8. THE PRIORY OF ST. OSWALD, GLOUCESTER
The minster of St. Oswald at Gloucester was
founded and richly endowed by Ethelfleda, the
Lady of the Mercians, and her husband
Ethelred. (fn. 1) In 909 they brought thither from
the ruined monastery of Bardney the body of
Oswald, king of Northumbria. (fn. 2) Their church
was served by a body of secular canons. (fn. 3)
In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Stigand,
archbishop of Canterbury, a great pluralist, obtained possession of the lands of the canons. (fn. 4)
After his disgrace in 1070, the property passed
into the hands of Thomas, archbishop of York, (fn. 5)
and was entered under the estates of the church
of York in the Domesday Survey of Gloucestershire, together with the lands of the monastery of
St. Peter, which had been appropriated by Archbishop Aldred. (fn. 6) For a long period before the
Norman Conquest, the sees of Worcester and
York were held jointly; the house of St. Oswald,
Gloucester remained under the jurisdiction of
the see of York until 1536. In 1094 Thomas,
archbishop of York, claimed jurisdiction in the
diocese of Lincoln, and to end the controversy
William Rufus gave the new monastery of Selby
and the minster of St. Oswald, Gloucester to
the see of York. (fn. 7) The minster was accounted
a free chapel royal, (fn. 8) and by the act of the king
was created a peculiar of the see of York. In
1095, Archbishop Thomas was compelled to
restore the manors of the monastery of St. Peter
at Gloucester, (fn. 9) and William of Malmesbury said
that the canons of St. Oswald's raged because
the archbishop parted with lands which ought
to have been theirs. (fn. 10) It is certain that they had
a real grievance because the archbishop retained
for his see a considerable portion of the lands of
the canons, which was afterwards known as the
barony of Churchdown. (fn. 11)
The jurisdiction of St. Oswald was confirmed
to the archbishop of York by Pope Paschal II in
1106, by Calixtus II in 1120, and again by
Alexander III in 1177. (fn. 12) The archbishops of
Canterbury and the bishops of Worcester were
unwilling to surrender their claims, (fn. 13) and did not
finally abandon them before the beginning of
the fourteenth century.
Until the accession of Henry Murdac to
the see of York in 1147, the minster of St.
Oswald was served by secular canons who were
supported out of their own prebends. (fn. 14) The
church was in great part rebuilt by Archbishop
Thurstan (1119-40). (fn. 15) Archbishop Henry Murdac (1147-53), who had been abbot of Fountains and was full of zeal for the new religious
orders, changed the minster of St. Oswald into
a priory of regular canons of the Order of St.
Augustine with the full approval of Pope
Eugenius III. (fn. 16) He chose Humphrey, a canon
of the Augustinian house of Lanthony by
Gloucester, as prior with the consent of two of
the secular canons, Nicholas and Aelward. (fn. 17)
Nicholas became a regular canon of the new
foundation, Aelward received a prebend at
Beverley, two others resigned their prebends
into the archbishop's hands, and he dispossessed
the two remaining canons of their prebends on
the ground that they had received them from a
lay hand. (fn. 18) He endowed the convent with these
six prebends and two fisheries on the Severn
near the church of his own gift, and property at
Cerney. As however the endowment was insufficient, he lent them his possessions at
Compton for four years or until he came to
Gloucester, promising either to grant them
Compton in perpetuity or to give them an
equivalent. The dependence on the see of York
was strictly emphasized; unlike other Augustinian houses, the canons of St. Oswald never
acquired the right of free election to the office of
prior. (fn. 19)
The monastery was at no time prosperous.
It was frequently visited by Archbishop Walter
Gray (1214-55); in 1231 he sent the prior and
several of the canons into exile because, through
their maladministration, the house was heavily
in debt to the Jews. (fn. 20) In 1230 they had
sold their lands at Culkerton to the Cistercian
house of Kingswood for £100. (fn. 21) However in
1232 the archbishop allowed the canons to return. (fn. 22) After a visitation in 1250 he sent a
number of injunctions for the government and
administration of the house. (fn. 23) He insisted that
the prior should only transact important business with his consent, or that of a deputy whom
he might appoint, and with the advice of the
wiser members of the convent. No canon or lay
brother might be admitted without the bishop's
consent. The common seal was to be in the
custody of three or four canons. Accounts
were to be rendered at least twice a year. It
appears that there was some friction between the
canons and the lay brothers, for the archbishop
declared that the canons should always and
everywhere have dominion over the others. At
the same time he forbade the canons to make
hay or take any share in agricultural labour. He
ordered the prior to be with the canons in the
dorter and frater, and to be diligent in correcting
his brethren in chapter, but in all charity, not
reproaching them before seculars, or punishing
them severely without the consent of the convent.
