COLLEGE
18. THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, DERBY (fn. 1)
In the days of the Confessor Derby was an
important centre of the Anglo-Saxon Church.
There were then within the borough no fewer
than six churches. Two of these on the royal
demesne were of a collegiate character; the one
served by seven clerks, who held 2 carucates
of land in Little Chester; the other by six
clerks who held 9 bovates of land in
Cornun (Quarndon) and 'Delton,' the latter
place-name being an error of the Domesday
scribe for Eaton, i.e. Little Eaton. There can
be no doubt that the church of All Saints was
one of these two collegiate churches, and in all
probability the one to which seven clerks were
attached.
The church of All Saints was given by
Henry I together with that of Wirksworth to God
and the church of St. Mary of Lincoln, to be
held in praebendam. . . . From the names of
the witnesses to this charter, and from others
mentioned in the document itself, it becomes
evident that its date lies between the years 1100
and 1107. (fn. 2) On the accession of Henry II, in
1154, the gift of his grandfather was formally
confirmed.
The important Derbyshire churches of All
Saints, Wirksworth, Chesterfield, and Ashbourne,
which were royal gifts to the minster church of
Lincoln, as well as the advowsons of Matlock,
Kirk Ireton, Thorpe, Fenny Bentley, and others
of minor importance, were from an early date
considered to pertain exclusively to the dean
of Lincoln, and with them the chapter of
Lincoln was in no way concerned. It is therefore fruitless to expect to find any reference to
the history of this important church in the
exceptionally early and exceptionally perfect
series of Act Books in the chapter muniment
room. There is, however, one folio volume
there of particular value to the Derbyshire antiquary, which is an early chartulary of the dean's
possessions and privileges. It is entitled Chartularium Decani, and the longer title within the
cover is Carte tangentes Decanatu Ecclie beate
Marie, Lincoln. (fn. 3) From the various charters in
this collection it is clear that the gift of Henry I
constituted the dean of Lincoln dean also of this
collegiate church. He is sometimes described as
rector of All Saints; sometimes as parson (persona),
and in two instances he is described as 'Dean of
Lincoln and Dean of the free Chapel of All
Saints, Derby.' The estates specially attached
to the dean or presiding canon of All Saints were
reckoned as an intrinsic part of the endowment
of the deanery of Lincoln. The dean of Lincoln,
however, did not interfere with the estates
attached to the office of sub-dean of All Saints,
or with those pertaining to the remaining six
prebends (save so far as memorial rights were
concerned), but all those clergy were nominated
and instituted by the dean instead of being
co-opted by their own chapter, and instituted
by their diocesan, which would have been the
normal course under canon law.
Some confusion has arisen from Hugh, the
founder of Darley Abbey, c. 1160, being described in their charter as dean of Derby. The
chartulary of that day also names other deans of
Derby, such as Henry and Robert, about the
beginning of the next century; but it is quite
clear that these were merely the (rural) deans of
the town at large and had no connexion as deans
with All Saints. (fn. 4)
In 1252 a dispute arose between the canons of
All Saints and the abbey of Darley relative to
tithes, which was eventually referred to the papal
court for settlement. Innocent IV appointed
Giles, archdeacon of Berkshire, to act as papal
commissary. The archdeacon, after summoning
before him the representatives and witnesses of
both parties, gave his decision in the conventual
church of St. Frideswide, Oxford, on 7 May,
1253. The canons claimed, in the names of the
churches of All Saints and St. Alkmund, that the
abbey should pay tithes to them of all their demesne and other lands, of hay, of the profits of
the mills and fisheries, and of all other titheable
articles within the limits of the two parishes.
They stated that the boundaries of these parishes
were coterminous with the royal demesne; that
the abbey of Darley had been erected and lands
bestowed on it within those limits; and that they
specially claimed tithes of the cultivated land
called Abbotsflat, between Derby and the abbey
on the west side of the Derwent, and of the tilled
land within the field of Little Chester on the
other side of the Derwent likewise known as
Abbotsflat, and also of all that part of the pasture
of Kings Mead that pertained to them. The
canons of All Saints further protested that the
Austin Canons of Darley obtruded themselves
into their churches, where they celebrated mass,
heard confessions, injoined penances, performed
the rites of sepulture, and administered blessed
bread, holy water, the Eucharist, and extreme
unction, not only to their own servants, but to
certain others. The archdeacon, associating with
himself in the judgement the prior of Frideswide
and John the Constable, decided most conclusively against the abbey, ordering the abbot and
convent of Darley to make an annual payment of
not less than one or more than two marks to the
canons of All Saints in recompense for the loss
they had sustained, and a further annual sum of
20s. to cover the cost of the suit. (fn. 5) From this
document the interesting fact is first established
that St. Alkmunds was the other collegiate church
of Derby named in the Domesday Survey, and
that it had by this time become united with
All Saints.
