57. THE COLLEGE OF BOSHAM. (fn. 1)
It has already been mentioned that when
St. Wilfrid came to preach to the South Saxons
he found a priest called Dicul and a few companions settled at Bosham. (fn. 2) Here, where the
lamp of Christianity was first lit in Sussex, there
sprang up during the succeeding centuries a
college of secular priests richly endowed with
broad lands, valued in the Confessor's time at
over £300. This wealthy foundation, of whose
early history nothing is known, was bestowed by
the Confessor upon his Norman chaplain,
Osbern, bishop of Exeter, who continued to hold
it under the Conqueror. Henry I subsequently
assigned this ' royal free chapel' of Bosham to
William Warelwast, bishop of Exeter, who
established there a college of six secular canons
with prebends, their dean being the bishop of
Exeter. This arrangement held good until the
occupant of the western see angered Henry II by
taking the part of Archbishop Becket, when the
king deprived him of the chapelry and bestowed
it upon the bishop of Lisieux, who retained it
till 1177, when it came once more to the
bishop of Exeter, (fn. 3) whose successors held it till
its dissolution.
King John in 1200 confirmed the grant of
the chapelry to the church of Exeter, (fn. 4) but the
bishop of Chichester evidently disputed their
claims, and was so far successful that in 1205
the king ordered that the chapel should be subject
to the jurisdiction of the local see. (fn. 5) During this
dispute the bishop of Chichester appears to have
'suspended' the church of Bosham, as a priest
called Roger was several times excommunicated
for ministering there. (fn. 6) This was only the beginning of a long series of quarrels between the
bishops of Exeter and Chichester. The question
was complicated by the fact that the nave of the
collegiate church was the parish church, the vicar
of which was vicar of the canon of the parochial
prebend; and over this vicar and the parish church
the see of Chichester had undoubted jurisdiction—
arising, according to an inquest of 1294, from
the fact that the parochial vicar, during the time
that the chapel was in Henry II's hands, had
submitted himself to the bishop's jurisdiction—
but the claims of the bishops and archdeacons of
Chichester to visit and control the collegiate
choir and its canons, though constantly asserted,
were always defeated. (fn. 7)
The college (fn. 8) consisted of six prebendaries of
Bosham Parochial, Walton, Appledram, Funtington, Chidham, and Westbrooke, one of whom
was sacrist and head of the college under the
dean (i.e. the bishop of Exeter). The sacrist,
who received £4 yearly from each of the other
canons, as well as the offerings of wax and other
perquisites, was bound to be resident, and to
be in priest's orders either when appointed or
immediately afterwards; he had to see to the
conduct of the services, to control the canons
and vicars, and to hear their confessions; he had
also to find a clerk to ring the bells and open and
shut the doors, of which the keys were to be
given to the sacrist after curfew; to him also it
fell to provide the elements and wax and other
lights, except the tapers lit at the elevation of
the Host, the provision of which—as also of
books and ornaments and repairs to the chapel—
lay at the charge of the other five canons. The
canons were forbidden to farm their prebends,
and were compelled to provide vicars, who
received two marks in addition to six marks
composition for tithes—except the parochial
vicar, who had special tithes assigned to him.