It is probable that the prior neglected the admonition, for in 1251 the archbishop deposed
him, and appointed the sub-prior in his stead. (fn. 24)
At the same time he restored certain benefices
to the convent. In 1280 Archbishop Wickwane appointed Richard of Bathampton as prior,
hoping that so good and skilful a ruler would be
able to restore the fortunes of the priory. (fn. 25) The
rule of Richard of Bathampton and his successors
was marked by an acute conflict with the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of Worcester.
In 1280 Bishop Giffard promulgated a sentence
of excommunication against the prior for contempt in not appearing at the citation of Archbishop Peckham. (fn. 26) The prior relied on papal
support. By apostolic authority he forbade the
bishop under grave penalties to execute the
mandate of the archbishop of Canterbury, his
official, or the dean of Arches, or the mandate of
the precentor or the sub-prior of St. Bartholomew,
Smithfield, against himself, the abbot of Winchcombe or others adhering to them. (fn. 27) On
23 March 1283 Archbishop Peckham charged
Bishop Giffard to promulgate his sentence of
excommunication against the prior and six
canons. (fn. 28) Edward I intervened and bade the
archbishop revoke his sentence. (fn. 29) The archbishop replied that the king had been deceived;
although royal free chapels were exempt from
episcopal visitation, when they were alienated
from the king's hands and given to others
they returned to their first nature of subjection
to the prelates and lost their exemption. He
had excommunicated the prior and senior canons,
because they did not receive him at his visitation.
'We do not wish,' he wrote, 'saving your
reverence, to revoke the aforesaid sentence except
by form of law.' (fn. 30) In 1287 Peckham sent
another mandate to Giffard to promulgate the
sentence of excommunication in his diocese, to
cause the prior and canons to be denounced as
excommunicate, and to forbid all the faithful in
Christ to eat, drink, buy, sell or communicate
with them in any way until they should receive
absolution. (fn. 31) He bade the bishop inquire in the
town of Gloucester and the neighbourhood, and
cite all who should have communicated with
them. (fn. 32) Apparently the sentence was revoked
by the keeper of the spiritualities of Canterbury
after Peckham's death. (fn. 33) Bishop Giffard was
not deterred from attempting to exercise rights
of jurisdiction over the prior and canons. In
1300 he appointed two commissioners to visit
the priory. (fn. 34) He excommunicated the prior, subprior, sacrist, precentor, cellarer, and elder
canons, because they refused to admit John,
bishop of Llandaff, to hold an ordination in their
church, by his authority. They claimed an exemption but it was well-known that Walter de
Cantilupe, bishop of Worcester, had held an
ordination there in 1242. (fn. 35) The convent suffered
from the effect of the excommunication. In
1301, one of the canons appeared before the
justices at Worcester, and declared that the bishop
had done them much evil that year, causing
them to be so straitened that the greater part of
the convent had suffered from illness. (fn. 36) At the
instance of the prior and convent, Edward I
summoned Giffard to appear before him and his
justices, but he died very shortly afterwards. (fn. 37)
To avoid further trouble with the bishops of
Worcester, Corbridge, archbishop of York, bade
the prior and canons get the chrism and oil
from Southwell, and pay pentecostals and Peter's
pence to the dean of the archbishop's jurisdiction of St. Oswald. (fn. 38) Accordingly they did
so. Gainsborough, bishop of Worcester, complained of their action to the king at the
Parliament of Carlisle in 1307, (fn. 39) but he was
inhibited from exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the priory, (fn. 40) and in 1318 Edward II
issued a general prohibition against any encroachment on the liberties and privileges of St. Oswald's
Priory. (fn. 41) In 1374 when the see of York was
vacant, and the prior of Worcester was visiting
the diocese of Worcester during a voidance of
that see, Edward III forbade him to act to the
prejudice of the archbishopric of York. (fn. 42)
The rapid appointments and removals of priors
in the first few years of the fourteenth century
testify to misfortune and lack of governance. (fn. 43)
After a personal visitation of the monastery in
1309, Archbishop Greenfield ordered that the
injunctions of Archbishop Gray should be strictly
observed, and he made further provision to insure
financial stability. (fn. 44) He insisted that a full statement of the rents, revenues, and stock should be
presented to him every year, and that no corrodies
should be sold, no manors or granges let, no lands
alienated without his special permission. Two
bursars should be appointed by the convent as
receivers of all moneys, and the muniments like
the common seal should be under the charge of
three or four of the canons.
