FRIARIES
18. DOMINICANS, CAMBRIDGE
Almost from its beginning the convent of
Black Friars in Cambridge was second only to the
Oxford house in the system of Dominican education. In 1221 thirteen Dominicans came first to
England; (fn. 1) but we do not know the date of their
arrival in Cambridge or how they first acquired
the land upon which they settled, (fn. 2) and where
they remained until the Dissolution. It lay in the
parish of St. Andrew, just outside Barnwell gate, (fn. 3)
and the Hundred Rolls state that 'houses in
which many inhabited' had been pulled down to
clear the site. (fn. 4) Later the house gave its name to
Preachers' Ward. The first record of the house
is a royal gift of 3 oaks to build the chapel in
1238, (fn. 5) and this probably implies recent arrival;
permission was granted in April 1240 for enlargement of the cemetery by closing a lane south of
the church, (fn. 6) followed in August by a grant of
money from the king. (fn. 7) In 1242 Henry III gave
5 marks to buy timber (fn. 8) and 20 marks for the
fabric of the church, (fn. 9) and 6 tree-trunks were sent
from Weybridge forest to the Friars Preachers in
Cambridge to build their church. (fn. 10) In June 1244,
6 more oaks, with fallen wood, were given for the
same purpose, (fn. 11) and by November 1248 the work
had got as far as the choir, for which a further
6 oaks were granted. (fn. 12) Already the friars were
exercising their special function of combating
heresy, for a mandate to the sheriff 'to carry before
the King's Council a certain heretic whom the
Friars Preachers of Cambridge would deliver to
him', in August 1240, (fn. 13) is one of the rare allusions to 13th-century unorthodoxy in England.
In 1246 advantage was taken of the enlarged
churchyard for another special function of the
Order; Cardinal William of St. Sabina, going
as Papal Legate to Norway, was delayed for 2
months at Lynn by contrary winds, and, coming
to Cambridge, preached in the Black Friars cemetery before a great assembly on the love of the
saints for the Holy Name of Jesus. (fn. 14)
It was laid down at the General Chapter of
1246 that a studium generale must be provided in
each of the provinces of Provence, Lombardy, and
England, and in each two friars must be sent to
study, (fn. 15) and in 1261 the English studium generale
was fixed at Oxford. (fn. 16) Nevertheless, within 20
years of the first appearance of the Black Friars
at Cambridge, that university had become one of
the very few to possess a faculty of theology;
Dominican and Franciscan influence had brought
about that in the English province alone two
centres enjoyed this carefully guarded privilege. (fn. 17)
The earliest reference occurs about 1259 in connexion with William of Kilkenny's students in
theology, but this reference takes the existence of
the faculty back to 1250, or little later. (fn. 18) There
are also two stories of Cambridge lectors which,
since they are found in the 'Lives of the Brethren',
relate to a time before 1260. (fn. 19) One, indeed, may
go back to the first period of the Order, when the
brethren were more conscious of their close connexion with the Augustinian Canons. It relates
how Brother William, lector in the University of
Cambridge, appeared after death to Benedict,
sub-prior of the Cambridge house, and with him
'one wearing a fair crown of gold'. Benedict asked
the spirit how he fared, and the crowned companion answered in the words of St. Augustine
(with whom he is evidently identified) 'Ecce
decoratus est una stola, securusque de reliqua'. (fn. 20)
The other story tells how Brother Seyer, 'well
known for his life and learning and a lector in the
University of Cambridge', knew an 'honourable
personage' who had seen a glory descend from
heaven upon the heads of the friars as they sang
'the anthem of Blessed Mary after Compline'. (fn. 21)
About 1262 William Ringesham, their first
Cambridge Doctor of Divinity, was admitted to
that degree. (fn. 22)
