27. THE HOUSE OF AUSTIN FRIARS
Sir John Handlow, knt., then or later lord of
the manor of Borstall, about 1268 acquired
several parcels of land from divers persons in the
suburb of Oxford opposite the gate called Smithgate, which parcels at the instance of the said
knight the king gave to the Austin Friars to
build a church and other houses and offices.
Sir John Handlow was, after the king, considered
as the chief founder of the friary. (fn. 1) The foundation was confirmed by Pope Gregory X. (fn. 2) The
following gifts may be included among these
parcels: in 1268 the king gave to the friars to
found an oratory (1) the land with its appurtenances in the parish of Holywell which he had of
the gift of Roger le Clerc of Cumnor—the friars
being bound to pay yearly one silver halfpenny
to Roger and the service due to the chief lord;
(2) the land in the same parish which he had of
the gift of Master Martin de Wynton, the friars
being bound to pay yearly one silver halfpenny
to Martin, 12d. to the chief lord, and 6d. to the
heirs of Peter de Brideport. (fn. 3) In 1269-70 Bogo
de Clare, rector of the church of St. Peter in the
East, at the instance and precept of his lord and
patron King Henry, granted to these friars part
of his land in the parish of Holywell, 'lying
between the high road which runs towards Beaumont and the land of Master Walter Byllingdon,'
to build there a chapel and houses, and to hold
without any service or exaction. This land paid
to the rector of St. Peter's in the East 3s. 2d.
and 1 lb. of pepper a year; and in compensation
for the loss, John de Coleshull, burgess of Oxford,
gave to him 4s. of annual rent from a messuage
in the Jewry held by Lumbard de Crekelade, a
Jew. (fn. 4) About the same time Robert Maynard
of Oxford, chaplain, arranged that Philip son of
John le Kyng of Holywell should pay 2s. a year
to the rector of Holywell on behalf of the Austin
Friars out of lands which the said Philip held
of him. (fn. 5) In 1271 the king gave these friars
5 marks towards the purchase of their area. (fn. 6)
From the convent of St. Frideswide, while
John Leuekonore was prior (1278-84), the
friars, in consideration of 100s. of silver, acquired
a piece of land in the suburb of Oxford in the
parish of Holywell, lying between the land of
the friars (which was formerly held by Walter
le Norreys) on the south and east, and the land
of Richard of Canterbury on the north, and
Beaumont Street (now Park Road) on the west,
together with two other adjacent plots. (fn. 7) This land
probably contained the five houses of Alexander
the fisher, Stapeleston the scribe, Thomas the
mason, and John de Zestele, which were demised
by St. Frideswide's convent to the Austin Friars at
this time. (fn. 8) Towards the building of the church
and houses Sir John Handlow after the death of
Henry III made many grants, but he died before
the completion of the church, in which he desired to be buried. (fn. 9) Grants of oaks for timber
from the king between 1269 and 1275 show
that building was then going on. (fn. 10) On 16 November, 1316, Edward II, on the information
of Friar Luke his confessor, gave the Austin
Friars a piece of ground in his quarry in the
forest of Shotover with licence to dig for stone
there for the fabric of their church and houses at
Oxford. (fn. 11)
Elias le Coylter of Oxford desired to alienate
in mortmain to the Austin Friars a messuage in
the suburb of Oxford in 1293-4: an inquest
was held and the jurors made a favourable return,
but there is no record of the grant having been
made. (fn. 12) In June, 1335, the king granted to
them two messuages and an acre of land adjoining their place, which he had of the gift of
William le Taillour of Higham Ferrers, chaplain.
These were held of the Warden of Merton, who
possessed also rights of pasture there, and the
friars
cunningly contrived by deception and collusion of the
common law that they should still be held in the
king's hands, that by that colour they may enclose
them and exclude the warden of Merton.
The king refused to be a party to the fraud,
and the college made good its claim in proceedings in the Mayor's Court and then in the Court
of King's Bench (1339), and seems to have
exacted a rent of 21s. 6d. a year for the land.
