Page:VCH London 1.djvu/513

 RELIGIOUS HOUSES declared St. Paul's to be destitute of all good rule.'" The period of codification naturally preceded a period of needed reforms, which began in the end of the thirteenth century and lasted for several hundreds of years. An attempt to improve the intellectual state of the clergy is indicated by an appointment, made by the dean and chapter in 1 281, of a certain 'proved theo- logian and gracious preacher ' to rule over their school in theology for a year, and to preach at opportune times.^"* Bishop Gravesend made a more permanent provision ; he ordained that the chancellor must sustain the charge of the lecture of theology, and must be a master or bachelor of this faculty before his first year of office had elapsed. At the same time the church of Ealing was appropriated to the chancellorship. In 1308 this ordinance was confirmed by Ralph Bal- dock.^'^ The office of sub-dean was instituted by Ralph in 1295 : it was tenable by a minor canon appointed by the dean, who was invested with the dean's authority in relation to the in- ferior clergy of the cathedral.'^' Between the years 1300 and 1450 three classes of measures deal with the question of residence : those which aimed at enforcing the performance of their duties on resident canons, those which were designed to increase the number of residents, and those which endeavoured to safeguard the participation of non-residents in the church property. The regulations of Diceto in this matter were more stringent than those of Baldock. The latter exacted a ' moderate assiduity of attendance in the church,' saving in the case of illness or urgent business, further, if any be so wise that he is fitted for the great affairs of the church, let him hold himself in readiness, and he will be understood to serve the church, although he be not assiduous at hours.'" Such a privilege was liable to wide inter- pretation. In 1311 and 1312 the king inti- mated to the dean that certain canons who were absent beyond seas on business which touched the king, the kingdom and the church, should be considered as ' resident.' '^^ The injunc- tions of Bishop Robert Braybrook, issued with tlie consent of Dean Thomas Evrere, repeated the regulations '^' of Ralph de Diceto. They resulted in a controversy between the dean and the residents ; both parties submitted to the king's arbitration, and he commanded that, under penalty of ;r4,ooo, residence should be according to the form of the church of Salisbury.''^ But '" Reg. S. Pduli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 105. '^' Ibid. 88. '" Lend. Epis. Reg. Baldock and Gravesend, 17, 19- "' Reg. S. Fault (ed. W. S. Simpson), 94.. '" Ibid. 34. '«» Cal. of Close, 1307-13, pp. 357, 419. '«' Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 151. '"^ Cal. of Pat. 1 399-1 40 1, p. 121. fol. no settlement was reached, for in 1433 Bishop Robert Fitz Hugh, desiring ' to still all divisions and discords,' ordered that a resident canon should be present in the church at one canonical hour every day except during his legitimate period of absence, and on all great feasts.'** Bishop Robert Gilbert, in 1442, defined such period as that between the feast of the Relics and the feast of the translation of St. Edward, king and confessor. He forbade resident canons to let their official houses to any lay persons without leave from the bishop, the dean and the chapter.'" A bull of Boniface IX in 1392 stated that hardly five canons resided in the church of St. Paul, and ascribed the circumstance to the extravagant hospitality incumbent on a canon in his first year of residence, which commonly cost from 700 to 1,000 marks sterling. The pope therefore ruled that a canon's oath to observe the customs of the church did not apply to his duties as a host, and that instead of discharging them he should pay 300 marks for the use of the church."'^ But the ancient practice continued, for it is a subject of complaint in a letter from the king to Robert Braybrook in 1399, in which it is asserted that the incomes of only two or three prebends sufficed for its observance.'*^ The bishop thereupon ordered that the expenses of a canon's first year of residence should not exceed 300 marks.'*' In a bull of Martin V, in 141 7, it is declared that this sum cannot be provided from the revenue of any prebend for ten or twelve years ; the limit is reduced therefore to 100 marks ; and the pope concedes, at the instance of the minor canons, that the money be shared, in part, by the lesser cathedral clergy, and in part spent on the fabric, the ornaments, and the books of the church."^* The non-resident canons were frequently the king's nominees. Edward III says of them that many are his ' familiar friends.''*' Hence kings endeavoured to protect their interests. In the commission of 1370 Edward III complains that the resident canons have diverted the treasures of the cathedral to their private uses, and that they absorb the daily allowance of the non-resident canons and of the lesser ministers.'™ In like man- ner Richard II wrote to Bishop Braybrook that, in contradiction to the pious intentions of founders, a few residents received all the emoluments of prebendaries, and the bread and ale intended for non-residents.'" The case was tried at the bishop's court in the deanery of Reginald Kent- wood, and judgement was given for the non- '=' Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 258. '" Lond. Epis. Reg. Kemp. pt. ii, fol. 24. Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 197. Cott. MS. Julian, F. x, fol. 6. Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 151. Ibid. 200. '^ Ibid. 196. »™ Ibid. Cott. MS. Julian, F. x, fol. 6. 196. 425 54