Another sign of the secure footing of the friars
in Cambridge by the middle of the 13th century
is that people were depositing documents with
them for safe custody, as with the older religious
Orders. In 1253 the prior had on deposit charters
concerning the manor of Ellerton-on-Swale,
which belonged to Robert Sorel who was 'in
France with the king's enemies'; (fn. 23) and in 1260
the bond by which Eustace, son of Hervey
Dunning, mortgaged his land to Guy of Barnard
Castle in acknowledgement of a debt of £100 was
also deposited with him. (fn. 24)
Soon after the arrival of the Dominicans in
England the province was divided into four Visitations or Vicaries, Cambridge being the head of
one. Its exact limits are unknown, but it included
the seven houses of Black Friars in Norwich
diocese and certain others. (fn. 25) Nor is it exactly
known when a royal pension was first paid to the
Cambridge Dominicans for their maintenance, and
especially for their advancement in learning. The
earliest recorded disbursement is on 11 October
1289 when Edward I gave 50 marks each to the
houses of Black and Grey Friars of Oxford and
25 marks each to those of Cambridge. (fn. 26) The
£8 6s. 8d. for the half-year paid to Brothers
William de Haselford and Nicholas de Stanton in
1289 appeared as a private royal alms, (fn. 27) but in
1304 Edward, being on his Scottish campaign,
sent a mandate to the Exchequer for its annual payment, (fn. 28) and thereafter it was renewed at the beginning of each reign, (fn. 29) and the last renewal was
that of Henry VIII in 1509. (fn. 30) The pension was
specifically an educational grant, and though
usually was not always paid to the Cambridge
prior. In 1304 both half-yearly instalments, for
Oxford and Cambridge alike, were paid to friars
of the York convent; that in May through
Thomas Middleton the prior. (fn. 31) In April 1331
William Malebraunche, the first Cambridge prior
about whose name there is certainty, received the
royal pension for his house. (fn. 32)
In 1277, when he was at Waterbeach on
14 March, Edward I made the first of the moneygrants for the day's food, reckoned at 4d. a head,
from which it is possible to estimate the number
of friars in the Cambridge house from time to
time. On this occasion he gave 38s. 3d. for 2 days'
maintenance, implying 57 or 58 friars. In 1289
he gave 50s. and in February 1297, when he
stayed for 2 days in the priory, he gave 39s. 4d.
for 2 days' food, which should imply respectively
75 and 60. Edward II gave 18s. 4d. to Brother
Henry de Sturgoil, in 1326, for 1 day's food for
55 friars; and Edward III, passing through Cambridge on 28 September 1328, gave 20s. 4d. to
Brother John de Tykenhale, 'being a groat to
each of 61 friars'. (fn. 33) Though the numbers
fluctuate they probably never fell below 50 at this
time. The trouble about incepting in theology
without ruling in arts had already begun in 1253,
and if, as seems probable, there were by the end
of the 13th century between 150 and 200 Mendicants in Cambridge, the University may have
feared being swamped by students who did not
wholly conform to its system; and the reaction
against them was increased by estrangement
between the two original Orders. At the worst
moment of this estrangement, which grew out
of the controversy about Aquinas' doctrine of
matter, (fn. 34) not only did some of the Dominicans
speak evil of the Franciscans in general, but in
1285 Archbishop Pecham was attacked in a
pamphlet by a Cambridge Dominican. (fn. 35) The
Black Friars are said to have received support
almost equivalent to a fresh foundation from
Alice widow of Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford. (fn. 36)
About this time they enlarged their site, and the
great church which was destroyed at the Dissolution was so far finished by 1286 that it was consecrated by William de Fresney, titular Bishop of
Edessa, during the vacancy after the death of
Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely. (fn. 37) In 1293 the
