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 RELIGIOUS HOUSES plained reason its income seems to have dwindled until in 1420 it is said to have been only ;^I2. Poverty, therefore, may have been one of the causes of the neglect of obligations which was the subject of complaints against the master in Parliament on two occasions, though it must be admitted that no excuse of this kind was offered on his behalf. John Carpenter, in 1430, peti- tioned the king in Parliament ^^ to ordain that the master should carry out the terms of Poultney's will and distribute every year 4 marks to the prisoners of Newgate, as he had done before the gaol had been taken down and rebuilt. In 1439 the dean and chapter of St. Paul's stated that the sums for Poultney's obit and for the maintenance of three chantry priests in the cathedral had not been paid for two years, and they requested that they might have power to distrain on the posses- sions of the college in such circumstances.^^ The college would probably have rejoiced as much as the king if the investigations of Henry Sharp, the master, in 1457 ^°^ '^^ discovery of the philoso- pher's stone ^^ had been successful. According to a patent of 1 525 the patronage of the college had been granted to the duke of Buckingham by Henry VII,^^ though there is no evidence as to how it had come into the king's hands. On the duke's attainder Henry VIII gave it to the marquis of Exeter, but as the patent to the marquis was void on some tech- nical ground,^* and appears not to have been renewed, the king henceforth nominated the masters. No opposition was raised to the dissolution of the college under the Act of 1547.^' The master, William Latimer, had adopted the new doc- trines, and with them the ways of his party, and was merely interested in securing for himself a share of the plunder.^* Pensions were assigned to Latimer and the three other chaplains of the college and to four ' conducts.' ^' The clear income of the college at the time of its surrender was estimated at ^Jf) 17^. 10^.^* Its possessions included rents of assize and ferms in London amounting to £2^ 16s. 8d. ; the manors of Catford and Speldhurst,^' in Kent ; the rectory of St. Laurence Pountney ; the rec- tory of AUhallows the Less, the gift of Adam, " Pari. R. (Rec. Con:i.). 'v, 3 70^. " Ibid, v, 9. " Wilson, op. cit. 58, 59 «. a. " L. an J P. He?!. Fill, iv, 16 10 (5). " Ibid, iv, 2576. " Wilson, op. cit. 67-8. '« Ibid. 69. " Chant. Cert. No. 88, m. 7. Five pensions varying from zos. to £6 were still paid in Mary's reign. Add. MS. 8102, fol. 4. ^^ Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), i, 387. ^"^ Cat. of Chart. i3c. in Bodl. Lib. 1 01. In I 5 39 the master and brothers let the manors of Speldhurst and ' Harwarton ' in Kent for sixty years at 56/. 8i. per annum. Add. Chart. 211. bishop of Winchester, in 1336 ; '" a pension of £7. from the church of St. Mary Abchurch, which with the advowson had been obtained by an exchange made with the marquis of Suffolk in 1447 ; ^' the advowson of Eastling ^^ in Kent, given to Poultney for that of Napton, co. War- wick, by the archbishop of Canterbury in 1348 ; '' the rectory of Napton, received in exchange for ' Pulteney's Inn ' from the earl of Arundel in 1385.''' The college had held the rectory of Speldhurst from 1347 to 1448, but had then given up all but its patronage of the church. '' Masters of the College of St. Laurence Pountney William de Chetwode, occurs 1338,'* 1346," and 134828 Robert Witherdeley or Wytley, presented 1363,'' occurs 1368,'"' and 1391 ^^ Nicholas Mocking, presented 1399,*^ occurs 1409 *' and 141 1 ** William Thorp, occurs 1426, resigned 1433*' John Pye, instituted 1433^* John Thurston, occurs 1447 *' and 1448 ^' Henry Sharp, LL.D., occurs 1457,^^ resigned 1481 "» Richard Hethcott, instituted 1481,°^ resigned 1488'' Richard Ruston or Smith, instituted 1488," resigned 1525 " '" Cal. of Pat. 1334-8, p. 308. Poultney gave to the bishop and his successors in return the right of appointing one of the chaplains. Ibid. 319. See Wilson, op. cit. 36. " Pat. 26 Hen. VI, pt. I, m. 1 1, in Tanner, tiotit. Mon. " Hasted, Hist, of Kent, ii, 758. " Cal. of Pat. 1348-50, pp 130, 132. '' Ibid. 1 38 1-5, p. 527 ; Dugd.ile, Hist, of U'arw. 337- ^* Hasted, op. cit. i, 435-6. ^ Cal. of Pat. 1338-40, p. 104. " Ibid. 1345-8, p.73- ^ In Poultney's will. Wilson, op. cit. 58. '' Newcourt, Repert. Eccl. Lond. i, 389. •" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 14. " Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, ii, 330. " Cal. of Pat. 1399-1401, p. 175. He appears to have been presented by the king. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 6. " Cal. Pap. Letters, vi, 292. He was then sub- dean of Wells, and held prebends in St. David's, Hoo in Hastings, and other places. " Wilson, op. cit. 58, says he was master for more than seven years, and then exchanged his office for the rectory of St. Mary Abchurch. " Newcourt, op. cit. i, 389. op. cit. 58. " Wilson, op. cit. 58. " Newcourt, op. cit. i, 389. " Ibid, i, 389. " Ibid. " Ibid. " Ibid. 575
 * ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 28 ; Wilson,
 * ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 16.