FRIARIES
19 THE BLACK FRIARS OF NORTHAMPTON
The Dominican or Black Friars, otherwise
called the Friars Preachers, established themselves at Northampton, with the hearty sanction
of Bishop Hugh Wells, about 1230. They
obtained a site near the centre of the town, with
a frontage to the horse market. (fn. 1) In Henry III.,
and afterwards in Edward I., the friars found
liberal patrons.
The first notice of their building occurs 1233,
when the king granted the friars twenty oaks
out of the royal forests of Northamptonshire. (fn. 2)
Two years later the king gave them fifteen oaks
from the forest of Salcey for the timber of their
church; in March, 1236, timber from the same
woods to make sixty rafters for their fratery; in
August of the same year, ten logs (fusta) from
Kenilworth, for roofing shingles; and in September, 1240, twelve more oaks from Salcey for
general building purposes. (fn. 3) In May, 1241, the
sheriff was directed to fell and carry to the
Friars Preachers at Northampton, at the royal
cost, fifteen oaks from Salcey, with all their
branches. (fn. 4) These gifts of timber continued for
some time; in 1244, twenty oaks for the fabric
of the church from Salcey, four from Whittlewood,
and ten ready cut into shingles were bestowed by
the keepers of the bishopric of Chichester, the
see being vacant; in 1245, twenty oaks from
Salcey, or Silverstone, for roofing the church and
the cloister; and in 1246, a hundred shillings
towards buying shingles to roof the church. (fn. 5)
In 1246 the Knights Templars gave the friars
ten oaks in their wood of Balsall, and the sheriff
of Warwickshire received the royal command to
carry them to Northampton.
The friars added to their grounds in 1247,
and the king contributed forty marks, through
the sheriff, 'ad septa ecclesie sue amplianda.' In
1249 the addition to the church was ready for
roofing, and the king gave thirty oaks for shingles
for that purpose. Six good oaks from Salcey
forest were given in 1258, towards the erection
of study-rooms, and this was followed by further
gifts of timber in 1261, 1265, and 1270. On
30 May, 1266, the friars received letters of safe
conduct for their men and servants traversing the
kingdom with wains for timber and other building
materials. (fn. 6)
Edward I. continued the liberal timber benefactions of his father. His first gift was in 1277,
and it was followed by others in 1278, 1279,
1286, and 1301, from the woods of Salcey,
Whittlewood, Geddington, and Hanley. Six of
the oaks given in 1278 were for the fabric of the
church, and on 9 May, 1286, as much timber as
was necessary was found, 'ad novem copulas quas
Rex eis concessit in auxilium chori ecclesie sue
ibidem perficiendi.' (fn. 7)
These interesting entries show that the building
of this friary and its gradual development extended over sixty-seven years, namely from 1233
to 1301. Sufficient accommodation was, however, provided by 1239 for holding the provincial
chapter of the Dominicans at Northampton.
At the special inquisition of 1274, dealing
with encroachments, the jury found that these
friars had enclosed for their use a common way
6 feet broad, stretching from their new churchyard to St. Martin Street, to the detriment of the
commonalty of the town to the amount of half a
mark. (fn. 8)
A spring of flowing water, termed 'Floxewell,' at Kingsthorpe, was granted to the friars
by Queen Eleanor in 1279; the water was
conveyed to their buildings by an underground
conduit. (fn. 9)
In 1301 their grounds were enlarged by two
plots of land, one 60 feet by 40 feet, and the
other 50 feet by 49 feet; the mortmain licence
for the former was granted on condition of
two hundred masses being celebrated for the
king and queen and their children. (fn. 10) Further
licences for enlarging their grounds followed in
1314 and 1319.
In 1358 the crown seized a house called
'La Garyt,' a messuage, and two shops, which
had been acquired for enlargement, on the ground
that the friars, contrary to their rule and to the
licence in mortmain, had let them to tenants
for yearly rents. But the king ordered their
restoration, on condition that they should be no
longer let, but used for enlargement. (fn. 11)
This friary seems to have attracted the special
benefactions of royalty. In addition to the oaks
for building purposes, both Henry III. and
Edward I. were constant in their gifts of oaks
for fuel. On 26 May, 1284, Edward gave
twelve leafless oaks in the nearest woods outside
Northampton, to be used for fuel by the friars
preachers, as the provincial chapter was about
to be held there. In December, 1295, he gave
them half the twigs cut down in winter in
Moulton Park. When Edward was passing
through Northampton or sojourning at the castle,
it was usually his custom to send the Dominicans
alms for one day's food, their joint board being
estimated at about a mark a day. In December,
1300, he gave Henry de Odiham, the prior,
£4 12s. for food on Christmas Day and the five
following days, on behalf of himself, his queen,
and Thomas of Brotherton, their son. On
13 August, Prince Edward, being at Northampton, gave 13s. 4d. to the friars for celebrating mass for his good estate on St. Dominic's
Day, that feast being also his birthday. The
princes Thomas and Edward, in the following
month, gave 13s. 4d. for one day's food to
the friars in acknowledgement of their having
celebrated mass for the king during his sickness.
