Colleges: Maidstone

67. THE COLLEGE OF MAIDSTONE

The hospital of Sts. Peter and Paul called 'le Newerk of Maydeston ' was of the foundation of Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury, for the finding of one chaplain. The master should make continual residence, and there should be ten poor persons maintained there, but in 1375 there were only five. (fn. 1) The churches of Sutton by Dover, Linton, and East Farleigh, were appropriated to it; and its temporalities were valued in 1384 at £5 10s. 5d. yearly. (fn. 2)

Pope Boniface IX on 25 June, 1395, authorized William Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, to make the parish church of Maidstone into a college of a master and twenty-four chaplains and clerks. (fn. 3) Richard II on 2 August, 1395, granted licence for this and for the incorporation into the college of the hospital and the churches appropriated to it (fn. 4); on 10 February, 1396, he granted licence for the master and college of All Saints, Maidstone, to acquire in mortmain lands and rents not held in chief, to the value of £40 yearly (fn. 5); and on 28 May, 1396, he granted to the master and chaplains in frankalmoign the advowson of the church of Crundale, and the reversion of the manors of Tremworth and Fannes on the death of Henry Yevele. (fn. 6) Henry IV confirmed this grant in 1400 (fn. 7); and in 1407 he granted licence for them to acquire the manor of Wittersham and lands in Maidstone, Loose, Boxley, and Hoo. (fn. 8)

In June, 1396, the archbishop was allowed to take twenty-four masons called ' fre maceons,' and twenty-four masons called ' ligiers ' for the works of the college (fn. 9); and after his death the pope, in 1398, confirmed the foundation, his executors testifying that he Had erected the college, appropriated the hospital and its churches, appointed John Wotton to be master, added to the four clerks who previously served the parish church twelve chaplains and eight clerks, to say the day and night hours, and made statutes for them. (fn. 10) His successor, Thomas Arun del, founded a chantry of three chaplains, two in the cathedral of Canterbury and one in the college of Maidstone, to pray for himself, the late archbishop, and others. (fn. 11) The advowson of the college belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury until it was sold to the crown in an exchange in 1537. (fn. 12)

Archbishop Warham, after a visitation in 1511, when William Grocyn was master and Giles Rede sub-master and there were five other fellows, issued orders on 6 October that the prior and officers should make full accounts and inventories, and that the college should show its right to the appropriations of the churches of Sutton, Linton, and Farleigh. (fn. 13)

In the Valor of 1535 the gross value (fn. 14) of the possessions of the college, including the manor of Shillington and the chapels of St. Faith, Detling and Loose, was £212 5s. 3¾d. yearly, and the net value £159 7s. 10d. The deductions included corrodies of £2 to each of five poor persons, a survival of the old foundation. In 1546 the gross value was given as £208 6s. 2d., and the net value as £187 3s. 9d. yearly, (fn. 15) and a later certificate (fn. 16) gave the gross value as £211 4s. 1¼d. yearly, out of which the master received £31 as his stipend, and the sub-master and sacrist each £5 13s. 4d. The plate amounted to 52¼ ounces gilt, 26 ounces parcel gilt, and 38¼ ounces white.

The college was suppressed in the first year of Edward VI, and granted to George Brooke, Lord Cobham, in fee on 10 May, 1549. (fn. 17)

Masters of Maidstone

William de la Sele, appointed 1282 (fn. 18)
Michael de Wydewode, appointed 1304 (fn. 19)
John de Eghtham, appointed 1311 (fn. 20)
Thomas Jordan, appointed 1312 (fn. 21)
John de Waltham, appointed 1324 (fn. 22)
William de Maiden, appointed 1326 (fn. 23)
Martin de Ixnyngg, appointed 1334 (fn. 24)
Richard de Norwico, appointed 1349 (fn. 25)
William de Leghton, appointed 1357 (fn. 26)
Simon de Bredon, appointed 1357, (fn. 27) died 1372 (fn. 28)
Thomas Yonge, appointed 1372 (fn. 28)
William Risynge, appointed 1377 (fn. 29)
Thomas Grosser, appointed 1378 (fn. 30)
John Ludham, appointed 1380 (fn. 31)
John Wotton, the first master of the college, (fn. 32) died 1417 (fn. 33)
John Holond, appointed 1417 (fn. 33)
Roger Heron, appointed 1419, (fn. 34) resigned 1441 (fn. 35)
John Drwell, appointed 1441 (fn. 35)
Peter Stackley, appointed 1444 (fn. 36)
Robert Smyth, appointed 1450, (fn. 37) died 1458 (fn. 38)
Thomas Boleyne, appointed 1458 (fn. 38)
John Freestone, resigned 1470 (fn. 39)
John Lee, appointed 1470, (fn. 39) died 1494 (fn. 40)
John Comberton, appointed 1494, (fn. 40) died 1506 (fn. 41)
William Grocyn, appointed 1506, (fn. 41) died 1519 (fn. 42)
Thomas Penyton, appointed 1519 (fn. 42)
John Leffe, occurs 1541, (fn. 43) 1544 (fn. 44)
The seal (fn. 45) (1543) of the college is of red wax, measuring 2⅝ inches.

Obverse.—Within a carved and traced Gothic panel, the two lower cusps terminating with flowering sprigs, a shield of arms: per pale, dexter the see of Canterbury, sinister Archbishop Courtenay. Legend:—

SIGILLUM CO. . . . . . OMNIUM SANCTORUM

DE MAYDENNYSTONIE

Reverse.—The Trinity, in a canopied niche with tabernacle work at the sides. Inner border engrailed. Legend:—

IN NOMINE PATRIS . . . . 11 ET SPIRI . . . . . MEN