CUSTODIANS AND WARDENS.

Unlike the Abbots and Priors of the religiosi possessionati, the heads of the Mendicant Houses required no royal assent to their appointment. Their names consequently do not occur in the royal records, and to this fact is due the incompleteness of the following list of the custodians and wardens of the Grey Friars at Oxford. It is a noteworthy if not surprising fact, that not a single original work by any of these men can now be found.

William of Esseby (perhaps Ashby in Norfolk)[818], the first warden, was one of the four clerks who came to England with Agnellus in 1224; he was then a young man and a novice, having recently joined the Order in France[819], and only assumed the habit of a professus when he became warden at Oxford[820]. He was among the first three Minorites authorized to preach in England[821].

When the English Province was divided into custodies (c. 1226?), he was made custodian of Oxford[822]. Afterwards he was sent to found the convent at Cambridge, and Eccleston draws a strange picture of him solemnly chanting the service, with one other friar and a crippled novice, in the wooden shed which served for a chapel[823]. Later William is heard of at Northampton[824]. About 1238, he was sent by Friar Wygmund, the German visitator of England, to visit Ireland; his mission here proved as abortive as that of the German in England; on his return he went to Cologne to join Wygmund[825]. He had ceased to be warden or custodian of Oxford before 1237[826]. He was alive when William of Nottingham became Provincial Minister, and died ‘after many years’ at London[827].

Eccleston gives him a high character. He was specially distinguished for his obedience.

By his tact he did much towards winning for his Order the affection of the world, and he was instrumental in leading many fit persons of various ranks and ages ‘to the way of salvation[829].’

Eustace de Merc was a member of the Oxford convent in the lifetime of Agnellus, and had license to hear confessions; he was warden at the time of the visitatorial chapter held by Friar Wygred or Wygmund in 1237-8. On this occasion many accusations were brought against him, in consequence of which he was for a day and a half excluded from the chapter; the charges are not specified and do not seem to have been proved. After fulfilling the duties of warden for a long time, he became custodian of York. The date of his death is unknown.

While he always showed to others ‘the sweetness of an angelic affection,’ he subjected himself until the end of his life to the severest discipline; even in his earlier years, his fasts and vigils and self-inflicted stripes endangered his health, and called forth the remonstrances of his superiors[830].

Peter of Tewkesbury. It is uncertain whether ‘Friar Peter, custodian of Oxford’ is to be identified with Peter of Tewkesbury; but a comparison of the dates, so far as they can be ascertained, brings out nothing inconsistent with this supposition, and we shall put the facts about both of them together. Peter of Tewkesbury was warden of London about 1234; about this time he went to Rome with Agnellus and some Friars Preachers on behalf of the English prelates[831]. Agnellus confessed to him on his death-bed and constituted him his vicar[832]. When Albert of Pisa was Provincial, Friar Peter was custodian of Oxford; he held the office for twelve years (1236-48?)[833]. During the generalship of Haymo, ‘Friar Peter, custodian of Oxford’ was one of the three friars chosen for the English province to note doubtful points in the Rule[834]. In 1245 he again appears as custodian; Adam mentions having written a detailed account to him about the proceedings at or before the Council of Lyons[835]. Peter of Tewkesbury was at the general chapter of the friars at Genoa in 1244, and remained afterwards to obtain and take back two Papal bulls about the Friars Preachers and Minors, evidently the revocation of the bull providing that no Minorite should receive the obligati of the Preachers into his Order[836]. When John of Stamford fell ill on his return from Lyons, Peter of Tewkesbury was sent to Mantes to come back with Adam Marsh, at Grostete’s request[837]. In 1250 he was minister of Cologne[838]. It was probably in the next year that he was elected fifth Provincial of England after the death of William of Nottingham[839]: he was succeeded by John of Stamford about 1256 or 1257[840]. He was an intimate friend of Robert Grostete, ‘from whom he often heard many secrets of wisdom.’[841] Eccleston says of him:

He was buried at Bedford[843].

John of Stamford, custodian of Oxford[844], was a man of great importance among the friars. He was at the council of Lyons in 1245 as socius of Adam Marsh[845]. The Pope had some thoughts of sending him with others on an embassy to the Chorasmeni, Tartars, and Saracens, who had attacked the Holy Land, but the plan was not carried out[846]. On his return, he was taken ill at Beaune, and was tended by Adam Marsh[847]. John of Stamford was one of the three friars to whom the general entrusted the confirmation of the election of William of Nottingham’s successor in the office of Provincial Minister (1251)[848]. Some time after 1245 he became custodian of Oxford; he held the office in 1253 when Thomas of York incepted[849]. He joined about this time with Adam Marsh and Thomas of York in a petition to the Provincial, begging for mercy for Hugh Cote, probably a lay brother, who had stolen three horses of great value, and then repented[850]. He succeeded Peter of Tewkesbury as provincial minister about 1256[851]. His friendship with Adam Marsh lasted to the end of the latter’s life[852]: feeling that his last days were approaching, Adam begged Bonaventura, then General, to send to him John of Stamford, the English Provincial, who was at this time (1257), apparently abroad[853]. As Provincial he procured an endowment (20s. per annum) for St. Owen’s Church in London, the parish in which the Minorites then had their house[854]. He is said to have died in 1264, but there is no good authority for the statement[855]. He was buried at Lynn, with which place he seems to have had some previous connexion: Brewer calls him warden of Lynn[856].

