35. THE COLLEGE OF ST. MARY, STAFFORD
The existence of a group of canons in Stafford
before the Conquest is attested only by Domesday
Book. (fn. 1) In 1086 there were 13 of them, described
as the king's prebendary canons, who held 14
messuages in Stafford and 3 hides, probably in
Whitgreave and Butterton. (fn. 2)
By the beginning of Stephen's reign the church
of Stafford, like that of Penkridge, was held in chief
by Jordan, clerk to Roger de Fécamp, probably by
grant of Henry I. (fn. 3) The two churches were given
by Stephen in 1136 to the bishop and cathedral
churches of Coventry and Lichfield; (fn. 4) the bishop's
possession of them was confirmed by the Pope in
1139, 1144, and 1152. (fn. 5) The church of Stafford,
like other royal property alienated by Stephen,
returned to the Crown under Henry II (fn. 6) who
appointed Robert and probably also Robert's predecessor, William de C., the first known deans of
Stafford. (fn. 7) Although a royal chapel, Stafford was still
apparently not claiming exemption from the
bishop's authority as late as the end of the 12th
century. In 1199 one of the canons appealed to the
protection of either the bishop or the dean in a dispute about his prebendal lands. (fn. 8) Four years later,
however, another canon in similar circumstances
invoked the dean alone. (fn. 9)
There is no obvious explanation of the tradition,
recorded in 1546 and 1548, that King John was the
founder of the collegiate church. (fn. 10) Canons and deans
of Stafford are known before his time, but it is
possible that the dedication to St. Mary was due to
him: the first mention of it belongs to his reign. (fn. 11)
The earlier parts of the present church date from
the late 12th century. (fn. 12) Perhaps John promoted the
building and a new dedication. (fn. 13) This church may
have had a predecessor on the same site, or may have
replaced as the collegiate church the adjoining
Saxon church dedicated to St. Bertelin (fn. 14) which
continued alongside St. Mary's and preserved a
separate though allied existence. (fn. 15)
The king usually appointed to the deaneries of
royal chapels clerks in his service whom he wished to
reward. This system had advantages, for royal servants, though much occupied, were often influential
men of outstanding ability. Henry III sent frequent
gifts to Stafford while two clerks of his household
chapel, Walter of Lench and Simon of Offham,
were deans: timber for repairs to the canons' stalls
and the building of a belfry in 1244; more timber in
1246 and 1255; venison, pike, and bream for the
dean in 1234, 1249, and 1250. (fn. 16) He also backed the
dean and chapter's claims to dependent chapels.
With royal support, the right of St. Mary's to the
burial of the parishioners of the chapel of Tixall and
the institution of its chaplain was vindicated in
1247. (fn. 17) The advowson of Castle Church was recovered from Stone Priory in 1255, when Henry III
declared that it was in the gift of the dean like the
prebends of Stafford. (fn. 18) In 1258 the king sued on
behalf of St. Mary's for the advowson of the chapel
of Middle Aston in Steeple Aston (Oxon.), claimed
as a dependency of Hopton church. (fn. 19)
Even more important was the king's support of
the claim to exemption from the bishop's jurisdiction. That this exemption had been taken for
granted by the Crown is evident from recorded
royal appointments to the deanery (the earliest
belongs to 1207), (fn. 20) for it was to the sheriff that the
king sent his mandate to institute new deans. There
was no dispute until 1244, and then it was not the
bishop who was involved, for the see was vacant.