In the following year Henry III addressed the
bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, warning him
not to collect the tithes of the prebendaries of
All Saints, as Ralph de Bakepuze and John de
Sutton had been by him appointed receivers, with
the assent of the papal legate, and that 6 marks
were to be paid by them into the treasury through
the hands of the dean of Lincoln. In this document, as well as in the Patent Rolls of that reign,
the dean of Lincoln is described as 'Persona hujus
ecclesie pro se et canonicis libere capelle.' It was
on the ground of All Saints being a free chapel
that exemption from ordinary episcopal control
and from the usual way of taxing emoluments
was claimed. The expression 'Free Chapel'
seems to have originally implied that the church
thus designated stood on the royal demesne and
was therefore free from wonted jurisdiction; but
in later times it came to be applied in a wider
sense to various chapels that were not subject to
the mother-church of the parish within whose
limits they stood.
The diocesan addressed on this occasion by
Henry III was Roger de Weseham, who had
been dean of Lincoln from 1239 to 1245 and
was then consecrated bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield. It seems likely that disputes, which
about this time kept recurring as to jurisdiction
over All Saints, were at least in part owing to
the previous control that Roger de Weseham had
exercised as dean, and which he was loth to part
with when bishop. (fn. 6) On 13 April, 1263, Master
Ralph de Strataforti, one of the canons of All
Saints, had the honour of being made one of the
chaplains of Urban IV. (fn. 7)
Henry III kept Easter 1267 at Derby, and
finding that one of the prebends of All Saints,
that had become vacant through the death of
Elias de Heminbury, had remained unfilled for
some time, he appointed one of his chaplains
named Roger to the vacant stall in the quire, and
to the seat in the chapter-house, with full possession of the prebendal farm attached thereto.
Roger was instituted by proxy, his representative
being a priest named Thomas de Thurgarton.
The king having performed this semi-ecclesiastical
function, sent word of the same to the dean of
Lincoln by letters patent dated from Derby,
wherein he addressed him as dean of Lincoln and
of the chapel of All Saints at Derby. (fn. 8) It should
be remembered in connexion with this incident,
that the dean claimed the income of these various
All Saints prebends during vacancy.
Edward I caused it to be formally put on record
in 1278 that the church of All Saints was a free
chapel of the king, exempt from all episcopal and
archidiaconal jurisdiction, and immediately subject
to the pope. (fn. 9) In the following year, he strenuously maintained the rights of All Saints as a
royal free chapel, for when Jordan de Wynburn,
archdeacon of Derby, claimed jurisdiction and,
on resistance, excommunicated the ministers of
the church, the king intervened, and by letters
patent prohibited Master Oliver de Sutton, dean
of Lincoln, and all the canons of the church
(asserting that in this he followed the example of
Henry III) from obeying the bishop and the
archdeacon or their officials, claiming to exercise
such jurisdiction. Further, as the king had heard
that, on pretext of a contention of this kind touching the liberties of this free chapel, certain appeals
(to Rome) had been lodged whereby prejudice
might arise to the king, he prohibited the said
archdeacon from setting on foot any such plaint
or appeal without the realm. (fn. 10)
Bishop Longespée was not, however, content
to obey the letters patent of the crown, and on
his persistently attempting to interfere with the
administration of All Saints, he was summoned
at Michaelmas 1285 before the king's court at
Winchester, for presuming there to exercise his
ordinary jurisdiction to the prejudice and contempt of the king, and of the apostolic see, and
in direct defiance of the royal inhibition. The
dean of Lincoln, who appeared in person, complained that Robert de Redeswell and two other
clerks of the bishop had cited Roger and Thomas,
chaplains, and Robert, deacon of the church of
All Saints, and other vicars and ministers of the
same church to render due obedience to the
bishop. The bishop, who appeared by attorney,
not only contended that All Saints was within his
jurisdiction and sought judgement in his favour,
but also raised the point whether the question of
his jurisdiction could be argued in the king's
court. The objection was overruled, and the
dean then produced proof that All Saints had
been exempt from diocesan control from time immemorial; that when any prebend was vacant he
instituted to it; that he held visitations there;
and that he was the ordinary for the correction
of abuses. The jury found that the bishop and
his predecessors (instancing Alexander Stavenby,