friars acquired 2 acres adjoining their precincts
as part of the enlargement and rebuilding of the
convent. (fn. 38)
In 1303 the quarrel with the University
reached a climax in the excommunication of two
Dominicans by the Chancellor and their expulsion from the University. (fn. 39) The friars appealed
to the Pope and the parties appointed proctors, but
both sets of proctors (as Fuller puts it) (fn. 40) 'taking
wit in their way' and considering the costliness of
the journey and of the court of Rome, remitted the
case to Thomas de Jon, Cardinal of St. Sabina and
Protector of the Order, a former English Provincial
who was at Bordeaux. The cardinal's decision left
the main question of the adjustment of the faculty
in the air, but the practical outcome was a victory
for the friars: no Act of the Regent House was to
affect their rights, the Chancellor of the University
was to retract the excommunications, and the
expelled friars were to be readmitted if they so
desired: although by the statutes of the University
only the Chancellor or his assignee might preach
on Advent Sunday, Septuagesima, and Ash Wednesday, yet the friars of each Order were to be free
to preach on those days and at the same hour,
within their own convents; and whereas all
bachelors incepting in Divinity were bound to
preach their sermon ad clerum in St. Mary's, friars
might, on giving notice to the Chancellor, preach
this sermon in their own convents. (fn. 41) The dispute
shows that Cambridge was fully recognized as a
place of study for Dominican theologians, although no Pope declared it a studium generale
until 1318, (fn. 42) and that the Mendicants' houses
were, as Caius remembered them after the
Reformation, (fn. 43) considered in some sort as colleges.
The 14th century was a period of activity
among the Cambridge Black Friars. Five
General Chapters are known to have been held in
this country, the last in 1335, but none of these at
Cambridge. There were, however, Provincial
Chapters there in 1309, 1324, 1336, possibly
1339, 1348, 1366, and finally in 1426. (fn. 44) In
1309 Edward II gave £10 through John de
Wrotham, the London prior, being £5 for his
own good estate and £5 for his father's soul. In
October he gave a further £5 towards the expenses of the chapter on behalf of Queen Isabel,
whom he had married in the interval. Each sum
of £5 represented one day's maintenance for the
whole of the friars assembled, and, if the allowance was at the usual rate of 4d. a day each, the
attendance was reckoned at about 300. (fn. 45) The
chapter was held for three days about the feast of
the Assumption, and royal alms of £5 for each of
the three days was again given in 1324, 1336,
1347, and 1366. (fn. 46) Simon Boraston, a Cambridge
graduate, who was Provincial from 1328 to the
chapter of 1336, was arrested in 1330 for complicity in the alleged plot of Edmund, Earl of
Kent, against the regime of Isabel and Mortimer
but seems to have suffered no further interference. (fn. 47)
At the onset of the Black Death, Thomas Lisle,
Bishop of Ely, himself a Dominican who had
made his mark as a theologian at Cambridge, was
abroad. He appointed a large number of priests,
friars among them, to act as confessors during the
emergency, (fn. 48) but on 15 September he withdrew
his licence from all the hastily appointed penitentiaries except the Sacrist and one other monk of
Ely, the Cambridge Franciscan Warden, and three
Cambridge Dominicans of whom one, Thomas
Ringstead, was given special powers in cases
usually reserved, while another Professor of
Theology was to act for the Wisbech district. (fn. 49)
On 30 November 1349 Robert de Bulmer,
another Cambridge Dominican, was appointed
penitentiary under the ordinary conditions, (fn. 50) and
in March 1350 the Franciscan Warden and
Henry de Kyrkeby, Dominican Professor of
Theology at Cambridge, were similarly appointed.
The bishop had returned and the situation was
apparently normal.