The prior of the Austin Friars was ordered to
pay £10 damages. (fn. 13) In a plea of 'fresh force'
or novel disseisin which the college instituted
before the mayor and bailiffs of Oxford 1338,
the names of the friars are given, which being,
as Wood remarks, 'a rarity,' we insert here:
John de Saltford, prior, William de Circestre,
Walter de Chaleston, William de Chedeworth,
Nicholas de Abyndon, John de la Chapele, John
de Ykesworth, William de Durham, Nicholas de
Longevylle, John de Bristowe, Guido de Cantebrugge, John de Coleby, John filius Thomae de
Bedell de Oxon, John de Stodeham, and John
filius Ricardi le Cooke dictus Mek de Oxon,
'being fourteen besides the prior, other students
of the same order, and servants belonging to the
house.' (fn. 14)
In 1336 Edward III granted £20 to Friar
Geoffrey of Maldon, Austin friar of Oxford
going to parts beyond the sea. (fn. 15)
Archbishop Peckham forbade the Austin
Friars of Oxford to hear confessions in 1280
until they showed him by what authority they
acted. (fn. 16) In 1284 he denounced them for excommunicating and defaming the Friars Minors
of Oxford who had received one of their friars,
though 'it is lawful to change a vow for a better
one.' (fn. 17) In 1289 three of the Mendicant Orders
held provincial chapters at Oxford, that of the
Austin Friars meeting on 15 August. (fn. 18) In
general the Austin Friars seem to have acted
with the other orders.
A university statute passed in 1326 prescribed
'for the prosperity and utility of scholars studying
in the Faculty of Arts,' that every B.A. should
dispute once and respond once each year at the
Austin Friars. (fn. 19) These exercises seem to have
been held here till the dissolution, except for
brief intermissions, as for instance in 1530, when,
the convent being infected with the plague, a
dispensation was granted that bachelors might
perform the said exercises in St. Mary's Church. (fn. 20)
The name 'disputations in Austins' was still
current in Wood's time, and down to the end
of the eighteenth century every B.A. who aspired
to the M.A. degree had to 'do Austins.' (fn. 21)
The 'Vesperies of Artists' might be celebrated
either at St. Mildred's or at the Austin Friars. (fn. 22)
The number of disputants was large and every
year two Bachelors of Arts were appointed by
the proctors as 'collatores' or 'collectors' of the
disputations at the Austin Friars, their business
being to allot times and parts to the disputants: (fn. 23)
(it was a difficult task as all candidates wanted
to 'respond' and none to 'oppose'). (fn. 24) Two
Masters of Arts were likewise appointed yearly
as masters of the Austin Schools,' one of whom
had to be present as moderator at every disputation. In 1492 the university decreed
That, whereas the Masters of the Schools at the
Austin Friars work hard without reward, while the
Masters of Grammar do no work and yet receive
salaries from the university, the sum paid to the latter
shall be transferred to the former, who shall be and
shall be reckoned not only Masters of the Schools at
the Austin Friars but also Masters of Grammar. (fn. 25)
The only masters of grammar paid by the university were the two supervisors of the grammar
schools, (fn. 26) originally endowed by Nicholas de
Tyngewick in 1321; (fn. 27) and the change in the
title of the masters of the schools at the Austin
Friars was perhaps necessary in order to legalize
this diversion of funds to another purpose. This
statute seems to be the sole basis for the belief
that the Austin Friars at Oxford 'almost engrossed the tuition of grammar and at one time
were noted for giving their instruction gratuitously.' (fn. 28) The masters of the Augustinian schools
were not friars and did not teach grammar. (fn. 29)
The friary seems to have afforded a refuge to
some scholars during the great riot of 1354. (fn. 30)
In 1355 Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge were
formally recognized as the only universities in
which Austin Friars might act as masters of theology without licence of the prior-general or
chapter-general. (fn. 31) In 1357 Friar John de Kedington of this convent, S.T.P., appealed against
the chancellor and proctors of the university to
the archbishop's court, in spite of the opposition
of the prior of the house, and was suspended by
the university authorities. (fn. 32)
At this time Richard FitzRalph was making
his attacks on the Mendicant Orders, and
Geoffrey de Hardeby, an Austin friar who
studied at Oxford, (fn. 33) wrote a book, De Vita Evangelica, (fn. 34) in answer to FitzRalph's treatise on 'evangelical poverty.' Another, Thomas of Ashborne,
argued against paying tribute to Gregory XI in
the council of London in 1374. (fn. 35)
An Austin friar, John Schypton, was among
the twelve doctors who approved the decree
condemning Wiclif's doctrines on the Eucharist.