There are only glimpses of poverty in the
later history of the priory. In 1335 Archbishop
William of Melton granted a licence to the prior
and convent to borrow £100 for the foundation
of a chantry. (fn. 45) In 1417 the prior and convent
petitioned Edmund Lacy, bishop of Hereford, to
appropriate the church of Minsterworth to them. (fn. 46)
They pleaded dire distress, their house was
ruinous, their rents and profits were so diminished
that the canons had but a bare living. Their
losses were very heavy from pestilences and murrains, and they had also suffered from the misgovernment of former priors, and they were
oppressed by an insupportable load of debt. The
bishop ordered an inquisition to be made into the
state of affairs at the priory. He was satisfied of
the truth, (fn. 47) and consented to the appropriation of
the church. (fn. 48) In 1462 the canons of St. Oswald
were reduced to such penury that they were exempted from payment of tenths. (fn. 49)
The priory came under the Act of 1536 for
the suppression of the lesser monasteries. On
23 April, 1536, Edward Lee, archbishop of
York, besought Cromwell to spare the house.
It is not of foundation a monastery of religious men,
he wrote, but is libera capella archiepiscopi. No man
hath title in it but the archbishop: the prior thereof
is removable at my pleasure and accountable to me,
and the archbishop may put there if he will, secular
priests, and so would I have done at my entry, if I
had not there found one of mine acquaintance whom
I judged meet to be there under me. (fn. 50)
His appeal was of no avail. On 4 September a
commission was issued for a survey of those
monasteries in Gloucestershire of which the
revenues fell below £200 a year, with a view of
taking them over on the king's behalf. (fn. 51) The
commissioners reported that at St. Oswald's there
were seven canons, all priests, 'by report of
honest conversation.' (fn. 52) Five of them wished to
continue in religion, only two desired to have
'capacities' that they might get benefices.
Their household consisted only of eight servants.
The church was ruinous, though the house had
been lately repaired, and the priory was in debt
to the amount of £124 9s. It was dissolved
not long afterwards. The prior received a
pension of £15, (fn. 53) but the other canons had
nothing. (fn. 54)
In 1535 the clear yearly value of the possessions amounted to £90 10s. 2½d. (fn. 55) The property
included the manors of Pirton, Norton, and
Tulwell, rents in Gloucester and elsewhere,
the rectory of Minsterworth, and the chapels of
Churchdown, Norton, Sandhurst, and Compton
Abdale. (fn. 56)
Priors of St. Oswald, Gloucester
Humphrey, canon of Lanthony by Gloucester,
1153 (fn. 57)
Anketil, occurs circa 1155-9 (fn. 58)
William, occurs 1230 (fn. 59)
William, occurs 1260 (fn. 60)
Richard, ob. 1281 (fn. 61)
Richard of Bathampton, 1281 (fn. 62)
Guido, ob. 1289 (fn. 63)
Peter de Malburn, 1289, removed 1301
Walter of Bingham, 1301, removed 1310 (fn. 64)
Humphrey of Lavington, 1310
Walter of Bingham, removed 1312 (fn. 65)
John of Ayschwell, 1312 (fn. 66)
Richard of Kidderminster, 1312, removed
1314 (fn. 67)
John of Ayschwell, 1314 (fn. 68)
William Heved, 1352
Thomas Dick, 1398
John Players, 1404
John de Shipston, 1408
John Suckley, 1433
John Higins, 1434
John Inglis, canon of Cirencester, 1447
Nicholas Falkner, canon of Lanthony by
Gloucester, 1491
William Jennings, 1530
A seal of the twelfth century is in shape a
pointed oval, and represents a saint full length,
in vestments partly embroidered, lifting up his
right hand in benediction, in his left hand a
book; before him a church with porch or transept, masoned walls, ornamental tiles or shingles
on the roof, and a cross at each gable end; in
the field, on the left a crescent, on the right an
estoile. (fn. 69)