The vicars, with the exception of the parochial
vicar, were removable at will, and before admission were examined by the sacrist and the other
vicars as to voice and skill in reading and chanting. The services were to be according to the
Sarum Use, and were to commence with mattins
at daybreak during the winter, and about two
hours after sunrise in summer. Immediately after
mattins came the mass of the Blessed Virgin
—with music or not, according to the discretion
of the vicar celebrating. During this and the
customary subsequent hours the parochial vicar
was to visit the poor and perform the other duties
of his cure, taking care to be back in time to take
part in the procession and high mass in the choir
about the third hour, under penalty of a fine. On
Sundays and festivals the procession, after prime
and the other hours had been sung, was to go so
that on its return a halt was made in the nave
before the Rood, where the parochial vicar or his
deputy was to offer the customary prayers and to
expound sermons and other matters touching
his cure in English. After this the procession
was to go on to the choir, where the high mass
was at once to begin, at which the parochial vicar
was to take his part until after the offertory,
when, provided there were enough to finish
singing the mass as solemnly as it had been
begun, he might take one of the parish clerks
with him—leaving the other to minister in the
choir—and begin mass without music at the
parishioners' altar; but this he should do by
deputy if it were his turn to celebrate high mass
or the mass of the Blessed Virgin in the chapel,
which turn must be observed, no excuse being
allowed of celebrating 'the so-called parish mass
. . . since without doubt that is the parochial
mass which is celebrated at the high altar in the
choir.' Infringement of these rules involved
fines, which were levied in the chapter held on
Saturdays in the choir, when excuses might be
made, which were to be accredited on the
speaker's word without further proof. It was
further ordered in 1399 that all the vicars were
to live in a house which was to be built for
them, £40 having been left for that purpose by
Bishop Thomas de Brentingham, and the rest of
the money promised by the canons. This house
was to have one common entrance, but the
parochial vicar was to have a room adjoining the
cemetery, where his parishioners could find him
whenever required.
The earliest recorded visitation of Bosham
appears to be that of Bishop Wyville in 1282,
when it was found that the church was in bad
repair, rain falling even on the high altar; the
vestments were very bad, as was all the church
furniture, the supply of books was inadequate,
and neither the church nor any altar was dedicated. As a result of this visitation the profits of
all the prebends were sequestrated. (fn. 9) When
Bishop Thomas visited the chapel in July, 1294,
the fabric was still in bad repair, the chancel
especially; altar-fronts, copes and other things
were lacking, and books required binding.
Orders were given that the canons should be
more liberal in almsgiving and should be content
with their prebends, not encroaching on those of
others; moreover, lest there should be a temptation to provide unsuitable persons as vicars
because they would take lower stipends, each
canon was to pay his vicar two marks in addition
to what he received from the church in right of
his vicarage, and they were also ordered to be
more punctual in paying the sacrist his dues, and
further to collect certain tithes which had fallen
into arrears. To the vicars the only order given
was that they should not be absent from service
without the sacrist's leave, under a penalty of a
halfpenny for every hour which they missed. (fn. 10)
The next visitation was that by Bishop Walter
Stapleton in 1309. The church furniture was still
deficient, and an order was made that the books,
vestments, and ornaments of the chapel, being
provided by the canons, were not in future
to be used by the priests celebrating for the
parishioners in the nave of the church. At this
time the five vicars refused to take the oath of
obedience to the bishop, though they could not
justify their refusal; they were also accused of
quarrelling in the choir, and of being absent
without leave; the canons gave nothing to the
poor, one of them had bought his prebend, and
two others were farming theirs to laymen; the
parochial prebendary was a non-resident pluralist
who neglected his cure, and another canon had
gone abroad without licence. The sacrist was accused of incontinence, but pleaded that he had
already been punished and had not since sinned. (fn. 11)
Bishop Stapleton was again at Bosham in March,
1321, (fn. 12) and his successor, Bishop Grandison,
dedicated the high altar in the choir in 1354, (fn. 13)
and made a visitation of the chapel in 1363 by
command of the king, who had heard a bad
report of its condition, both spiritual and
material—a report not without foundation, as
the vicars were found to be deficient in number,
often absent from services, and when present
slovenly and ill-behaved, even disturbing service
by quarrels and arguments. (fn. 14) The prebend of
Appledram at this time was held by the illustrious
William of Wykeham. Bishop Grandison was
to some extent a benefactor of the college, as an
inventory (fn. 15) of goods drawn up by the sacrist in
1371 shows that he had given them at least
three service books, as well as a set of vestments
worked with his arms. The most interesting
of the other items in this long inventory is a copy
of a 'Life of St. Richard.'
The state of the college at the end of the
fourteenth century could not be called satisfactory. In 1375 Bishop Thomas de Brentingham
wrote to the sacrist, appointing a date for visitation, (fn. 16) saying—
we have heard with grief by the report of many that
the canons, though they draw their full salaries, retain
them for their own use and do not appoint vicars or
ministers in their places; also they desert the
chapelry and live corrupt lives in houses outside.