The decree was promulgated in the school of
the Austin Friars in 1381, where Wiclif himself
was lecturing. (fn. 36) Thomas Wyntirton, another
Austin friar, and contemporary of Wiclif at
Oxford, published a treatise against Wiclif's
Confessio. (fn. 37) Among the Oxford Augustinians
who took part in the proceedings against Wiclif
and his followers were Thomas of Ashborne,
John Banekyne, John Courte, Robert Waldby,
afterwards archbishop of Dublin and finally of
York, and John Waldby about this time provintial prior of the order. Peter Pateshull, who
became a Lollard and made violent attacks on
his order, was an Austin friar and D.D. of
Oxford. (fn. 38)
In 1396 an Austin friar was refused the grace
to read the Sentences (i.e. to take the B.D. degree) because he had omitted a single disputation
in the year of his opponency. (fn. 39) This was
perhaps Friar Anthony Ciccarelli of St. Elpidio
in the diocese of Fermo, Italy, who in 1398
received from Boniface IX licence for himself
and another member of his order of his choice
to transfer themselves from Oxford to Paris;
Friar Anthony had been deputed by his superiors
to study theology at Oxford and promoted to
the degree of lector, but could not complete his
course there 'on account of the divisions of the
country and the impotence of the convent. (fn. 40)
In 1420 the university entrusted the duty of
deciding what should be done with the unreclaimed pledges deposited in the chests before
the first pestilence to a committee of five Mendicant friars: their names were Thomas Benham,
O.P., Thomas Chayne, O.M., Richard Franke
Ord. S. Aug., John Lauvale, Ord. Carm., Robert
Hyldreskelf, O.P. (fn. 41)
In 1438 Philip Norreys, S.T.P., seems to have
attacked the Austin Friars in his lectures, and
was cited to appear before the conservators of
the order. William Musilwyk, regent master of
the Austin Friars, excommunicated him without
leave of the chancellor, and the case came before
the Privy Council. The university resented
this violation of their privileges, and after due
deliberation degraded Musilwyk and suspended
his convent which supported him. Eventually
the university remitted the penalty on the friar
as a special favour to the Duke of Gloucester. (fn. 42)
In 1450 John Norreys did penance for laying
violent hands on Thomas English, an Austin
friar. (fn. 43)
The expenses of inception formed the subject
of complaint of the Mendicant Orders to the
king in 1460. (fn. 44) Thus in 1429 William Russell,
described as an Austin friar but perhaps a
Minorite, paid £10 in lieu of feasting the regent
masters, (fn. 45) and John Goodwin, prior of the Austin
friary, paid the like sum in 1447. (fn. 46) The university denied the friars' statements with regard to
the cost of degrees, but in 1478 decreed that every
Mendicant friar should either feast the regent
masters or pay 10 marks on inception. (fn. 47)
Among the benefactors of the Austin Friars
were the executors of Queen Eleanor, who gave
them 4 marks in 1291; (fn. 48) John de Chastleton,
illuminator, who in 1317 left a tenement in
Cat Street to be sold and the money given to
these friars that they might insert his name in
their martyrology; (fn. 49) John de Docklington 1335
(20s.); (fn. 50) John Bereford (mayor at the time of
the riot on St. Scholastica's Day), in 1361
(13s. 4d.); (fn. 51) Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford in 1361 (£10); (fn. 52) Richard de Garaford in
1395; (fn. 53) Lady Eleanor de Sancto Amando in
1426 (£2); (fn. 54) Robert Abdy, master of Balliol,
in 1483 (20s.); (fn. 55) John Claymond, president of
Corpus Christi College, in 1536 (20s.) (fn. 56)
From the nunnery of Godstow they received
3s. 4d. a year and a peck of oatmeal and one of
peas in Lent; (fn. 57) from Oseney, 4d. a week, and 5s.