Henry III appointed three canons of St. Mary's as
his proctors to defend the liberties of the church, (fn. 21)
evidently against the archdeacon. (fn. 22) Next year he
secured a papal declaration that royal chapels were
immune from ordinary jurisdiction. (fn. 23) The new
bishop, Roger Weseham, almost immediately
obtained a papal letter excluding Stafford and some
other churches in the diocese from the terms of the
bull, (fn. 24) and he proceeded to hold an ordination in
St. Mary's. Henry III continued to assert the privileges of his free chapels (fn. 25) and was said to have
established, apparently in a charter, that St. Mary's
was a royal chapel enjoying the accompanying
immunities. This charter was reported stolen in
1251. (fn. 26) Although when the king re-issued it only
secular privileges were specified, it was claimed in
1293 that St. Mary's had become exempt from the
bishop's jurisdiction by Henry III's consent. (fn. 27)
Certainly Henry III treated Stafford as exempt. In
1247 his attorney objected to matters concerning
St. Mary's being heard in court Christian, (fn. 28) and in
1252 he ordered the sheriff to arrest a man excommunicated by the bishop 'unless he be of the liberty
of the king's chapel of Stafford'. (fn. 29)
The claim to exemption brought the king into
conflict with the diocesan. In 1257, before Weseham's successor, Roger Meuland, had even been
consecrated, the king appointed canons of St. Mary's
as his proctors to defend the chapel's liberties. (fn. 30)
Soon after Meuland's consecration in March 1258
proctors were again appointed, (fn. 31) and in December
the bishop came to Stafford with many armed men
who, it was claimed, broke down the doors of the
church and ill-treated the canons, chaplains, and
clerks. The king summoned him before his court,
but Meuland claimed benefit of clergy and refused
to plead. (fn. 32) He suspended the chapter of Stafford,
excommunicated the dean and two leading canons,
and sequestrated one of the prebends. (fn. 33) The king
personally ordered a justice to inquire into the
bishop's jurisdiction over St. Mary's, but this order
was later stayed, probably owing to the shortage of
judges in 1259. (fn. 34)
Although St. Mary's resisted the bishop's
authority, no objection was raised against the archbishop when he came on provincial visitation in
1260. (fn. 35) Perhaps the canons hoped that he would
support them against the nearer and more oppressive
diocesan. Archbishop Boniface heard their complaint
and found against them. The canons claimed that
they had a recent papal grant of exemption and,
after failing to produce it on this and two later
occasions, appealed from the archbishop to Rome. (fn. 36)
Urban IV appointed commissioners in England to
hear the case, but as they failed to decide it within a
year it was remitted to Rome. (fn. 37) Though twice cited
the Dean and Chapter of Stafford failed to appear
or be represented in Rome, and in 1267 judgment
was given in their absence. (fn. 38) The chapter remained
suspended and the dean excommunicated. They
were to render obedience to their bishop until they
produced proof of exemption, and they were to pay
the expenses incurred by the bishop in sending his
proctor to Rome. It is not clear why the canons
failed to defend their cause. Perhaps they could not
afford the expense. Perhaps they relied on royal
influence at Rome: Meuland had joined Simon de
Montfort while papal sympathies were with the
king. Certainly they must have suffered from lack
of an effective dean. Bevis de Clare, son of the Earl
of Gloucester, was appointed to the deanery at the
age of eleven in 1259; (fn. 39) when the final judgment
was given in 1267 he was still under 19 and already
a notable pluralist. (fn. 40)
When Archbishop Pecham came to Stafford in
1280 during his metropolitical visitation the chapter
of St. Mary's was still under the papal sentence of
suspension and still obdurate. The church was under
interdict imposed by the bishop, (fn. 41) but enjoyed the
support of the townspeople, who had asked the
king whether they should join his free chapel in
resisting the archbishop's citation. (fn. 42) Edward I
replied ordering them and the Sheriff of Staffordshire to prevent Pecham from entering St. Mary's,
and this they did by force. (fn. 43) Despite his conviction
that the claim to exemption was baseless, (fn. 44) in
deference to the king's wishes Pecham reluctantly
consented to whatever settlement might be reached
between the king, the royal chapels, and their
diocesans. Meuland was now old and infirm whereas
Edward I was vigorous and unyielding. The long
dispute ended in 1281 with the bishop's capitulation.
