43. THE COLLEGE OF HIGHAM FERRERS
Henry Chicheley, archbishop of Canterbury,
who was born at Higham Ferrers, founded here a
college for eight secular canons or chaplains,
eight clerks, and six choristers, in the year 1422.
One of the eight chaplains was to be master and
responsible for the rule and governance of the
college, one of the chaplains or clerks should be
grammar-master, and another quire-master. It
was dedicated in honour of the Blessed Virgin,
St. Thomas of Canterbury, and St. Edward the
Confessor. Divine service was to be celebrated
daily for the good estate of the king, Henry V.,
and of the queen, Katherine, and of the archbishop, during their lifetime, and for their souls
after death; and also for the souls of the king's
father and mother, the parents and benefactors
of the archbishop, and for all the faithful departed.
The king granted 3 acres of land at Higham
Ferrers, parcel of the duchy of Lancaster, in free
alms for the erection of the church and chapel
of the college, and for all the necessary buildings.
At the same time Henry V. granted to the archbishop, and to William Chicheley, archdeacon of
Canterbury, the suppressed alien priory and
manor of West Mersea, Essex, as an endowment of the college. This priory had been a
cell of the abbey of St. Ouen, Rouen, and had
been granted by licence of Henry IV. to John
Doreward and Isabel his wife for their lives;
consequently the college did not come into
possession until after the death of Isabel, which
occurred in 1426. (fn. 1)
The preamble to the archbishop's formal
declaration and ordination in the parish church
of Higham Ferrers, 28 August, 1425, is of
much interest. It recites the desire the archbishop had long felt to found a college in the
place where he was baptized, and the sanction he
had obtained from both pope and king. He
appealed also for the sanction of the inhabitants
and those connected with the church, stating
that he had invited the dean and chapter of the
new collegiate church of St. Mary, Leicester,
the rectors of the parish church of Higham
Ferrers, and also and especially the vicar and
parishioners, to be present, that they might give
their consent or otherwise to the foundation.
The declaration, under seal of John Bolde,
notary public, appended to the archbishop's
letters, states that the dean of St. Mary, Leicester, attended in person, that the chapter were
represented by two proctors, and that the vicar
and parishioners in large numbers were also
present. After the formal proposition for the
foundation of the college and its objects had
been duly set forth, and the letters of the pope
and king read, those present were asked to
express dissent or consent for their interests in
common or severally. No one appeared to gainsay the proposition, and those present having
consented with acclamation, the archbishop
decreed that the foundation should proceed,
and, by virtue of apostolic authority committed
to him, as well as by his authority as ordinary
in the voidance of the see of Lincoln, declared
the college duly established, saving the rights of
the parish church of Higham Ferrers, and
appointed John Small, priest, as first master or
warden, declaring the office perpetual and compatible with the perpetual vicarage of the parish
church. The archbishop reserved to himself
and his heirs the right of introducing chaplains,
clerks, and choristers up to the appointed number,
and endowed the master and college with the
grounds of the college and all buildings built or
to be built thereon, together with the alien
priory of Mersea. Finally he placed a curse
on those who should attack the foundation, and
blessed those who should defend it. (fn. 2)
On 26 July, 1427, Henry VI. granted a
licence to the college to acquire in mortmain
lands and rents to the value of 40 marks a year;
that the king, his heirs and progenitors, and
particularly Henry V., might be specially mentioned in their prayers, (fn. 3) and in 1434 and 1435
the endowments of the college were augmented
by the gift of the manor of Chesterton with
60 acres of wood in Huntingdonshire, 'Overdene' in Beds, and the manor of Barford by
Newnham called Veysis, also a messuage called
le Swan on the Hope, 60 acres of land and
10 acres of meadow in Higham Ferrers and
Newenton, Northamptonshire. (fn. 4) Sir Robert
Chicheley, a brother of the archbishop, Lord
Mayor of London in 1411 and 1421, left by his
will several houses in the parish of St. Antholin
to the college of Higham Ferrers; he died in
1440. (fn. 5)
The college made formal acknowledgement
of the king's supremacy on 31 August, 1534.