There is no evidence about the incidence of the
plague among the Cambridge Dominicans, but
neither the Black Death, nor disturbances within
the Order, did much to check their influence. At
this time bequests to the 'Four Orders' were very
common from people in every station of life and
in amounts ranging from 5d. to £10. Small bequests to the four convents in Cambridge, (fn. 51) some
of which discriminated in favour of the Dominicans, are far too many to enumerate, but in 1356
Elizabeth Bohun, Countess of Northampton, left
the large sum of £50 to the Cambridge Dominicans. (fn. 52) Thomas Ringstead, himself one of their
number, and a Professor of Theology in 1349,
became Bishop of Bangor in 1357: he died early
in 1366, leaving his missal to the convent, and
his great breviary to be perpetually chained in
the middle of the choir between the prior and
the master-regent. He also left £20 to found a
chest from which the students might borrow 10s.
on sufficient pledge, the master-regent and master
of the students to keep the keys and render
yearly accounts. (fn. 53)
From 9 September to 7 October 1388 the only
Parliament ever held in Cambridge sat at the
Black Friars there, (fn. 54) and when it rose a sum of
20 marks was awarded to the friars in compensation for damage and inconvenience. (fn. 55) In the
same year their own Provincial Chapter at Lincoln issued decrees regulating the promotion of
Dominicans to degrees in both universities and
appointing certain friars to read the sentences in
Oxford and Cambridge. (fn. 56) In 1390 royal mandates were issued forbidding Dominican friars to
cross the seas for degrees, (fn. 57) and these were probably aimed at the nominees of the Master
General, against whom the king was acting with
the Provincial Chapter and the University. In
1393 the Master General, Raymond of Capua,
appointed two Visitors extraordinary, one for the
vicaries of London and la Marche (i.e. Oxford)
and one, William Bagthorpe, prior of the convent
at Lynn, for those of Cambridge and York; (fn. 58) and
in 1397 he appointed Richard Bachon Vicar of
the Visitation of Cambridge. (fn. 59) Bagthorpe and
Bachon are the only two vicars of the Cambridge
Visitation (or 'Vicary') whose names have been
found. It is therefore impossible to say whether
in more normal times the Conventual Prior of
Cambridge and the head of the Cambridge Visitation were two separate persons—on the analogy of
the Franciscan Custos and Warden (fn. 60) —or whether
the Cambridge prior normally exercised jurisdiction over the convents of the whole Visitation.
By the beginning of the 15th century this included King's Langley, (fn. 61) Dunstable, and Stamford as well as the houses in the Norwich diocese, (fn. 62)
and the registers of the Bishops of Ely show that
the parishioners of Thorney and Whittlesey were
within the limites of the Dominicans of Stamford,
who were licensed as confessors and collected
alms in that neighbourhood. The limits of the
Cambridge convent itself are unknown, but they
probably covered the rest of the diocese of Ely.
Dominicans of Cambridge are found acting as
penitentiaries for the deanery of Wisbech.
In 1399 the English Dominicans lost a friend
in Richard II. Their disaffection towards Henry
IV did not apparently bring serious trouble on the
Cambridge house. In June 1402 John Norwych,
its prior, and John Lakynhethe, one of the friars,
were, it is true, committed as prisoners to the
Tower of London, (fn. 63) but no more is heard of their
punishment.
