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There is a licence in the year stated (Pat. 9 Henry IV., pt. i., m. 34) to William Clint, clerk, and William of Ledes of Ripon, to give messuages and lands in Ripon and Norton-in-the-Dyrt to found a chantry at the altar lately erected in Ripon Collegiate Church in honour of the exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the Chantry Certificate, however, these two, who in any case were only agents, are put down as founders of S. James' Chantry (Yorkshire Chantry Surveys, ii. 359).

What is, however, probably the Rood Gild appears some years before this in the Certificates of Gilds returned to Richard II. in 1389. As these were, seemingly, unknown to Dr. Fowler when he published his Memorials of Ripon, I have given the whole "certificate of the good folk of Ripon " in its vernacular French (p. 143). There were two gilds. One was founded “in honour of God, his glorious mother Saint Mary, Saint Wilfrid, and all saints." "For the affection which they have to a holy chapel of S. Mary founded and made in the time of the said St. Wilfrid, which became by antiquity feeble and ruinous, and partly unroofed, they assembled and began a brotherhood; and at the beginning they agreed that each of them should give something of his own for the restoration and repair of the said chapel, and afterwards that each of them should give a certain sum for maintenance of a chaplain singing mass every day therein.” This had been done "these ten years; without any evil device or maintenance of any quarrel, but only for benefit of the souls of themselves and all christians and their devotion" for the chapel. Several of the brethren firmly intended to put part of their possessions in mortmain for the purpose, but nothing had yet been done. "Of treasure in money they have none, nor land nor tenement nor chalice, but only a suit of vestments given them by the parson of Bedale.'

There was also "the certificate of another brotherhood for the good folk of the same town, who of charity and the devotion which they had to God and holy church commenced, about ten years past, a brotherhood, only for benefit of their souls and of all christians, and since have maintained a chaplain to sing mass daily at an altar in the high church, for the souls for which they are bound and for all christians; and that without evil device or maintenance of quarrel." Like the other gild, "treasure or land or chalice or even vestment or other goods they had none, but only from their purse they each pay of their own for maintenance of the said chaplain.'

The first of the two gilds is probably represented by "the chantry in the chapel called the Lady Church in Stamergate" in the Chantry Certificate. The other and unnamed gild must have been the Rood Gild.

The Rood loft in the minster was re-made in 1399-1400 at a cost of £3 6s. 8d. paid to William the Wright, besides 10s. for sawing the timber for it, and is. for "drinks" to him and the carpenter (Memorials of Ripon, iii. 133). There are frequent references to the Rood Gild in the Chamberlain's Rolls, and in wills of Ripon people.

Thus in 1439-40 (Mem. Rip., iii. 228), the earliest Chamberlain's Roll, he received 5s. 2d. "from the offerings at a mass of the brotherhood of the exaltation of Holy Cross." In 1453-4 John Rotherham of Westgate (Testamenta Eboracensia, iv. 29, 31, Surtees Society) bequeathed 2s. to the gild, and Robert Percival, smith, of Sharow gave 3s. 4d. to the brethren of the gild. In 1459 (ib., p. 86) W. Forster, chaplain, gave 2s. for the torches of the gild to burn round his corpse, and also gave the brotherhood of the gild 20s. for a vestment. In 1472-3 (Mem. Rip., iii. 243) the chamberlain received "22d. from pennies offered at the mass of the brotherhood of Holy Cross at the feast of the same." It would appear that,

was indeed the general custom of gilds, each member contributed a penny as his oblation on the gild day. We thus get a census of the members of the gild, at least approximately, since every member was expected to be present. They had fallen therefore from 62 in 1440 to 22 in 1473. In 1478-9 (ib., p. 251) 21d.; in 1502-3 2s. 8d. was received. The 32 of this year shrank to 13 in 1525-6, and to only 7 in 1540-1. A similar shrinkage is observed in all the voluntary offerings. The tenets of Wiclif and Luther and the spirit of the age were adverse to chantries and gilds, quite apart from any royal proceedings.

There were, it appears from the evidence taken by commission in 1577, a Master of the gild and two Collectors of rents, called by a quaint corruption culladres, cullyores, culliers, or cullyers (p. 207 seq.), and two priests called Rood priests, who did lie" in the Rood house in Agnesgate, in which house there was a yearly feast on the Rood day, and one of the witnesses (p. 211) served as butler at the feast when his father was master. The two last priests were Sir Richard Tirry and Sir Richard Geffrayson or Jefferson. This Sir Richard Tirry appears in 1540 (Mem. Rip., iii. 281) as a chaplain of the prebend of Monkton, in which capacity he accounted to the Chamberlain for the pennies offered by the

communicants of the parish at Easter. He was apparently parochial chaplain; did, that is, the prebendary's parochial work. He was in the same year tenant of one of the chambers belonging to the minster, either one above the Grammar Schoolhouse or one above the wood-house, for which he paid 2s. 8d. a year rent, and a co-tenant Is. 4d. (Mem. Rip., iii. 280): Jefferson was parochial chaplain of the prebend of Nunwick, and was still such in 1556-7 (p. 312). Tirry in 1567 had become one of the vicars of the minster, and in that capacity was complained of at an archbishop's visitation (Mem. Rip., iii. 345) as being "long suspected to live incontinentlie with a woman, by whom it is thoughte he hath had divers children, which woman he keepeth at this present very offensively in his chamber with him." But this woman was, or became, his wife; at least, “Janet Tirrie, widow, of thage of 52 years," who gave evidence in 1577 (p. 209) said that she "was wief unto Sir Richard Tyrrey, who was last priest of the said guild." According to her he received the gild rents, and William Scot and others "did will her said husband to be good and keep counsel about the Rood lands, and they would recompense him." Another witness, Middleton, said that "they gave Sir E. Browne, priest, £10 and 40s. a year,” and “did also promise to have given Sir R. Tyrrey £6 13s. 4d. for that they should conceal and not make known by what title the said lands were holden, nor of whom."