1224-40) had always had certain jurisdiction
within All Saints, such as the holding there of
ordinations, the taking of synodals and the exercising discipline over the chaplains, clergy, and parishioners; but that the dean of Lincoln had the
power of collating the prebendaries or canons,
and instituting whomsoever he wished without
any presentation to the bishop. (fn. 11)
Neither bishop nor king appears to have been
satisfied with this mixed verdict; for when
Edward was at Lincoln in 1288, he again issued
letters to Longespée prohibiting his interference
with All Saints and its dependent chapels, and
warning him against holding visitations therein;
the latter being a point that was left somewhat
vague in the Winchester decision. However, at
Easter 1292 the matter seems to have been
definitely arranged for the time being, as a composition was then entered into between the king
and the bishop to the effect that the latter was
definitely excluded from all visitation powers
within the whole of the royal free chapels of the
diocese, which in addition to All Saints, Derby,
included those of St. Mary, Stafford, Penkridge,
Tattenhall, and one or two others. (fn. 12)
The decision of 1288, as amplified and confirmed by the composition of 1292, was carried
out with good faith for about ninety years, but
the dispute broke out again both in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. There is not a single
institution to All Saints or to the subject church
of St. Alkmunds to be found in the whole of the
pre-Reformation diocesan registers; but there are
several instances of bishops holding ordinations
within its walls. In the earliest volume, that of
Bishop Walter de Langton, there are two such
instances, in both of which John Halton, bishop
of Carlisle, acted for the diocesan. The bishop
of Carlisle, having a palace at Melbourne, Derbyshire, not infrequently acted as suffragan for
Lichfield. The first of these ordinations was
held at All Saints in December 1301, when the
bishop of Carlisle admitted sixty-four candidates
to the subdiaconate, diaconate, and priesthood. (fn. 13)
In September of the following year there was
again an ordination at All Saints, when the same
bishop admitted 139 candidates to the three grades
of the sacerdotal office.
In 1269 the conjoint value of the prebends of
All Saints was returned at 60 marks. (fn. 14)
The Taxation Roll of 1291 gives the annual
value of the prebendal church of All Saints at
£25 6s. 8d., and the dean of Lincoln was further accredited at the same time with lands and
rents at Little Chester, Little Eaton, and Quarndon of the united annual value of £17 14s. 8d.
An account of the decanal property in 1329,
when Anthony Beck entered upon the deanery,
estimated the annual value of his estates, as
dean of All Saints, at the considerable sum of
£30 7s. 4d. The water mill at Little Eaton
brought in 30s., the quarry at Little Eaton 6s. 8d.,
and fisheries at Little Chester and Little Eaton
£1 7s. The income of the dean of Lincoln was
at that time an enormous one, and quite outstripped
that of several of the bishops; his total receipts
in 1329 were £469 7s. 6d., which would represent a sum of over £10,000 according to the
present value of money. (fn. 15)
The rights of free warren, and other manorial
privileges over the manors of Quarndon, Little
Eaton, and Little Chester, as held by the deans
of Lincoln, were resisted in the beginning of the
reign of Edward III; but they were effectually
defended by Anthony Beck, who proved that
they had been granted to his predecessor Philip
de Willoughby, who was dean from 1289 to
1305. (fn. 16) The way in which the deans of Lincoln eventually lost their rights of free warren,
&c., over these and then other Derbyshire
manors in the time of Richard II is not a little
curious. The dean, in his manorial courts in
1384, punished offenders against the statute
regulating the price and quality of bread and
ale (51 Hen. III) by fines, whereas the proper
punishment was the non-lucrative one of pillory
or tumbrel. The imposing of fines was held to
be an infringement of the royal courts, and the
dean consequently forfeited his various manorial
rights, including the valuable one of free
warren. (fn. 17) It may here be mentioned that the
manorial rights and certain estates held by the
dean of Lincoln as part of the emoluments
pertaining to the prebendal church of All Saints
afford proof positive that this collegiate church
was the successor to the united property of the
two churches on the royal demesne in the Confessor's days, namely, All Saints and St. Alkmunds,
which seem to have coalesced at least as early as
the middle of the twelfth century. St. Alkmunds,
to which parish Little Eaton still pertains, seems
to have been granted soon after the Conquest to
the canons of All Saints as a tributary church,
and was served by them and their vicars, losing
its own distinctive rights.