In March 1400 the Dominicans of Ireland
petitioned (fn. 64) for a confirmation of ordinances made
at the Chapter General in London in 1314, by
which two Irish students of their Order might be
maintained at Oxford, Cambridge, and London. (fn. 65)
Walter Sorel, an Irish friar, had been assigned to
lecture in Cambridge in 1350, (fn. 66) but the Chapter
General had to ask the master to expedite his
appointment. The friction continued, and in
1426 the Chapter General ordered that Irish
brethren were not to remain in England, and in
particular no Irish friar was to remain in Oxford
or Cambridge on the excuse of study, except the
two assigned to each university for the purpose. (fn. 67)
In the accounts of John Botwright, Master of
Corpus Christi 1443-74, (fn. 68) on three occasions,
Nicholas Meryll, Friar Preacher, appears as contractor for putting in windows at the college, (fn. 69)
and a Christmas alms of 4d. seems to have been
given to the Black Friars at this time: John Botwright notes that he gave this amount 'to a certain
Friar Preacher in alms, as at other times at Christmas', 'to the Friar Preacher with the Fellows'
consent, as one year's alms', and once 'in alms to
a certain Friar Preacher, so that he may not pester
the Fellows of the College at Christmas'. (fn. 70) On
23 November 1463 Meryll, now Prior of the
Cambridge convent, claimed £6 5s. 9d. of the
royal grant due from the sheriff of Beds. and
Bucks. (fn. 71) In 1475 he was at Lynn, and various
privileges, over and above the coveted possession
of a camera or study to himself and a little garden
granted by the Order, were there confirmed to
him by the Master General, in whose register it
was recorded that Nicholas Meryll had many
friends and relations who were benefactors of the
Order, and were therefore received as participants
in its prayers. (fn. 72) In 1487 he was again at Cambridge, and was licensed as penitentiary by the
Bishop of Ely. (fn. 73)
William Edmundson is described as prior at
Cambridge in a will dated 6 March 1464, by
which he was left the De Regimine Principium of
Egidius Romanus; (fn. 74) he paid his fee of £5 6s. 8d.
on incepting in 1467 (fn. 75) and became Provincial in
1470. (fn. 76) On the other hand, hardly anything is
known of Friar Clay, prior in 1484, except what
can be found in the Grace Book, where his whole
academic career can be traced. (fn. 77) Thus in 1482-3
he deposited the fourth book of the Sentences as his
caution on entering for 'opposition' in theology,
and in the following year, when he had become
prior, he had a grace shortening his course in the
faculty; in 1485-6 he was excused payment of the
20d. 'commons' and deposited 2 bibles and 'a little
red book' on admission ad incipiendum; in 1486-7
the fee of 8 marks was received from Master Clay,
doctor in theology.
The academic aspect of the Cambridge convent becomes increasingly prominent in late 15thand early 16th-century wills, although as early as
1361 Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and
Essex, had left £10 to 'the students' in the Oxford
and Cambridge friaries. (fn. 78) Thus in 1489 Alice
Padington, widow of Thomas Padington, fishmonger of London, provided that 'oon welldisposed frere' of the London Black Friars
'exercising his lernyng in Oxford and in Cambridge in divinitie' should sing for her soul and for
those of her two husbands in the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge for the space of six years
after her death: (fn. 79) in 1510 Richard Crispe of
Northampton gave 'to them that be students in
divinitie in Oxford ij and in Cambridge other ij
every yere', among the four Orders in Northampton, 20s. apiece until £20 should have been
spent for his soul; (fn. 80) at the same time the friars,
like the 'possessioner' Orders, were becoming
more lax in seeking licence to hold benefices and
'remain without the Order'. In 1497 Brother
John Laknam, of the Cambridge convent, had
such a licence, and was allowed to have a chapel
or chantry. (fn. 81)
Membership of the confraternity of a friary and
burial in its church was very general. John
Brandon of Isleham in 1506 leaves 10s. to the
'friars dominike in Cambridge where I am a
brother'; John Hals, rector of Orwell, was buried
in the church of the Friars Preachers in December 1406; and in his will, dated 4 March 1448,
Richard Warbulton, citizen and ironmonger of
London, left 3s. 4d. to the Friars Preachers of
Cambridge, where the body of his father lay
buried. (fn. 82) The last 40 years or so of their existence
afford some glimpses of this great church of the
Black Friars, and the part which it and they
played in the life of town and University. In
1500 John Hesewell of Cambridge left the Black
Friars a considerable bequest, including a covered
cup of silver-gilt, which he had redeemed for
them for 66s. 8d., and a candlestick which was to
be fixed before the altar of St. Nicholas; (fn. 83) and in
1506 Master Henry Rudde, a physician of Bury
St. Edmunds, gave them 20 marks 'towards the
peynting of the ix ordrys of aungelis'. (fn. 84) In addition to the other bequests given them in his will,
made in 1509, the Cambridge Black Friars had,
on his death in 1513, as their share of the stuff
of the Earl of Oxford's private chapel, an image
of St. Peter in silver-gilt, representing him as Pope
with a tiara garnished with stones and pearls. (fn. 85)
In 1515 comes the first mention of the image of
Our Lady of Grace which for a few years drew
such great crowds to the church. John Wartell
of Bury St. Edmunds bequeathed 12d. to 'Our
Lady of Grace in the Black Fryers in Cambridge'. (fn. 86)
In 1517 Thomas Kersey of March left 40s.
