Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 13, 1471-1484. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955.
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'Vatican Regesta 675: 1479-1481', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 13, 1471-1484, (London, 1955) pp. 260-269. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol13/pp260-269 [accessed 19 April 2024]
In this section
Vatican Regesta, Vol. DCLXXV.
Liber Decimus Sextus Bullarum Diversarum.
11 Sixtus IV.
| 1481. 3 Id. Sept. (11 Sept.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 26v.) |
To Edward, king of England. Motu proprio indult (the pope having learned that fish is injurious to his health, and that if he made a long use thereof his life would be in danger), that in Lent and on fasting days and other days on which the eating of flesh, eggs and milk-meats is forbidden, except only on Fridays, he may perpetually eat milk-meats, eggs and flesh. Sincera fervensque tua devocio. (In the margin: Tradita fuit domino episcopo Ciuitatiscastelli gubernatori Urbis ex parte sanctissimi domini nostri ita mandantis.) [1 p. —.] |
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Ibid. (f. 27r.) |
To the bishop of Meath and the abbot of St. Mary's, Kilcooly, in the diocese of Meath. (fn. 1) Mandate, as below. It was lately set forth to the pope by Benedict de Salutatis, Leonard de Vernaciis, Alexander de Bardis, John Solomei, and the late Francis de Pazzis, merchants of Florence following the Roman court, and Laurence Mathei, a citizen and merchant of Rome, that they lent to the late John Fayholes (sic), O. Min., archbishop of Armagh, then archbishop-elect thereof, the sum of 1,100 gold florins of the Camera, and that he expended it for the expediting of the papal letters regarding the delivery to him of the pallium, and for the prosecuting of his promotion; and that he had died without the said court without having had possession of the rule and administration of the said church, and without paying them the said sum, and that it was called in question by some whether his successor or the archiepiscopal mensa remained bound to make satisfaction to them. The pope, therefore, at the petition of the said merchants, who alleged that they had borne the said debt for about three years, declared that the successor of the said John was bound to make satisfaction to them for the said debt, upon their showing lawful proof that it was due to them, and that they had the same action against him as they would have had against the said John, if he had lived, etc., Stephen, cardinal priest, then of St. Adrian's, now of St. Mary's in Trastevere, being appointed executor, whom the pope ordered to compel the said successor to make satisfaction to the said merchants. Their recent petition contained that in virtue thereof they summoned (fn. 2) the said John's successor Edmund, then archbishop of Armagh, before the said cardinal, and that, after the latter had taken some proceedings, archbishop Edmund and they agreed to take the cardinal as arbitrator, who made an award condemning the archbishop to pay the said sum in the city of London within three years to John de Bardis and the above-named partners, viz. a moiety within eighteen months, and the other moiety within three years. The said petition adding that, without having paid the said sum, the said Edmund has resigned, and that provision has been made to Octavian, now archbishop, and that, although he has obtained possession of the rule and administration and is Edmund's successor, he refuses to pay, the pope hereby orders the above bishop and abbot to summon Octavian and others concerned, and assign to him a term for payment, and if he do not made satisfaction within such term, to interdict him thereupon from entering the church, and, if he contemn the interdict for a month, to suspend him from divine offices and from the rule, etc., of the said church, and, in the event of other ten day's obduracy, to sequestrate the fruits, etc. of his mensa up to the said sum, and make satisfaction therefrom to the said merchants, and to maintain the sequestration until full satisfaction has been made, or an amicable agreement has been made; proceeding against any contradictors, etc., by ecclesiastical censure, without appeal, and invoking, if necessary, the aid of the secular arm. Cum ex commisso. (In the margin: Jul.) [4½ pp.] |
| 10 Kal. Oct. (22 Sept.) Bracciano, in the diocese of Sutri. (f. 36v.) |
Declaration, etc. The pope lately (upon learning that rectors of parish churches were frequently raising difficulties about administering the sacraments of Eucharist and Extreme Unction to those who confessed their sins to mendicant friars) granted that the said frairs might freely administer the said sacraments to persons who confessed to them, and to whom the said rectors without reasonable cause refused or maliciously delayed to administer them. He has now learned from the rectors of the parish churches of England that the mendicant friars in the realm and in places subject to the rule of king Edward allege that they can administer the said sacraments, in virtue of the pope's said grant, even to parishioners who neglect to confess their sins once a year at least, at Easter, to the said rectors (or to their vicars, or the persons appointed by the said rectors, or chosen by such parishioners with licence of the said rectors), and to receive the sacrament of Eucharist, as by a constitution of Innocent III put forth in the [Fourth Lateran] General Council they are bound to do [Decretal. Gregor. IX, lib. V, tit. xxxviii, cap. xii.], and also to administer the sacraments to those parishioners who have satisfied the said constitution but are in the hour of death, to the no small contempt of the authority of the said rectors. The pope, therefore, hereby declares that the friars may use the said grant of administering the said sacraments to persons to whom the said rectors refuse to administer them (under the pretext that they have not confessed to them but to the said friars), namely, those who at least once a year, at Easter, had recourse to the said rectors, and confessed to them (or to their vicars or other persons appointed to hear such confessions, or to others by licence of the said rectors), and received the sacrament of Eucharist, and who were not in the hour of death; but that they cannot use the said grant in the case of persons who neglected to satisfy the said constitution or were in the hour of death. And in order that the present declaration may become known to all in the said realm and places, (fn. 3) the ordinaries are to cause it to be published and observed by all in their dioceses, and a copy of these presents, made by a notary public and bearing the seal of John de Giliis, collector of the Camera in the said realm, shall receive the same credence as if the original letters themselves were exhibited. Ad fut. rei mem. Decens reputamus. [2 pp. +.] (fn. 4) |