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A list of "the said lands" is given by Marmaduke Middleton (p. 204-5), and it tallies in every particular with the lands leased to Browne as School lands; except that in the lease to Browne there is no mention of the “house nigh Ripon Church called the Rood-house now in the occupation of Christopher Watson," and of "one acre of meadow lying in Swilmire yngs within the fields of Ripon, called the Rood Great Acre, in the tenure of Ralph Ripley, alias Clerk," and one close with a barn in Ripon in the tenure of " the same. The plaintiffs in their bill in the Duchy suit (p. 216) called the house in Agnesgate "the Rood-house or School-house," and averred that it equally with the school lands were "given and assured for the common finding of one free school, of old time founded and erected in the said town of Ripon by the welldisposed persons of the inhabitants and parishioners of the town and parish of Ripon, and that the issues and profits thereof had been continually employed and bestowed upon one discreet and learned schoolmaster there, elect and chosen from time to time as need required by the substantial and discreet persons of the said parish." Whether the Rood

Acre was omitted because of its tell-tale name, or Ripley was left in possession to keep him quiet, we cannot tell. The evidence taken on the first commission (p. 175-6), which, as it included William Mallet, the Crown receiver of the honour of Pontefract, was certainly not a packed one (as alleged by the defendant in 1577), showed that the school had existed and enjoyed the lands for 70 years and upwards before 1553. As the bill in the Duchy Court was only dismissed for want of jurisdiction (p. 225), presumably because some of the gild lands were outside Ripon, and therefore outside the Duchy, and the final decision in the Exchequer a year later (p. 225) was in favour of the School, it must be inferred that the lands in question were really school lands.

The whole truth probably was that, though school lanes, they were also gild lands. Like the famous Gild of Holy Rood or Holy Cross at Stratford-on-Avon, the gild probably maintained, or rather helped to maintain, the schoolmaster as well as two gild priests. Considering that the total value of the lands was only £8 7s. 2d. there was not a large income to be divided among them. But in fact the gilds which in 1389 depended, as we have seen, entirely on voluntary contributions, the entrance fees and annual subscriptions of their members, even in 1548 derived their income mainly from the same source. Moreover, each of the gild priests had, as we have also seen, other employment and sources of income.

The upshot of the whole matter seems to be that the stipend of £2 a year paid out of the common fund of the minster for the Grammar Schoolmaster, adequate enough, no doubt, in the twelfth century, had become inadequate by the fifteenth century; and so with a view to make the school free of fees, at all events for children of the town and parish of Ripon, it was further endowed by the Rood Gild as a free school. Strictly speaking, there is no doubt that the school lands, being vested in the gild brotherhood and part of its possessions, passed to the Crown on the dissolution of the gild by the Chantries Act of Edward VI., subject only to the obligation laid on the Crown of continuing schools by its commissioners, and making adequate provision out of the gild funds. This happened in the case of the Holy Cross Gild at Stratford-on-Avon, where the school was continued "until further order," and eventually re-endowed by the town buying back from Edward VI. the gild property and obtaining a charter, practically continuing the old trusts.

At Ripon the inhabitants attempted to conceal the fact that the school lands were really part of the gild property,

and so to retain the school endowment undiminished and without having to buy it back. They would, perhaps, have been successful if they had not tried to dismiss the master, Edmund Browne. This was perhaps because he adhered to the "old religion," as in 1567 (p. 194) he was "commonly reputed and taken for a misliker of Christ's religion now established." He turned traitor. On this both parties to the Duchy suit are agreed. He went to the Duchy authorities and must have told them the truth, viz. that the lands were school lands, but part of the gild possessions. Whether the Duchy retained the Rood-house and the Rood Acre and cottage in Ripley's hands as commission, or what became of them, is not clear. The rest of the possessions at all events were leased to Browne, and the lease is printed (p. 165 seq.) from the original still in possession of the Governors of the School. The office copy is also preserved at the Record Office (Duchy of Lancaster, Register of Leases, vol. 31, Edward VI., f. 122), where it is headed "Terre date pro sustentacione libere scole infra villam de Rypon Edmundo Browne." The lease was for 21 years, but subject to the condition that "if he left his office of Schoolmaster of the said school"-a distinct recognition of his holding and having held the office"and does not exercise himself in teaching boys there," the lease should be void. He was to pay the full rent of £8 7s. 2d. to the Crown.

At the same time the Duchy or the Commissioners seem (p. 170) to have granted him a pension of the same amount in respect of his loss of office as Schoolmaster. So, for simplicity, the Duchy Court made an order that the auditor should allow him the rent as a set-off against the pension. Master Browne, therefore, was set up as an independent person in possession of the old endowment without anybody to control him. Having only a life interest he very naturally stopped doing any repairs to the houses, "whereby they be come to great ruin and decay, so that the occupiers of the same will not pay any rent till reparations thereof be made." Then "the same Edmund, willing to make amends for his said untrue information, gave and assigned his interest in the premises to the parishioners." They were to pay him the rent, his old salary of £8 7s. 2d., and to do the repairs. The parishioners, however, "dare not meddle with the occupation" until the King's title was got out of the way. So they filed a Bill in the Duchy Court, which was a court of equity (pp. 171-3), setting out the fact, asserting that school lands were not "within the compass or danger of the late Act

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