Vatican Regesta 691: 1487-1490 | British History Online

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 14, 1484-1492. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1960.

'Vatican Regesta 691: 1487-1490', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 14, 1484-1492, (London, 1960) pp. 44-51. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol14/pp44-51 [accessed 25 April 2024]

Vatican Regesta, Vol. DCXCI. (fn. 2)

Secrete [De Curia].

3 Innocent VIII.



1487. 4 Kal. May. (28 April.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 20v.)	To the archbishop of St. Andrews and the bishops of Glasgow and Aberdeen. Mandate, as below. Upon its being set forth to pope Sixtus IV on behalf of James, king of Scots, that the fruits, etc., of his chapel royal [of St. Mary, in the diocese of St. Andrews] were insufficient for those who served it, the said pope ordered William, bishop of Ostia, to suppress, after inquiry, the dignity of prior and the Order of St. Benedict in the priory of Coldi[n]gam, in the said diocese, and to unite it in perpetuity to the said chapel [Cal. Papal Lett., XIII, p. 14].
	Afterwards, upon the same pope Sixtus learning that the late Patrick Hom, clerk, of the said diocese, a notary of the apostolic see, who alleged that he had obtained from Pius II a grant of the said priory in commendam for life [Cal., XI, p. 425], proposed to cede the said commenda, the said pope Sixtus ordered the same bishop of Ostia to receive and admit such cession, and thereupon, with the consent of Patrick, archbishop of St. Andrews, to proceed to the aforesaid suppression, making due compensation to the archiepiscopal mensa from the goods of the said priory, and in the event of his making such suppression to apply, if it seemed good to him, part of the goods of the said priory to the said chapel for the maintenance of its ministers, and with the other goods of the said monastery to erect it into a collegiate church with a deanery (a principal dignity) and a becoming number of canonries and prebends, make provision of the said deanery to the said Patrick Hom, and reserve the right of patronage and of presenting at future voidances to the said king James and his successors [see Cal., XIII, p. 19].
	Subsequently (upon its being set forth to the present pope by John Hom, clerk, of the said diocese, that before the date of the said letters Paul II had ordered him to be received as a monk in the said monastery, the habit to be given to him, and his profession to be received, and provision to be made to him of the said priory, then void and wrongfully detained by the said Patrick Hom, and had dispensed him not to be bound to assume the habit and make his profession until he obtained peaceable possession [Cal., XII, p. 232]; that, after a cause had subsequently arisen between the said John and Patrick Hom about the said priory, and after litigation had taken place before divers judges, Master Peter de Ferrera, a chaplain of the present pope (then of the said pope Sixtus) and a papal auditor, promulgated a definitive sentence [by which] he revoked all that had been done in favour of the said Patrick Hom and against the said John Hom by the late Philip, cardinal priest of SS. Peter and Marcellus's, sometime commissary of the said cause, which sentence became a res judicata, under pretext whereof the said John Hom obtained possession; that, upon the said Patrick Hom setting forth to the said king that the said suppression and erection had been made by the said bishop William in virtue of the said later letters [of pope Sixtus], the said king ordained that a certain amount of the fruits of the said monastery should be given every year to the said Patrick, [and that] the said John should remain in possession, provided that he consented to the said alleged suppression and erection, in which royal ordinance he acquiesced out of fear; and that the division of the fruits, etc., of the said monastery had not been proceeded to in accordance with the will of the said pope Sixtus, even by the executors of the letters which had emanated in the matter from that pope, whereas the monks of the same monastery, about twelve in number, had been removed therefrom, and whereas the parish churches annexed to the same monastery and belonging to the presentation of the prior had been assigned to the chanters (fn. 1) of the said [collegiate] church, and were being wrongfully held by them under pretext of the said letters and of the said suppression, extinction and erection made in virtue thereof), the pope, at the petition of the said John Hom (who alleged that by reason of the foregoing he had been hindered from assuming the said habit and making the said profession; that in respect of a moiety of the fruits, etc., of the said priory, the yearly value of which had been expressed in the letters of the said pope Paul as not exceeding 400l. sterling, he was ready to make due satisfaction to the apostolic Camera; that the said monastery, with only one exception destitute of monks, was going to ruin, with the loss of its fruits, etc., which were abundant enough, unless a remedy were provided for it and for the Order and its prior and the monks who had been expelled from it and were ready to return; that the said suppression, extinction and erection had been made de facto, and had never taken effect; and that the said Patrick Hom, who had procured the doings aforesaid, not from zeal, etc., but from hatred to the said John, with the object of troubling him, to the end that provision might be made to himself of the said deanery to be erected, has died), and of the convent of the said monastery, ordered by other letters the said monastery to be restored to the state in which it was at the date of the said letters of pope Sixtus, its tenants, tithepayers, (fn. 2) subjects and vassals to be answerable to the said John for the fruits, etc., of the said monastery, as was wont to be done to other priors, and the chaplains, chanters, (fn. 3) and all other occupiers, and detainers, etc., of the churches, goods, etc., of the said monastery to give them up, and all other persons to be inhibited from helping the said occupiers to continue such occupation, under pain of excommunication, etc., invoking the aid of the secular arm, etc.; as is contained more fully in each of the foregoing letters.