9 Sixtus IV.
11 Sixtus IV.
| 1481. 10 Kal. Oct. (22 Sept.) Bracciano, in the diocese of Sutri. (f. 289r.) |
Declaration, etc., as above, f. 36v. Ad fut. rei mem. Decens reputamus. [2¼ pp.] |
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9 Sixtus IV.
| 1479. Prid. Kal. Oct. (30 Sept.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 458v.) |
Confirmation, at the petition of Thomas Heyword (sic), dean of Lichfield, of his foundation and endowment of two perpetual chaplaincies called chantries in the said church, one at the altar of SS. [Saviour] and Anne, (fn. 10) and the other at the altar of St. Blaise, and certain masses, his purchase of certain annual rents for the said foundations, and his statutes and ordinances, as follows:— The said dean Thomas paid 400 marks to the abbot of Halesowen, O. Prem., in the diocese of Worcester, for the purchase of possessions sufficient for the payment of the belowwritten annual rents, to wit, 6l. (fn. 11) of English money to the dean and chapter of Lichfield at Easter and Michaelmas, and the abbot bound himself and the convent to celebrate yearly for ever on the morrow of the Epiphany, or within a week thereafter, the anniversary of the said Thomas and his parents (fn. 12) and friends and other faithful departed, with a requiem mass and the wonted bell-ringing and lights, (fn. 13) all which John, abbot of Welbek, of the said Order, in the diocese of York, the father-abbot of Halesowen, confirmed. The said dean Thomas willed, moreover, that there should be a chaplain bound to serve the chantry at the said altar of St. Blaise, situate opposite the bishop's seat in the choir, that the collation and provision thereof for the first turn and at each voidance should belong to the said Thomas, and after his death to the dean and chapter, and that the chaplain should be instituted and inducted by them without any other nomination or presentation, provided that after the death of Thomas they should make the collation within two months after each voidance; if not, the collation should lapse to the bishop, and in the event of his like default, to the archbishop of Canterbury, and provided also that no prejudice should be caused thereby to the right of the dean and chapter to make collation and provision at future voidances; that the chaplains of the said chantry should be of good fame and honest conversation; that the chaplain should celebrate mass every day at the said altar for the welfare of the souls of the said Thomas and his parents, and of the bishops and deans and each of the canons and persone of the said church, and to say every day for the departed a Placebo and Dirige and a Commendacio animarum, unless prevented by illness or pilgrimage, except only on solemn days and greater double feasts; that on Sundays and feast days he shall be present in person in his choir habit at High Masses and vespers in choir and at processions, without any other burden of office being imposed on him, that he shall be a commensal and reside within the close along with other chantry chaplains in the manse appointed for them, and that he shall not be absent from the said church for more than six days, consecutively or at intervals, without a reasonable cause to be declared to the dean. Moreover the said dean Thomas forbade the said chaplain to hold with the said chantry, under pain of ipso facto deprivation thereof, any benefice with or without cure, or an office with cure, for example, the vicarage of a prebendal stall, etc., except the custody of the head of St. Chad or the mastership of the fabric (fn. 14) of the said church. He also ordained that if, after a first and second correction for a lapse of the flesh and other crimes, the said chaplain be convicted a third time by the dean and chapter, or be publicly defamed and be unable to clear himself before them, he shall be for ever deprived of the said chantry, and that provision thereof shall be made to another; that if he suffer from a perpetual or temporary sickness, another shall serve the chantry in the above manner, provided that he shall not be expelled therefrom or from receiving his stipend, unless such sickness be the result of his own notorious fault; and that he shall faithfully keep all the ornaments and jewels of the said chantry, maintain them in repair at his own expense, and buy new ones, make an inventory of them and of its books, etc., indented and tripartite after the custom of that country, one part of which shall remain with the dean and chapter, another with the vicars choral, and the third with himself, and that the said inventory shall be shown and recited before the dean and chapter every quarter (fn. 15); that he shall not sell, etc., any of the said goods, under pain of ipso facto deprivation, and that he shall swear to observe the statutes made by the said founder. He also ordained that for his salary the chaplain shall receive from the said abbot and convent of Halensowell (sic), in two equal portions on the above-named feasts, 100s. of the 9 marks which they are bound (fn. 16) to pay every year to the dean and chapter, and the chaplains