He recognized the exemption of St. Mary's and five
other royal chapels in his diocese from all ordinary
jurisdiction. (fn. 45)
The secular privileges of St. Mary's were set out
in Henry III's charter of 1251 replacing the earlier
charter of the same king which had been stolen. (fn. 46)
The dean and chapter had the right to hold a court
for themselves and for their tenants in the town of
Stafford and in Orberton, Butterton, Worston, and
Whitgreave. Their court followed the custom of the
king's manors without interference of the sheriff or
any other royal officer, and they owed no suit to
shire, hundred, or borough courts. They had their
own gallows and right of infangentheof and utfangentheof. Their tenants were quit of all customs and
tallages except those tallages granted by other
exempt churches. In virtue of this charter St.
Mary's was declared quit of royal tallages in 1252
and 1253. (fn. 47)
In theory St. Mary's was also exempt from ecclesiastical taxes. Henry III had asserted in 1250 that
no prelate had power to tax royal chapels, (fn. 48) but this
exemption was not claimed when papal taxes
benefited the king. Like the other royal chapels St.
Mary's paid the papal tenths granted in 1266 and
subsequently. (fn. 49)
The assessments for papal taxes give some
indication of the value of the church. In 1268 and
1269 St. Mary's paid £3 6s. 8d., representing a
tenth of its assessment, but this valuation of £33 6s.
8d. and all other assessments were superseded by
that made for the Taxation of 1291. This gives the
total value of St. Mary's as £58 17s. (fn. 50) There are no
details of the value of the individual prebends, but
it is possible to supply most of these from later
documents, since the 1291 assessment was not
superseded until 1535. An inquisition of 1428 (fn. 51)
quotes the old taxation as follows: the deanery
£10 16s. 8d.; the prebend of Marston £6 13s. 4d.;
the prebend of Salt £6 13s. 4d.; the prebend of
Coton £6 13s. 4d.; the free chapel of Tixall £6 13s.
4d.; the free chapel of Ingestre £3 6s. 8d.; the free
chapel of Creswell £3 6s. 8d.; two prebends in
Whitgreave £5 and seven small prebends there
£10 10s. These items add up to £59 13s. 4d., which
is 16s. 4d. more than the total given in 1291. A
possible explanation is that some of the prebends
of very little value escaped taxation, although in
1428 they were all said to have paid the tenth. At
least two of the nine Whitgreave prebends were
worth only 2s. 4d.; (fn. 52) one, worth 13s. 4d., was said
in 1366 not to have been taxed; (fn. 53) another was worth
£1. (fn. 54)
Obviously the only prebends in St. Mary's really
worth having were Marston, Salt, and Coton. It
was probably one of these which was annexed to the
deanery when in 1247 Simon of Offham was
authorized by the king to convert to his own use for
life whichever of the prebends he chose. (fn. 55) His
successors did not enjoy the same privilege: subsequent references to prebendaries (fn. 56) show that
neither Marston, Salt, nor Coton can have remained
attached to the deanery. It became the practice,
however, to unite one of the Whitgreave prebends to
the prebend of Marston. In the 13th century two
successive sub-deans held Marston with a prebend
of Whitgreave. (fn. 57) Such a practice might explain
statements made in the 14th century that Alan of
Conisbrough in 1328 (fn. 58) and Simon Gentyl in 1366 (fn. 59)
held a prebend of Stafford worth £8; no one prebend was valued as highly as that, but Marston (or
Salt or Coton) together with a Whitgreave prebend
worth 2 marks would make up the total. A Whitgreave prebend was still united to Marston in the
16th century; its property consisted of 40 acres of
arable in Whitgreave, known as the Hall prebend. (fn. 60)
By this time, although the Hall prebend retained its
separate name, it had lost its separate identity and
was reckoned among the assets of Marston. But
there were still nine Whitgreave prebends. This
suggests that the Whitgreave property had been
further subdivided to keep up the number of
prebends, irrespective of their value. Surprisingly
these very small prebends seem usually to have been
held separately. In 1366 two canons residing in the
diocese held prebends of Stafford worth only
2s. 4d. and 13s. 4d. respectively, but each held a
parish church in the diocese as well; (fn. 61) their prebends perhaps gave them a house in Stafford and
added status. It is harder to understand the position
of William Dyngell who held in the diocese only a
prebend of Stafford taxed at 2s. 4d. and yet resided
there, though he had a parish church in Lincolnshire
taxed at £24. (fn. 62)
The free chapels of Tixall, Ingestre, and Creswell
were included in the assessment of St. Mary's
because they were within the liberty of the collegiate
church. This meant that the dean had jurisdiction
over them and instituted their chaplains, but he
had no control over the advowsons, which belonged
to different individuals. (fn. 63) These chapels, it was
stated in 1428, were separate churches, and by
ancient custom their parishioners buried their dead
in St. Bertelin's Church and graveyard and not at
St. Mary's. (fn. 64)
It might be expected that Castle Church would
have appeared with St. Mary's in the Taxation of
1291, since the dean owned the advowson and the
property in tithes and lands attached to the living.
