as the recent petition of the said William contained, after he had caused the said Matthew to be summoned before the said Thomas, and had accused him of the foregoing, and after the said Thomas had received him as a monk of the said monastery, but without his having made his profession, the said Thomas, wrongfully proceeding, promulgated an unjust sentence by which he absolved the said Matthew from prosecution by the said William, (fn. 25) from which sentence the latter appealed to the apostolic see within the lawful time. Seeing that, as the said petition added, it is alleged that the said value is greater, and was so at the time of the date of the said letters, although it does not and did not then exceed 100 marks sterling; that in the first dispensation obtained by the said William it is only stated that he was the son of a religious and an unmarried woman, not that he was the son of the preceptor of the said house, wherefore, as is alleged, the said letters are surreptitious; and that, although the fornication and offspring of the said abbot Matthew are so notorius that they could not by any tergiversation be concealed, inasmuch as he had sons and daughters living, who have been christened and brought up as his sons and daughters, and who are reputed and held to be his children, nevertheless, seeing that the witnesses to prove the said fornication cannot depose as to the place and time of the said abbot's carnal intercourse with women, such intercourse usually taking place not in public but in secret, it may happen that the said William may fail to prove his case, and the said Matthew be enabled to continue in his evil life, (fn. 26) the pope, at the said petition, hereby orders the above three to summon the said abbot Matthew and others concerned, hear the cause of the said appeal, etc., and that of the principal matter, hear both sides, and decide what is just, without appeal, causing their decision to be observed by ecclesiastical censure, and moreover to execute the said former letters, as if they had been directed to them, notwithstanding the said omissions and misstatements, etc. Religionis zelus, vite ac morum. [4 pp.] (fn. 27)

Footnotes

  • 1. On the back of the volume: ‘Inn. viii. Bullar. An. v, vi. L. xlvii.’ The front cover of the original sheepskin binding, preserved at the beginning of the volume, has only the contemporary number of the liber, viz. ‘47,’ and the back has the usual later ‘Innoc. 8. Lib. 47.’ There are 1–356 ff. of text (foliated in arabic numbers), and there are no ‘rubricelle.’
  • 2. Both presumably have the same surname.
  • 3. Tuam(en)sis, i.e. with the adjectival termination ‘sis’ expressed, a very rare if not unique departure from the usual ‘Tuamen.,’ as in ‘Johannis de Burgo canonici Tuamen.’ and ‘oppidi de Athnareg Tuamen. dioc.’
  • 4. in loco satis populoso.
  • 5. et unum capitulum cum guardiano seu custode qui foret pro tempore facerent.
  • 6. et cultus diuinus inibi susciperet incrementum, et ad decorem tenderet ac dicti oppidi non modicam venustatem.
  • 7. cum guardianatu seu custodia pro uno guardiano seu custode.
  • 8. salvo regimine ipsius Johannis et guardianatu seu custodia quamdiu viueret.
  • 9. quodque prefatus Johannes de cetero guardianus vel custos nominaretur et possessionem dicti guardianatus huiusmodi prout ante fecerat rectorie et vicarie predictarum continuare posset et deberet, et quod tales presbyteri per patronum et prepositum balliuum et pares de Athnarig, vel saltem prepositum ac balliuum et pares predictos ex donatione patroni eidem guardiano presentarentur, et per eum tam quam vicarium curam animarum in solidum gerentes instituerentur et confirmarentur, et quod guardiano ipso tunc existente cedente vel decedente, ad presentationem dicti patroni prepositi balliui et parium dicti oppidi, vel ad presentationem prepositi balliui et parium ex donatione patroni, si eum ius suum eis donare contingeret, singulis annis remouibilis per ipsos guardianos vicarios vel custodes institueretur, ac post institutionem huiusmodi factam guardianus ipse super omnes vicarios potestatem haberet ac super eos in parrochianos curam principaliter et certi presbyteri in solidum vicarii curam exercerent animarum similiter ordinauerat.
  • 10. arca seu bursa.
  • 11. ac (rectoad) honorem.
