Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/203

Rh court of common bench, the chief justice, Sir William Herle, received £10 a year; judge William Shareshull, £5; judges Richard Aldeburgh and John Shardelowe, £2 each. In the king’s bench, the chief justice, Geoffrey Scrope, received £2 besides a couple of manors at Huntingdon and Penhull. His brother justice, Richard Willoughby, figures on the list for £3 6s. 8d., and in the court of chancery four of the clerks pocketed an annual fee of 40s. each. All these entries are expressly stated to be payments made to the legal authorities to insure quiet possession of the lands which had been transferred from the recently suppressed Order of the Temple.

Before leaving this valuable document it may be well to mention that the number of the fraternity at this time resident within the limits of the grand-priory of England was 119, in addition to three donats and eighty corrodaries. Of these, thirty-four were knights of justice, fourteen of that number being commanders; forty-eight were serving brothers, of whom sixteen were commanders; and thirty-four were chaplains, of whom seven were commanders. The rank of the remaining three is not specified in the document. It must be remembered that these numbers only include that portion of the English langue comprised in the grand-priory of England. The langue embraced as well the Scotch preceptories and the grand- priory of Ireland. The actual numbers in these are not known.

In addition to the commanderies the Order held in England smaller estates called cameræ. These were not of sufficient importance for the appointment of commanders. They were either administered by bailiffs or farmed out. Their proceeds went directly into the treasury of the grand-priory, none of the fraternity being maintained by them. The langue also stood possessed of sundry manors formerly the property of the Templars. Lists of the commanderies, camer, and Templar lands are furnished at the end of this chapter, showing their respective gross incomes and local expenditure; the balance being available for the general treasury of the priory.

The total amount thus credited to the grand-priory was £3,826 4s. 6d. The expenditure of the general treasury in pensions, bribes, &c., was £1,329 2s. 4d., leaving a balance for