of the chantries and of the new college in the close of Lichfield shall have from the said abbot and convent the remaining 20s. (fn. 17) at the said terms, which 20s. the said founder granted to the said chaplains in order that they might receive into their fellowship the chaplain of the said chantry, provided that each of them is present every year on the anniversaries of the parents of the said Thomas during his life, and after his death on his anniversary, in choir and in the choir habit, etc., and if any one of them be absent, etc., he shall go without his share of the payment. Subsequently the bishop of Lichfield, with consent of the dean and chapter, approved and confirmed all the aforesaid, and the said founder made collation and provision of the chantry thus founded to William Hukyns, ordained that its fruits shall not be converted to other uses, and excommunicated all who should commit fraud in regard to the said fruits, and contravene his ordinances. And the warden and chaplains of the said new college received the said chaplain and his successors as their fellows and brethren in the close of the said church, assigned them a chamber and place, and promised them a portion of all the emoluments of the said college, and also promised to do and fulfil, during the said founder's lifetime and after his death, all things ordained by him in regard to the said exequies or vigils and masses. |
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| Moreover, for the endowment of the said other chaplaincy or chantry at the said altar of SS. Saviour and Anne, (fn. 18) and for the maintenance of its holder, the said founder assigned annual rents of 10 marks which he had purchased from the abbot and convent of St. Mary's, Lylleshull, O.S.A., in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, which rents they bound themselves to pay every year at All Saints’ and the Invention of Holy Cross for the maintenance of the said chaplain, to say for ever anniversary, vigils and mass, as above, and a daily mass for the good estate of the said Thomas during his life, with the collect ‘Deus qui caritatis dona per graciam Sancti Spiritus, et cetera,’ and after his death a daily mass for his soul and the souls of his parents and the bishops deans and canons of the church of Lichfield with the collects (fn. 19) ‘Deus cui proprium est misereri, et cetera, propiciare anime famuli tui, et cetera.’ And in order that they might be the more fervently incited to celebrate the said mass, he granted to each canon [of the said monastery] who celebrates the said mass 6d. a week. Also for the celebrating of the said anniversary he granted to the abbot of the said monastery 20d., and to each canon present thereat 10d., from the pittancer immediately after the mass and the end of the exequies, and at the end of each week to the canon who celebrates the said masses 6d., and bound himself so to do. All which things were afterwards confirmed by authority of the ordinary. And over and above the foregoing the said abbot granted 40s. a year from a certain grange of his, to be received from the said pittancer at the feasts of the Nativity of St. John Baptist and St. Martin in winter, for the payment of the canon who celebrates the said mass in the said monastery, and for the bearing of the aforesaid other burdens. Moreover, the said founder ordained that the chaplain of the said chantry shall be bound to celebrate every day a mass at the said altar of SS. Saviour and Anne, with the consent of the bishop and chapter, for the prosperity (fn. 20) of the said founder and his relatives and benefactors, during his lifetime, and after his death for their souls and the souls of the bishops, deans and canons of Lichfield, and other faithful departed. And to the said chaplaincy he instituted as chaplain for this first turn William Broedbent, clerk, of the diocese of Lichfield, and willed that the collation and provision of the said chantry shall belong to himself while he lives, and for ever afterwards to the dean and chapter, with burdens like those which the chaplain of the chantry of St. Blaise was bound to sustain, but with the following in addition, viz. that the chaplain of the last-named chantry [sc. of SS. Saviour and Anne] shall be bound to say certain prayers, then expressed, at the masses to be celebrated by him in accordance with the said foundation, and that the said William and his successors shall be bound every Friday to celebrate at the said altar of SS. Saviour and Anne a mass for the faithful departed, and to sing the same with the other vicars choral of the said church, solemnly and with music, according to an agreement made with them, and to say a Placebo and Dirige as is provided in the said other foundation, and to have his dwelling in the said close, as is expressed above for the other chaplain. And subsequently the dean and chapter received the said William as a fellow and brother of the said other chaplains, as is said above in regard to the other chaplain. Also the said founder willed that the said William and his successors shall every year receive from