  • 12. quodque prefatus patronus ac heredes et successores sui pro tempore existentes prepositus ba[l]liuus [et pares] dicti oppidi, vel prepositus ba[l]liuus et pares ex donatione juris patronatus, tam ad guardianatus seu custodiam quam loca presbyterorum huiusmodi, quotiens illa pro tempore vacare contingeret, personas ydoneas nominare et presentare, ipseque guardianus vel custos presentatos in perpetuos vicarios in codem collegio ad presentationem eandem instituere, guardianus vero siue custos prefatus per eosdem patronum prepositum balliuum et pares annis singulis removibilis esse deberet, et semper nouus guardianus siue custos eisdem presbyteris siue vicariis presentari, et per ipsos presbyteros siue vicarios ad presentationem ipsam inibi deputari et institui deberet et haberet, et ipse guardianus post obtentam institutionem, anno durante pro quo institutus foret super omnes dicte ecclesie vicarios potestatem et ipsorum ac parrochianorum ipsius ecclesie curam exerceret animarum, ac jus patronatus et presentandi guardianos [sic] presbyteros predictos in vicarios instituendos, et guardianum presbyteris per eos similiter anno quolibet instituendum prefatis patrono preposito ballino et paribus dicti oppidi, vel preposito balliuo et paribus pro tempore existentibus ex donatione juris patronatus, si cis patronatus jus suum donare ve[l]let, concessimus et reseruauimus, jure parrochialis ecclesie et cuiuslibet alterius in omnibus et per omnia semper salvo, prout in eisdem litteris plenius continetur.
  • 13. in lecto jacens et infirmus existens et sine debitis sollempnitatibus.
  • 14. et illam (recte illa) innodatus.
  • 15. irregularitatem contrahendo (substituted in the margin for incurrendo, cancelled).
  • 16. dictasque rectoriam et vicariam eisdem canonicatui et prebende quamdiu prefatus Richardus illos [si] sibi vigore presentium conferantur obtinuerit unire … dignaremur.
  • 17. Nos igitur, qui dudum inter alia decreuimus et declarauimus quod prouisiones vel concessiones aut mandata de prouidendo de cathedralium ecclesiarum canonicatibus et prebendis, que pro quibusuis personis si quartum decimum sue etat(is) annum non compleuissent quomodolibet emanarent, nisi eis quod illos in minori etat(is) [anno] (or recte in minore etate) accipere possent per seden apostolicam specialiter concessum foret, nullius essent roboris vel momenti….
  • 18. de specialis dono gratie indulgemus.
  • 19. ministratus domus sancti Jacobi de Athdar ordinis sancte Trinitatis redemptionis captivorum Limericensis diocesis.
  • 20. Written with several slight variants, ‘Crawfortde,’ ‘Crawfoerorde,’ etc.
  • 21. Casalen., cancelled, and ‘Cassellen.’ substituted in the margin by ‘F.’
  • 22. Similarly but imperfectly corrected in the text itself, the result being ‘Cassallen.’ In other places the result is ‘Casallen.,’ ‘Casellen.,’ or ‘Cassellen.’
  • 23. artemque mercantie exercebat et vinum in tabernis ex quo sepius inhebriebatur vendi faciebat.
  • 24. non computatis collationibus que … offeruntur et que per questores ad hoc deputatos colliguntur.
  • 25. ab impetitione dicti Guillelmi absoluit.
  • 26. et quamuis de notoria fornicatione et prole ipsius Mathei abbatis ita notorie constat ut nulla posset tergiversatione celari, cum filios et filias habeat gradientes super terram, qui ut filii et filie eiusdem Mathei abbatis baptizati et nutriti fuerunt et ut filii eius reputantur et tenentur, tamen quia forsan testes inducti ad probandum huiusmodi fornicationem de loco et tempore commixtionis carnalis ipsius abbatis cum mulieribus deponere non possint, cum tales commixtiones non in publico sed secreto fieri soleant, et contingere possit ipsum Guillelmum ob defectum huiusmodi ita clare probationis subcumbere posse, sicque eidem Matheo abbati in delictis insordescendi occasio preberetur….
  • 27. Without the usual name of the month in the margin at the end.
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