	Seeing however that, as the recent petition of the said king contained, the said pope Sixtus, having been informed of the good right of the said Patrick Hom in the said priory, granted full power to the said bishop William in regard to making the said suppression, extinction and erection, with the consent of the then said archbishop, the ordinary of the place; and that in virtue thereof the said bishop has, with the consent of the said archbishop, proceeded to the aforesaid suppression [and] extinction of the order (?) of the said religion, and erection under the name of the Virgin Mary, except only the division of the fruits, etc., of the said priory into prebends, and that the persons of the said chapel royal have obtained possession, and are at present in possession of the goods of the said monastery, which were applied to the said chapel by papal authority; and that for several years the aforesaid John Hom, to whom provision was made of the said deanery, thus erected, has, as dean of the same chapel royal, been present therein with the prebendaries in choir and chapter and meetings of the chapter, etc., has served it in divine offices, and has received a portion of the fruits, etc., of the same church, thus erected, consenting to the aforesaid suppression, extinction and erection, and alleging that he would go to the Roman court to procure the division of the rest of the aforesaid fruits, etc., into prebends; that he has had the king's letters of recommendation and credence to the pope, and by means thereof extorted from the pope his aforesaid letters revocatory of the suppression and extinction of the said monastery (wherein in times past the prior and two religious were wont to reside), and of its erection into a collegiate church, wherein, in accordance with the erection to be made, about eight persons ought to celebrate divine offices without ceasing, and of the application of the aforesaid goods to the said chapel, wherein eighteen prebendaries and chanters ought similarly to celebrate, (fn. 1) the pope, at the petition of the said king, praying him to confirm the proceedings of the said bishop William in the foregoing, order proceedings to be taken for the further execution of the aforesaid suppression and erection and for the division of prebends in the same church, lest (under pretext of the pope's letters those things (fn. 2) which, in virtue of the faculty granted by the said pope Sixtus after mature deliberation at the said king's petition, were rightly and laudably done by the said bishop of Ostia, with consent of the said archbishop Patrick, and at the prosecution of the said king, took effect), anything be attempted in future to the prejudice of the aforesaid suppression, extinction and erection, and otherwise to provide suitably in regard to the foregoing, hereby orders the above archbishop and bishops, after summoning the said John Hom and others concerned, to approve and confirm by papal authority, if they find them lawful, all the proceedings of the said bishop of Ostia taken in the matter of the said erection and suppression, in virtue of the aforesaid faculty granted to him by the said pope Sixtus, and any consequences thereof, inhibit the executors and subexecutors of the pope's said letters granted to the said John Hom to proceed to any further execution of them, decree null and void whatever has been hitherto or in future may be attempted in this behalf by them and others, especially by the said bishop William, and, moreover, to proceed to the further execution of the erection of the said priory into the collegiate church aforesaid, [and] of the division and distinction [?] of the goods of the same into prebends, and proceed anew, as far as may be necessary, in the matter of the extinction and suppression of the said religion, order, and qualities of all the aforesaid, and execute the same, divide the goods, etc., and churches annexed, etc., to the said priory, and make prebends, and make the appropriate suppressions, etc., in all respects as if the letters aforesaid had been directed to them from the beginning by the said pope Sixtus and during his lifetime, and as if in virtue thereof they had begun to proceed to their execution, and to act in other respects as shall seem expedient to them, for all which the pope grants them faculty anew by these presents; [compelling] contradictors by ecclesiastical censure, etc., notwithstanding the foregoing… The pope's will is that the dean, chapter and persons of the said church and chapel shall be bound to make due payment to the apostolic Camera every fifteen years from the fruits, etc., of the said monastery or priory, and bind themselves forthwith to the said Camera so to do, as the congregations of St. Justina of Padua and of the Orders of the Lateran, St. Benedict [and] St. Augustine bind themselves to pay in the same Camera for the monasteries and priories and other ecclesiastical benefices appropriated to the said congregations. (fn. 1)Romanus pontifex ad ea per que. (At the end: ’Gratis de mandato sanctissimi domini nostri pape.’) [6⅓ pp. The brief ‘rubricella’ at the beginning of the volume is: ‘SanctiAndree. Jacobo regi Scotorum conceditur erectio monasterii in collegiatam ecclesiam.’ See also Cal. Papal Lett., XII, pp. 251 and 267, and XIII, pp. 192 and 447.]

6 Innocent VIII.



1489/90. Prid. Non. March. (6 March.) St. Peter's, Rome. (f. 179v.)	To the archbishop of Canterbury. Mandate, as below. The pope has recently learned that for some time past there has been a gradual relaxing of discipline in the monasteries, etc., of his city and diocese and province. He therefore, at the instance also of king Henry, orders the above archbishop to monish and order the superiors of the said monasteries, etc., to visit the same, and reform them in heads and members, and, if they fail to do so, to do so himself in person or by deputy; with the necessary faculties. Quanta in dei ecclesia … incrementa virtutum. (fn. 1) … [3½ pp. Wilkins, Concilia, III, pp. 630–2, from the register of archbishop Morton; cf. ibid., pp. 632–4.]