The deed was signed by William Fauntleroy,
Thomas Frear, Robert Goldson, Thomas Gamon,
Thomas Mylys, and Thomas Pyck. (fn. 6) According
to the Valor of 1535, Gilbert Gulson was
entered as master; in another part of the return,
however, he is rightly given as Robert Gulson
(Goldson). His stipend was £30; that of
Thomas Frear, the vice-warden, £16 19s. 2d.;
Nicholas Stere, the grammar-school master,
£21 11s. 3d.; Thomas Gamon, chaplain,
£14 17s. 11d.; Thomas Pykkell, chaplain,
£14 17s. 11d.; Roger Browne, chaplain,
£13 11s. 3d.; and Hugo Garfett, £13 11s. 3d. (fn. 7)
The annual sum of £19 15s. 5d. was paid at
the rate of 1d. a day to thirteen poor persons
daily praying for the soul of Henry Chicheley, the
founder. The barber's annual fee for shaving
the bedesmen was 6s. 8d., the oil for the lamp
burning at night in their dormitory cost 5s., and
other incidental expenses brought the expenditure
for these pensioners to £23 19s. 1d. The clear
annual value of the college was £93 1s. 9½d. (fn. 8)
The college was 'surrendered' to Henry VIII.
on 18 July, 1542. The surrender deed was
signed by Robert Goldson, Thomas Frere, and
Thomas Graive. (fn. 9) On 7 August of the same
year the whole of the college property was granted
to Robert Dacres, a member of the king's council. (fn. 10) There was, however, a rent charge reserved on the property of the dissolved college
for the maintenance of the pensioners of the bedehouse. In 1665 this rent charge was £25.
John Willis, bedesman, was then commonly
called the prior in respect of his seniority, but he
had not been formally elected to that office, and
received the same allowance as the rest. (fn. 11)
The bedehouse founded at Higham Ferrers by
Chicheley, in a building, though long disused for
its original purpose, still standing to the south of
the parish church and away from the college,
was a part of the college foundation, and under
the superior control of the master and his brethren,
and is therefore not separately considered under
the head of hospitals. In the bedehouse resided
twelve poor men, with one woman to wait on
them. One of them, sober and wise, was chosen
to be their governor, and called the prior; any
withstanding him was to be expelled. Every
man chosen had to be 'sworne on a book that
hath the Gospel in it' before the warden or subwarden that he would be true to the house and
help to maintain it. Each of them received, as
has been already mentioned, a penny a day.
Pensioners were not to be under fifty years of
age, and were under obligation to pray daily for
the king, the founder, and their benefactors.
They need not rise till seven in the summer and
eight in the winter, when they should go to
church, returning at nine 'to take such meat as
God had sent them.' Each on being admitted
to the house should bring with him a bedstead, a
mattress, bolster and pillow, two pairs of sheets,
a blanket, and a coverlet; also a brass pot of two
gallons, a brass pan and pewter dish, and a saucer.