at Christmas; (fn. 58) from Durham College, 10s. a
year. (fn. 59) They were not in receipt of an annual
grant from the exchequer.
William of Worcester gives the following
measurements of the church: 'length of the
choir 60 steps, of the nave 66 steps, width
40 steps.' (fn. 60)
Very few names of those buried in the church
besides the founder have come to light; those
of Thomas Elkyns of Oxford 'freemason,'
1449, (fn. 61) and Walter Curson of Waterperry (1527)
and Isabel his wife are recorded. The monument over the tomb of the Cursons was removed
after the dissolution to Waterperry church,
where it may still be seen. (fn. 62)
In 1456 Edmund Rede, esq., a descendant of
Sir John Handlow, claimed the privileges of
founder by hereditary right. The claim was after
investigation admitted by the prior and convent,
at whose request John Capgrave, the provincial
prior, attended the ceremony of his installation.
This took place 21 April in the presence of
the prior of St. Frideswide's, the master of
the Hospital of St. John without the East Gate,
the Warden of the New College, the proctors, and
others. To Edmund Rede and his son William
the friars assigned certain chambers in their
house lying between the church on the south
and the refectory on the north, together with
a garden adjoining. (fn. 63) The friars seem to have
taken in lodgers, for in 1501 we find mention
of William Kemp, tanner, 'living within the
Austin Friars.' (fn. 64)
Edward IV, 8 March, 1473-4 granted to
these friars on account of their poverty the right
of having a fair for all kinds of merchandise
yearly on 5 to 10 May on their soil adjoining
their church, and of holding a court of piepowder there before their steward to hear and
determine trespasses and evil-doings committed
within the fair, with power of arrest and imprisonment. (fn. 65) The fair was in 1538 said to be
worth £4 or £5 to them, (fn. 66) and seems to have
been of considerable importance to the neighbourhood. (fn. 67)
In the fifteenth century John Banard, theological writer and Austin friar, is said to have
been chancellor of the university in 1412. (fn. 68) He
would thus be the first chancellor chosen after
the suppression of the academic freedom by
Archbishop Arundel. It is probable that John
Lowe, provincial prior in 1428, afterwards
bishop of St. Asaph and of Rochester, principal
founder of the great library of the Austin Friars
of London, and the famous John Capgrave,
provincial in 1456, studied at Oxford. (fn. 69) Thomas
Penketh, provincial in 1469, famous for his knowledge of Duns Scotus, taught theology here in
1473 and 1477. (fn. 70) William Galeon (1507) provincial prior and reformer of his order, was a
student in this convent. (fn. 71)
The common library of the Austin Friars was
placed at the end of the dormitory. (fn. 72) Thomas
Gascoigne in 1430 noted several books here: (fn. 73)
various works of Ægidius (Romanus), and of
Hugo (de Sancto Victore?); William of Auxerre
on the Sentences; 'an excellent index of original
doctors according to the order of books, not of
the alphabet;' the Correctorium Corruptorii and
Paris Quodlibeta of Thomas Aquinas; several
works of Anselm and Dionysius the Areopagite.
It is probable that Royal MS. 10 A xv in the
British Museum—containing the Defensor Pacis
of Marsiglio of Padua, and William of Occam's
De Imperatorum et Pontificum Potestate — was
bought by Gascoigne from this library.