Towards the end of the thirteenth century
Thomas de Baliol, the pope's penitentiary,
wrote to the bishop of Candida Casa (Withern
in Galloway) asking him not to remain at Chester taking his ease whilst matters were waiting
for him as bishop. He asked him, inter alia, to
be sure to be at All Saints, Derby, to take
the Ember-tide ordination at the end of Lent. (fn. 18)
This probably came about through the frequent
absence of Bishop Longespée, of Coventry and
Lichfield, on the continent. A mandate of
Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury of 1282,
ordered him to reside within his diocese.
The canons of All Saints, save the sub-dean,
seem to have been often non-resident from the
thirteenth century onwards; their places being
taken by vicars. John de Brantingham, who
held a prebend of All Saints, value 5 marks a
year, and the rectory of Askeby, worth 20 marks
annually, was empowered by Pope John XXII
in June, 1318, to hold with this canonry the
rectory of Huggate in York diocese, which was
worth £40 per annum. (fn. 19) Richard de Barwe,
the queen's chaplain, obtained permission from
Pope John XXII in June, 1329, to hold a
canonry of All Saints, Derby, although he then
held a canonry of St. Mary's, Warwick, and
was also rector of Chiltington, in Chichester
diocese. (fn. 20)
The dean of Lincoln in 1342 had bestowed
canonries in this church on two of his nephews,
one resident in the diocese of Norwich and the
other a student in Bologna. (fn. 21) In 1341, when
Henry de Chaddesden obtained the archdeaconry
of Leicester, he was already holding prebends in
Lincoln, London, and All Saints, Derby. (fn. 22) The
pope, Boniface IX, in 1391 made provision to
John Benyngton, of the prebend and canonry of
'Stononprovyndyr' in All Saints, Derby, worth
15 marks, void and reserved to the pope by the
death of Thomas Palmer at the apostolic see,
'notwithstanding that he holds a perpetual benefice called a chantry, worth 8 marks, in the said
church.' (fn. 23)
On 12 June, 1380, prohibition was issued by
the crown of all archbishops and other ecclesiastics, and of John de Bircheover, clerk, in
particular, from doing anything prejudicial to
the king's right in his free chapel of All Saints,
Derby, it being exempt from all ordinary jurisdiction. (fn. 24) On 24 June the sheriff of Derby,
Henry de Brailsford, Oliver de Barton, Nicholas
de Knyveton, and William Dethick were appointed to arrest and bring before the council
all infringers of the king's rights in his free
chapel of All Saints contrary to the statute of
provisors. (fn. 25)
In the register of Bishop Boulers there is a
memorandum of October, 1453, stating that
Helias Tyllesley, of the priory (sic) of All Saints,
Derby, appeared before the bishop and was
examined as to the jurisdiction of the church.
He said he knew well that the bishops of
Coventry and Lichfield and their officials exercised jurisdiction there, except for four years in
the time of William Heyworth (1420-47), when
it was usurped by Master Mackworth, dean of
Lincoln. Thereupon Helias received absolution
from excommunication incurred by contumacy
in not appearing before the bishop, and he took
oath to do nothing against the jurisdiction of the
bishop. He was adjured by the bishop to make
confession of the same before the dean of Derby
openly in the church of St. Peter. (fn. 26)
The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 gives the clear
annual value of the collegiate church at £38 14s.
apart from the very considerable share held by
the dean of Lincoln. The Easter offerings
brought in an average of £6, the tithes of lambs
and wool 10s., the tithes of corn and hay £18,
the tithes of hemp, flax, pigs, and geese 20s., and
the oblations on four yearly occasions, termed
'offering days,' 26s. 8d. This amount of
£26 16s. 8d. was common for the whole college.
The amounts definitely assigned to the seven
prebends differed yearly. The sub-dean's prebend,
which was at Little Chester, produced £3 6s. 8d.;
that office was then vacant. Prebendary Thomas
Lyllylow obtained £3, and the other prebendaries as follows:—Richard West 45s. 8d.,
William Browne 40s., and Nicholas Smyth,
William Cokland, and Master Liderland 13s. 4d.
each. In addition to these prebendaries, Henry
Pott, chantry priest of Our Lady in this church,
had a house and 4 marks a year from a separate
endowment. The sub-dean also received an
annual payment of £11 from Darley Abbey,
according to an agreement made in the previous
century between Roger Newton, abbot, and
John Lawe, sub-dean; this payment was a composition for the tithes of grain on lands within
the parishes of All Saints and St. Alkmunds held
by the abbey.