The lands were claimed by Stone Priory in 1293,
when the verdict was in the dean's favour, and again
from 1311 until at least 1319. (fn. 65) Once more, however,
the dean seems to have made good his claim, for he
was in possession in 1535. (fn. 66) It is likely that the dean
had always kept Castle Church for himself, providing
a priest but taking the bulk of the revenues as he
was doing in 1535. This would explain why Castle
Church was not assessed separately in the Taxation
of 1291: it would have been included in the assets
of the deanery. In the period 1282-6 the bailiff
administering Castle Church was liable for 40
marks (£26 13s. 4d.) a year for it. (fn. 67) Presumably the
priest had to be paid out of this, but a sizeable sum
would have been left. In addition the bailiff was
accountable for £5 13s. 4d. for the dean's prebend, (fn. 68)
and the dean had the church of Hopton to his own
use by gift of the king. (fn. 69) The Taxation of 1291 valued
the deanery at only £10 16s. 8d., but a comparable
difference between this assessment and the real
value of the property is to be found elsewhere. (fn. 70)
The statement of a jury of 1293 that the church of
St. Mary, Stafford, held by Bevis de Clare was
worth 50 marks (£33 6s. 8d.) a year (fn. 71) was probably
nearer the truth.
Royal chapels paid only those papal taxes which
were assigned to the king. Against other demands
the Crown was their firm defender. Edward I and
Edward II repeatedly declared them exempt from
all papal exactions (fn. 72) and in 1307 and 1317 included
St. Mary's when issuing prohibitions against the
collection of papal procurations from specified
chapels. (fn. 73) When in 1318 the papal nuncio was
forbidden to exact annates from the king's chapels,
Edward II named nine churches with this exempt
status; St. Mary's came third on the list. (fn. 74)
Since royal chapels were exempt from the jurisdiction of the bishop, their visitation and correction
was the responsibility of the king who delegated
this power to special commissioners or the Chancellor. In 1368 commissioners were appointed to
visit and correct five royal chapels, including St.
Mary's, whose officers were reputed negligent. (fn. 75)
The deans were accused of failing to safeguard
property and privileges, and the clergy of leading
dissolute lives and appropriating revenues which
should have been used for divine service, works of
charity, and repairs. The next visitation of St.
Mary's, in 1381, was probably at the request of the
new dean, William Pakington, since the inquiry was
confined to practical matters: the state of the
church's property and the diminution of the number
of chaplains. (fn. 76) Pakington received compensation
for his predecessors' shortcomings, but after his
death in 1390 his successor petitioned for an
inquiry into what had become of this money and
into Pakington's own neglect of the property for
which the dean was responsible. (fn. 77) Despite the resulting visitation there was no improvement. John
Mackworth in 1407 complained of all three deans
between Pakington and himself; they had allowed
the dean's buildings to fall into total disrepair, and
Mackworth's immediate predecessor had misappropriated 50 marks allotted to him to put right
the dilapidations that he had inherited. (fn. 78) Neglect of
the dean's property was not surprising when deans
were absentees, but apparently they had kept the
chancel and furnishings of the church in good
repair, since Mackworth made no complaint about
them; nor was neglect of divine service alleged.