Martin is mentioned in two letters from Adam Marsh to ‘W., Minister of England’ as warden of Oxford; but the superscription is untrustworthy and the date of the letters uncertain[857]. This Martin may have been identical with the ‘Frater Martinus senex’ (mentioned by Eccleston), who established the convent at Shrewsbury, and delighted in the recollection of the hardships and poverty which he had then experienced[858]. A Martin de Barton, who was also known to Eccleston, and had often seen St. Francis, came to England in the early years of the Order, and was afterwards vicar of the English Provincial and filled many other offices[859]. When custodian of York, Martin de Barton enforced the strictest poverty, only allowing so many friars to live in any place, as could be supported by mendicancy alone without incurring debts[860].

Adam of Warminster was warden in 1269; he took part in a controversy with the Dominicans at Oxford in that year, defending his Order against the charge of being ‘receivers of money[861].’

John de Codyngton was warden in 1300, when he received license from the Bishop to hear confessions in the Archdeaconry of Oxford[862].

John de Okehampton was warden in 1340; all that is known of him will be found in the Appendix B.

Richard Clyff was custodian in 1465 and 1466. In the latter year he sued John Broghton, sheriff of Kent for a royal debt. He was sometime vice-warden of London and was buried in the church of the Minorites there[863].Richard Salford was warden in 1488 and 1489; he recovered debts from Sir John Paston, sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, and Sir Edmund Bedyngfeld, sheriff of the same counties; the records of these suits contain the only notices of him now remaining[864].

William Vavasor was studying at Oxford and transcribing philosophical treatises in 1490 and 1491[865]. He incepted as D.D. in 1500, and was warden of the convent about the same time[866]. In Thomas Cromwell’s list of learned persons not living in Oxford (A. D. 1531) is the name of ‘Dr. Vavysor, Grey Friar at...’[867]. At the dissolution he was warden of the Grey Friars at York[868], and was one of the few Mendicants who received a pension; the amount was £5 a year[869].

Robert Burton was warden on April 12, 1508, when he applied to the Chancellor’s Court to recover a debt.

As B.D. he supplicated for D.D. on March 8th, 1507/8 after studying for twenty years at Oxford and Cambridge, preaching two University sermons at Oxford, and six at Paul’s Cross, &c.; the grace was conceded on condition that he should respond once more[871]. Afterwards he became regent of the Franciscan Schools in London. The register of the Grey Friars, London, notes among those buried in the chapel of All Saints in the Franciscan church,

Walter Goodfield was warden shortly before 1513; as warden he leased one of the friary gardens to Ric. Leke, brewer[873]. From the University Register[874], it appears that on Nov. 27, 1506, he supplicated to be admitted to opponency and to read the sentences, after studying twelve years in logic, philosophy, and theology; on May 10, 1507, in making the same supplication, he stated that he had studied the same subjects fourteen years. He was admitted to oppose on Dec. 10, 1507. On June 3, 1508, he supplicated as B.D. for D.D.

On March 19, 1509/10, he was allowed to count a sermon to be preached on Ash Wednesday as his examinatory sermon. On May 12, 1510, he was licensed in theology. On June 27, 1510, he was dispensed ‘pro suis lecturis minutis.’ On July 1, he was admitted D.D.; on Oct. 28, 1510, he was with three others appointed a judge to examine a sentence passed on Thomas Foster by the commissary[875]; and on Dec. 10, he was dispensed from his necessary regency, possibly owing to his duties as warden. He seems to have become warden of the London convent after this[876]. He died on the 6th of May, 1521, and was buried in the chapel of All Saints, in the Grey Friars Church, London[877].

John Harvey succeeded Goodfield as warden; he held the office in Feb. 1513/4[878], Feb. 1514/5[879], and probably for many years afterwards. He had ceased to be warden in 1529, when he was required by the vice-warden or sub-warden John Bacheler, in the name of the then warden, to answer certain charges made against him respecting his administration[880]. The following details are known about his scholastic career; he was admitted to oppose in theology Dec. 6, 1514, and admitted B.D. on Jan. 20, 1514/5; he was still B.D. in 1529; one of the same name took the degree of B. Can. L. on April 3, 1530, but he is not described as a friar[881].Edward Baskerfild was probably the immediate successor of John Harvey. In Jan. 1527/8 he held some office, being then ‘in London on the business of his house’ and likely to stay there some months[882]; he is described as warden in 1533, as custos fratrum minorum Universitatis Oxon’ in 1534[883], and he was warden at the time of the dissolution.

He supplicated for B.D. on April 12, 1526, after

‘studying logic, philosophy, and theology for thirteen years, and preaching some sermons at Exeter and Oxford,’