Immorality entailed expulsion, and after the fourth
warning brawling and disorder were similarly
punished. There should be a box with a hole
in the lid placed in the centre of the dormitory
for well-disposed people 'to put in their charity';
the box should have two locks and two keys, the
warden of the college to keep one and the prior
of the bedehouse the other, and should be opened
once a year, on St. Thomas's Day, when the contents should be equally divided among the inmates. Certain brethren were appointed at particular seasons to 'go abroad to gather up the
devotions of the brotherhood.' At two o'clock
in the afternoon the brethren went to the church
and remained there till four, when they came
home to supper. At six o'clock the bell at the
west end of the hospital was rung for half an
hour to call all the brethren together, and then
every man knelt at his chamber door (i.e. the
cubicles opening out of the hall), and there prayed
for the king's majesty and all their well-wishers
until seven, and at eight they went to bed. It
was ordained that only those who were 'clean
men of their bodies, without blotches, blains, or
boils,' should be admitted, and if anyone contracted a disease noisome to the others he should
go to his friends until cured. Every inmate
might visit his friends for a week in the year and
receive his daily wage, but if he tarried longer
the daily penny was to be forfeited. Every
Friday a barber attended to shave and dress their
heads. A lamp was to be kept burning in the
midst of the dormitory during the winter from
six to eight, and then to be extinguished. Each
brother on his admission, if he possessed no gown
of his own, should have the best gown of his
deceased predecessor, for which he should pay
3s. 4d., together with 4d. for the brethren to
make merry withal, 6d. for oatmeal and salt, 2d.
to the bedmaker, and 1d. to the barber. The
woman chosen to be bedmaker and attendant
was to be fifty years of age, of good name and
fame, and ready to help the poor men if they fell
sick. Each brother should buy his meat on the
Saturday and bring it to the woman, telling her
what portion she should cook for the morrow,
and the remainder she was to 'powder up'
(sprinkle with salt and pepper) against Wednesday. On Sunday she was to set on the pot and
make them good potage, giving each man his own
piece of meat and a mess of potage in his dish,
and saving the rest for Monday's dinner. On
Wednesday she was to set on the pot and give
them potage and meat as on Sunday. On Friday
she should go into the town and get barm to
make them good bread. She should wash the
men's clothes on Monday, and on that day and
no other was she entitled to hired help. In the
spring-time the poor men were to dig and dress
the garden, those absent paying the dressers a
penny a day. The woman should rise every
morning and make a fire before the men rose, and
set a pan of fair water and a dish by it for
them to wash their hands. She should sweep the
house daily and attend to any one who might be
ill in the night. The wages were to be delivered to the prior on Friday by noon, and by
him to be distributed to the men and the woman.
The woman should have as much for her pains
as any of the twelve men in every respect; she
could be dismissed by the warden of the college
and the prior if she did not keep the statutes.
The men were not to wander abroad without
leave from the prior, and they should always
return home again at night to prayers. In addition to 7d. a week in wages to each of the thirteen, they were to have yearly as much black
frieze as would make them a gown apiece at
Christmas, including the woman; 5s. yearly for
their lamp; 3s. for the barber; nine loads of wood
delivered without charge, and 10s. for other fuel. (fn. 12)
The house seems to have been intended more
for those in reduced circumstances, with no one
to care for them, than for those only in great
poverty; for men of moderate means were admitted on condition that they should after death
bestow their land or tenements freely on the
hospital for ever. Before the foundation of
Chicheley's college, or bedehouse, there was a hospital dedicated to St. James at Higham Ferrers.
All that is known of it are two presentations to
the mastership made by Bishop Gravesend in
1258 and 1265. (fn. 13) The last three masters of the
college, Richard Whellys, (fn. 14) William Fauntleroy,
and Robert Goldson, were also vicars of the
parish church. This was not, however, the
church of the college, as mistakenly asserted in
the extended Monasticon, and by Dean Hook in
his Lives of the Archbishops. The collegiate
church or chapel stood to the south of the college
quadrangle. The remains of the college, the
bedehouse, and the school, will be discussed in the
topographical section.
Pointed oval seal of the fifteenth century taken
from a cast at the British Museum (fn. 15) representing
the Virgin and Child between St. Thomas on the
left and St. Edward the Confessor on the right,
standing in three canopied niches. In base a
shield of arms per pale dex. See of Canterbury,
sin. a chevron between three cinquefoils; Archbishop Chicheley, founder, between two cinquefoiled flowers. Legend partly defaced:—
. . . . . . . MARIE VIRG' . THŌE MĀHYRIS .
ET . EDWARDI CONFESSORIS . DE . HEIGH.