By the late 14th century it had become accepted
that the king's right of supervision of his chapels
was exercised by the Chancellor. It is remarkable
that in 1400-1 royal rights were disregarded when
Archbishop Arundel's commissioners included the
king's chapels in their visitation of the diocese. St.
Mary's was the last chapel to be visited and raised
no protest. Representatives of the dean, canons,
vicars, and chaplains appeared and were examined,
each professing canonical obedience to the archbishop. (fn. 79) The findings are not recorded. This
archiepiscopal visitation did not create a precedent:
apparently it was the result of temporary political
circumstances. (fn. 80) In 1407 St. Mary's was visited by
royal commissioners; and at some time between
1467 and 1471 the dean, Thomas Hawkins, appealed
to the Chancellor in a dispute about tithes, stating
that he and his predecessors had no other judge or
protector. (fn. 81)
By Hawkins's time St. Mary's was no longer in
Crown patronage. In 1446 Henry VI had granted
the advowson to Humphrey Stafford, Duke of
Buckingham. (fn. 82) This made no difference to the
status of St. Mary's as a royal chapel, since it claimed
to be a royal foundation. (fn. 83) Subsequent loss of a
direct relationship with the Crown could not alter
this. Nevertheless the bishop seems to have considered that it was no longer exempt from his
authority, for in 1501, on the death of Hawkins's
successor, he appointed commissioners to govern the
collegiate church and receive the revenues of the
deanery during the vacancy, claiming this right by
canonical ordinance and laudable and long-standing
custom. (fn. 84) If this had become custom, it did not
stand much longer, for St. Mary's returned to the
Crown in 1521 when Edward, Duke of Buckingham,
was executed and his estates forfeited. (fn. 85) The
surveyors of his property explained the status of St.
Mary's, 'which ever hath been capella regia and is
privileged accordingly', adding that 'albeit the Duke
was patron, yet the King was founder'. (fn. 86) Although
the manor of Stafford was restored to Edward's son
Henry in 1531, (fn. 87) the advowson of St. Mary's
remained with the Crown.
When Buckingham became patron in 1446 he had
been licensed to endow a chantry in St. Mary's with
lands and rents worth 100 marks. (fn. 88) No trace of this
appears in the survey of church revenues made in
1535. By this date there was only one chantry in St.
Mary's, that of St. Thomas the Martyr, which had
been founded by Thomas Counter probably in the
late 15th century for a chaplain to celebrate mass
daily and keep a school. (fn. 89) In 1535 its revenues were
£4 7s. a year. (fn. 90)
In the survey of 1535 (fn. 91) separate names were given
for the nine prebends of St. Mary's which formerly
had shared the name of Whitgreave: Swetnam,
Blurton, Hervy, Walsall, (fn. 92) Sandall, Orberton,
Denston, Potrell, (fn. 93) and Croft. Their assessments
were low, together amounting to only £5 8s. 8d.;
Coton, Marston, and Salt were still the only prebends of real value. The deanery's assets included
the chapel of Hopton (here called a prebend), which
was annexed to it, as was Castle Church; the
dean also received annual pensions from the
prebends of Coton, Marston, and Salt and from the
chapels of Creswell, Ingestre, and Tixall. The list of
chapels within the liberty of St. Mary's now included not only Creswell, (fn. 94) Ingestre, and Tixall but
also the hospitals of St. John and St. Leonard in
Forebridge and the chapel of St. Nicholas within
Stafford castle; these three lay within the parish of
Castle Church and had been founded by the
ancestors of Lord Stafford, who held the advowsons. (fn. 95) St. Nicholas's acted as a parish church for
the inhabitants of the castle and its park, except that
burial was at St. Mary's, Stafford, (fn. 96) since Castle
Church (St. Nicholas's mother-church) was appropriated to the deanery.