The following is the Chantry Roll entry
respecting this collegiate church and its chantries:—
College or Parsonage of All Hallowes in Derbie
beyng the Kyngs ffre Chapell collegiated ther and
founded by his progenitors. John Makeworth Deane
of Lincolne made an ordinance Ao Dom. Miiijcxxxij
that the mynysters shoulde daylye praye for the prosperous estate of the Kyng xxxviijli. xiijs clere value,
xili. ixs. jd. to iii Prystes called curates, xvjli.
eyther of them cvjs. viijd., to ij Prystes deacons iiijli.,
and j clerke deacon to eyther xxvijs. viijd., for
wine wax breade and other charges in the quyre lx.,
and the residue xvijli. ixs. for the lyvyng of the
Deane (subdean) and vj prebendaryes. It is a
parishe churche where there is xvc houselynge people
of whose sowles the subdean hath care and charge. It
hath a mancyon comenly called the Colledge or Parsonage and is charged in the rental at xiiijs. iiijd.
The jewels plate ornaments etc. be suche as have been
ordeyned by the parishioners and mayntayned by the
same to serve the Cure there.
The Chantrye of Our Lady founded by the deane
of Lincolne liijs. iiijd. clere value ciijs. vjd. Thos.
Rayner chauntry Pryste. Stock ljs. ijd.
The service founded by Will. Shore for a pryste at
S. Nycholas alter iiijli. ijd. Stock lijs. vjd.
The Trynytye Guyde ordeyned by the Baylyffs and
Burgesses of the Borowe for a pryst to saye mass att
the Trynyte alter at v of the clock in the morning
and to pray for the lyves and sowles of all the brothers
andsysters of the guylde, and that all persons travalynge
by the daye and all other inhabitants myght have
masse. Clere viijli. xjs. ijd. Stock lxixs. iiijd.
The college was dissolved in the second year
of Edward VI, and its estates sold to Thomas
Smith and Henry Newsam for the sum of
£346 13s. 4d. The rental of the collegiate
house is given as 10s. The whole of the prebendal farms were situated in Little Chester.
The farm of the prebendary lately held by
Magister Ramsey, clerk, was then valued at
13s. 4d.; those of Magister Elien and William
Taylor at a like sum each; that pertaining to
Richard Weste at 46s. 8d.; that of Thomas
Smyth at 60s.; that of John Wilkes at 40s.;
and that farm called 'Le Subdeens' prebend or
Stone prebend at 66s. 1d. Other rents pertaining
to the dean at Little Chester were valued at
46s. 8d. The lead, bells, and advowson
were to be excepted from this purchase. At
the same time the tithes of grain of the town
of Derby, that had belonged to the abbey of
Darley, by agreement with All Saints, were
sold to Robert Carre and John Almonde
for £200, being at the rate of twenty years'
purchase. Both these sums were handed over to
the boy-king's council, and no provision was
apparently made for the spiritual needs of the
parishes of All Saints and St. Alkmunds. (fn. 27)
In addition to the lands, tenements, and rents
attached to the different prebends of All Saints,
which were confiscated at the dissolution of the
college, there was also considerable property
pertaining to the church that was held by the
wardens for the repair of the fabric, which could
not therefore be appropriated by the crown as
involving any 'superstitious use.' (fn. 28) Of most of
this property the parish gradually got rid, in its
meaner days, to spare the rates.
The fine common seal of this church, circa
1300, was a pointed oval, bearing in the centre,
seated under a canopy, a nimbed figure of the
Deity, in a pointed quartrefoil above the three
lions of England, and in base a small kneeling
crowned figure of the royal founder. Legend:—
S'COMUNE LIBERE CAPELLE REGIE OĪM SCOR.
DERBEYE
There was also a pointed oval seal of the
fifteenth century bearing a representation of the
Trinity in a Gothic niche, with heavy canopy
and tabernacle work at sides. Legend:—
SIGILLV : COVE : ECCLE : ŌV : SCŌR : DERB'. (fn. 29)