among the four Orders in Cambridge and 6s. 8d.
to 'Our Lady of Grace in the same Towne'. (fn. 87)
In 1521 Agnes Bowyer of Over willed that
Thomas Wryght her 'gostly Father' should visit
or cause to be visited 'Our Lady of Redybunde,
St. Andrew and St. Pernell of Ely, Our Lady of
Grace of the Black Fryers in Cambridge, and Our
Lady of Whitehill' there to offer for her 'a halfpenny or a penny at his pleasure'; (fn. 88) and in 1527
John Baker of Fen Ditton left 12d. to a priest
to say three masses before the image. (fn. 89) In 1491
Bishop Alcock had granted an indulgence of 40
days to all who visited the high altar of the Friars
Preachers' Church on the Monday after Palm
Sunday, Easter Monday, the Vigil of the Assumption, and the Sunday after the Feast of the Relics,
at which times the Gilds of St. Peter Martyr and
of St. Ursula held their devotions there. (fn. 90)
The disintegrating effect of the 'new learning'
was already felt in the University convents, and in
the country houses the Dominican educational
system was breaking down. In 1525, too late
to make much difference, Francis Silvester, the
Master General, issued a mandate to the English
Provincial and to the Priors of Oxford, Cambridge, London, York, and Salisbury (fn. 91) to enforce
the rule that every house in the province must
send a student to Oxford or Cambridge, paying
'two angels or three ducats' at least for the annual
support of its own student. (fn. 92) At about this time
Robert Buckenham, (fn. 93) who had taken his B.D.
here in 1524 and then continued his studies at
Bologna, became prior at Cambridge. In 1526 he,
with another English Dominican, was sent back
'to restore the strict observance' in the Province
of England. He answered Latimer's famous 'card
sermon' in 1529, and was one of his chief opponents. In 1530-1, with Robert Ellis, a former
prior, he took the degree of D.D. During the
spring of 1534 John Hodgkin, the Provincial of
the Black Friars, a Cambridge graduate and a
member of the Sudbury convent, was superseded
by the king's appointment of John Hilsey, the
London Prior, who, with George Browne,
Provincial of the Austin Friars, was given a commission to visit all 'Five Orders' with equal
jurisdiction (fn. 94) and to act as Master General of his
own Order within the kingdom. Buckenham fled,
and John Gough wrote to Cranmer that, as he expected, 'Dr. Buckenham is an exile from our parts;
he is one who will do mischief wherever he is....