the said abbot and convent of Lylleshull 100s. of the said 10 marks, at the said two terms, and that the rest of the said 10 marks, namely, 33s. 4d. (fn. 21) shall be received by the provost or warden (fn. 22) and chaplains of the chantries of the new college aforesaid, which provost or warden and chaplains shall be bound to pay on the vigils and at the mass of the parents of the said Thomas, during his life, and for his soul after his death, 13s. 4d. of the said 33s. [4d.], and ordered the distributions to be made in the way expressed above in regard to the other chantry, and over and above this he ordered a portion of the said distributions to be made to the dean of the said church, being present at the said offices, and also to each canon, and to the sacrist for lights and ringing the bells, and also to the vicars, being present with their copes, and to the altar servants (fn. 23) and eight choristers, and to the Friars Minors of the house of Lichfield, for celebrating his exequies, and 2s. to be given to twelve of the more indigent poor on the day of the said exequies. And if the number of the canons resident increased so much that the said portion was not enough to bear the said burdens, then the portion of the said poor and Friars Minors to be diminished. And he excommunicated all who commit fraud and malice in regard to the foregoing. And afterwards the said provost or warden and chaplains of the new college admitted the said William and his successors to their fellowship, to have and receive a portion of all their emoluments, with a chamber in their said close, and promised and bound themselves to bear all the aforesaid burdens and certain others imposed on them by the said founder. Furthermore, the succentor and vicars (fn. 24) of the said church, considering the devotion of the said dean Thomas to them and the said church, and considering and in return for his manifold benefits and gifts to them, with licence of the dean and chapter granted and voluntarily bound themselves and their successors under their common seal to have a mass celebrated every day for ever by a priest of their number (fn. 25) at the altar of the said name of Jesus and St. Anne, (fn. 26) with specified prayers and collects, and the same vicar-chaplain will celebrate a solemn mass of the name of Jesus (fn. 27) with music at the said altar at the seventh hour on Friday in the week appointed to him, or cause it to be celebrated by another covicar, (fn. 28) solemnly and devoutly with six others of the fitter vicars-choral (fn. 29) and four choristers in their choir habits, every week for ever before the image of Jesus, and the said six vicars and four choristers, immediately after compline is ended in choir, shall solemnly sing before the said image every Friday for ever a devout antiphon fitting for the name of Jesus, (fn. 30) with the proper versicles and prayers. (fn. 31) And the said succentor and vicars (fn. 32) for the foregoing reasons voluntarily bound themselves that after the death of the said dean Thomas they will have his exequies celebrated every year for ever, namely, on the vigil of his obit a Placebo and Dirige and on his obit a requiem mass for the dead, to be solemnly sung in choir by them and their successors for his soul and the souls of his parents, friends and all faithful departed, (fn. 33) as is set forth in their writings under their common seal. All which things aforesaid the bishop has with consent of the dean and chapter approved and confirmed. Finally, for the maintenance of the six vicars and four choristers appointed to celebrate the aforesaid, the said founder has purchased divers other rents or yearly cesses to be paid by the abbot and convent of la Dale in Parco Stanlay, O. Prem., in the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, (fn. 34) all which things Thomas, abbot of St. Martial's, Newhuse alias Newsum, in the diocese of Lincoln, the father abbot of le (sic) Dale in Parco Stanlay, has ratified, approved and confirmed. | |
| The pope, therefore, at the petition of the said Thomas, hereby approves and confirms the said foundations, institutions, endowments, purchases, contracts, statutes and ordinances, appointments, excommunications, promises, bonds, approbations and confirmations, etc., and the contents of the public instruments, etc., in which they are recorded, decrees that they shall hold good in perpetuity, and takes away from any persons whatsoever all power of otherwise interpreting them, etc. Ad perp. rei mem. Ex commisso nobis. (In the margin: Mar.) [14 pp.] Several deeds concerning Dean Heywood's foundations of the chantry of St. Blaise and that of Jesus and St. Anne, etc. were printed by J. C. Cox, Benefactions of Thomas Heywood, Dean (1457–1492), to the Cathedral Church of Lichfield, in Archœologia, Vol. LII. (1890), pp. 617 seq. Cox's paper is based on three MS. volumes in the Chapter Library at Lichfield, labelled Cantaria Sancti Blasii. The second volume opens with notarial copies of the various grants of privileges to Heywood's two chantries, the first of them being the above bull of Sixtus IV.] | |