The surveys of chantries and collegiate churches
ordered in 1546 and 1548 as a prelude to their
dissolution (fn. 97) give a clearer picture of the organization of the college of Stafford and its annexed
churches than the surviving evidence for earlier
periods can afford. The dean and canons were
represented in St. Mary's by four priest vicars;
these were paid at the rate of £5 a year by the dean
and three of the prebendaries (those of Coton,
Marston, and Salt), who maintained one each. (fn. 98)
Besides these four priests there were four 'lay' or
'clerk' vicars (fn. 99) to sing the services; these were said
in 1546 to be paid 8s. each a year, (fn. 100) and in 1548 to
share revenues worth £4 13s. 4d. a year, each taking
£1 3s. 4d. (fn. 101) The Prebendary of Coton, who was also
sacrist, provided at his own cost the wine and wax
needed for the services. (fn. 102) Thomas Counter's chantry
priest sang morrow mass and kept a school in the
church. (fn. 103) Priests serving Castle Church and Hopton
were paid by the dean, (fn. 104) who drew the revenues of
these churches. Chapels at Marston and Salt were
served by priests paid by the prebendaries of
Marston (fn. 105) and Salt (fn. 106) respectively. It seems likely that
the holders of the nine Whitgreave prebends did no
more than draw their small incomes: in 1548 it was
not even known whether the Prebendary of Sandall
was still alive. (fn. 107)
The college was dissolved in 1548 under the Act
of 1547. (fn. 108) The pensions granted to its members (fn. 109)
represented compensation for what they were in
fact receiving whether in direct payments or as a
result of leases already in force. Dean Leighton had
leased the deanery for a pepper-corn, (fn. 110) and this
meant that he got no pension. The prebendaries of
Salt, Coton, and Marston were awarded £1 10s., £5,
and £6 respectively. The Whitgreave prebendaries
received almost complete compensation, the vicars
choral £5 each, and the clerk vicars £1. The
Prebendary of Denston and one of the vicars choral
were appointed to serve St. Mary's, their stipends
being £16 and £8 respectively. (fn. 111) The priests of Salt
and Hopton chapels were pensioned off, but the
chaplain of Marston was retained to serve his
chapel at a stipend of £8. Thomas Counter's chantry
priest was kept on as schoolmaster at a salary of
£4 5s. a year paid by the Crown, and in addition in
1550 revenues worth £20 a year were granted by
Edward VI to the burgesses of Stafford to make the
foundation into a grammar school, with one master
and one assistant. (fn. 112)
Some of the college's property was disposed of
within a few years; the rest was kept by the Crown
until 1571 when Elizabeth I granted it to the
burgesses of Stafford. The assets of the deanery,
worth £44 8s. 2d. a year, were given to Henry, Lord
Stafford, in April 1550. (fn. 113) Four of the Whitgreave
prebends, Swetnam, Blurton, Walsall, and Hervy,
were sold to two gentlemen of London in April
1549, (fn. 114) and the disused chapels and graveyards of
Salt and Hopton to two other Londoners in July. (fn. 115)
Three more Londoners bought the house of the
vicars choral in the same month. (fn. 116) Part of the endowment of Thomas Counter's chantry was sold
to two Londoners in March 1549, (fn. 117) but the rest,
together with property given to maintain lights in
the parish churches of Stafford and Castle Church,
and the lands of the clerk vicars, went to local
buyers, Walter and Edward Leveson, in July
1550. (fn. 118) The property in Whitgreave belonging to
the prebends of Coton and Marston was sold to
speculators in 1553 and 1554. (fn. 119) This left in the
hands of the Crown five of the Whitgreave prebends
(Croft, Potrell, Sandall, Denston, and Orberton),
the prebend of Salt, and the prebends of Coton and
Marston less their Whitgreave lands and less
Marston's tithes in Stafford which had been granted
in 1550 to the grammar school. It was this remaining
property (and not the whole endowment of the
former collegiate church) which Elizabeth gave in
1571 to the burgesses of Stafford. At this date it was
worth £41 2s. 10d. a year. Out of it the stipends
granted in 1548-9 to the three priests (two for St.