Edward II. continued this custom when visiting Northampton, and Edward III. when he
arrived in this town on 14 January, 1329, gave a
groat to each of the thirty-six friars for a day's
food. A groat, or four pence, was evidently
the customary reckoning for food for a single
friar, which seems a liberal allowance, but
probably they had extra fare on the days of this
royal benevolence. In 1335, on 27 March, the
king gave an alms of 11s., there being then
thirty-three friars in the house.
Royalty was specially generous at the time
when the provincial chapters of the Dominican
Order were held at Northampton. In 1239
Henry III. ordered the sheriff to pay 10 marks
to provide food for the assembly on 14 September and following days, and in addition he was
to find three courses and good wine for the
dinner on the first day the provincial chapter met
here both in 1271 and 1272; on the first occasion the king gave two casks of wine, and on
the second £5 9s. 9d. towards the expenses.
The donation of Edward I. in 1284 of the leafless oaks has already been named. In 1313
there was again a provincial chapter, when
Edward II. gave £15 for three days' food. If
the rations for such an assembly were calculated at a groat a day per head, this would yield
an attendance of 300; but probably on such an
occasion, with wine included, it may be taken at
double the amount, which would leave a gathering of 150. There was also a provincial
chapter here in 1361, when Edward III. paid a
like sum towards the expenses. Several fifteenthcentury provincial chapters of the Premonstratensian Canons were held at this friary, as stated
in the account of Sulby Abbey.
The most celebrated man connected with the
Northampton Dominicans was Robert Holcot,
one of the first divines of the fourteenth century;
he was born at Northampton, of good family,
and in his early days was on the commission of
the peace for the county. Joining the Friars
Preachers he took the degree of D.D. both at
Oxford and Cambridge, and for a long time was
professor of scripture and morals at the former
university. He was known as 'the firm and unwearied doctor,' and wrote twenty-six treatises
on various branches of theology and philosophy.
His reputation so far outlasted his own days
that the greater proportion of his works were
issued in repeated editions from the chief continental presses so soon as the art of printing
had been discovered. He fell a victim to the
Black Death when it was raging in Northampton in 1349, and was buried in the Dominican
Church. His memory was much venerated,
especially as he caught the fatal illness while
assiduously ministering to the sufferers. Mary
Myddleton, by her will of 1536, 'desired to be
buryed within the blacke friers church next to
Holcott.' (fn. 12) The same testator bequeathed a
goblet of silver to the prior of the Black Friars.
Sir Everard Fielding, by will of 19 April, 1515,
directed his body to be buried before the altar of
our blessed Lady in the Black Friars at Northampton, to which he bequeathed a cope of blue
velvet with garters, a pax of silver and gilt,
and two cruets of silver. (fn. 13) Dame Gyllys Fieldyng,
by her will of 1529, desired 'to be buried in
the Churche of the blake Frears byfor the ymage
of our lady in the tombe of my husband. I
bequeath for my mortuarie to the prior and his
bretheren a cowe.' (fn. 14)
When Jane Brafeld, of St. Giles's parish,
made her will in 1522, she desired 'to have ye
pall of ye blacke frears upon my herse, and yey to
have xxd for it.' (fn. 15) The Northamptonshire wills
of the sixteenth century frequently contain small
bequests to each of the four orders of friars at
Northampton from various parts of the county.
The light that burnt before the altar of our
Lady in this church was maintained by the
gild of the tylers' craft. (fn. 16)
Among the charters of the British Museum (fn. 17)
is the certificate of the admission of Robert
Greenway and Alice his wife into the confraternity of the order of Friars Preachers by
Richard Metteley, prior of Northampton, dated
1511. This well-written parchment certificate,
with rubricated initial, shows that admissions
were of usual occurrence, for the names of
Robert and Alice, as well as the precise year,
have been filled up in a running hand, forms
of admission being evidently kept ready for use.
The official seal is missing.
The Valor of 1535 showed that this friary
possessed £2 18s. 6d. in rents of buildings and
gardens within the site, and an average of £2 13s.
in charitable gifts. The outgoings were a
pension of 3s. 4d. to the abbey of St. James,
and 4d. to the mayor and bailiffs of the town,
leaving a clear annual value of £5 7s. 10d. (fn. 18)