In his place is appointed one of like fame, like
judgement, I will not say learning, by name
Olyver ... at Cambridge they cry out that it is
a disgrace that he, who knows nothing but cookery,
should be set over others. There are at that convent many young men whom his authority will
easily lead from the truth. Certainly he has never
favoured higher learning, and old bottles cannot
bear new wine.' (fn. 95) Oliver's sermons against the
divorce preached that Lent, and Gough's disparagement, convinced Cranmer that the prior
was no true reformer and on 7 June he wrote to
Cromwell that he was of all men most unfitted
to bear rule in so noble a University, especially as
there were among the Cambridge Dominicans
'men of good study, living, learning and judgement' and it was a pity they should have such a
head. (fn. 96) Nevertheless, when Hilsey was rewarded
with the see of Rochester in the following year,
Oliver succeeded him as Prior of Bristol. He was
in trouble again in 1537, and probably fled the
realm. (fn. 97) During 1535-6 John Hardyman, Prior
of the Austin Friars, and Gregory Dodds, Prior
of the Dominicans, received graces to proceed at
once to the B.D. degree; both were advanced
reformers and each subsequently surrendered his
convent. Dodds had studied 5 years at Cambridge
and 5 at Louvain. He was apparently under the
direct orders of Hilsey, who as Bishop of Rochester
was still 'Master General, Provincial and Prior'
and, with Browne, was at Cambridge preparing
the way for the suppression of the friaries. In
1536-7 the Common Schools and the Library
were being repaired and the Junior Proctors'
accounts suggest that the Black Friars' buildings
were already being dismantled. New lead was
carried to the convent and there, it seems, wrought
into webs, but £5 13s. 4d. was paid to 'Master
Generall of the Blake Frers' for a fodder and a half
of lead 'almost all in Webbs' already, (fn. 98) and 6d. to
a carrier for bringing 7 cwt. of lead from the
Blackfriars to Benet College 'which the University borrowed of them', and for carrying 'the gret
long ladder from the scholys to the blake frers'.
On 30 August 1538 Hilsey sent Gregory Dodds
to Cromwell with the request that he might remove the image of Our Lady of Grace from the
people's sight, because he could not well bear
'syche ydolatrye'. Large numbers of pilgrims
were still coming to her shrine especially at the
time of Sturbridge Fair. (fn. 99) It is perhaps worth
remarking that the permission sought was for
removal, not for destruction: there is some reason
to think that it may have escaped destruction
altogether and may be the late-15th-century
wooden figure of the mater amabilis brought from
Emmanuel, which is at present in the Roman
Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English
Martyrs at Cambridge. At the same time that
Dodds went upon this mission he asked that his
house might itself be taken into the king's hand
'to be put to such use as his grace should think
best', and shortly afterwards the priory was surrendered, but the surrender, which is subscribed
by Gregory Dodds, Robert Parens the sub-prior,
and fourteen others, is neither sealed nor dated. (fn. 100)
The surrendered priory was put into the hands
of William Standyssh, Principal of St. Nicholas
Hostel, to hold 'to the King's use', and when the
commissioners came they found that here, as at
the other friaries, the 'religious persons' and servants' were 'dispersed and gone'. The lands and
site they valued at 20s.; the movables had been
taken away by the Visitors at the surrender, and
the debts of the house paid by them: the iron,
glass, and stone remained 'and the house undefaced until the King's pleasure be further
known'; there were also the bells and the lead. (fn. 101)
On 12 December 1539 the Crown leased 'lez
Blak Freres', with orchards, gardens, and dovecotes, to William Shirwood of Cambridge for 21
years, (fn. 102) but in 1544 the buildings (with the usual
reservation of lead) were granted to Edward
Elrington, (fn. 103) who must at once have set about pulling
them down, for the spoils of the Black Friars
appear in the churchwardens' accounts of Great
St. Mary's for 1545, when 4d. was paid to Mr.
Dowsey for viewing the timber, and 48s. to 'Mr.
Bedell' for stone at the Black Friars; a further
payment of 40s. to Mr. Meere, the Bedell, for
stone from the Black Friars appears in 'the charges
about the churchyard wall'. (fn. 104) When Sir Walter
Mildmay founded Emmanuel College on the site
in 1584, he was at pains that his 'spearhead of
puritanism' should preserve as few traces as possible of the former priory, and in particular that
the chapel should not stand upon the site of the
friars' church; considerable remains of the foundations of that church are, however, incorporated in
the present buttery.
Of the sixteen friars who signed the surrender
Dodds (fn. 105) and John Scory (fn. 106) attained some distinction.