Again in 1380 the bishop stated that he had
heard an evil report of the clergy at Bosham and
had intended to visit them himself, but being too
busy had deputed others to do so. (fn. 17) In 1384
special notice was made of one of the vicars
choral, Robert Dygby, who for two years had
neglected his duties and frequented taverns and
gambling-houses in Chichester, leading a dissolute
life and making strife between the laity and the
clergy of Bosham, to whom he had made himself
so obnoxious that his brother ministers used to
take to flight whenever they met him. (fn. 18) Next
year the bishop appointed his official to inquire
whether the canons and vicars were treating his
orders with contempt, as it was reported; especially Robert Dygby, who had now gone so far as
even to live openly with a certain widow at
Bosham, and Peter Carsfelde, a vicar, who had
assaulted the sacrist and tried to murder him. (fn. 19)
This same year, 1385, the vicar of Bosham
complained that the sacrist and one of the vicars
had usurped his parochial rights, baptizing infants
and hearing confessions without his leave, and
that the sacrist had deprived him of his canonical
habit and his share in certain emoluments. (fn. 20) At
last, in January, 1386, the bishop issued a strict
command for all the canons to appear before him
as he was determined to enforce obedience. (fn. 21) In
April of the same year orders were issued for the
prevention of strangers from entering the choir,
where they were in the habit of coming and
causing disputes and quarrels even during the
services, (fn. 22) and in June penance was enjoined
upon one of the vicars who had been guilty of
incontinence. (fn. 23)
The college of Bosham survived until 1548,
when the 'sexton,' and the other four prebendaries were pensioned off, and two of the priest
vicars dismissed, a third being left to assist the
vicar by the commissioners, who also recommended that the curate found by the prebend of
Appledram should continue to serve the church
of Appledram parish. (fn. 24)
Sacrists Of The College Of Bosham
Walter de Welewe, occurs 1308 (fn. 25)
John, occurs 1318 (fn. 26)
Ralph de Riburghe, appointed 1321 (fn. 27)
Walter de Shireforde, occurs 1323 (fn. 28)
John de Whatenhull, occurs 1334 (fn. 29)
William de Hardeshull, occurs 1340 (fn. 30)
William Scote, occurs 1363, (fn. 31) 1375 (fn. 32)
William Mewy, occurs 1379, (fn. 33) exchanged 1383
Roger Primer, appointed 1383, (fn. 34) exchanged
1388
Peter Carsfelde, appointed 1388, (fn. 35) exchanged
1399
Richard Deen, appointed 1399, (fn. 36) resigned 1400
Ralph Waterman, appointed 1400, (fn. 37) resigned
1408
John Lamburn, appointed 1408, (fn. 38) exchanged
1410
Robert de Gunwardby, appointed 1410, (fn. 39) died
1412
Robert Tremylet, appointed 1412, (fn. 40) died 1415
John Leyman, appointed 1415, (fn. 41) exchanged
1419
Nicholas Pycot, appointed 1419 (fn. 42)
William Spade, appointed 1424, (fn. 43) resigned 1431
John Penycoke, appointed 1431, (fn. 44) resigned 1433
Thomas Halle, appointed 1433, (fn. 45) resigned 1434
John Restone, M.A., appointed 1434, (fn. 46)
resigned 1439
John Faxe, appointed 1439, (fn. 47) resigned 1444
Robert Langmane, appointed 1444, (fn. 48) resigned
1454
Thomas Northedone, appointed 1454 (fn. 49)
John Belyncham, alias Velingham, appointed
1503, (fn. 50) died 1504-5
Henry Hant, appointed 1505 (fn. 51)
Nicholas Taverner, resigned 1508-9 (fn. 52)
Thomas Burley, appointed 1509 (fn. 53)
John Starkey, occurs 1535 (fn. 54)
John Rixman, occurs 1548 (fn. 55)