Friars, the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the Dissolution of the Dominican and Franciscan Priories in Sixteenth-century Beverley

Abstract

Particularly when they came to die, the inhabitants of Beverley in the early Tudor period were still actively seeking the services of their Dominican and Franciscan friars whose priories had been established in the town in the mid-thirteenth century. After the calling of the Reformation parliament in 1529, some of these friars vehemently opposed Henry VIII’s break with Rome and played a crucial role as intermediaries in the Pilgrimage of Grace which began on Westwood in October 1536. The extent of the rebellion convinced the government of the need to eradicate the religious orders in their entirety and in the ensuing dissolution of the remaining monasteries the two Beverley friaries fell to the crown in late February 1539. This, however, did not quite extinguish all traces of mendicancy in the area since the last prior of the Black Friars continued to live in the town for another two decades until he died still a Dominican at heart in 1558.

Keywords:

• Beverley
• dominican and franciscan friars
• pilgrimage of grace
• dissolution of the monasteries
• tudors

Notes

¹ Allison, History of the County of York, 1–11; Lamburn, Laity and the Church, 1–3.

² Page, ed., Victoria History of the County, 263–4, 264–7, 283–96; Robson, Franciscans, 1.

³ VCH York, III, 263–4, 264–7; Goldthorp, “Franciscans and Dominicans in Yorkshire,” 303; Palmer, “The Friars Preachers or Black Friars of Beverley.”

⁴ Borthwick Institute of Archives (hereafter BIA), Prob. Reg. 10 fols 82v-83v (Lerifax); Prob. Reg. 11 pt I fol. 89v (Robynson); VCH Beverley, 200, 239.

⁵ BIA, Prob. Reg. 10 fol. 84r-v (Marshall); Prob. Reg. 11 pt I fols 13r (Crawe), 237v (Wilkinson).

⁶ This analysis is based on Yorkshire wills made between 1520 and 1540 which mention specific friaries in BIA, Prob. Reg. 9, Prob. Reg. 10, Prob. Reg. 11 pt I; Prob. Reg. 11 pt I fol. 118v (Elwyn); Burgess, “Friars and the Parish in Late Medieval Bristol,” 73–96.

⁷ ‘Fisher, John [St John Fisher] c. 1469–1535), bishop of Rochester, cardinal and martyr’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (hereafter ODNB); Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, pt I, vol. III, 359; pt I, vol. IV, 193; Emden, Biographical Register, 336; Dickens, Lollards and Protestants, 141; James, “Against Them All For To Fight,” 39.

⁸ James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 37–46; Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, pt I, vol. I, 205; Feingold, “Marmaduke Waldby,” 424; ‘Fisher, John’, ODNB; ‘Wilson, Nicholas (d. 1548)’, ODNB; Brewer, et al., eds, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, VI, no. 247.

⁹ J. Murray, ‘Browne, George (d. in or after 1556), Church of Ireland archbishop of Dublin’, ODNB; ‘Hilsey, John (d. 1539), bishop of Rochester’, ODNB; LP Hen VIII, VII, no. 953; Knowles, Religious Orders in England, III, 238; VCH Beverley, 64–5.

¹⁰ LP Hen VIII, VIII no. 1020, XI, no. 1047.

¹¹ . ‘Layton, Richard (c. 1498–1544), dean of York and agent in the suppression of the monasteries’, ODNB; ‘Legh, Sir Thomas (d. 1545) diplomat and ecclesiastical administrator’, ODNB.

¹² P. S. Edwards, ‘Stapleton, William (c. 1495–1544) of Wighill, Yorks and London’ in Bindoff, History of Parliament; LP Hen VIII, XII, pt I no. 392 (1).

¹³ ‘Christopher Stapleton of Wighill (d. 1537)’, Wotton, English Baronetage, vol. 3 pt I, 53; LP Hen VIII, XII pt I no. 392 (2).

¹⁴ LP Hen VIII, XII pt I no. 392 (2).

¹⁵ James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 37–46; Purvis, “Ripon Carvers,” 198–9; ‘Hallam, John (c.1495–1537), rebel’, ODNB; LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos. 1019, 1021.

¹⁶ James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 61–3; LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos. 1019, 1021, 1080.

¹⁷ James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 61; LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos. 201 (pp. 98–100), 410.

¹⁸ LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos. 392 (2), 1019, 1021.

¹⁹ LP Hen VIII, XII pt I no. 1021; James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 52–6.

²⁰ James, “Against Them All for to Fight,” 57–8; Dickens, Lollards and Protestants, 94–106; LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos. 201 (pp. 98–100), 1087 (p. 495).

²¹ LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos 416 (2), 479, 698, 1087 (p. 499), 1285, XII pt II no. 918; Hoyle, Pilgrimage of Grace, 408.

²² LP Hen VIII, XII pt I nos 1172, 1237, 1285; Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, 119; Knowles, The Religious Orders, III, 238.

²³ VCH York, III, 263–300; LP Hen VIII, XIII pt II no. 1173, XIV pt II nos 141, 147, 489, 663, 670.

²⁴ VCH York, III, 264, 267; VCH Beverley, 181–182; Eighth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, appendix II, 19, 38, 50, 51; Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, 107.

²⁵ Cross and Vickers, eds, Monks, Friars and Nuns, 432–34, 456–60.

²⁶ BIA, Cons. AB 12 fol. 529r, Chanc. AB 8 fols 72r -75r, 111r, Prob. Reg. 15 pt III fols 103v-104r (Hill); Chambers, Faculty Office Registers, 172; VCH Beverley, 24–5, 183.

²⁷ BIA, Abp Reg. 27 fol. 177v; Page, ed., Certificates of the Commissioners, 536; Kreider, English Chantries, 193, 207–9; VCH Beverley, 78.

²⁸ Cross and Vickers, Monks, Friars and Nuns, 456–7, 474, 479, 480.

²⁹ BIA, Prob. Reg. 15 pt III fols 103v-104r (Hill).

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ Duffy and Loades, eds, Church of Mary Tudor, 23–4; Holder, Friaries of Medieval London, 57–65; BIA, Prob. Reg. 15 pt III fols 103v-104r (Hill).

³² BIA, Prob. Reg. 15 pt III fols 103v-104r (Hill); Duffy and Loades, eds, Church of Mary Tudor, 297; Holder, Friaries of Medieval London, 60.