To the former Cranmer gave the living of Smarden in Kent: he became Dean of Exeter in 1560
and in 1562 sat in Convocation and signed the
39 Articles. He was a signatory to the 'Petition
for Discipline' and to another petition, sent up
from the lower house to the bishops, which
desired the disuse of 'curious singing, and playing
on organs', the cross in baptism, and copes and
surplices. He died about 1570. Scory became
Cranmer's chaplain and prospered under Edward
VI. He preached at the burning of Joan Bocher,
was made Bishop of Rochester in 1551 and translated to Chichester in 1552. He had married, but
conformed under Mary and dismissed his wife.
Later he fled to Geneva, where he ministered to
a refugee English congregation. He returned to
England under Elizabeth and became Bishop of
Hereford in 1559. His chief claim to fame is that
he took part in the consecration of Archbishop
Parker. He died in 1585 at a great age.
By some means a number of the Dominicans'
books, like those of the Cambridge Franciscans,
found their way to Rome before 1545. The
manuscripts now in the Ottoboni collection which
can be assigned with some degree of certainty to
the Cambridge Dominican library are contained
in 10 volumes, and of these 8 bear inscriptions
which make their provenance indisputable. (fn. 107) They
include the Cur Deus Homo and De Similitudinibus
of St. Anselm; Boethius De Trinitate; the Itinerary of St. Clement; two copies of the Dialogues
of St. Gregory (one bound up with the Itinerary);
the Summa of Alexander Hales; Hugh of St.
Victor's De Institutione Noviciorum; the Summa
Casuum of Bartholomew de S. Concordio, a tractate of metaphysics; Aquinas on the Four Books
of the Sentences; the 'Distinctions' of Nicholas
Gorham, who may himself have been a Cambridge Dominican; and L. Curtii de rebus gestis
ab Alexandro Magno. There is less biblical
matter and more scholastic theology among these
volumes than in the corresponding books from the
Franciscan house; but, on the other hand, Leland (fn. 108)
found that the Friars Preacher, had, in 1536, a
complete vernacular Bible. In addition to this he
notes only Fishacre's Commentary on the Sentences, a Bartholomew Anglicus De Proprietatibus
Rerum, and Nicholas Trivet super Valerium de
non ducenda Uxore. As none of these found their
way to the Vatican it may reasonably be supposed
that those volumes which had gone abroad by
1545 had already gone by 1536, and that Leland's
list represents all, or almost all, that were left.
Prior Buckenham was author of a treatise De
reconciliatione locorum S. Scripturae, which exists
in manuscript in the English College at Rome. (fn. 109)
Priors of the Dominicans (fn. 110)
[Henry de Strigoil 1325] (fn. 111)
William de Malebraunche, occurs 1331
William de Morden, occurs 1338, 1340 (fn. 112)
John Norwych, occurs 1393, 1402
John Markant, or Markham, occurs 1416-1428
Robert Gazeley, occurs 1455
Nicholas Meryll, occurs 1463
William Edmundson, occurs 1464-1473
John Miriell, occurs 1477
— Clay, occurs 1484-7
Robert Jullys, occurs 1508-10
John Pickering, 1525(?) (fn. 113)
Dr. Ellys (fn. 114)
Robert Buckenham, D.D., c. 1531-4
William Oliver, appointed 1543
Gregory Dodds, B.D., surrendered 1538
A vesica seal of the early 14th century ascribed
to the Black Friars shows in the upper part Christ
seated under a canopy, of which the supporting
pilasters enclose two friars kneeling face to face;
below them are two arches of a bridge. Legend:
.... CĀTABRIG.
A somewhat later seal shows a half-length
figure of the Blessed Virgin with the Child
between censing angels. Above is a half-length
figure of Christ, and below a friar in adoration.
Legend: s' PRIORIS PRE ..... CANTEBRIG.
What is called 'the counter-seal of the Black
Friars' shows the Annunciation under a double
canopy. Above is the Rood and below a kneeling
friar. Legend indecipherable. (fn. 115)