20. THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS OF STAFFORD
The Friars Minor were settled in Stafford by 1274
when the bishop granted 20 days' indulgence to all
who visited the friars' church on certain days and
said there the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary for
the king, the kingdom, and the faithful departed. (fn. 1)
The founder of the house may have been one of the
Staffords of Sandon. (fn. 2) The friars secured the
friendship of Edmund, Baron of Stafford (d. 1308):
a Franciscan became his confessor, and he chose the
Stafford friary as his place of burial instead of the
Augustinian priory at Stone where members of his
family were usually buried. (fn. 3) Archbishop Pecham
celebrated orders in the friars' church in 1280,
being unable to do so in St. Mary's which was under
an episcopal interdict. (fn. 4) At first the friars were
hindered in buying their daily victuals by regrators
who would even 'snatch what they have bought out
of their hands', but in 1282 they secured a licence
from the Crown for one year to 'buy without
molestation of the king's ministers'. (fn. 5) In 1306 a
certain Henry Grucok was proposing to grant the
warden and friars a piece of his land in Foregate on
the north side of Stafford borough, worth 4s. a year
and 200 × 100 feet in area, where they could make a
courtyard (curtilagium). (fn. 6)
When an official list of Franciscan provinces,
custodies, and houses was prepared for a general
chapter of the order held at Perpignan in 1331, the
Stafford house appeared with eight others in the
custody of Worcester, and thus it remained throughout its existence. (fn. 7) It may be confidently surmised
that its numbers were never large, and no striking
incidents or outstanding personalities connected
with it have come to light. During the episcopate of
Robert Stretton (1360-85) about 14 of its members were ordained subdeacon or deacon, without
mention of any further advance, while 6 proceeded
to the priesthood. (fn. 8) The names show that the
community was recruited not only from English
counties in the diocese but from Wales also. (fn. 9) In 1405
a Franciscan of Stafford named David Sant received
a licence to hear confessions, and this was renewed
in 1406 and 1407. (fn. 10) Stafford was one of the mendicant houses in the area to which Isabel de Sutton
(d. 1397) and the justice Roger Horton by will of
1422 each left 6s. 8d. (fn. 11) A number of letters of confraternity survive, issued by Brother John, the
warden, in 1479. (fn. 12)
The community's existence came to an end on 9
August 1538 when Richard Ingworth, Bishop of
Dover, came to the house and read the injunctions
which he had framed. Rather than accept these the
community, 'with one assent, without any counsel or
coaction', surrendered the house into his hands for
the king's use. Inventories were made 'of the houses
and implements' and each friar was given 'a letter to
visit his friends'. Income from rents at this time
amounted to only £1 6s. 8d.; debts totalled £4.
Ingworth removed a chalice and six spoons; the rest
of the property was delivered to the two bailiffs of
Stafford. (fn. 13)
On 27 September a sale took place of the buildings
and the goods in the church, hall, kitchen, buttery,
and brewhouse. (fn. 14) The total receipts from this sale
were £34 3s. 10d. All the buildings within the
precinct, with their materials except for the lead,
were sold to James Leveson of Wolverhampton for
£29 1s. 8d. The friars' wall 'next unto the town' was
bought by the town for 3s. 4d. Two bells, one of them
a sanctus bell, were excluded from the sale but
remained in Leveson's keeping; the bailiffs of the
borough were entrusted with the custody of the
lead upon the choir and a chapel — possibly that of
St. Francis, mentioned elsewhere in the inventory.
The friars' warden bought two brass pots and six
plates, while the buyers of items from among the
furniture and ornaments of the church included a
friar named Wood who bought for 6d. 'a vestment of
blue fustian and one of white diaper' and another
friar, unnamed, who paid 4d. for 'a cope of linen
cloth stained'. A statue of St. Catherine stood in the
church which also contained an old pair of portable
organs and four tables of alabaster. (fn. 15) 'Old books'
were found in the library and the vestry. A noteworthy statement in the inventory was that the friars
'have in the field 6 londs yearly worth 16d.', which
shows that the Stafford friary must be reckoned
among the number, probably small, engaged in
husbandry outside the precinct; 'the field' was
presumably Foregate Field, which was one of the
common fields of the town and adjoined the friary. (fn. 16)
Other sales included the lead (£45), the bells (£10),
and 16 oz. of plate. (fn. 17)
The friary lay on the east side of the main road
from Stafford to Stone north of what is now the
junction with Browning Street; the main road is
still known as Grey Friars in this area. In 1610 a
house called Grey Friars stood here on an extensive
walled site approached through a gatehouse. Despite
its distance from the town walls it was very evidently
pulled down as part of the demolition of buildings
within musket shot of the walls under the order of
the Parliamentary Committee in 1644 to facilitate
the defence of the town. (fn. 18)
Wardens
Richard Depedale, occurs 1392. (fn. 19)
John, occurs 1479. (fn. 20)
Richard Offeley, occurs 1501. (fn. 21)
The seal of the friary, (fn. 22) a pointed oval about 15/8 by
11/8 in., depicts a standing female figure, crowned and
holding a raguly cross in her left hand and a book
in her right. The figure may represent Our Lady or
a virgin martyr. The legend, lombardic, evidently
reads:
SIGILLUM FRATRUM MINORUM STAFFORDIE