In the last thirty years of the existence of
the friary, only twenty-two Austin Friars appear
in the university register. (fn. 74) Among them were
John Stokes, provincial prior and D.D. of Cambridge, who incepted as D.D. of Oxford in
1512; William Wetherall, who was provincial
prior in 1531; (fn. 75) and George Browne, afterwards
archbishop of Dublin, who by Cromwell's influence obtained the degree of D.D. in 1534
'without costs or charges' (fn. 76)
The university authorities seem to have been
suspicious of Lutheran tendencies among the
Austin friars. In 1527 Alice Crispe was reported to have married John Dayryke alias
Daywyke, an Austin friar; 'and because the
aforesaid contract seems to be contrary to the
sacred canons, and to agree with the opinions
of the Lutherans, which alas are very prevalent
just now among schismatics and heretics,' Alice
was summoned before the chancellor's court.
Eventually she cleared herself of the charge
with four 'compurgatrices.' No action seems to
have been taken with regard to the friar. (fn. 77)
From another entry in the records of the
chancellor's court it appears that in 1531 Friar
John Wyg had gone away owing the convent
33s. 8d.; the friars obtained the court's permission to appropriate Wyg's mare, which,
however, was valued at only 7s. (fn. 78)
George Browne was made provincial of the
Austin Friars in 1534 by the king, and in the
same year general visitor (with John Hilsey,
O.P.) of all the Mendicant Orders. (fn. 79) He was
also prior of the London house, and acted as
head of the Oxford convent, and in this capacity
is said to have felled the best trees, taken away
stuff and plate to the value of 200 marks, together with £9 11s. 1d. in money. (fn. 80) The plate
included various goblets and salts, nine silver
spoons with maidens' heads, and six Apostle
spoons. He left only three chalices for the
visitor to send to Cromwell.
Dr. John London was commissioned to visit
the Oxford friaries, in conjunction with the
mayor (Mr. Banaster), Mr. Pye, and Mr. Fryer. (fn. 81)
The Austin Friars he found had only 6 or 7
acres of land, and their house was ruinous. (fn. 82)
They and the White Friars were in such poverty
that 'if they do not forsake their houses, their
houses will forsake them.' Their church ornaments and household stuff were not worth £10.
The Austin Friars surrendered at once on 6
or 7 July. But the visitors felt bound to
provide them with meat and drink till their
capacities were sent. The list of Austin Friars
desiring capacities on 31 August contains
ten names: Ralph Jonson, Geoffrey Tomson,
Edward Foxgill, William Mory, Edmund
Hyans, Thomas Fryth, Michael Symson, George
Elsdan, Robert York, Robert Baly. (fn. 83) It appears
that the capacities had not yet arrived on
6 November. (fn. 84)
Dr. London had on 8 July urged Cromwell
that the site of the Austin Friars and the profits
of their fair should be granted to Mr. Pye for
life, and then to the town. (fn. 85) These proposals
were not carried out. After being let to yearly
tenants in 1539 the site was leased in 1546 for
21 years to Thomas Carden, esq., for 46s. 4d. a
year. It was then purchased by Henry Grey,
duke of Suffolk, and in 1552 sold by him and
Thomas Duport to Henry Bayley (husband of
Anne Frere), from whom it passed to William
Frere. He sold it in 1588-9 to the city, from
whom it was acquired by the foundress of
Wadham College. (fn. 86)
Priors
John de Saltford, (fn. 87) 1338
John, (fn. 88) 1357
John Goodwin, (fn. 89) 1447
John Stockton, (fn. 90) 1456
Thomas Thwayts, (fn. 91) 1489.
John Storke or Stock, (fn. 92) 1499, 1508, 1509
William Wetherall, (fn. 93) 1515 (?)
Ralph Wedell, (fn. 94) 1518
John Hancocks (fn. 95) was sub-prior in 1533