Mary's, Stafford, and one for Marston) and the
schoolmaster had to be met; the rest was to be
applied to the repair of St. Mary's church and to
works of charity in Stafford. (fn. 120)
Even the privileged jurisdiction belonging to the
collegiate church, which in the case of some royal
chapels passed to the new owners of the deanery and
survived until the 19th century, came to an end in
Stafford at the dissolution. It seems likely that this
was because Henry, Lord Stafford, did not retain
the ownership of the deanery but soon disposed of it
to a London merchant among whose heirs it was
subsequently partitioned. (fn. 121) The jurisdiction lapsed
to the bishop. (fn. 122)
The collegiate buildings included the deanery
house, which formed part of the grant to Lord
Stafford in 1550, (fn. 123) and the 'capital messuage of the
priests of the late collegiate church', so described
when it was sold by the Crown to a group of speculators in 1549. (fn. 124) The latter stood on the south side
of the churchyard and eventually came into the
hands of the corporation. Known as the College
House, it was normally held by the master of the
grammar school from at least 1615 until the 1720s,
but by then it was decayed. Most of it was demolished between 1736 and 1738 and a workhouse
established in some of the outbuildings. (fn. 125)
Deans
William de C. (predecessor of Robert). (fn. 126)
Robert, occurs temp. Henry II. (fn. 127)
Ralph of the Hospital, occurs at some time
between 1184 and 1190, resigned 1207. (fn. 128)
Henry of London, appointed 1207, elected Archbishop of Dublin 1213. (fn. 129)
Bartholomew, appointed by King John, occurs
1227. (fn. 130)
Master Walter of Lench, appointed 1231, occurs
1246. (fn. 131)
Simon of Offham, appointed 1247, resigned
1259. (fn. 132)
Bevis de Clare, appointed 1259, died 1294. (fn. 133)
Master John of Caen (de Cadamo), appointed
1294, died 1310. (fn. 134)
Master Lewis de Beaumont, appointed 1310,
provided to the bishopric of Durham 1317. (fn. 135)
Thomas Charlton, D.C.L., appointed 1317, resigned 1318. (fn. 136)
Robert of Sandall, appointed 1318, resigned
1325. (fn. 137)
Robert Holden, appointed 1325, deprived 1326
as a supporter of Edward II. (fn. 138)
Robert Swynnerton, appointed 1326, died 1349. (fn. 139)
Nicholas Swynnerton, appointed 1349, died
probably 1356. (fn. 140)
James Beaufort, appointed 1356, died 1358. (fn. 141)
John of Bishopston, appointed 1358, probably
resigned 1366. (fn. 142)
Robert More, appointed 1366, resigned by
February 1376. (fn. 143)
Adam Hartington, appointed 1376, died 1380. (fn. 144)
William Pakington, appointed 1380, died 1390. (fn. 145)
Master Lawrence Allerthorpe, appointed 1390,
resigned 1397. (fn. 146)
Master John Syggeston, appointed 1397, died
1402. (fn. 147)
Robert Tunstall, LL.B., appointed 1402, resigned 1406. (fn. 148)
John Mackworth, appointed 1406, died 1451. (fn. 149)
William Wore, occurs 1452, resigned 1463. (fn. 150)
Master Thomas Hawkins, appointed 1463, occurs
at some time between 1467 and 1471. (fn. 151)
Name unknown, died 1501. (fn. 152)
John Thower, resigned 1524. (fn. 153)
Thomas Parker, D.Can.L., appointed 1524, died
1538. (fn. 154)
Edward Leighton, S.T.B., appointed 1538, dean
at the dissolution. (fn. 155)
No seal is known.